Jumping into summer

I didn’t realize how fast it would go. This year, these days, this time. I guess it happens with the change of every season, but I feel the pull of time a little more this year. The books have been collected, the notebooks trashed, the concerts played, the programs performed and here we stand on the edge of another summer. The kids pull out their swim suits and no one has one that fits. Didn’t we just buy new ones?  And there’s that feeling again, the one of being two steps behind.

God made a boy — or, what I need to remember this mother’s day

This is for the ones who call me mom. The ones who make me laugh, cry, love, worry, clean, scream, clean some more and feel all the things, all the time. For 14 years, I have wondered what was God  thinking when he created these boy creatures and decided I could handle 3 of them?! This might not be how it actually happened. But I imagine that it went something like this …

So this is May

** I’ve been writing in this space for a year now! And it is strange how much has changed in the past 365 days. Probably true for you as well? This post first appeared here last year as May rolled in and so many things were ending and beginning in my life. And now as the beauty of the month of May is filling in the world around us once again, bringing its crazy schedules with it, I find that I need these same reminders.  Maybe you too? So I’m reposting this for all of us as we take a deep breath and walk into this new season.**

Learning how to stop

We played this crazy game as kids. We would stand on the edge of the cul de sac with our toes in the grass, fling our arms wide with abandon, tip our faces skyward and spin around and around as fast as we could go.  It’s been decades, but this week that weird game has been on replay in my head; the cold of the grass blades between my toes, the swirl of the street, the houses, and the towering pine trees blurring before my twirling eyes. Round and round we would go; amazed at the way our world upended itself with each spin. But then someone would yell STOP! And we were supposed to cease spinning and  just fall down. I never could get that part right. I could spin with the best of them, but I was terrible at stopping. 

Finding a Seat For Easter

So excited to have the opportunity to share my words over at  the (in)courage community today. It is an honor to be able to write on their site this Holy Week.

We have to go move the chairs. It’s Easter — the holiday of moving chairs . . . and talking about Jesus,” my youngest explains to his friend as I herd my kids into the car. “What?” I ask, thinking that there are a thousand other ways to talk about the highest holy day on the church calendar. Moving chairs? “Yeah, mom,” he answers grinning. “Jesus comes back to life; so we have to go move all the chairs!” …. Click Here to keep reading.

 

The way through the storm

We never even saw it coming. Our car full of friends, mixed tapes and rumpled snack food bags was headed out of town for the weekend; bursting at the seams with laughter and luggage. It had begun to get dark when we left, but we were college kids; invincible and unworried. So we piled in and hit the road without so much as a glance at the sky.  And that storm came at us out of nowhere.

When you are looking for the light

It all started with the fork that someone stuck in the garbage disposal. I flipped the switch before I saw it and the result was not awesome. The mangled piece of silverware was beyond repair. And as I tried to dig the pieces out of the disposal, the washing machine began to sound like a rocket ship landing in the kitchen. I tossed the fork aside. I had hardly fixed the lopsided machine when a kid wandered in anxious for dinner and a ride to youth group. Dinner!?! He was followed by another kid who needed help with a mysterious project that had no directions. And a third who was crying about a cul de sac baseball game. Suddenly, I was having a day.

Giving it all up for Lent?

Nutella, homework, water, long pants, broccoli; just a few of the “what I’m giving up for Lent” suggestions that my boys have been tossing around lately. You can see that we are clearly making an impact with our religious teaching over here … such sacrifice. It sure will be tough giving up  broccoli for Lent!

For when you are in-between

It’s February, right? The month of roses, cupid, Valentine hearts and cold winter wind? February. Here in the South, though, the dogwoods are blooming, the sun is shining, I’m wearing flip flops and the boys are already whining about the heat. Seriously? Spring appears to have sprung in February. And we suddenly find ourselves in between seasons. But. I’ve lived here long enough not to trust it. Appearances can be deceiving and there is no clearer example of that than the weather in Georgia. It could snow tomorrow.

Where do you think you are going in those shoes?

Twenty- one years ago this week, I met the boy who would become my husband. On a blind date. While wearing tennis shoes.

Yeah. I was a real fashionista. And as my sweet husband relishes in reminding me, it was not a tennis shoe worthy kind of date. It involved dinner. At a restaurant. Most people there were not wearing tennis shoes.