I love blogging, and I love to have this space to document our highs and lows, This blog was therapy to me during David's treatment, and we will never forget the support we received here during that time. Never. I love blogging but the problem is my two teenagers and ten year old do not love their business on the blog for the world to see/read anymore.
So after praying and thinking, instead of closing this space that has been so very special to me for a long time, I am switching gears a little. Next year we will have one in college (I can't even....) and I am going to use this space to share wisdom with my children while I document their milestones for the future. Thank you for caring about us to even read this far!
I want to say that raising kids is hard. But Mike and I have always taken Proverbs 22:6 about training up children literally. Blessedly they still listen to us, and we have some great chats and talks but there is so much I want to say to them because time is flying by.
So Momma Says is going to be my way to share my teachable moments with my kids here on the blog. There is still so much I want to teach them and remind them so Momma Says posts will be my way to keep training up our children even when they may not live under our roof. Sigh. Mike may also break out a Papa Says posts every once in a while:)
So here goes.... Momma (and Jesus) Say that every person is of sacred worth. The bible never says we have to agree with how someone acts or how they live their life. Even when folks make really bad decisions we have to show love.
We have to show love when people act crazy at sporting events. We have to show love when someone makes an unflattering post on social media. We have to show love when people criticize us. It is hard and it is not natural for us to show love to those who are so hard to love. That is why we desperately need Jesus. We can only reflect Jesus when he shines from within us.
So Momma Says be patient, show grace to others, and memorize John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If Jesus can show us that kind of love when we are sinners, we can certainly show love to those who vote differently than we do or drive ten miles per hour under the speed limit when we are late for work! Momma Says this world needs a lot more grace.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Checking In
I was reminded the other day with a trip to Food Lion that I have been a blog slacker. Again. My apologies. But in this season for our family Momma has a lot to say and this is a pretty great place to share some advice for my growing tribe.
Kyle is a senior. I always thought I would be devastated when we would get to this step, but I am good. I am so beyond excited to see what God has in store for our first born next year and beyond. Our time is being spent doing the college prep stuff. If you have a friend that has a senior in high school.... check on them. We are not okay. We are tired. We are sad/happy/excited/depressed all in the same day thinking about our kids being gone. The college application process takes a Ph.D and lots of patience to navigate. We are spending our weekends visiting campuses trying to visualize our children there. Our knees are sore from the hours we have spent on them praying for God to guide and lead our children down His path. I have had to learn words like FAFSA, common app, super score, and others that make no sense to this preschool teacher. This process is not for the faint of heart.
Kyle is blessed and has several tennis offers on the table. We are thankful and excited for him, but we have lots of coaches to meet, financial aid offices to visit, and his dual credits need to be hashed out so his hard work in high school will be counted. It. Is. A. Lot. So much. I just keep praying the Jeremiah 29:11 prayer over all of this. It is so overwhelming. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. They are plans for good to give you a hope and a future. (Jer 29:11). As I have prayed this over and over for our first born I just keep telling God to make his plan really clear because we Robinsons can be a stubborn crowd sometimes! Ha!
David and Kyle are enjoying being at the high school together. David is a freshman. Unreal. My heart has exploded a million times already watching them together and hearing from staff how amazing Kyle is with him. Except for that Wrestling WWE moment in the church minivan my boys are best friends and for that I am so thankful.
Hope is in fifth grade and doing awesome. She and a few of her friends started a praise band this summer and it has been amazing to watch her participate in that.
I promise my slacker days are over:) Thanks for checking in with us!
Kyle is a senior. I always thought I would be devastated when we would get to this step, but I am good. I am so beyond excited to see what God has in store for our first born next year and beyond. Our time is being spent doing the college prep stuff. If you have a friend that has a senior in high school.... check on them. We are not okay. We are tired. We are sad/happy/excited/depressed all in the same day thinking about our kids being gone. The college application process takes a Ph.D and lots of patience to navigate. We are spending our weekends visiting campuses trying to visualize our children there. Our knees are sore from the hours we have spent on them praying for God to guide and lead our children down His path. I have had to learn words like FAFSA, common app, super score, and others that make no sense to this preschool teacher. This process is not for the faint of heart.
Kyle is blessed and has several tennis offers on the table. We are thankful and excited for him, but we have lots of coaches to meet, financial aid offices to visit, and his dual credits need to be hashed out so his hard work in high school will be counted. It. Is. A. Lot. So much. I just keep praying the Jeremiah 29:11 prayer over all of this. It is so overwhelming. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. They are plans for good to give you a hope and a future. (Jer 29:11). As I have prayed this over and over for our first born I just keep telling God to make his plan really clear because we Robinsons can be a stubborn crowd sometimes! Ha!
