CHIPS!

Hi Friends!
Whew... the past couple of days have been quite a whirlwind! I spoke at the Mops National Convention on Friday in Orlando and then on 4 hours of restless sleep, spoke at the Ruth Graham and Friends conference on Saturday in Minnesota. So, a special hello to my MOPS and Minnesota friends coming to my blog for the first time! I am now back in my favorite place in the world...home!

I have such a neat God experience to tell you about. Last week before I went on my scrapbook weekend, I was taking the kids to school. Ashley was lamenting that we did not have any 'good' chips for her to take in her lunch. We had chips mind you, but she didn't like the chips that we had. (Okay we had some stale crumbs in the bottom of a few chip bags... but let's not be picky please!) So, I logged in my brain that I should go get the child some good chips and leave them as a special surprise for her to find while I was gone.

But my good intentions were no match for my tight time frame that morning. As I packed my suitcases, I realized that I could not get the chips. That yucky guilt feeling started knocking at my heart... moms, you know what I'm talking about.

Well, I pushed past my feelings and pressed on in my quest to be a family historian and load boxes of unorganized photos into my vehicle. As I opened my front door to take my first scrapbooking supplies load to my car, there was a huge box sitting there. I guess UPS had come and gone without me noticing. I went to my car and on my way back into the house I picked up the box. I was surprised by how light it was. I took it straight to the kitchen, opened it up, and what do you think I found???????

CHIPS!

A whole box full to overflowing with every kind of good chips you can imagine!!!! I laughed out loud and threw my hands in the air. God had put it on someones heart to send me chips on the very day that I needed CHIPS! Had I received them a day earlier, I would have simply thought, "wow, that's nice... chips." But getting them on this day was like getting a love letter straight from the Lord! He loves me, cares about me, fills in my many gaps, and loves for me to experience Him in the most wondrous ways. I just have to be in a place spiritually to recognize His activity all around me.

So, I send a special thank you to Sharon Sloan from Pennsylvania who listened to God's prompting and sent my family chips in God's perfect timing. It has encouraged me to remember that God loves for His people to listen and obey right when He prompts us! I am convinced that God has divine appointments waiting for all of us!

May you experience the love of God in a most miraculous way today! Well, I'm off to get a snack...chips of course!

The Quick Speak Disease- a marriage killer

Hi Friends!
I have had a busy past two weekends and have missed posting. Two weekends ago, I was with my husband speaking at the Forest Hill Couples Get Away Weekend. What a blast we had with over 200 new and old friends in the beautiful setting of the Cove Retreat Center. God did some great work that weekend in people's hearts and marriages.

Then,this past weekend I went off with my friends Marybeth and Paige to the beach. Only we never saw the beach because we were on a crop til' you drop mission. (That's code for working on my family scrapbooks.) I was determined to make since of my digital photos disaster and try and get back on track with my scrapbooks. I had pictures in three different cameras, on three different computers and on random discs that had gotten full and replaced because of down loading challenges. I logged over 35 scrapbooking hours in just three days!

All that to say...I have been behind on my blog posts . I told one of my friends this weekend that my next post should be titled,"Please don't break up with me when I get a little quiet!"

But that title isn't too far off the mark for what I'm posting about today. I have noticed this strange phenomena in couples that I see while going out to eat. So many couples don't talk. I mean they don't talk at all. They busy themselves with mindless activities such as organizing their receipts, cleaning their glasses, or simply staring at other people talking while waiting for their food. Then when their dinner arrives, they busy themselves eating. Finally, they pay their bill and leave. And I imagine that their lack of conversation follows them right out the door and into their everyday lives.

I am so sad about this. It has made me aware that not only is it possible for couples to run out of things to talk about, but for too many this is a reality. So, I'm determined to get intentional about talking with Art everyday. Not the Quick Speak Talk that is so easy to fall into..."are you picking up the kids?"... "did you pay the power bill?"... "do the boys have a game tonight?"..."why is there a blue crayon stripe down the hallway?"... "love you, love you too." No, I'm talking about the kind engaging conversation that is salted with feeling and peppered with laughter, joy, excitement, reflection, and romance.

Does this happen naturally? For some couples it does but for the vast majority, we have to get intentional about it. If we don't, 'quick speak' will become such a habit that when life slows down and there are no longer those connection points with the kids and urgent life...silence will be waiting for us.

So, today, make a memory with your spouse by talking about something fun. Maybe it is different kind of date you'd like to go on... or a trip you'd like to start saving for... or some kind of new food the two of you could cook together... or a simple conversation where you tell one another the top three reasons you love them. Whatever it is, remember having a great marriage is a matter of choice, not chance.

