Friday Splash 6/30/06

This week has had it’s dark moments, but there is always, always joy to be found.  Here’s what I enjoyed this week:

• DH has a loooooonnnnnggggg weekend.  Unofficially starting today and lasting through the 4th of July. 
• Baby is saying Daddy, Duckie, and Doggie all the time now, and that has been so much fun.
• Being on a budget! (How many people do you know that count that as a joy?)
• I met my 12 wk mark in the pregnancy, so chance of  miscarriage is much lower.
• The energy crisis seems to be ending (see above).

All right, once again, I invite you to share any splashes of joy that made their way into your week! 

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Hard News to Take

Sometimes a phone call brings happy news–of babies expected or babies born, of scholarships won or tests passed, of engagements and weddings, holiday greetings, and job promotions.  But sometimes, a phone call delivers more troubling news.  So when my sister called to tell me this afternoon, I could tell by her voice that the news she had was the troubling kind. 

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Early Signs of Genius

She always makes me smile.  Thought this picture might make you smile, too.

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Friday Splash 6/23/06

I missed last week's Splash of Joy post because I had taken the whole week off.  This week, I want to include some of my children's joy splashes.

• Having a friend over to our house to play
• Making a craft
• Eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Playing High-Ho Cherry-O with Mom
• Doing "stunts" on their bikes
• Doing reading lessons and homework (honest, they really said that!)
• Going to a friend's house to play

So there you have it.  My children have spoken out in their joy.  I don't think I'll ask what they didn't enjoy about the week, because well, I don't really want to be that transparent.  You might actually have the idea that I'm a pretty good mom, and I wouldn't want to disillusion you. 🙂

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Heaven in Our Hearts

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

    –C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

As a perfectionist (by nature, though by no means in practice), I find that I am often dissatisfied with the state of things, from household trivialities to global crises.  I get frustrated with my own shortcomings perhaps most of all, and I have to remind myself that there is no perfection this side of Heaven.  Amazingly, that is the hope that keeps me motivated.  I have so much to look forward to, and I know that this world will never satisfy. In fact, I am surprised at how much of my time I have spent trying to make this first brief life "perfect".  Expecting perfection in this life is an affront to our hope of Heaven.  There is freedom in looking ahead toward That Day.  We can be at peace in our striving, because we know that God has given us dissatisfaction with the state of the fallen world as a way of keeping our appetites whetted for His return.  And we fight the good fight, knowing that we were created for much more than this.

"We are reaching for the future.  We are reaching for the past.  And no matter what we have, we reach for more.  We are desperate to discover what is just beyond our grasp.  Well maybe that's what Heaven is for."

–Carolyn Arends, Reaching

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No Blogging? No Guilt.

I didn't blog at all last week.  Didn't write for this blog, didn't read anyone else's blog, didn't even really think about the blogosphere, except to think, "I have more important things to do right now than blog."  What were those important things?  Well, certainly nothing exciting or even all that out of the ordinary.  I am just being a wife, a mom, and an at-home teacher.  Oh, and I'm growing a new miraculous life within my own body.  Maybe that is the kicker (seriously, no pun intended!).  Adding on the extra task of humbly participating in creation has me a little behind the ball on some extraneous things like blogging.  And mopping my floor.  But I'm choosing not to feel guilty about either.  My children are growing fast, and they won't remember a clean floor so much as a shared story time.  And I'm sure very few miss my contributions to the blogosphere, but I know my children would miss our games of catch and Candyland.  And since my energy is in higher demand now, I have to pick and choose what is worth the spending.  So, I am sorry if you have missed my writings.  I'm not gone.  Just having a local energy crisis.  But don't worry, it shouldn't affect your gas prices.

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Friday Splash 6/9/06

This week’s splashes of joy:

• Seeing Li’l Blessing on the ultrasound
• Having dinner with DH at a nice restaurant by ourselves (thanks J and V for babysitting!)
• Blessings of encouragement for my Mom and Dad
• Missy and Bud enjoying VBS for their first time
• Christmas scheme-ing already in the works 🙂
• Laughing over the Reader’s Digest stories while waiting in the doctor’s office. (Don’t you love those?)
• Reading to Baby at night

Ok, now it’s your turn.  Share your joy!

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Like a Beep in the Night

Two nights ago, at around two in the morning, our little schnauzer jumped up into bed with us (which he is not allowed to do), and he woke me up because he was shaking. 

I immediately sat up to see what was going on.  He was shivering so badly that the whole bed was shaking.  I thought maybe he was having a seizure or had a fever or something.  No amount of petting and soothing could get him to calm down. 

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Homesick

This weekend my cousin got married.  He is the first of my cousins on my dad's side to get married, so it was a pretty exciting day.  My older brother and his wife from Maryland were there.  My younger brother and his wife from Ft. Worth were there.  And my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins were there.  In fact, I think everyone in my family but my sister and her family from Houston and me and my family were together this weekend. 

That's one thing that stinks about being in the military.  We live so far away from family that it costs a small fortune to fly home, and therefore we miss out on the big events that mean so much.  Marriage covenants are made, babies are born, and loved ones go on to meet Jesus…and we are unable to be a part of it. 

But it isn't just the military that creates such distance within families.  The very "ease of mobility" which makes flying from coast to coast in a matter of hours possible has subsequently made distance seem "not so far" and so that job out in Oregon (or Maine or wherever "far from home" is) looks a lot more appealing.  But in reality, with cost and time considered, the gap is actually quite large.  You find that you weigh your decision to go home very carefully because the cost is dear.  You plan to go home for the wedding, but then you can't afford to go for Christmas.  You have to decide which events are most important, when in reality, you want to be there for all of them.

It makes me long for the days when families settled down near their parents' homestead.  Where your name (and your word) meant something because people knew it, and they knew your daddy, too.  Where a new mom had her own mama and aunts and sisters around her when she brought that new life into the world.  Where cousins grew up and played together and Sunday dinner was at Grandma's.  There was support and stability in that.  There was tradition and heritage, too.  How quickly we give that up for that raise or career move–that chance at the "American Dream". 

And we say to ourselves, "It isn't really that far.  I'm just a plane trip away."

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Friday Splash 6/2/06

Time for my splashes of joy for the week!

• Baby learned to wave
• Had a great time at the park with a friend while our kiddos played
• DH had Monday off, so this is a short week
• Bud's results on his academic analysis
• Missy read a story to Baby all by herself
• Listening to DH read stories to the kids at night

All right, your turn!  What brightened up your week?

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