The Gift List: Capable Hands

Friday marks surgery day for this guy who has to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. He had a check up last week and he's all cleared to go.  I'm grateful for health insurance and capable doctors. I've already prayed for the surgeon and my son because I know that he will be in capable hands...God's hands.

Also thankful for....

#197-230

197. Staycations

198. Morning coffee brewing

199. The last sweet days of summer

200. Kids excited for church service.

201. The jasmine bush reblooming.

202. A surprise love note left by my oldest son.

203. 2yo saying "good bye pee paw (grandpa)."

204. Kneeling in prayer.

205. Falling into bed after a long, hard day.

206. Weeping enduring for a night BUT joy coming in the morning. 

207. Belly laughs shared amongst the boys.

208. 6yo clutching His Bible on the way to Saturday night church.

209. Quiet evening.

210. The weight of God's glory.

211. Sweet surrender.

212. Many waters cannot quench love neither can floods drown it.

213. Hands lifted in praise to God.

214. SoCal sunsets painted in the sky.

215. Satin pillowcases.

216. Shayne's little six-year-old voice.

217. My sister loving on my three babies.

218. A rhema Word from the Lord.

219. Two little boys exited about school. 

220. Godly teachers who pray.

221. Quiet time in the Word of God.

222. Six year old learning to ride his bike after much frustration.

223. Gratis days during Christmas time.

224. Thanksgiving day on the horizon.

225. The discipline of counting gifts big and small.

226. My little first grader's teacher describing him as "a treasure" to have in the class.

227. Waking to sunshine, birds chirping and new mercies.

229. Warm beds

230. ...and a pantry full of food.

231. Laughter and lunch with a sweet sister friend

232. Big brother reading with little brother.

233. Protection through the night.

234. Hope that does not disappoint.

235. "Thank you mommy for dinner!" repeated around the dinner table.

Makes Me Happy Monday (number 7)

It's finally Fall in SoCal y'all!

And it's Monday! Smile because it's going to be a great week. Here are a few links from around the web that made me smile.

Dad Captures His Daughter’s First Crawl on Camera…Then the Dog Congratulates Her 

12 Ways to Make (And Keep) Friends

Heartbreaking and sweet all at once: Video of father singing ‘Blackbird’ to dying son following wife’s death after childbirth goes viral 

This post was just what my weary momma heart needed. God has given us as mothers, the ability and call to organize and lead our home team to become a unit together–to live fully into our potentials. 

Think this pin will be my next home project. I love quotes and a whole wall of them sounds quite lovely.

And to wrap things up, here's a post from the vaults: Surprises Sometime Come In Bundles of Pink

Eleven Years Ago Today....

I gave birth to this guy.

I remember the fear. And the pain. And the overwhelming love.

So many emotions all rolled into one.

This one here is a reader, strong-willed, tender-hearted, driven and very funny. He's challenged me and grown me up in ways I never imagined. 

Happy 11th birthday Rhy!

He's been urging me to update, his birthday video, but until then....

Click here if video doesn't load.

Friendship: The Gift of Iron Sharpening Iron

If there's one area of my life that I'm blessed in it's the friendship arena. I've got a solid circle of friends who pray for and with me, encourage me and sharpen me. 

Today I had lunch with one of my dearest friends who was in town for a few days from Northern California. Our friendship spans more than 20 years. We've navigated the single life, went to college together, been in each other's weddings, and watched our children grow up. We laughed, giggled and caught up over lunch today. It was just what my weary soul needed. 

I'm convinced that good friends are beautifully wrapped gifts that God knew would bring us delight. 

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." - Proverbs 27:17

The beautiful thing about having a friend in the Lord is that we sharpen each other on all levels (spiritual included). And as we share the Word (which is sharper than two-edged sword), we are sharpening each other all the more. 

God designed us with the need for fellowship and friendship. I love how he brings people into our lives whose hearts get woven into ours.

Thank you Cre for bringing smiles to my Saturday! Love you friend!

So Many Podcasts, So Little Time (A List of My Favorites)

I have to admit that I'm a podcast junkie. And it's not a new phenomenon. My love for radio and talk shows goes back to my college days. I used to rearrange my schedule so I could listen to my favorite show. In my 20s, when I started working full-time, I made sure my lunch coincided with the New Life Live broadcast so I'd never miss a show.

These days, I listen to podcasts while I'm making dinner, at work and during my short commute to and from work. I just love the wealth of information I can get from podcasts.

{My Favorites}

Inspired to Action: Great podcast for resource and inspiration for mothers. Always a good show filled with practical information that I can put into practice right away.