David and Kyle are enjoying being at the high school together. David is a freshman. Unreal. My heart has exploded a million times already watching them together and hearing from staff how amazing Kyle is with him. Except for that Wrestling WWE moment in the church minivan my boys are best friends and for that I am so thankful.
Hope is in fifth grade and doing awesome. She and a few of her friends started a praise band this summer and it has been amazing to watch her participate in that.
I promise my slacker days are over:) Thanks for checking in with us!
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Restoration
We just got back from a week in Louisville with our youth group serving on a mission trip. Except for a two night hospitalization for Mike (stupid cellulitus) it was an amazing week. The worship was amazing and the preacher was one of the best I have ever heard. He preached on Joel chapters 1-2 and the theme for the week was Restoration.
I know that this week was for the kids but this youth leader was certainly blessed beyond words with the message and our service this week. It has been a tough year for many reasons, and being reminded how God restores hurts, challenges, and disappointments blessed me. I recently did a study on the life of Hosea and I studied how God redeems what the locust take and then to hear about locusts again in Joel blessed me. It has been a year full of locusts and I have faith that God will restore the challenges.
My best girl served with these amazing girls at a park in Louisville. I am thankful for Kim and Victoria who were the other gal chaperones on this trip and for serving our youth all week long. Seeing these youth have bibles open each night during worship and take notes on the sermon just about made me want to weep. May their hearts stay devoted to God.
Kyle, David and I got to serve along with some other awesome youth in a refugee community in Louisville. We literally went door to door interviewing families on behalf of encounter ministries asking lots of questions about where they are from and how long they have been in America before offering services on behalf of the ministries. Despite our current political climate regarding refugees I was blown away how many homes we were welcomed into.
We also invited all the children we saw to come to the park each day from 1-3 for fun and VBS type of activities. It blew my mind how many parents allowed us to take their children with us to the park-the level of trust overwhelmed me. It was a magical week of learning about different people, different cultures and different religions.
The evening worship was so good! David was a big fan!
I took so many notes from this week but I will always remember the preacher challenging us that we cannot witness to the World if we look like the world. We have to be set apart and look differently.
I will also remember the phrase " I am not worried about you going to church I am worried about what you are doing to benefit the kingdom of God!" Amen and amen!
We are not perfect and certainly we all have sins to lay at the cross, but this week I was such a proud youth leader to see our kids step up. They stepped up when we went one chaperone down, they stepped up at their sites, they stepped up their behavior and were so good, and I am just so proud of them. Youth ministry is a challenge (especially when someone always ends up in the hospital) but it is such an honor to see these youth outside their comfort zones serving the kingdom of God.
I will never ever forget this week in the city of Lousiville learning about God's restoration from the locusts and watching our kids step up for the Kingdom of God. It is always hard to come back to reality after a week serving the Lord but I am thankful for the awesome time we had.
I am thankful also for the laughs that we have as a group! If anyone thinks it is boring to follow Christ come hang out with us. We crack ourselves up so much because there is such joy in serving the Lord. We may have shushed a few people this week and set off an alarm or two but our joy could not be denied. A life following Christ is a blast!
I never will forget the beautiful people of all races and colors who also claim Christ as their savior. I was humbly reminded this week that Jesus is not white and he welcomes all the little children of the world. Heaven is going to be a diverse and beautiful place if it resembles Maplewood refugee community.
I know that this week was for the kids but this youth leader was certainly blessed beyond words with the message and our service this week. It has been a tough year for many reasons, and being reminded how God restores hurts, challenges, and disappointments blessed me. I recently did a study on the life of Hosea and I studied how God redeems what the locust take and then to hear about locusts again in Joel blessed me. It has been a year full of locusts and I have faith that God will restore the challenges.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Thankful and Joy
It has been a full and wonderful Thanksgiving break around here. I love time off together and I love it when our schedule allows for shopping dates with Mike, family night at the movie theatre (boys saw Creed and girls saw Grinch), family time in Radford, and.......
the annual Virgnia Tech and UVA football game! It was cold, and dramatic and some of us left the game smiling when VT pulled it out in Overtime!! It was such a fun time with extended family:)
Thanksgiving Day was spent in Radford with this strong-willed, hilarious woman and my parents! She is doing well despite her cancer diagnosis. She is sweet as pie but can give the nursing home folks a run for their money. :) She is something else!
It is officially basketball season here in our home!! Kyle is on varsity and Dave is the middle school team manager. Hope is also on her Daddy's AAU team and they play in tournaments on Saturday. This is the time of year when life gets busy but we love every moment of it. Hope is also swimming one day a week, taking piano one day a week and is learning the basics of volleyball. I keep reminding myself that one day we will have no one to take to practice anymore and we will miss this.
Hope recently had her piano recital and did amazing!!! Piano has taught her so much confidence and we love it.
