My husband inquired of me the other day, "Do you remember the fruity pebble incident?" Some family moments become legendary; the fruity pebble incident is one such moment in our family. It began one evening at bedtime: 4 year old dutifully brushing teeth. Father dutifully checking in on brushing four year old notices something amiss in the food pantry as he passes by. Cereal bag, turned just so, opened just a crack, a still small voice whispers to dutiful Father, "Check the brushing child." Momentary argument, "She's already brushed any sneaky evidence away." Still small voice,"Check anyway." Upon inquiry dutiful father is reassured by brushing child, "No Daddy, I didn't sneak into the fruity pebbles. "Are you sure?" After several such reassurances, dutiful father mercifully chooses the bottom of the grave being dug by brushing child. Lo and behold brushing child has indeed left evidence of her sin. There, hidden from her ...

It is a challenge raising six kids that are only four years apart from each other. Each phase has challenges of its own and requires ingenuity, creativity and patience. Changing diapers and keeping little tots safe in the house was different from the challenge of schooling and chores. I have recently reestablished a strategy that I used when they were young, and it has transformed the way our house is running. When they were small I lived by the "divide and conquer" method. Setting two at various stations (a coloring table, a dress up room, a painting station, playdough, free play...) kept them occupied. We switched every 1/2 hour. That was about as long as their little attention spans could last. I don't know when I stopped doing this, but I have rediscovered it and "divide and conquer" has once again transformed our once chaotic lifestyle into an orderly and productive home. The stations have changed : they are now chores , school and free time . Not only d...

I have to confess: my spiritual life has been somewhat lackluster lately. There just didn't seem to be the passion there to keep going. I was being smothered by daily life. Sinking in the quicksand of indecision, I was losing day after day as laundry and dishes and children sank deeper and deeper with me... I wanted God to be my Mary Poppins, to pop in and sing me a song and quickly make it all right and whisk me away somewhere lovely and happy. But that is not His way. He is faithful, even when we are not, and hears our deep sighs.... Without fanfare or umbrella He did arrive one day; in His own fashion He arrived in my inbox. It was right before New Years and Ann Voskamp wrote a piece on the grace of God as he fills in the old tracks we have laid for ourselves and she gave some very prudent advice on how to proceed to lay down new tracks for the new year. Grace covering yesterday's mistakes (yes I like that) and 5 steps to lay new tracks for the new year. No New Year's ...

Mid morning, house a-buzz with the energy of the day, 5-year- old traces well-worn path to mama's room proudly presenting one of several like-gifts of the day: "Mama, look what I have for you." A page brightly and carefully colored, all 5-year-old. Temptation rises: another color page. I get several a day from 5, 6, 7, 7, 8 and 9 year old. The temptation to minimize her gift fades with the realization of her true gift: eyes meeting I give a little thank-you -for thinking -of -me hug nestled in a word of praise. A moment to show her that she matters to me as well. The gift, if I am present in the moment and not caught up in the chaos around me, is oh so much more than a paper with colors. She is thinking of me. Racing through the day, do I pause and receive the ordinary gifts God gives, the ones I have several of already; meeting His eyes, giving him a little thank-you-for-thinking-of-me hug nestled in a word of praise? Am I present in the moment? Or do I run by and...

I have nothing to say. I am a blank slate. For days now my word well has been dry, My tongue has been stuck like thick black ink pasted to bottle sides. Ideas, once overflowing and running freely, circle without color. Scribble, circle, scribble. Nope. No ink. Muse. Pause. Silence. Where they've gone and when they will return there is no telling. My thoughts sit on opposite sides of the porch swing and stare, moving in tandem but not daring to inch too close lest they unite and form an idea. So I'll wait and swing and hope that one day soon my thoughts and ideas and words will run freely once again.

A friend led me here. She forwarded a very timely word from Ann Voskamp a few weeks ago. I continued to follow her thoughts and found myself desiring to leave a comment here or there. In order to do so I had to create my own space and join. I do have a story, as everyone does. Soon I will sit down and take the time to write it out. In the mean time the creation of this blog page caused me to stop and meditate on who I am and what it is I might have to say. It's been so long since I've had any deep adult interactions. Mine all take the form of nurse, referee, teacher or confidant. I hope to find some friends here. I really have appreciated Ann Voskamp and her beautiful words, photos and music. I think this page has staying power for me. We'll see....

It's 10:42 Pm. The day is ending almost exactly as it started... I sat down to thank Ann Vaskamp from aholyexperience for her words this morning. How could she possibly have known that I, so many many miles away, was standing in her very shoes? There was nothing left to say - she had so eloquently said it all for me. How does she do that, make crying babies and messy houses and hungry husbands sounds so eloquent? In a brief quiet moment at the end of the day I came to thank God for the encouragement during my brief quiet moment this morning and I am beckoned once again. This time One, in rushed slumber to reach the potty, has failed to lift the seat , and the car light is still on... and one needs water... Ann, I am so glad you wrote this morning. Thanks for kneeling and lending me your knees. It made a difference in my day.

The essence of faith is the unseen - without it faith is no faith at all. If I wait until God brings in the harvest, provides tomorrow's grain or today's health and then claim to be woman of faith, does that glorify God? What happens when God does not give me what I desire? A Pastor in our area lost his young wife recently after a long battle with MS. They prayed and prayed for a miracle. She suffered long and hard. They all did. Her children will grow up without their mother. Where is God in that? Why didn't her faith make her well? According to Oswald Chambers it is not in the receiving but in the looking that we are saved: "Waiting for God is incarnate unbelief, it means that I have no faith in Him; I wait for Him to do something in me that I may trust in that. God will not do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship...I do not believe God unless He will give me something in my hand whereby I know I have it, then I say -"Now I believ...

Lamentations 3: 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. 29 Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. 30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strik e him, and let him be filled with disgrace. 31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief...

"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10 The moral law does not consider us as weak human beings at al l, it takes no account of our heredity and infirmities, it demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never alters, either for the noblest or for the weakest, it is eternally and abidingly the same. The moral law ordained by God does not make itself weak to the weak, it does not palliate our shortcomings, it remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we do not realize this, it is because we are less than alive; immediately we are alive, life becomes a tragedy. " I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." When we realize this, then the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. Until a man gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of Christ is a farce to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful binding sense of the law, it makes a man hope...