Revive Our Hearts: I love the sweet way that Nancy Leigh DeMoss imparts God’s Word to listeners. Always something encouraging and even when it’s convicting, it’s still helpful. 

The Portfolio Life: I’ve been reading Jeff Goins' blog for a while, but recently started listening to his podcast. Good solid, information for writers and just some uplifting messages for life in general. He says his goals are to help listeners: 1) Find the work you were born to do. 2) Identify what makes up your portfolio. 3) Get started creating it. The last podcast, The Importance of Being Your True Self really hit home. 

Homeword: Jim Burns’ broadcast has been a favorite of mine for years now. The tagline for his site is: Helping Families Succeed and he does just that with subjects like Parenting Tech Savvy Kids to Being the Parent Your Kids Really Need. I always look forward to this podcast. 

Compass Money Wise: This show is an extension of  show I used to listen to back in my single days. Solid and biblical financial advice from Howard Dayton & Steve Moore. 

{Family Life}

FamilyLife Today with Dennis Rainey: This one really should be on my favorites list because I listen to it all the time and enjoy it immensely. They always have the best guests who offer encouragement for marriage and family issues. 

Focus on the Family: This is another oldie but a goodie that I have listened to for years (back when Dr. James Dobson was the host). Always timely advice as it relates to family matters. 

I also enjoy their Focus on Marriage and Focus on Parenting podcasts 

Marriage Today with Jimmy and Karen: I used to watch their television broadcast, but when I found out about the podcast, I switched to that. Marriage advice from a couple who’s been there and back. 

Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk: Family talk with wise counsel. 

{Christian Living}

Passion City Church: Louie Giglio is one of the best communicators and pastors out there in my book. The Goliath Must Fall series has been my favorite thus far.

Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman: A podcast offering insight and advice for relationships of every type.

{Writing}

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing: This one is for the writer geeks and wordsmiths of the world..like me! 

{Productivity}

This is Your Life: Michael Hyatt is an innovator who has a knack for lighting a fire under listeners with his practical, hands-on advice like How To Do More of What You Love and Less of What You Don’t. 

Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod: Sorta new to me podcast but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard thus far. 

{My Church Home}

I was so glad to find out Cottonwood Church, which is my home church,  had a podcast when I joined. I get to re-listen to messages that hit home and catch up on messages I missed. Kindred, the women’s ministry also has a podcast which is great because I’m not able to make these services: 

Do you listen to podcasts? If so, I’d love to hear what’s in your ear. If not, what kind of podcasts would be interested in listening to?

When the Road to Nowhere Opens Up

When I first got married, I didn’t have a job. So I settled into the role of housewife. Settled is probably the wrong word. I accepted my plight as housewife. But all around were voices (husband NOT included)  telling me I needed to get a job, help provide for the household...blah, blah, blah. By the time our first son came along two years later, I had happily accepted my role as stay-at-home mom. This after countless weeks, months even, searching for a job, any job. When one didn’t come, I realized I needed to stop stressing myself out over something that wasn’t happening.

One day while at home with my son, I received a phone call from the president of a large ministry here in Los Angeles. She had just had lunch with my former boss, who had recommended me for a job that she desperately wanted to fill. She asked if I’d be interested in the position. Above the din of two-year-old squeals. I agreed to meet her for an interview.

The interview went swimmingly. There was a daycare on site and the pay was far more than I would have ever asked for. And it was doing exactly what I wanted to do.

All that time I’d spent agonizing  over looking for a job just a few years before and here was a job that came knocking on my door.

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought.  You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I even say it.  You both precede and follow me and place your hand of blessing on my head. Psalm 139:1-5 Living Bible

God went before me and prepared the way for the job. He set up the lunch meeting. He put it on my new boss’ heart to tell my old boss about the job opening and he brought me to the conversation with a good referral. All the while, I was at home, oblivious to the path being charted ahead of me.

Even all these years later, the course of events blows my mind.

God knew that when I had a child my desire was to stay home with my baby and I got the chance to do just that. He knows everything about me...every single desire, even the unspoken ones.

Lately, I’ve been forgetting this fact about God: that He paves paths where none previously existed. That He goes behind us to make sure nothing is left behind as we travel upon that path.

The King James version of verse 5 says: Thou hast beset me behind and before. Beset comes from the Hebrew word tsuwr which means  to shut in or secure.

God doesn’t just lay a path out for us. He goes with us as He protects us and guides on the way so we aren’t led astray. If you are living for Jesus, don’t ever think that you are wandering aimlessly through this life. There’s a path with your name on it. Just when it looks like the bridge is broken and there’s no way over, He lights the way and shows us just what He had in store for us all along.

