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5 Minute Fridays/ FAMILY/ Kids/Family/ Leaving A Legacy/ Parenting

Oh She Glows


Teagan-Glows

 

Participating in Lisa-Jo’s 5 Minute Fridays. 5 minutes to write about one word. Unedited.

Word: BLOOM

GO:

Her face had lost its usual bloom.  My words had cut.

Radiance, luster, sheen, glow.  This is her default face.

How easy it is to spew words in frustration and irritation.  Teenage years can bring out the worst in us Mama’s.

Oh to remember the true Gardener & how He cares.  Patient, gentle, always tending.  Aware.

She is resilient & responds well to apologies.  Her forgiveness quick, light returns.

Her essence goes out to all around, eyes slant and twinkle like her Daddy’s

She complains that they disappear when she smiles.

It is my favorite.

BLOOM

If only she could see how she glows, how light shines bright, even through cracks.

Her beauty mesmerizes me at times; cheeks pink, lashes long, that beautiful smile.

Her inner beauty blooming, taking shape, opening to all she was created to be.

This creation, I created with the help of the Creator.

I think of her and I too, glow.

STOP.

5 Minute Fridays/ FAMILY/ Marriage

Lost In Love

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{participating in 5 Minute Friday-write for 5 minutes, with a prompt.  Unscripted. Unedited. Real.}

Prompt–Lost.

The minute I heard that the 5 Minute Friday words prompt was LOST,  this old school song popped in my head.  I remember singing it as a teen, wondering if I would ever be lost in love.  By golly…I am.

Go:

{Song Lyrics}

I never needed love like I need you

And I never lived for nobody but I live for you
ooh babe lost in love is what I feel when I’m with you

Maybe it’s the way you touch me
with the warmth of the sun

maybe it’s the way you smile and I come all undone
ooh babe lost in love is what I feel when I’m with you

{My Words, spurred on by the lyrics}

I once was lost, but now I’m found. God found me, then he gave me you.
My need for Him is evident, as is my need for you, for two become one.

I live for Him, He shows me how to live for you–flesh of my flesh.
I am lost in love when I’m with you.
Your kind eyes, they meet mine. Your eyebrows up in question, wanting to know my need.
If not, they squint when you smile, forming wrinkles in the corners–my favorite.

I kiss these lines, so familiar. I love how you smile with your eyes.

Your touch, always gentle, just like you. Your hands on my arm, my hand, my leg.
Holding, creating warmth, a touch that acknowledges and speaks without words.

Even when I push away, these days of meds that are just too hot,  your eyes still look at me with warmth.This is when I’m undone, when you love despite what comes in between, despite my shortcomings, despite battle wounds. When I’m most love lost and you still come forward, these are the moments I’m lost in love.

{Song Lyrics}

Baby ooh I get chills when I’m with you
oh baby my world stands still when I’m with you
when I’m with you

I never cared for nobody
like I care for you
and I never wanted to share the things I wanna share with you
ooh babe lost in love is what I feel when I’m with you

Baby ooh I get chills when I’m with you
oh baby my world stands still when I’m with you
when I’m with you

{My words, spurred on by the lyrics}

I think of all the life we have lived, the moments between us that only we know, & I get chills.

You have made my world stand still in the most stable way. You have chosen me, day after day.

You are mine, there is no one else for me. You get me, even when I don’t get me. You know more than any other. You have and will listen to my sharing; a listening ear, none can compare.

Yes– I know love. I am lost but never will lose.  When this world stands still long enough for us to look and see, we glimpse not two but One. I once was lost, but now I’m found.

5 Minute Fridays/ Spiritual

I Am A Message Bearer

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{participating in 5 Minute Friday-write for 5 minutes, with a prompt.  Unscripted. Unedited. Real.}

Prompt–Messenger.

Go:

——

Messenger.  A message bearer.  One who brings a message.

What message shall I preach?

One of slow living.

Why should we slow?

I don’t know about you, but naturally I just spin.  I can let life busy, spin out of control, and all the sudden I am busy, my brain is busy, my body is busy, and I can’t focus.  I lose sight of what is most important, I forget to count the gifts…heck, I’m don’t even see them because of the spinning and  distraction.

Slow allows focus.

Slow allows thought.

Slow remembers that we only have one shot at this life.

Slow allows process.

Slow makes time for reading, writing, creating, cooking, thinking, forgiving.

Slow embraces.

Slow looks at our children & sees, not glancing through but seeing into their eyes.

The message of slow is important, as it allows one to truly live.

We all want health. Health takes thought & prioritizing.  A thinking that takes prioritizing of time.

We all want meaning, purpose, fulfillment, peace & wholeness.

Wholeness starts with Him. His holes make us whole, I slow and ponder.

I am a messenger, and this is my message.

Stop spinning, allow Him to hold, and dance slow.

