A Smile after the Tears

Today couldn't come soon enough for my three very excited children and honestly it is at a perfect time. Since yesterday was a very hard day for my oldest child.

His best friend moved away yesterday. He has cried buckets of tears and has already felt the loss of that friendship. It was a really rough day, for all of us... but today, his cousins are arriving from Wisconsin and that means the next 5 days this house will be a hive of activity and there will be loads of fun to be had.

The kids are counting down the hours until they arrive this afternoon and my niece and I are busy getting everything ready for their arrival!

Blessings!!

B.A.N.G.

After a long day on Friday, I was winding my day down at my friend Megan's house with some friends. I left her house just after 11:30pm and was making my way home through the back streets when something happened.

I heard a loud bang and then I heard something hit my truck. At the same time as I heard the bang I saw an individual on the sidewalk that was in perfect position to have shot something at my vehicle.

I didn't stop, for obvious reasons. After I arrived home, Kev and I looked at the damage and decided that we should call the police.

After a lengthy discussion it was decided that (thankfully) it wasn't a bullet that hit the truck but something more like a rock that was shot at the truck. Which still is not good, but better than a bullet! Strangely this is the second time that I have been targeted (in the same neighborhood) within the last 2 years.

Unfortunately the officer said that being a white educated women makes me a target. He nicely advised me to not be out after dark by myself, that I should stay clear of the neighborhood that I had driven through at night and that I should never hesitate to call the police about anything.

This is the very same neighborhood that I run through regularly. He advised that I find a new route to run and never, never, run at night. Even with my big, mean, rottweiler as protection. He explained that there has been several shootings, right where my incident happened and there was a rape just last week.

Thankfully this is not MY neighborhood, but it kind of freaks you out none the less. Especially because it isn't that far from my house.

On a positive note, we had a wonderful conversation with this officer, we were able to play dutch bingo (even though he was hispanic) and figured out that there were 3 other officers that he used to work with that Kev and & I know.

That's all for tonight.

Blessings!!

Material or Eternal?

A few weeks ago I was out with one of my friends. We talked for hours, it was a great night for the both of us. One of the subjects we discussed was hearing God's voice. She was telling me how she was trying to hear His voice but was having a hard time with it.

Surprisingly this is a topic that seems to come up often amongst my friends. We talked about how hearing God's voice can be hearing His Word, it can be when a friend prays over you, it can be in praise music and it can be that still small voice. Then there are times when that voice isn't very still or small, it seems to scream in my ear. One of those times was last night.

The kids were given instructions and even though they were following through with those instructions, they were being a little silly and the job wasn't getting done in an efficient, thorough manor. When it was discovered, the parental displeasure came down upon them and we ended up with three very quiet children, two of which had tears falling down their soft cheeks.

That is when I heard His voice.

When my Father is communicating with me, I tend to get very quiet because I am trying to hear what he is telling me, I usually argue back and then I need silence and solitude so that I can go over in my mind what was being told to me. Last night was no different.

After the kids were in bed, prayed for, kissed, hugged and told that they are loved, I disappeared into my room. The message I kept getting was strangling my heart. I was feeling beat-up and broken. I needed time alone to cry and pray.

I usually find it particularly hard to be corrected. It is a horrible trait that I carry and so last nights words of correction were difficult for me to except. God kept saying to me....

"Lyn, Material or Eternal. What are you training your kids for?"

My argue back was... "Lord, it is important to train your children how take care of material things."

"Lyn, were they learning a material lesson or an eternal lesson?"

Our conversation continued, we had a lot to talk about, which is mostly one sided because God doesn't waste words. He just kept saying "Material or Eternal."

When I was a teenager my greatest desire was to go to college (out of state) and become a nurse. I had my life all planned out. I wanted independence. I wanted a good paying job. I wanted, I wanted, I wanted. But God wanted differently for me. He orchestrated a shift in my thinking. He set before me a path that he himself picked for me.

I didn't go to college, I got married. I didn't become a nurse, I became a mother. My good paying job, turned into a 24/7 job with a yearly income of $0.

I take my job very seriously. I want my children to be neat and clean, I want them to know how to take care of their things, how to clean a bathroom, cook a meal, take good care of the blessings God has given us. I want them to be trustworthy, a good friend. I want them to be men (and a woman) of Character. I want them to be loving and kind. To help those who need help without anything in return. I want them to be humble. But more than all those things I want them to know the love of their Father. I want them to see Him in all they do, I want them to turn to Him when things get tough. I want them to read for themselves in the Bible what God says. I want to train their ears to hear His voice. I want to train them for eternity.

So the lesson God was whispering to me in a not so quiet voice hit home. It makes me look really hard at myself. Am I training more for the material than for the eternal? I do not want to put any stumbling blocks in front of their growing faith in a Loving Heavenly Father.

So as I sit here in front of my computer, with tears in my eyes, I am again going to start this day as I start every other day. Asking God for help in being the best Mom I can be today. That my mind be on the things above, not on the dirty dishes in the sink or the clothes that need folding. That as I go through my day may all I do bring glory to Him who placed me in this most scary yet awesome job of my life. Raising three little hearts to love the one who spoke them into being.

Blessings!!