*photo credit Viktor Hanacek

Parents, We Are DoorKeepers To The World: Ushering Kids Into Endless Possibilities

As a mother, I realize I can shut the door of possibility or swing it wide open for my children. 

I pray that I always do the latter.

Looking back over my childhood, I see that my parents did a good job of holding the door open for me to experience new things. I think of a neighbor who lived across the street from us. At the time, she and her husband didn't have kids, so she took me under her wing. She would frequently invite me over to make gingerbread houses, allow me to explore her backyard as she explained all the blooming flowers in her backyard to me and would set up craft stations for us. My favorite was a hand-painted handkerchief that I made for my dad one year for Father's Day. We would often trek to the library where she would let me linger and then she'd allow me check out an armful of library books on her card. It was a rich experience and one that I wouldn't have had if my parents not let me hang out with her.

When I was in 11th grade, I joined a newly-formed college prep program called The Tanner Project (now known as the Willie B. Adkins Project.) We met every Monday after school for about three hours and worked on SAT prep, had guest speakers, seminars, learned about college life, how to fill out college forms, etiquette, how to dress for success and a host of other great information.

Every Spring, the predominately African-American staff (headed by educator Willie B. Adkins) rounded up the students for a tour of historically black colleges and universities.  In my two years with the program, I visited Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Washington, D.C.  with college visits to campuses like Spelman, Tuskegee, Alabama State University, Howard and Morgan State University to name a few.

The experience was invaluable to say the least. And it was all offered for free.  I was already on the college track due to my own goals and lots of prodding from my parents, but this program exposed me to places I might not have considered.

The staff worked tirelessly to provide us with experiences that would make us well-rounded individuals and contributing members of society. And we still keep in touch to this day. As the first group of students to come out of the Tanner Project, we hold a special place in the staff's hearts and the feeling is mutual.

By the time, I was a senior in high school, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: major in journalism at Howard University and write for a major publication like Essence Magazine. On our college tour during the spring of my senior year, we visited schools in D.C. and Maryland. While on our tour of Howard, myself and few other of the students got to stop off at the admissions office to find out if we'd been accepted. Oh, the joy when I found out that I was. Talk about walking on cloud 9!

On the tour, we also hit most of D.C.'s historic stops: the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol and even got to see the inner workings of the Congressional Black Caucus. 

Me at 17 years old on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.

I got a front row seat to seeing that the world was a much bigger place than the small California town I lived in and I got to see that the possibilities for my future were endless. And none of this would have happened had my parents not given me wings to fly.

I pray that I do the same for my children. Yesterday on a talk show, I saw a mother talking about how she didn't want her 18-year-old daughter to go to college because she doesn't feel safe letting her go. We do our kids such a disservice when we smother them. How can they grow into world-changers if they are chained to the home front?

A few weeks ago, my six-year-old told me he wanted to visit China so he could have real Chinese food and see what it's like there. And I told him we are going to write that down on a goal sheet for him and make that happen. 

Do we have the resources to go to China? No. But that doesn't mean the resources aren't out there to get him (and me!) to China. 

The world and our view of our possibilities becomes much bigger when we are allowed to get out into it. May I always swing the door wide open from my home to the world for these children I'm raising.

Much thanks to Willie Adkins, his wife Maryann Adkins, Nona Cohen and Rhoda Dawson for all they poured into me and my fellow students during those years we were in the program.

Here's an older article about The Willie B. Adkins (Tanner Project) and information about the program in general if you'd like to contribute in any way. 

My Top 5 Favorite Books of All Time

Once I finish  book, I'm usually done with it and don't look back. Most books I've read I can't tell you what they are about. When I open the pages, I'm immersed in the book and once the book ends, that's it. I don't have much a memory for books, except for the ones I'm about to share. 

These books have impacted me far after I've closed the book. Even now, I can remember lines from these books and how they made me feel as I was reading them. Some of them I read more than 20 years ago. Indeed, carrying around words and feelings from a book is a mark of its greatness for me.

Here are my favorite books (in no particular order)

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove who wishes for blue eyes so that she'll be seen as beautiful. The story is hauntingly heartbreaking but written with such beauty and prose that it's hard to put down. I read this book my freshman year at Howard University and still the story sits with me. 

One of my favorite passages showcasing Morrison's exquisite imagery: 

"Pecola stood a little apart from us, her eyes hinged in the direction in which Maureen had fled. She seemed to fold into herself, like a pleated wing. Her pain antagonized me. I wanted to open her up, crisp her edges, ram a stick down the hunched and curving spine, force her to stand erect and spit the misery out on the streets. But she held it in where it could lap up into her eyes." 