——

Stop.

5 Minute Fridays/ Emotional Health/ Love/ Spiritual

My Hands In His Hands

MY HANDS-IN-His-Hands

{participating in 5 Minute Friday-write for 5 minutes, with a prompt.  Unscripted. Unedited. Real.}

Prompt–Hands.

Go:

——

I look at my hands and  see my mom’s hands.  I smile, I always thought she had the most beautiful of hands.

I think of all that has touched my hands…the things my hands have touched.

My little girl hands, holding a favorite Holly Hobby doll

My big sister hands, taking care of my little brother and little sisters, playing real house  while Mom has an outing.

My teenage hands, holding on to a boy’s for the first time & the thrill.

Hands in hair, I learn cosmetology.

Hands in chemicals everyday, I wonder if it contributed to my cancer.

Both my hands, holding his while dressed in white, saying vows.

The way his suit felt under my hand during our first dance as newlyweds. I’ll never forget that feeling of bliss.

His face, my hands feel the 5 o’clock shadow forming, I love this handsome husband of mine.

Her hands, our first-born, so premature tiny & perfect…attached to all 5 pounds of her.

My middle girl, her hands blue, shows the trauma of her birth.

The birth of my Avery, my Grandma Thelma’s soft hands on my arm while in active labor, her most precious prayer “May God be gracious to you, may His face shine upon you, and give you peace.”

Baby Avery hands, held by mine through an incubator,  fear – filled moments, yet peace.

My hands balled in fists, doing battle with God, leaning that pain grows me.

Hands lifted in praise to my Savior, how can I keep from singing and shouting His name?

Wringing in anxiety, these hands.

Hands making and serving food, my favorite way to love my family.

Fingers moving, typing, this dream job of mine called a blog.

Hands numb from the shock of a cancer diagnosis.

Tissues in hands, wiping away tears.

Hands can’t move, chemo lays heavy.

Top of hands bruised from multiple I.V. tries. It is surgery time.

Feeling for lumps and bumps, fingers roaming, wondering often if it is really over.

Date nights, always holding hands, high heels make me the perfect height to hold comfortably.

Her hands now anxious, mine learned and is learning release.  I work again to keep them open, for she belongs to Him.

Lying in bed, the heat of his body next to mine,my hand reaches out and find familiar.  Flesh of my flesh.

These life moments my hands have touched– have touched my hands– all the while in God’s.

His hands?  He’s got it all….  for He’s got the whole world in His hands!

———

Stop.

 

5 Minute Fridays/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Simplifying

How To Fall In Love With Doing Laundry

 
{5 Minutes of unedited, nonstop writing on the week’s given theme.}
 
GO.
 
Laundry and love are two words I never thought I would use together.  Laundry FAIL is more like it for most of my life.  I always said that if I ever have laundry caught up AND put away, then I will have arrived as a Mom.  Well, recently there have been many more days of caught up & put away laundry, but I so have not “arrived” as a Mom.  SO. NOT.
 
But I have grown.
I have become wiser over the years.  
More efficient.
 
I have learned that undone laundry does not define what kind of mother/housewife/woman I am.
I have learned that it is ok to do things imperfectly.
I have learned that it is ok to ask for help and allow kids to participate.
 
I have learned how to love laundry.
 
Love is a dramatic word, especially when it comes to laundry…but hear me out.
 
I have changed my thought patterns when it comes to laundry and now it does not control or define me.  
We are friends now. Not besties, but a friend that I don’t take for granted.

My new thought pattern? 

I love laundry because it shows God has provided.
~He has provided clothes for our family.
~He has provided water & a washing machine that works…a luxury many do not have.
~He has given me children who are healthy enough to play soccer and get dirty.
~He has given me girls that have such great fashion sense that some days it takes numerous outfit changes to find the exact one…which means more laundry…the  most challenging kind, clean laundry caught up in the dirty.  The kind that takes sacrifice to wash again without complaint. 
 
Isn’t that life, the clean and the dirty mixed up together on a regular basis?  
Not ideal, but real.
Signs of life, of living the beautiful imperfect.
Signs that we need Him.
 
He knows all about the washing of dirty laundry.
Of sacrifice.
Of loving that which can be as repulsive as a muddy soccer sock.
Of lovingly washing us, whiter than snow.
 
STOP.
 
 
Need some practical tips to help you love laundry?
 
~Kids 12 and older do their own.  This has changed my life and my relationship with laundry.  My two oldest do their own now.  It has saved my sanity and our relationship.  Now, if clean clothes are on the floor, it does not affect me or my sanity, as I am not the one who will have to rewash them.  They now take much better care of their clothes.  The occasional times I surprise them and do it for them…they are grateful. Kids who are grateful that their laundry is done = winning!
 