Well, I'm off to pull out the scrapbooks I worked on this weekend and put them on my bed. Tonight, Art and I are taking a stroll down memory lane while flipping through the pages. There is sure to be lots of conversation, laughter and reflection. Hmmmm...hopefully there are no good football games on...maybe I need to go hide the TV remote first. Smiles!

Smiles!

When I write a book I have a thought I keep in mind for every page, "Is there something here worthy to be highlighted?" In other words, if I were reading this book,is there something on this page that would be so moving or thought-provoking that I would feel motivated to get up, go find a highlighter and mark this page? If the answer is no, I re-write the page. If the answer is yes, I smile.

I've tried to carry this concept of a highlight moment over to the way I live and interact with my kids. Having five kids is a big job. I used to feel guilty to not having tons of individual time with each kid everyday. But,I've been released from that guilt by just looking for one highlight moment with each of my kids every day.

Sometimes it is a deep discussion about life. Other times it is a quick little interaction that makes both of us smile. Whatever it is, these highlight moments have been what I ponder as I drift off to sleep each night. This is the stuff I'll think about when I'm older and the halls of my home are quiet. These moments help me live my life with no regrets and I love that!

The other day my highlight moment with Brooke was helping her memorize a selection from her "Primary Language Lessons" book by Emma Serl. It is a poem by Maud Wyman called: "If I Knew." Maybe this will be highlight moment for you today!

If I knew a box where the smiles are kept,
No matter how large the key
Or strong the bolt, I would try so hard
'Twould open I know, for me;
Then over the land and the sea broadcast, I'd scatter the smiles to play,
That the children's faces might hold them fast
For many and many a day.

If I knew a box that was large enough
To hold all the frowns I meet,
I would gather them every one,
From nursery, school, and street;
Then folding and holding,I'd pack them in,
And turning the monster key,
I'd hire a giant to drop the box
To the depths of the deep, deep sea.

May our frowns be few and our smiles be contagious as we live to laugh and love today!

In a tizzy over post-its!

It's Labor Day Weekend which is the time when everyone is supposed to take a break from their labor. But us moms never stop laboring so what should we call our weekend? I mean I still find myself doing labor room type breathing and my youngest is 8 years old. Every time my kids (whom I treasure I should add) do irresponsible kid things I find myself doing that panting breathing thing they taught us in Lamaze Classes. Lately, I've been breathing like this over post-it notes.

Okay here is the deal. I really like post-it-notes. But the problem in my house is that this strange love of mine sets me up for failure with my attitude. You see having five kids and keeping my post-it-notes well stocked is a feat that is proving impossible. Plain and simple...they waste, misplace, and have little regard for my post-its!

I mean it has gotten to the point where I am finding myself hiding them in secret places along with my favorite gum and my favorite pens. All three of these things go missing and add to the familiar chorus that I should write a song to:
(sung to the tune of Bob and Larry's Where is my Hairbrush)
Oh where are my post-its
Oh where are my post-its
I'm gonna have a tizzy oh my head is getting dizzy
from looking forrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr my post-its!

The real post-it brand post-its are expensive. So, during my last trip to Walmart I bought the off brand of post-its that were much cheaper. But they don't stick! I mean they stick for a second or two and then the edges start to pull away and before you know it, there are little yellow squares containing vital information spinning and twirling their way to ground where they are promptly stepped on and smudged beyond repair...(Heaven forbid anyone else pick a piece of paper up off the ground around here other than me! smiling...not really.)

Now here's the real kicker!!!! I can't get rid of these off brand, no stick, post-its! The kids don't touch them. I leave them out in plain sight begging them to use these all up so I can go back to Walmart, buy the expensive ones, hide them, only to discover that someone has discovered my hiding spot, steal them, and get in a real-brand post-it note tizzy all over again.

So, basically what I'm saying is that I'm missing having my real post-it note hissy fits! Oh dear this will probably be one of the things my kids talk about while laying on a therapist's couch one day. I just hope he doesn't have his post-it notes on his desk when my kids come for a session...he'll be having a hissy fit too!

If someone would have told me fifteen years ago that this is how I would soon be spending my Labor Day Weekend, I don't know whether I would have laughed or cried. But the truth is, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Okay, now that I've gotten all this out of my system, I think I'll make good use of those post it notes to tell everyone in my home how much I love them. But first I'm going to search e-bay for some large discount supply of real post-it brand post-it notes.

Smiles!