Happy Birthday, Megan!

Dear Megan Rose,

How is it possible that you are now 4 years old?  It seems like yesterday I was seeing your face for the first time.  (Yes, I know everyone says that, but it's true!  Time really does speed up as you get older!)

I am so blessed to be your Mama.  You have changed me and taught me things about myself in ways that I never expected.  You make me laugh, cry, beam with pride, and crumble with exhaustion - all within a single day!

Although you clearly look up to your brother and watch him for guidance, you've never been one to stay in his shadow.  No, you are your own person and have made those differences known from the beginning.  You are unique!

In many ways, I feel like I am just now getting to know you.  I love seeing and hearing you laugh.  It's a privilege to also be your teacher, watching you learn and grow.  I think it's great that you're not afraid to stand up for yourself with your brother (although the screaming does get to be too much!).

Perhaps what I admire most of all is your "all in" approach to life.  Whether you are happy, sad, or mad, you experience it completely.  I will never forget watching you jump off the diving board so many times this Summer.  A friend described you as "fearless," and she was right.  Oh yes, you will sometimes observe for a while before participating, but then?  GO!  While a certain degree of cautiousness and care is necessary in life, I hope you never lose the ability to throw yourself into something with wholehearted abandon.

There are so many things I want to teach you - about being a woman, a wife, a sister, a friend, a child of God.  But if I had to choose one thing right now, it's this: you don't have to perform to be loved.  Whether you obey or disobey, whether you succeed or fail, whether you're quiet or loud, whether you are academically or musically gifted or not, whether you're a girly-girl or a tom-boy, your Daddy and I love you totally and completely.  Always.  I want you to know that deep down in your soul.  Because then you may begin to comprehend how much God loves you.  Always.  Completely.  Totally.  Not based on your performance.

And another thing I want you to know?  You're beautiful.  God picked out those blue-green eyes, and that brown hair, and that cute nose, and those lips, ears, hands, feet.  He put you together just in the right way to fill a spot in His story that only you can fill.  I pray He will allow me to continue in my front-row seat, watching your plot line develop.

I love you, Megan Rose!

Love,
Mama



This post may be linked up to one or more of the following blog parties.  Check them out! Monday: Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie Wednesday: Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family Friday: 5 Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama, Company Girl Coffee at Home Sanctuary, Pieces of Amy Other days: A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Titus 2.5: A Guest Post about Submission (please don't run away screaming!)

A few weeks ago (OK, more like a month ago), I wrote about how I felt like I was stuck in the middle of Titus 2 - not really a "younger woman" but not really an "older woman."  Well, along those lines, God has really been teaching me about what it means to be a Godly wife.  And yes, that includes submission to my husband.

I do NOT claim to have this figured out.

Today, I'm guest posting on my friend's blog, Rethinking My Thinking.  Angela Mackey is the "real deal" - a woman of God and a wonderful writer.  I hope you'll check out my post and then take a look around her blog.  It's always full of words of encouragement.

I hope you have a wonderful day!



 This post may be linked up to one or more of the following blog parties.  Check them out! Monday: Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie Wednesday: Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family Friday: 5 Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama, Company Girl Coffee at Home Sanctuary, Pieces of Amy Other days: A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Stuck in the Middle of Titus 2

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.  They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.  ~Titus 2: 3 - 5

I feel like I've entered a somewhat strange season of life.

On one hand, I have two young children (oldest is 6), I'm still essentially brand new to homeschooling, and most of the time I don't feel like I have a clue when it comes to being a Mom.  Or a wife.  Or a daughter, aunt, neighbor, friend.

On the other hand, I'm not a newlywed (we just celebrated our 14th anniversary), we've lived lots of different places, I've worked full-time outside the home and as a full-time homemaker plus combinations in-between, and we've dealt with life together for a while now - the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I can now cook more than just Hamburger Helper and Hungry Jack Casserole.

So does this make me one of the "older women" or one of the "younger women" in the passage above?

I think our Sunday school class is to blame (or should take the credit) for my confusion.  I am learning so much from our teachers. (Kathy, Debbie, and Susan, I would never call you "older women," but you are certainly training me in all the ways mentioned in that Scripture.)  At the same time, though, many fellow classmates are significantly younger than me - as in, 80s music is to them what the Beach Boys are to me.  I nearly fell out of my chair when I realized that at least one of them was born in 1990.  1990!?!

Instead of getting all depressed about this, eating too much, and shopping for wrinkle cream, I'm going to try to embrace it.  No promises, but I'm considering a (somewhat) regular blog section related to topics that are either (a) things I so wish someone had bothered to tell me years ago, or (b) things I so wish someone would explain to me now.  I think I'll call it Titus 2.5 (the halfway point of Titus 2).

So without further ado, here's the first installment (and no, I don't intend for all of this to be about homemaking, but that's what's on my mind tonight):

My burning question: How can I get my hardwood floors to shine?  I have tried various products.  I have tried using my Shark Steam Mop (which, by the way, I LOVE for my tile floors).  Some people say diluted vinegar, others say avoid all liquids at all costs.  For one glorious month, I had professionals come to clean my house bi-weekly.  Whatever they did worked wonders, but in spite of my pleading in a note left for them, I still don't know what they did.  Help!!

My burning answer: I used to avoid all recipes that included cooked chicken as one of the ingredients.  I didn't want to have to completely cook one thing before I could even start cooking our actual meal.  As a result, most of our meals involved ground beef or ground turkey except when I broke down and bought the canned, cooked chicken.  Enter my new very best friend: my crockpot.  Now when I need a couple of uncooked chicken breasts for a meal, I buy the big package of chicken, put the rest into the crockpot with a bit of water, and let it cook on low all day (or all night).  Then I just shred it up, put it into lots of zip-loc bags, and toss them in the freezer so I'm all ready to go when it's time to make something like Chicken Spaghetti.  Why, oh why, did I not know this for the first 12 years of our marriage??

So, dear readers (if there's anyone still out there!), do you think of yourself as an "older woman" or a "younger woman?"  Any burning questions to ask?  Any burning answers to share?



 This post is linked up to one or more of the following blog parties.  Check them out! Monday: Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie Wednesday: Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family Friday: 5 Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama, Company Girl Coffee at Home Sanctuary, Pieces of Amy Other days: A Wise Woman Builds Her Home