~If you have younger kids, have a dirty clothes bucket in their room and another for clean clothes that need hung up.  The goal is to keep clothes off the floor.  If they are old enough, teach them to hang up the clean clothes.  Give it as one of their 3 daily chores.
 
~Use hooks in closets for things like robes, coats, jackets.  These things are a pain to hang up on hangers and kids will struggle with that.  If an item is used almost daily, have a hook for it.
 
~Buy a laundry sorter. I have one like this one and I love it!  Do NOT sort according to color.  Sort according to person in the family.  Mark it clearly so everyone knows where to put their dirty clothes.  Keep in a central location where you can keep an eye on it, and where it is easy for everyone to bring their dirties when asked.
 
~When you see a part of the sorter get full, you know whose turn it is to do laundry.  I have a sorter that has 4 baskets hanging from it.  A full basket makes a perfect full load.  One for my 14 year old, one for my 12 year old, one for my 10 year old, and husband and I share one.  I only have to worry about 2 of the 4, as the older two girls do their own.  I keep our sorter on the main floor in the hallway.
 
~Don’t sort laundry.  Unless we have a new item of clothing that I know will bleed when first washed, I don’t sort.  I think it is a waste of time.  I like to do loads according to person, not according to color.  It makes the folding and putting away so much easier when loads are according to person.
 
~Use sturdy, pretty baskets.  The top picture was taken before I had my oldest 2 start doing their own laundry.  As you can see, I had 3 smaller baskets where I would fold and put each child’s clothes, and they would put their own clothes away.  I folded in the living room so the clothes would not sit.  If they are out and about in my way, I will remember to tell the littles to put their clothes away. This system worked well when they were younger.  The larger basket was for Todd and I.  The medium basket held all socks.
 
 
~Have a hook for each person in the family to keep their towel.  I only wash towels once or twice a week.  I just grab them from the hooks in the bathroom and throw them right into the washer.  Yes, I wash the white towels with the black towels.  It works fine, but make sure to wash separately when brand new a few times.  We only have one bathroom with a shower, so the girls towels are the three on the hooks…they know what color is theirs.  Todd and I use white towels on hooks behind the door.
 
~Wash sheets/bedding/blankets on the weekend.  I just rotate a bed each weekend.  Yes, each persons bedding only gets washed once a month, except for Todd and I, our bedding gets washed twice a month.  Good enough. 
 
~Keep a sock basket.  Keep the sock basket in a central location, where all mismatched or found socks go.  Occasionally grab the basket and have child match any socks as a chore.
 
~Make your own laundry detergent.  LOVE love easy liquid recipe.
 
What is your favorite tip?
5 Minute Fridays/ Spiritual

Not Afraid Of Things To Come

Proverbs 31:25


 Five Minute Friday… five minutes of unedited, non stop writing on this week’s given theme ‘She’

Start


She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Proverbs 31:25

hardships have helped create her strength
she has learned to do all things through Him 

she holds her head up in dignity
for He has been faithful in lifting it

her heart is fixed
a quiet trust

she has a righteous purpose
and lives her days slow and deliberate

she is equipped

armed against cares and worries

not giving into fear
not afraid of things to come

she smiles in confidence
rejoices in all things

laughs at death
departs in peace

I am she
Lord, help me to be

End
Thank you LIsa-Jo for the opportunity to link up to 5 Minute Friday!


5 Minute Fridays/ FAMILY/ Parenting/ Spiritual

Parenting With Merciful Consistency

Hebrews 4:16 Scripture Verse
I’m happy to be linking up to Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Fridays.  She gives us a word,
we write for 5 minutes.  That is it.  Pure unedited love of the written word.

mer·cy
ˈmərsē/
noun
  1. 1.
    compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom
    it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

Parenting teens and preteens.  This is what is on my mind.
Oh to get it right.  Oh to do right by them.
To be the Mom that they look to, rise up and call blessed.

Lord you know the desires of my heart,
to reflect your Love so that they might know you.

Buttons get pushed and triggers set off
My own stuff– much dealt with & removed by Your Mercy
Yet comes creeping back.  The enemy does this you know.  He creeps in.
His whispers “your failing…control them…you will never get it right…they will never get it right”
He strikes with fear & shame, convincing that I cannot trust, that I am in charge, that I am going to fail.

But Mercy.

This word.  It lacks judgement.  It lacks sighs and eye rolls.  It is kind.
 It requires courage and a soft heart. Tolerance. Forbearance. A quiet, firm and steady trust.
An acknowledgement of who really is in control.  It is You, Lord, not I.  They are Yours.

How to be a consistent parent, yet show mercy?  Merciful consistency.
High standards, expecting much, yet merciful.
Fighting tooth and nail this entitlement culture my girls are going up in, yet with mercy.

I need wisdom.
LORD, HAVE MERCY.

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