God's Chosen Fast by Arthur Walls: I bought this book shortly after I got saved at the age of 18.  It's a practical handbook on the subject of fasting that I have read many times over.

Your God Is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan: I also found this book early in my Christian walk and it was just what I needed at the time. I knew that God is good, but what I didn't realize is that He isn't always safe...and that's okay because He's taking us on the adventure of our lives. God is loving but He's unpredictable (just as He should be.)

One of my favorite passages:

The safe God asks nothing of us, gives nothing to us. He never drives us to our knees in hungry, desperate praying and never sets us on our feet in fierce, fixed determination. He never makes us bold to dance. The safe god never whispers in our ears anything but greeting card slogans and certainly never asks that we embarrass ourselves by shouting out from the rooftop. "

In His Face: A Prophetic Call to Renewed Focus: By Bob Sorge: I got hip to Bob Sorge from worship leader Judith Christie McAllister. I used to work for she and her husband and she told me about his ministry. After hearing some of his messages and his testimony, I was hooked. His voice was damaged at a time when God was using him mightily to preach. This book urges readers to keep a spiritual focus in a world that wants us to do anything but that.

One of my favorite parts of the book: "The enemy always accuses us in the first person, as though there were our own thoughts, when in reality  they are his thoughts injected into our minds. Let me tell you why the enemy steps up his accusations when you try to worship the Lord. It's because he knows that worship is transformational."

Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits by T.D. Jakes: This book is just good practical advice. Yes, Jakes is one of the greatest preachers alive, but this book is not sermon-based but for real life. Awesome read that I want to dive back into now.

A favorite passage: "Mediocrity places the blinders of the mundane on you so that you cannot see beyond the trials of the present moment- the bills, the kids, the stress, the illness, the breakup. And if it can keep you preoccupied with its latest dart of potential poison, then it can wear you down to where you accept the poison as the only potion available. You end up feeling like there are no options, no choices, no resources to defend yourself with and use to overcome adversity and achieve victory."

What are some of your favorite books?

Surprised By A 6 Year Old's Faith: How My Son's Prayer Turned a Profit

A few days ago, my six-year-old son asked if he could set up an art stand (think lemonade stand) featuring his Charlie Brown drawings. I was hesitant. I mean, who is going to stop on our street and buy drawings from a kid they don't know?

He kept asking, so I finally relented. The first afternoon nothing happened since it was late and getting dark. I thought he'd forget about it. But today, he kept asking, so again he set up shop. I made sure to give him a pep talk so he wouldn't be let down. I let him know it's Sunday and most of our neighbors are at church. Plus, we live on a quiet street that doesn't see much traffic. Even with all that, he was convinced he was going to sell a drawing. He even asked if he could go door to door. 

He got his older brother in on the action yelling, "Charlie Brown pictures! Get your Charlie Brown pictures! $2." A few cars drove by with only one passenger turning to see what my son was doing. My heart sank.

After about 30 minutes of sitting out in the hot sun, I told the boys they'd have to come in for lunch. Just as they were about to pack up, a guy in Mustang drove by and waved. Then, he slowed down and backed up.

He asked my son, "what are you selling?"

"Charlie Brown drawings," my son replied.

The man got out of the car and asked how much.

"$2 for one and $4 for 2," my son announced.

"Do you have change for a ten?" the man asked.

"Aw man, we are not prepared," my 10-year-old son said. "We don't have change."

"I'll take three drawings," the man said as he handed my son a $10 bill.

I wish someone could have captured the looks on all of our faces.

"You have to sign each one of the pictures for me though, okay?" the man said.

My son happily obliged.

The man waved at me and said, "This is how dreams start." He took his drawings, shook my son's hand, told him to keep up the good work and drove off.

With just one customer, my son sold more than half of his inventory of Charlie Brown drawings.

When we got inside I asked him if he was shocked. He saId, "well, last night I prayed for a customer to come. I told God I would be patient and just do whatever He wanted me to do." His bedtime prayer turned into today's profit.

He had faith when I didn't. And I felt just plain bad about it.

Looking at it logically, it probably was unlikely that anyone would stop on our street and buy from him. But in the world of "with God all things are possible" this was definitely in the realm of possibility. 

I had to apologize to my son for not having faith in his endeavor. It's definitely a lesson that I'll be carrying with me for the rest of my mothering years. No matter how unlikely I think their dreams are or how it doesn't make sense to me, the least I can do is stand in faith with them. I'm amazed at how these children challenge me to up my faith at every turn.