stretching

Ah, trusting the Lord for the kiddos in a new school is proving harder than trusting the Lord for the kiddos I teach and walk alongside at home...this is coming as no surprise to any of you.  Suddenly wearing shoes like everyone else does, scoring as well as everyone else does and not being cringe is so important. In ways it breaks my heart...the priorities of the world are easier to keep at bay with His priorities when the majority of your hours are under the influence of parents and a household seeking Jesus instead of the majority of your hours passing with peers.

They are growing and stretching and I am, too...stretching to be firmly grounded in Him and a safe place for emotions and pressures to melt and rest. I remember taking out the disappointments and days on my mom those hard years...I'm trying to be resilient in Him and steady, all the while pointing to or just dwelling in His truth. 

Middle school-high school! It is harder than these precious kindergarten and third grade days with my littles!

Dawn and Beth are our weekly graces...and "graces" really IS the right word, their love and help so unmerited. Beth is back to coming over several mornings a week, helping with homeschool, which has been especially needed with a teething 14 month old and a seventh grader all at once...she keeps the mornings sane and fun and all the kiddos love the days Gaga is in the rotation of subjects! 

And Dawn just keeps on showing up Thursday evenings for our very favorite night of the week, date night. This past Thursday was Lily's turn, and getting to give her my undivided attention for 2.5 hours was priceless...her reminding me that it really IS true that our only real peace and joy comes from Him. My Lily girl ALWAYS is quick to beg, "pray for me, mom" and wait until I pull her in and do, and  I am SO grateful. No matter whose turn it is, these evenings of listening and connecting and sharing and laughing and spoiling them a bit are SO RICH...I will always be grateful.  

I'm also so grateful for women like these pouring into the kids' lives! We all sure miss my dad. Every person pouring into them blesses me deeply.

Tomorrow morning, another XC meet, and then Greg and Cathie, the family in Haiti who took me in after the death of my mom, are traveling through and staying with us for a few days! So looking forward to a few days with them.

I was especially moved a few weeks ago that if I truly want some time with my sister and nieces and it HAS been so long, I should make it happen, so we ARE. Right after Greg and Cathie go, the homeschool kiddos and I are heading to Philly for a few days while the in-school kiddos and in-work Matt man the Homefront. I am really thankful for both these opportunities to be with family, and thankful for airline miles and homeschool schedules that make prioritizing this possible!

If you haven't gotten on board with John Eldredge's 30 Days to Resilient, I'm pushing it one last time. I just finished and am starting back over on the One Minute Pause app...the 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night has been transforming so much of how I think and rest in Him! I don't think it matters what you are going through...there is a lot of healing and truth available in these scriptures and prayers. 

Grateful for the many of you who have poured into ME or poured out prayers for me over all these years.