She wore a pink, sequined tiara everywhere we went today. She has her own style. She is always moving and keeping a beat with her feet, fingers, pencils, and anything else that will double as a drumstick. This girl keeps me dancing. She’s a straight A student, and wants to work with animals when she grows up. We joke that having 2 brothers gives her lots of practice. She loves to draw, bake, and skateboard. There is no stereotyping this girl.
A few weeks ago she helped me host a baby shower for my friend Karen. She worked hard and was a sweet little hostess, but she really enjoyed sitting down for a bit to help with the pieces for the baby quilt we are making for Jude. She’s pretty crafty.
After Jude was born, she begged me to ask Karen if she could hold him in the hospital. I think she’s in love.
It both frightens and exhilarates me how much alike we are, but she’s no mini-me. Zoe is her own person – sugar and spice, heavy on the spice!
I gave Rae her car back today. I was so thankful for her generosity of lending me her convertible. The kids kept begging me to put the top down, but I resisted. 1. It’s been averaging in the 40’s this week. 2. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to get the darn thing back in place. I may have to borrow it for a day in the Spring. 😉
As we were driving to church this morning, I was deep in thought about this week and chatting with God in my head:
Me: Well God, thank you for bringing Benny and Max home safely, and thank you for a renewed hope for us, but I’m still anxious to hear how all of this car stuff is going to work out.
God: Do you miss Benny’s car?
Me: Well no, why?
God: Do you have what you need?
Me: Well yes, technically I do. We have this van that you provided.
God: Do you trust me?
Me: Sometimes. (Hey! I can’t lie to God. He KNOWS, you know?)
God: I’m not done yet…
Me: O.K., then I’m good. I’ll keep waiting.
Then He spoke to me again through the lesson. The Pastor pointed out that the first Thanksgiving was the early settlers stopping to thank God that they weren’t starving. Good point. I’m not starving and neither is my family. Thank you God for your provision. We talked about examples of Jesus giving thanks: When he fed the 5,000 and the food was multiplied to feed everyone present and still have food left over, and when he raised Lazarus from the dead, he thanked God for hearing his prayer, then called Lazarus out of the tomb. We talked about Philippians 4:6,7: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
God does amazing things with thanksgiving. Like he did for the early settlers, he provides for our needs. Like he did for the feeding of the 5,000, he takes what is generously offered/given and multiplies it. Like he did with Lazarus, he restores life.
I really don’t miss the car. The couple we gave it to needed it more than we did, and I am thankful God used us to answer somebody else’s prayer. How many times has he done that for us? I have invited people over not knowing how I was going to be able to feed everyone, and God has somehow multiplied the food or our money so we could provide the food. I have experienced being dead inside only to be called back to life. I love and serve a God who is all about abundance. Not a short-sighted prosperity gospel, but true abundance through the workings of his people giving to each other and to those who need good news.
Here’s my lesson for today: He will bless us as we continue to give him thanks and bless others with what he has given us. And he will provide another car for us. Somehow. I believe it. I have his peace, and I am so thankful!
I wrote these notes on Facebook and thought I’d share them here for my family and friends who don’t share my Facebook addiciton. 🙂 I’ll be back here tomorrow with a post about how I save money at the grocery store.
Part 1
I stayed home with Pete while Benny, Max, and Zoe went to meet a few of our volunteers and our street friends for Supper on the Pearl tonight. I’ve been thinking about it all…the people who give of their time and money to make a meal and serve others, our friends on the streets who wouldn’t have had a hot meal tonight if it weren’t for our volunteers, and my children. What do they think of it all? Some days it feels overwhelming. Are we making the biggest difference we can? Is the smallness of what we do enough of an act of love for our street friends to experience grace and rest? Am I teaching our children gratefulness in a way that they will understand how blessed they really are? So many questions.
As I sat at my computer tonight, I turned on itunes and listened to my top 25 most played songs. When I reached the following song, it hit me – compassion and action are just two of the gifts I have to offer to my friends on the streets. I don’t need to dwell on my own feelings of inadequacy because it’s not about me, or my kids, our volunteers, or even our street friends. It’s about God and what HE can do with what we have and are willing to offer. It’s 5 loaves and 2 fish, multiplied for the hungry. And we’re all so very hungry. What seems like a meager lunch to me can become a feast for the masses with enough leftovers for another lunch. God can do that. I’ve seen it. I’ve experienced it!