Art Prize and Hot Flashes ;)

I have run out of time the last few days to blog. I have been here in body, but not really mind. Several reasons for this, but manly, I haven't had a good nights sleep and when I don't get sleep, my jumbled mind is even more jumbled and not much gets done in a efficient (Kev's favorite word) manor. But last night, I slept like a baby because??? The A/C was on and I wasn't woken up 100 times (it might have been a few less than that) to Kev's hot flashes. I will spare you the details, but man oh man, the man needs to learn the art of sleeping with just the sheet! He is one of "those people" that need weight on him when he sleeps and since I hate being overheated when I sleep, I whip off the comforter which then lands on him and he is a happy camper because that is more weight, and then I have to deal with the "hot dance" as he jumps out of bed in a hot mess. (He is going to love me for this post, but that's what he gets for texting my friend this morning that I was out of bed by the b*tt crack of dawn. ;)

Anywho, since I am out of bed at early thirty, have 1 bed stripped (other 2 beds are still occupied... smart kids), have those sheets laundered, banana bread started and most importantly BLOGGING. I will share some of the Art Prize pictures with you. Some you might have seen before but who cares right.... honestly it is tooooo early to care!

I love taking pictures of Tyler. His face has so full of expressions. You can tell by looking at his face what he is thinking.

The lions were made out of individual nails. The kids really liked them, of course they really like most of the things you could get your hands on a touch (they are like their Momma).

They loved the dragon too!

Micah in front of the Blue Chaos (if you remember, this was his favorite).

There was this electric harp. You could stand in front of it, wave your arms back and forth and it would sound like you were playing a harp.

The winner of the Art Prize was a pencil drawing. It was one of my favorites. I can't remember how big it was (it was huge) but I do remember this is a copy of a real picture. I wish I could have gotten the whole picture in, but the room was not big enough and I left my wide angle lens at home. Hopefully you can get an idea how cool it really was.

Jilli (with Poppop's help) pretending to be in a rug dress :)

Ok that is it for today, hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather!

Blessings!!

The Gardens

In all the years that we have been going to the Gardens, I never remember walking as much as we did on this day. I think we hit all of the park on foot, and if we missed something, it couldn't have been much because we went all over. Thankfully it was such a beautiful day that it was really nice to walk around.

All of the Chihuly glass was interesting, but there were some that really stuck out (no pun intended). Tyler stood looking at these glass spikes, I hate to know what his mind was thinking when he was looking at the glass. They looked like they would make really great swords! One interesting tidbit about this particular exhibit was that when the grounds crew cut the grass, they had to remove each piece of glass, cut the grass and put it back in the ground. I would HATE to have that job. Not because it is tedious, but because knowing me, I would have one in hand, someone call me, I spin around smack another one, break that, take a step back knock one over and before you know it, they would all be on the ground in many pieces.

There was lots of "floating glass" that was really cool. Each piece unique in it's own way.

Tyler and Jillian standing on the edge of the rock looking at one of the exhibits.

Don't remember the name of this one, but I kind of liked it.

There was a point when the kids were acting like some of the art prize statues. It was really kind of funny.

When I would try and take a picture of Tyler doing it, he would walk away, so I don't really have any of him.

After awhile Jilli's legs got a little tired, so Poppop gave her a little ride. The boys tried to tell us their legs were tired too, they wanted a ride... They have no idea how much bigger they are than Jilli! Sorry boys, you have to walk!

Just looking back at these pictures brings the day rushing back to me. Maybe that is why I like taking pictures so much, stilled moments, but when put all together, they are reminders of a wonderful day.

Blessings!!

Splish.. Splash..

"Mom... Mom... can we play with the boats?" "Sure kids, as long as you don't get wet!"

Umm.... that wasn't one of my most brilliant moments. If you allow your children to play with water, they will get wet. Well, not just wet... SOAKED! Ama, Poppop and I all had a good laugh over it.

By the time they were done playing, they pretty much looked like they had dove into a pool with their clothes on. But guess what, they dried and we still had a fabulous day!

Blessings!!

Jacob Part II

Kevin sat down for lunch with his two buddies. They start talking about beaches and where they like to go. One of them tells Kevin his favorite beach is North Shore Beach. Kevin says "Really, when was the last time you were there?" Bill tells him 4th of July.

The story continues.....

Bill says to him, "did you hear about that boy that was missing?"

Kevin tells him yes, Bill says "yeah, that little boy was part of our group."

Kevin says "yeah, Lyn and I were the ones that brought him back."

Kevin goes and explains our half of the story to Bill. Then Bill tells us what happened at the park.

Apparently Jacob and all the other kids were playing on the toys. He decides to go find his Mom and walks off. His parents were both at the toys watching all the kids. Jacob was probably gone for about 5 min before the parents realize that he is missing. They start searching, other people realize what is going on, they start searching, then more people see what is happening and someone runs to get the ranger.

Bill sends his oldest son to search for Jacob, he heads north (Jacob went south). Rangers call everyone out of the water to do a scan of of the water. Still no Jacob. Parents are really starting to freak out. Police were called, Coast Guard was called. Who knows how long all that was going on. Bill tells Kevin that Jacob's parents really thought he was gone, that he had some how walked off and drowned.

I have no idea how long the searching went on, but Bill tells us they were organizing a human chain to search the water when the call came in "I have the child!"

Gives me chills to hear the story from the other side. I think Kevin and I had the easy job. We knew Jacob was safe, it was just getting him back to where he needed to be that was a little difficult. My mind has often wondered how frantic the parents had been. I remember as a girl going to a beach with a friend when a child ended up missing. I remember the mother screaming, being hysterical and then collapsing. I remember the human chain. All the adults lined up along the beach holding hands as they began their silent walk into the water. Then we hear shouting coming from the playground area, all of a sudden a women comes running with a child in her arms, "I have the child!" The mother turns and the tears start flowing as her child is put back into her arms.

I thank God for his orchestrating of that day. He had us in the right place at the right time. He used us to bring a little boy back to his frantic parents. What a blessing it is to be used in such a way and then for God to bring us full circle and let us know the other half of the story is just like our Great Big Wonderful God!

Blessings!!