Loosen the Grip of "More Stuff" :::No one of us ever said, ”I hope I have a big house full of things that I bought just because they were on sale.”

Use me, Lord ::: She proved to me that God uses you until the very end…

The Full Story ::: What if all those years of church, praying and talking about God amounted to nothing?

Where the Happiness is ::: To be happy, honk…

With all of our weekend craziness, I missed posting about another milestone in our family.

Miss A turned nine.

We spent all day and evening of her birthday celebrating which was wonderful.

I about had a meltdown when the thought came to my mind that nine is halfway to eighteen!

It's impossible for me to mentally process how this is my girl now. This big grown up girl who loves to talk about the farm she is going to have when she is grown up and married….full of dogs and pigs and cows and children. All the animals and children are even named, but she is not sure yet of the name of her husband.

I remember this little face.

And what felt like the longest wait of our lives, when we waited to hear her first words. 

I used to dream about it. Literal, middle of the night dreams of her just speaking a single word.

One day the words came.

And now all of that feels like a lifetime ago.

I'm here with this quirky big girl who is so innocent and loving that she's nowhere near too cool for me yet. 

I know that will come, but I'm savoring now. 

Nine is a big deal. I remember very specific things about being nine. I remember what I thought of the people around me. I find myself wondering what she will look back and remember thinking of me. 

If she can't find a single other thing positive to remember about me one day, I hope she will know that I love her. So much. I pray that in the relationship between us love will cover my multitude of sins.

She has been the girl to help me grow in so many ways. Just by being herself. As I'm sure any mother would say of their first-born, her presence in my life has dramatically changed me. And I'm so thankful for that.

A woman came up to me at church recently and wanted to talk to me about Miss A.

She said she just really wanted me to know how blessed she was by her. How affected she was by my daughter's genuine love and compassion for her, a grown woman. 

It's amazing to hear of your child having such an impact on someone else's life. Exciting and humbling all at once. 

That is my little girl she was talking about. Who's slowly but surely moving on down the path to becoming a young woman. And an incredible one at that! 

We had a little getaway this weekend.

Hombre was asked to teach at a youth camp up in the mountains, and we were all able to go.

I was excited to go with him, but worn out after a long and very full week.

I had been so busy up until the moment we went, that I had not given any thought as to what to expect when we got there.

So, our getaway was:

• An 8×10' room with a full size bed…for the five of us. This would be the place we spent about 95% of our time.
• The above room was in a four bedroom, two bathroom house….the location for the camp. We shared this house with about 40 jr. high and high school students and 10 adults. There was also a basement, so a little more room….
• One of the two bathrooms was right next to our room, so that was our bathroom to use. We shared it with 20+ jr. high and high school boys. (At a very inopportune time of the month for me, I might add!)
• We ate our meals perched on a bed or the floor, because…..that's really the only option we had.
• The noise level…I'm sure you can imagine….never quieted down before midnight.
• There was also a band, to lead worship….electric guitar, acoustic drums,…you get the idea. Add that to the other noise. They seemed to have to practice for at least an hour for every half hour they actually played.

I'm sure I could go on, but I think this is enough to make my point: This was not really what I would call a peaceful getaway. 

Am I the only one who would not consider this the makings of a fabulous retreat?

But,

somehow it was. 

If I had known all these details of the weekend before going, I probably would have changed my mind.

And if I had, I would have missed out on something really sweet.

Like my girls spending endless amounts of time laughing over silly games because there was nothing else to do.

A wonderful late winter storm dumping enough snow to give everyone a thrill.

My girls, of course, love snow! And the kids that had come for the camp were from a place that doesn't ever see snow, so it was fun to see their excitement.

When it grew dark, or when we were no longer interested in being cold, our tiny little space provided me with literally hours of time with a hook and some yarn. 

At home I would have been seeing all kinds of things that needed to be done, and not given myself the freedom to be still. This place provided the perfect opportunity for me to spend a whole weekend just being still.

My girls played right beside me, which is not something that happens very often. When we have a whole house at our disposal, we rarely do things side by side. It was kind of nice.

I had a beautiful view of the snow falling outside from my little nest on the bed. 

Hombre got to spend endless hours studying the Word…the gift of being given the opportunity to teach.

The girls feel asleep on top of each other because, well in such a small space it was just inevitable.

Our crazy weekend was really a wonderful time to relax and be together.

Of course there were fights among little girls that had to be handled from time to time. 

And the puddles of melting snow in the middle of our tiny space might have stressed me out a bit.

I may have even reached a point where the shared bathroom was just too much, and Hombre took us out for so-so mexican food that cost way too much, just so I could use a different bathroom. (It was worth every penny!)

BUT,

For two whole days I had no house to clean. No chores to catch up on. No lesson plans to make. 

My meals were all cooked for me, and my family was given the privilege of being served first every time.

Everywhere I turned was someone asking if they could do anything for me, if we needed anything, we wanted anything.

We were in a sense, the guests of honor. All those other people shared the remainder of the house while we were given a bedroom all to ourselves.

Jr. high kids made playing in the snow a total blast for my girls….letting them experience a "real" snowball fight.

My girls were told endlessly how cute they were, and hugged and adored. I watched teenage boys show a sweet interest in learning the names of our pillow pets and quickly hand over their pb & j sandwich when they realized my girls hadn't had one yet. 

We were so loved and so blessed. And even though circumstances were challenging, it was such a sweet refreshing time. I really left feeling like I had spent the weekend at a retreat. Not in the traditional sense of course, but still so wonderful.

Our amazing view on the drive home.

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, 
And on Your wondrous works.
Psalm 145:5

Take my life, and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise, 
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing, always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use ev'ry pow'r as Thou shall choose, 
Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shall choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take my self, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

-Frances Ridley Havergal