While our street friends need food, they also hunger for love, being known, and relief from the hard times. Take a way the hunger for food, and our volunteers aren’t much different. My children? They don’t know hard times yet, but they will. And me? I’m just sitting here thinking, and this is a good thinking song. Listen to it on youtube:
Hard Times by Eastmountainsouth
Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears, while we all sup sorrow with the poor. There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears, oh, hard times come again no more.
‘Tis a song… a sigh of the weary, hard times… hard times come again no more. Many days you have lingered around my cabin door, oh… hard times come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay, there are frail ones fainting at the door. Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say, oh, hard times come again no more.
‘Tis a song… a sigh of the weary, hard times… hard times come again no more. Many days you have lingered around my cabin door, oh, hard times come again no more.
‘Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave, ’tis a wail that is heard upon the shore. ‘Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave, oh, hard times come again no more.
‘Tis a song…a sigh of the weary, hard times… hard times come again no more. Many days you have lingered around my cabin door,oh, hard times come again no more. Oh, hard times come again no more.
Part 2
I wrote the first note after everyone went to bed last night, and before Benny and I had a chance to talk through the evening. So this morning I told him about the note and explained what I had been feeling this week. He just smiled and began reassuring me that we are right where we’re supposed to be, and doing what God led us to do, then he told me a story.
Last night at Supper on the Pearl, several guys were thanking Benny for doing the food. He told them they were welcome, and one of them said “This is a lot better than picking food out of the trash or asking (begging) for people’s leftovers. Benny told him that’s why we do this; provide food so you don’t have to ask for it, sure, but also to offer dignity and value, and to invite them to be part of a meal. One of the men thanked him again and said, “Well we know who SEVENS is, and we have a lot of respect for you guys.”
I got a little teary and silently thanked God for the confirmation. Not just that He led us to feed the hungry, but to offer them dignity and value, and invite them to be a part of something. God answered my question. We make a difference.
Then at church this morning, my friend Karen got up to talk about the rich meaning behind communion and asked us to follow along as she read Matthew 9:9-13. My breath caught in my throat as I opened my Bible. When Karen began to read, I burst into tears. Not loudly, but the tears flowed freely down my face. My friend Paula was sitting next to me and she put her arm around me. I couldn’t control it and I had to get up and leave the service for a few minutes. A concerned and loving friend, Paula followed me to the bathroom not knowing that nothing was wrong. I was just having a Holy Spirit moment. You see, a few days ago, Ty, one of our TX teens who has participated in our summer program, sent me a message on Facebook:
“our youth group is doing this 40 day bible reading challenge and i read a couple of verses the other day that made me think of you and benny. It’s Matthew 9:9-13. cant wait to see yall at camp this summer”
Do you see what happened? I asked, and God answered. I was struggling with doubt and He sent a kid I love to tell me I’m where I’m supposed to be. And just in case I missed it the first time, he reminded me again during church through two of my best friends. And that would be wonderful if that were the end of the story, but God is God and He outdoes Himself.
As I was leaving my house this afternoon, I walked around my van to get in, and something caught my eye. I looked down and stared in disbelief at a heart shaped rock right in front of me. I had just walked that path an hour before and I swear it wasn’t there! For those of you that don’t know, heart rocks are one of mine and God’s love languages. He gives them to me, sometimes when I ask, and sometimes when I haven’t, obviously. I find them in the strangest places. Tearing up again, I picked up the rock and turned it over in my hand, then showed Max, whose face lit up. He totally gets my rock thing. I thanked God for the gift and told Him that I love Him too.
It’s time for bed and where as lastnight was one of questions, tonight I find myself overwhelmed by God’s love. Since I ended the last note with a song by Eastmountainsouth, I think it’s only appropriate to do the same with this one. This is the song I sang when I auditioned for the worship band. It’s also on my itunes Top 25 played list. I couldn’t find a youtube video I liked for the song, but I wanted you to hear it:
So Are You To Me…
As the music at the banquet, As the wine before the meal,
As the firelight in the night, So are you to me
As the ruby in the setting, As the fruit upon the tree,
As the wind blows over the plains, So are you to me
As the wind blows over the plains, So are you to me,
Joy. It’s all about J-O-Y with her. I’m talking about my friend Kim Woodhouse. I’ve blogged about meeting her at a writer’s group, asked for prayers on her family’s behalf, celebrated with them when they were chosen by the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show, and shared pictures from the “reveal day.” For months, I talked about this amazing family to anyone who would listen, and now I have the honor of telling the world (along with several other bloggers) about her new book!
