Something

Riding in the car with Julia typically goes something like this....

Julia: I want "sumpin" (something) Mommy. You say, 'What me want' to me.
Me: What would you like Julia?
J: I don't know. 'Sumpin'!
And repeat every 2 minutes............

This makes me think our Beth Moore study last week. We are doing 'Living Beyond Yourself' about the fruit of the Spirit. The video lesson this week was about "pouring out, pouring in, and pouring forth". Essentially this means.... 1)confessing our sins and concerns to God daily to empty out all the junk and be instantly purified, 2)allowing Him alone to fill us up, and 3)being a minister of the Holy Spirit blessing others.

We looked at Eph 5:18 about being filled with the Holy Spirit and not enjoying anything to excess. Any cravings we have for overabundance indicate holes we have and are red flags for where we need God. Emptiness places our hearts and minds at the greatest risk. Our desire was designed for God alone, so anytime we fill it with something else we will cause damage. Think of what would happen if you poured sand in your car's gas tank- designed for gas alone. We should learn to binge on God's spirit alone.

Then we looked at Prov 13:12, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." We all crave filling and have a deep need to be full. Nature abhors a vacuum and will always find a way to fill it. As Christians, we must let God fill up our empty's- loneliness, insecurity, inadequacy, self-esteem.....

I pray I learn to take my requests for 'sumpin' to my Heavenly Father. I want it to be my first thought, not my last resort. I hope Julia can keep her childlike simplicity and remember to stop and ask God for something- knowing He'll always hear her and fill her heart with exactly what she needs.

Where to start...

So how do you start one of these? Do you backtrack and catch everyone up? Or do you just jump right in. I think I'll go with something in the middle. Being a stay at home mom is such an amazing gift, but unique in that no one really sees it. It's just me, the kids, and God hearing the commentary running through my head...
I have two wonderful kids. My son Carter, the oldest, is everything I ever imagined a son to be. Who could resist a kid who asks daily, "Don't you want to cuddle your favorite boy?" He is compassionate, empathetic, intelligent, inquisitive, a leader, loves sports, and is growing closer to God with each passing day. He is the best brother his sister could ask for! And she is the loving light in our lives. Julia has always been content, happy, joyful, and loving. She strives to do everything her brother does and more often than not succeeds. I've wondered if she'd be something of a tomboy, but she's proven me wrong. One of her favorite rewards is to visit the shoes at Target and carefully try on and put back each pair. Her love for clothes is the same. I've learned to check the cart before leaving a store because she has usually "shopped" for clothes for herself. I love getting her out of her bed in the morning to hear her say "bow" and point to the wall hanging- such a girl- gotta have the right accessories. She can already dress and undress herself (and I'm hoping she'll teach her brother). She loves cars, trains, legos, balls, and the Wii. But we can now add baby dolls to the list. She met me at the door to leave today with her stroller, baby, diaper bag, clothes, and baby bed. She's mastered the best of both worlds :)
It's a new day around here. We had settled in to a routine this school year with music, preschool, gymnastics, church, awana, family, and friends. (And adjusting to Carter starting to give up napping...) This January we struggled with illness and issues with school and made the decision to quit. I have visions of bringing this up at his college graduation, "...after quitting preschool..." It has already proven to be the right decision for all of us. We have more time to focus on each other and our friends. We have the freedom to live at a less hurried pace and to choose our own daily activities. We don't have to get up so early in the morning. We spent our first day of freedom visiting friends we hadn't seen in so long, leisurely eating lunch together, reading books, playing games, and of course cuddling my favorite boy. It's so reassuring knowing he is happy, healthy, and thriving. This has taught me yet again to trust my mother's instinct and not listen to popular opinion and pressures when God is so clearly laying the answer on my heart.