This post is dedicated with love to two very dear friends that I miss very much.  Mattie, your life has inspired mine so many times.  I love you for many reasons, but you have especially impacted my life with your genuine honesty and forthright manner.  In this world where we have learned too well how to hide our true selves away behind smiles and polished words … I deeply appreciate real people, probably above all because it speaks to the need of my own heart.  Thank-you.  God blesses you for that by causing you to grow and grow in Him.  I love you.  It is a great joy to see you holding your very own grandson, and imagine the warm twinkle in your beautiful eyes when you look at him.

My most recent ‘favorite mother’ is my dear heart-friend and ‘cousin-in-law’ (or was that ‘sister’?). Congratulations and welcome to your precious little son!  What a joy to see you delighting in your own baby … I can hardly wait to see and hug you both.  Thank-you, Melissa, for your example of fervent love for God and your hubby and now your tiny son.  I pray the blessing of God would pour out upon you and give you much rest in Him every day.  You may think you are far away and unnoticed, but this is to encourage you otherwise.   You are my heroine.  I love you.

Lord, I lift my friend to Your throne of mercy;

I know you see her sad life torn apart.

You feel the pain she’s buried deep within;

You hold the key to her locked away heart.

God, You know the pain inside there is brutal,

And endlessly filled with a fresh supply …

It seems too much for one human to handle,

Yet even now within I sense Your reply.

Yes, child, some things you cannot understand,

And what I allow may seem unkind and cruel;

But my grace is enough for anyone’s life…

Jesus  knows their pain, has felt it in full.

Oh, God, give my friend strength to reach out to Him,

Help her open her heart and release everything

Into the hands of her loving Redeemer.

Please give her the grace all her problems to bring.

Let faith rise within, e’en but a mustard seed 

Is all that we need to believe and be saved!

So, please God, in her sad sickness please come,

 Open her eyes to the forgiveness you gave.

 I ask you, dear God, to behold that small seed …

Perhaps buried deep in rejection and loss,

There glistens some hopeful desire to believe;

That will bring her to You, no matter the cost.

“Love them like Jesus … Carry them to Him;

His yoke is easy, His burden is light.

You don’t need the answers to all of life’s questions;

Just know that He loves them and stay by their side.

Love them like Jesus.

Love them like Jesus.” 

                                                    

                                                                            M.J.  in the busy two’s!

Look into those eyes … the eyes of our dear children.  What a gift God has given us!  Today I asked God to refresh my vision.  I asked Him to give me His love for my little girls.  Sometimes as mothers, we get so busy instructing, training, guiding, whatever a mother does … and we forget to see them, to look at them for who they are, eternal souls entrusted to our care.  Some days I find myself getting frustrated at slow responses to my commands.  Then God reminds me of how He loves me when I learn so slowly.  I’ve never yet heard Him speak to me in an exasperated tone.  God, help me to ALWAYS speak to my children like you speak to me, in a still, small voice. 

Today, I realized how little I know how to be a mom.  But I’m so glad that God knows it all, and that He is my Father.  I am comforted to realize that He will give me the wisdom that I do not have.  I just don’t have it.  I am so glad to be His.  I am so glad, too, that these little girls have a Daddy who values spending time with them.  You see, those shiny eyes you see in those pictures were captured after special time with Dad today.  It’s Monday, our favorite week day since Daddy doesn’t have to sell furniture.  He often takes the girls somewhere, a double effort.  One is to spend quality time with his girls, and the other to give Mama a break in the routine … hmmm, maybe there’s three reasons.  The girls get a little break from Mama, too?   Whatever, we all love it, and we are all happy to get back together in the evening.  Thank-you, God, for family!             

                                                       

                                                                  Jaime … a delightful 4 years old.

I still don’t know what makes this time the most special … just time with Mama?  Or is it the fun of these little lessons we are having together?  Maybe it’s both.  Whatever … we all enjoy it!  Jaime has a unique way of summing up our thoughts,

“I LOVE doing this.  It makes me love people. “

Girlies’ favorite project … Mama’s pie dough.

When God is doing so many deep things in our hearts, I find the biggest challenge is to be faithful in daily things of life, maybe because the enemy knows that this is where true revival must first be manifested.  When God is working to teach us how to have a broken heart so that His love can flow through us into the lives of others, the biggest challenge is to be patient and loving with those closest to us.  This morning it is my lively, creative children.  :)  Our girls seem to have an uncanny drive towards creativity.  Perhaps most mothers would curtail those tendencies more and find themselves free from little pieces of paper, markers, glue, pencils, scissors, stickers, and a variety of little crude gifts pressed into their hands all day long.  I prefer the mess, especially when I see the joy it gives my little ones to make something for someone.  I have been amazed what all sorts of creativity can come out of even a two-year-old.  All the clean-up times are worth it for the satisfaction I see on my 7-yr.old’s face when she can hand her favorite aunt a carefully crocheted scarf that she made.  No, I wouldn’t trade them in the least.  Certainly, these little ones do lead us in our walk with God, too.  One day when I was feeling especially vulnerable, I was kind of lost in thought, but I heard Jaime calling my name.  I answered her a little absentmindedly, but my heart melted when she said, “You are my best Mama!  That’s all I wanted.”    Her prayers are so sweet, too, and you never know quite what to expect.  :)  She often prays, “Dear Jesus, please … do all Your work in us!”  It’s amazing what little ones pick up.  This morning she was telling me how she fixed up a little place “where I can go in and pray.” 

And now for some pics of my calm, sweet, ‘wait-til-you-have-boys’ kind of girls.   Hmmm…

                                                       

                                                                                  MUD PUDDLES!

                                                                

                                                             

                                                                                      PLAY DOUGH!

                                              

                                                                         THE AIRPLANE SWING!

                                                             

                                                                                           LEGOS!

                                                         

                                                           

                                                                                        HIT THAT BALL!

                                                             

                                                                  

                                            

                                                                 WATER BALLOONS WITH COUSINS!