My reasons why you should follow the Compassion bloggers in the Philippines.

• Some of my favorite bloggers are on the trip.
• Though I've never been to the Philippines, I have a husband who has been there twice on short term mission trips, and good friends who spent several years there planting a church. So I have to say that the country holds a personal interest for me.
• Our family started sponsoring a child through Compassion this past Christmas and it's been such a privilege. It's really great to get this inside peek into the workings of the organization. 

So quit wasting your time here and go check it out!

The Blessings of Rising Gas Prices:::  I figure I can whine and complain and want change for something out of my control, or I can change my own attitude and behavior.

Finding Our Life::: This is our purpose. It's the treasure we give up other things to find, these moments with these people where presence is love.

Befriending Bullies::: Children who are fearless, strong, and driven, who can organize others and see the world as their playground– imagine how awesome their potential if given the tools (and challenges) to be good leaders.

When You Feel Unworthy::: When I feel unworthy, it’s probably because I am.

{One of} the Things Parents Fear the Most::: suddenly I find that a dusty parable has just climbed off the pages of Scripture and into my living room.

3 Things to Hold on to When Life Hurts {Cherry Blossoms in the Rain}::: All these tears, all this rain. And yet… there is sowing, there is planting.

**Just a little note: I am completely loving these 5 minute Fridays. At the end of a week when I have posted nothing and I want to change that but time for writing is completely non-existent, five minutes feels totally attainable. Thank you to the Gypsy Mama.

I used to never forget. I had a perfect memory. If things went undone it was due to pure neglect. Not because I “just forgot”.

But I’ve changed. Maybe it’s age. I’ve been told that a woman’s brain shrinks a percentage with every pregnancy. And it never grows back. Maybe I could blame that.

I forget things all the time.

The kind that leaves me the most frustrated is forgetting what I’m going to say. The words are on the tip of my tongue, then…gone. And I have NO idea what they were. That always makes me feel crazy.

I walk in a room and forget why I was going there. Menopausal women tell me this is normal. But I’m 29 so….

I think I forget because my mind is on permanent overload. And the fight just to function suppresses the ability to remember.

I’m afraid I often forget really important things. Like listening to my girls. Or talking to my husband.

I’m always scrambling to remember all that needs to be done, and in my quest to not forget anything, I forget to live the moment I’m in right now. That’s the forgetting that makes me want to cry. That’s the forgetting that needs to change.

When seasons change I’m hesitant to jump right in.

The seasons where I live, and the seasons in my life… both have this way of toying with me. I think one is on its way out and another on its way in, so I go all in. Then something happens.

Wait.

Not yet.

Not quite done with this season yet.

The back and forth of hot and cold. Flannel sheets causing me to wake drenched in sweat. I put the summer sheets on and then spend the night shivering.

No predictability. It’s a bit unnerving.

And it’s much the same in life.

I think I’m going here. Moving out of this season, onto the next. Then I get pulled back.

The more the change of seasons hesitates, the less I am willing to consider that there ever will truly be a change.

I start to hold back. Uncomfortable with moving forward; afraid of again being pulled back.

I wear my flip-flops out to dinner, freeze all night, and come home and shove them into the corner of the closet.

I will have to have many hot and miserable evenings before I really believe that winter is over.

For more visit The Gypsy Mama.