This year is just racing to an end! Each morning it is: hurry and get ready, a pow wow with the family and check list for the day; encouraging [read "pushing" here] kids to finish every task; heading to any and all appointments/ practices/ rehearsals/ lessons/ or doctor's appointments; and then figuring out what to feed the little chickens for dinner, Bible reading, kisses, talks and bed. I seem to face each evening with a very disheartened face with the reality of what "still needs to be done". [Not to mention mounds of laundry]
It seems we run continuously at high speeds. Yet it's like driving out West where the roads are so long and straight the distance you must travel to your destination continously eludes you. Every so often I just have to stop and ponder... then look back to see just how far we have come. Nope, I'm not "looking back from my plow" and wrecking the row in front of me.... just stopping for a cold glass of lemonade and admiring the work done. [I have to... the laundry is taunting me.]
So our word for this year:
GROWTH!On so many levels.... spiritual, physical, emotional, health, patience [maturing can be a hard thing to do], cooking [it's a long story].
This year started with family and friends visiting and Daniel traveling. It seems to always happen, when Daddy's gone we have little emergencies. We spent the better part of this year figuring out why our little seven year old seemed to have juvenile arthritis in one of his knees. Praise the Lord for great friends and good doctors who helped put all the pieces of the puzzle together and Gabe has been symptom free for several months now!
We've loved on some neighbors and learned how to love neighbors. We've watched good friends move away, people lose their faith, and people grow in faith. We've learned what it means to live with an "adult child" in the house. [Forgive me M for using the word "child".] Hey! I even baked my first wedding cake!
Our sweet 9 year old got out of braces and her older brother got into them. We've celebrated with friends growing older and mourned with friends who have lost. We've met people who have challenged us greatly in areas where we just plain needed it! Daniel has become a much better compounding pharmacist and learned so much about different areas of medicine that he had little oportunity to see before in the retail world. We even started building on his life long dream of an airplane.
We've homeschooled our little chick-a-dees. I've watched the incredible growth this year with 2 more readers in the house, a toddler with a passion to climb things and one pre-adolescent young man whose intelligence keeps his parents on their toes. Zeke has transitioned from his baby bed, bottle and baby food to definite toddler status. Between Daniel's trips to El Salvador in the Spring and Ethiopia in November he finished his first year as the teacher of the Adventure Rangers and all the camping and activities that come with that.
[Talk about growth... for someone who never considered himself a teacher...] We spent not a few hours studying for Ranger of the Year Testings with our 2 older boys. [That's worth another post to tell you about the growth and what was spoken into our boys' lives there!]
In the mist of it all life happened.....and growth.
There have been late night conversations and heart searching questions to answer. There have been "ta-dah!" moments when something you've tried to put your finger on for years finally makes it way to the front of your brain. There has been great sadnesses, great moments of understanding, great lessons learned and even great silliness. [Great laundry piles also... I think it multiplies by itself!]
Sometimes I wonder how we can possibly grow in the mist of all the chaos life brings. Then I remember that God is working on us
through it all.... and I smile and question how one "grows" from doing the laundry... [It is a very good thing God understands my humor and loves me anyway.]
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Lord help us to be like that tree... growing and producing fruit for You.
Merriest of Christmases to you all! Stop and look back to ponder where you've come from and the "Reason for the Season".
Hugs & Blessings from one laundry surfing mama!
