Train up a child...

My daughter has gone through many attachments in the past almost-three years...just not necessarily the typical ones. Sure, I tried to get her attached to a blanket, a doll, a stuffed animal, etc. but that's never really worked. Instead of needing a teddy bear at night time, my daughter chose her belly button (and she would stop at nothing to gain access to said belly button--even if I put her in a onesie, she would stick her hand down the neck of it to reach her belly button!) And, instead of cuddling with a blanket at night, many times I've found her with arms wrapped around a hardback book. I've never really given too much thought to her attachments though until yesterday when she latched on to something new...

When Lucy was dedicated in the church, she received a small pink Bible that I've kept on a shelf in her room. She's maybe looked at it a few times, but never shown much interest in it until yesterday when she proudly began parading around the house with it. I tried to take it from her before church, thinking she might lose it, but she was INSISTENT upon bringing it with her. (Then I realized how silly it was for me to discourage my child from bringing her Bible with her to church! LOL:) She keeps saying, "This is my special special Bible. Don't ever touch it!" I have to keep telling her, "Yes Lucy, we have to be careful with special things, but that doesn't mean you can't touch it." And then, this morning, after she had prayed for her breakfast, she looked at me and said, "Oh no! We didn't thank Jesus for my Bible!" So we bowed our heads again as Lucy said, "Thank you, Jesus for my Bible. A-MEN!"

Out of the mouths of babes, right? I mean, I literally just had to stop and think of what she was really saying and take a good look at myself and what I've been teaching her. I don't ever want to discourage her from using her Bible! Sure, her dedication Bible is a special keepsake, but what good is a Bible that just sits up on a shelf?! I had to stop and ask myself--do I consider my Bible a prized possession that I proudly want to take with me everywhere I go, just like Lucy does right now (Not just physically, but by hiding it in my heart, too)? Am I truly thankful for the Word of God that I have such easy access to, or do I take it for granted?

My daughter may not realize the weight of her words, but as her mother, I have the opportunity to teach her exactly what they mean. What a privilege we are given as parents to train our children up to know and to love Jesus! It's so easy to lose sight of that in the busyness of our day to day activities. Yes, laundry has to get done and meals have to be cooked, but in everything we do we can maintain an attitude of thanksgiving and love to our Lord. Is that what Lucy sees in her mama, or does she see a frazzled and short-fused mommy racing from one activity to the next? My prayer is I can be focused on this task the Lord has set before me and embrace this stage in life, for what could be more rewarding than the opportunity to stay home with this precious gift God has blessed us with and train her up in God's love and truth? I can't think of anything else I'd rather do!

Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

cookie time!

I have a confession: I have a MAJOR sweet tooth.

Ok, maybe that's not that big of a surprise, but still--I love me some dessert, ESPECIALLY if it has chocolate in it! And what goes better with chocolate than some peanut butter? Combine those two ingredients, and you have the starts of one of my fave, SUPER easy cookie recipes: No Bake Cookies! I'm sure most of you have had these amazing dollops of goodness, but just in case, I'll share my fave no bake cookie recipe...

NO BAKE COOKIES...
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk (I use skim)
1 stick margarine
4 c. quick oatmeal (I usually measure out heaping cups)
1 tsp. vanilla shopping list
6 tbsp. cocoa (the better quality the cocoa, the bitter the taste)
1/2 C peanut butter (I use reduced fat and usually add a little more than that)
*Some ppl add nuts, but I use creamy pb and no nuts in mine

Heat sugar, milk and butter to boil in a saucepan.
Once boiling, let boil 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat.
Add remaining ingredients and stir until blended well/peanut butter melted

I usually let them sit in the pan for about 5 minutes so they can thicken up a bit, then drop them by spoonfuls ontop wax paper and let them cool (or just go ahead and start eating them while they're warm and gooey!)

The human bobble-head...

it's quite possible I could win an award for best car sleeper. It's been a running joke with my family whenever we go on road trips that I will fall asleep and my head will swing lifelessly back and forth like a human bobble head. In fact, I'm pretty sure the site of my bouncing head has provided much amusement on long car trips! At any rate, I really like to sleep in the car. However, in recent months, sleep isn't something that has come very easily to me, even in the car, so on our last road trip, I offered to drive a bit so DH could rest since it was so late when we were heading home.

I love surfing the radio for a good Christian station when I'm driving, and that night was no different. I found myself singing along with the radio as my DH and my lucybug slept soundly in the car. (Only I was nice and didn't play the human bobble-head game with them!:-) I was singing happily along when all of a sudden my eyes started filling with tears as I was struck with a crazy dose of dejavu when I realized what song I was singing along to...

"Unchangeable, unshakable, unstoppable, that's what You are..."

I was instantly brought back to a cold winter's day in Illinois, where I found myself driving in the car in a very familiar setting with DH sleeping soundly next to me. He had just recently had emergency surgery, and we were on our way to the dr appointment where we ultimately would find out he had cancer. There were so many thoughts, so many emotions, racing through my head that day. Not only was the weather bitter that winter day, but my heart was a bit, too. Why God? didn't even begin to cover all the thoughts in my head, but it was about all I could muster up during that crazy whirlwind season in our lives. It was so timely that I would hear that song-it was as if the Lord was speaking directly to me, saying, "Do you trust me? Do you really believe I am Who you've been proclaiming that I am?" At the point, I had to answer yes, for if I truly believed that He was "God alone, in the good times and bad..." even when I didn't understand all that was happening to us, then I was compelled to believe that yes, no matter what, I believed in God and would trust His perfect will and would be confident He would see us through.

Fast-forward to this past weekend, three and a half years later, to where I found myself listening to that same song in the same car...only this time, my husband wasn't sleeping next to me because of pain medicine-he was sleeping next to me because he was so tired from having ran his first 5k that morning. And only this time, our backseat wasn't empty, but rather it was filled with a precious 3 year old miracle God has blessed us with despite the difficulties the doctors thought we would encounter in getting pregnant. I realized I had come full circle. This time, I got to sing that song from the standpoint of the "good times." And you know what I realized? I realized how much sweeter it was for me to get to see things from both sides...


Maybe life is kind of like a bobble-head...sometimes we're moving up, and sometimes we're moving down, but sometimes we get the blessing to stop and be still and see where all those roads have taken us...if we're willing to stay awake to catch a glimpse of it!;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OICArFHAa9c&feature=related