My anticipation of this book release was great, and I was not disappointed. I was thrilled to read Welcome Home! and learn more than I ever knew about Kim, Jeremy, Josh and Kayla. I cried, laughed, and cried some more. I continue to be impressed with Jeremy’s patience and strength, Kim’s perseverance and joy, Josh’s tender and loyal heart, and Kayla’s sweet spirit and hope. 🙂 I am thankful for the thousands of people who have touched their lives, walked through many trials with them, and encouraged them to never give up.
From the back cover:
Overwhelming trials . . . met with overcoming joy.
Kayla Woodhouse is not your typical twelve-year-old. Due to a rare medical disorder, she feels no pain, doesn’t sweat, and needs protective cooling gear just to go outside. With her restrictive lifestyle; countless hospitalizations, including brain surgery; and the resulting mountain of hospital bills, what’s a family to do?
How the Woodhouse family has faced seemingly impossible challenges is a story that has captured the hearts of America. Millions of people have experienced glimpses of their lives on Discovery’s Mystery ER, The Montel Williams Show, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (recently voted one of the show’s all-time best episodes!).
Now Kayla’s mom, Kimberley, takes readers behind the cameras to reveal their family’s journey as never before told. From medical sleuthing to cross-country moves, from freak fires to battles with insurance companies, Welcome Home proves that truth really is stranger than fiction. This candid life story reveals both success and failure and demonstrates how, even during tough circumstances, to shift your life from heartbreak to extreme joy.
Peek inside the Woodhouse family’s life (and their famous house) with a 16-page photo insert.
I’m going to give you the opportunity to do just that! For a chance to win a signed copy of Welcome Home!, leave a comment at the end of this post. On Monday morning, September 21st, I’ll draw a name using random.org.
This book was the reminder I needed to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). Kim lives by this verse, clings to it, and rejoices in it, and her story is a wonderful example of faith for the rest of us!
kimberleywoodhouse.com has it all! Learn more about the Woodhouse family, check out Kim’s other projects, sign up for her monthly newsletter, invite her to speak, shop her store, leave a note of encouragement, and more!
*Don’t forget to leave a comment here for a chance to win Welcome Home!*
Max and I went on a date tonight. My spunky nine year old is so funny, and I don’t mean in a telling jokes sort of way. Earlier today I told Benny I was going to see Transformers, and he suggested I take Max with me. I almost said no because it was my kid-free day (I need those every now and then) and he had already seen the movie with Benny. It didn’t make sense to me to pay for him to see it again. Then I remembered that he had been asking me when we were going to have a Mommy-Max date again. It had been awhile, so I changed my mind.
When I pulled into the driveway to pick him up, he hopped into the van before I had come to a complete stop. He was all smiles and had put on his nicest clothes for our date, and he chatted the whole way to the theater. I lost track of how many times he said, “You’re going to love this Mommy!” If you know me, then you know my son. Max has his mother’s worst and best traits, which sometimes drives me crazy. He takes “detail oriented” to a whole new level! Max told me that we needed to sit in the exact same seats he and his Popa had occupied a few days earlier. (Insert rolling eyes here!) He explained where the speakers were in relation to our seats so we’d have the best sound possible. He told me what previews were coming up next, and he pointed out that I needed to turn off my cell phone – bossy little thing. 🙂
We loved the movie, and had a good time comparing notes while walking back to the van. Tonight I watched my son in amazement. He soaks everything in and categorizes it by whatever system is clicking away in his brain. He’s smart and articulate, kind hearted, and friendly. He smiles at strangers and holds doors for people. He notices details that I miss, then launches into talking about the weather. Tomorrow he’ll wake up and check ebay for Transformers stuff and draw Autobots all over the place. He’s such a predictable kid, and he’s so…well…good. I must be doing something right.
Joy. It’s all about J-O-Y with her. I’m talking about my friend Kim Woodhouse. I’ve blogged about 
Sometimes I Write 