Recently we had a stock holders dinner at youth where our youth served a dinner for those who have supported their faith development and they spoke about their experiences in youth. It overwhelmed me to hear in their own words how God has been working in their lives. My hearts was so proud and happy that I could have wept tears in gratitude. GG and Pops came down for the dinner and here are our kiddos with them. Youth ministry is a family affair in this house and we love every moment of it.
Speaking of youth, we have launched our big Christmas project through Santa's Elves. We have adopted 40 kids to shop for for Christmas. The youth LOVE doing this and it blesses my heart to see how much love and care they put into shopping for our kids. We will be hosting a party for the kids on pickup day before Christmas. We are all pretty excited about this.
This month I have been doing a daily bible journaling on gratitude. Between the bible journaling and spending a weekend at Hearts on Fire with some awesome senior high girls from church it has been a wonderful month. I have slowly realized that happiness and joy are two different things. Happiness is dependent upon circumstances and joy is feeling content despite your circumstances. I am focusing on joy for the rest of 2018:) Joy is time with family on a break, watching my youth serve so well, watching my kids play a sport they love, and spending time worshipping God.
the annual Virgnia Tech and UVA football game! It was cold, and dramatic and some of us left the game smiling when VT pulled it out in Overtime!! It was such a fun time with extended family:)
Thanksgiving Day was spent in Radford with this strong-willed, hilarious woman and my parents! She is doing well despite her cancer diagnosis. She is sweet as pie but can give the nursing home folks a run for their money. :) She is something else!
It is officially basketball season here in our home!! Kyle is on varsity and Dave is the middle school team manager. Hope is also on her Daddy's AAU team and they play in tournaments on Saturday. This is the time of year when life gets busy but we love every moment of it. Hope is also swimming one day a week, taking piano one day a week and is learning the basics of volleyball. I keep reminding myself that one day we will have no one to take to practice anymore and we will miss this.
Hope recently had her piano recital and did amazing!!! Piano has taught her so much confidence and we love it.
Recently we had a stock holders dinner at youth where our youth served a dinner for those who have supported their faith development and they spoke about their experiences in youth. It overwhelmed me to hear in their own words how God has been working in their lives. My hearts was so proud and happy that I could have wept tears in gratitude. GG and Pops came down for the dinner and here are our kiddos with them. Youth ministry is a family affair in this house and we love every moment of it.
Speaking of youth, we have launched our big Christmas project through Santa's Elves. We have adopted 40 kids to shop for for Christmas. The youth LOVE doing this and it blesses my heart to see how much love and care they put into shopping for our kids. We will be hosting a party for the kids on pickup day before Christmas. We are all pretty excited about this.
This month I have been doing a daily bible journaling on gratitude. Between the bible journaling and spending a weekend at Hearts on Fire with some awesome senior high girls from church it has been a wonderful month. I have slowly realized that happiness and joy are two different things. Happiness is dependent upon circumstances and joy is feeling content despite your circumstances. I am focusing on joy for the rest of 2018:) Joy is time with family on a break, watching my youth serve so well, watching my kids play a sport they love, and spending time worshipping God.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
October
October despite the rain and sudden temperature change... you have treated us well. Life is full but life is good. I am finally OFF of the scooter and trying to live my best life despite all the hardware in my ankle which makes each step a wee bit painful. I am so so so thankful to be on this side of the ankle drama of 2018, but I have learned so very much during this painful season and I am thankful.
One of the blessings of the month so far was traveling to Knoxville on a random Thursday night to hear Jen Hatmaker! I have read many of her books and I have learned so much from her books about widening who is invited to God's table. One of my favorite Jen quotes is "As Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live-we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self-preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love. The gospel will die in the toxic soil of self."
I aspire to be an includer-one who invites all to God's table to taste and see that He is so good. I am not always a model christian (hello, road rage...) but I try so hard to boast about God every chance I get. It was a wonderful and unexpected evening and it blessed my soul. We also were blessed with Nicole Nordeman's gorgeous voice.
Our "girls" are getting so big and I love them. They are funny, they are curious and they make me happy. We are somewhat concerned Tractor Supply may have mislabled one of our girls and that Felicia may indeed be a rooster instead of a hen. I cannot even imagine saying "bye felicia" to her but if she is indeed a rooster we will have to rehome her. We should know in the next month or so if Felicia is a boy or girl by the scientific method of waiting to hear her crow! Ha!
Thankful I had an unexpected night out to see Jen Hatmaker. I have always shared that I would have loved to have had a bigger family but our kids are at such a good age and because my parents came to help chauffer kids and feed them it was pretty painless to head out of town for a night that was good for my soul. Mike was out of town teaching his heart out to fellow administrators.
A joy this fall so far has been family and friend time at VT games. We love our Hokies but spending time together trumps what happens on the field. We are a dysfunctional bunch but we do love each other and have a lot of laughs. My brother is the tailgating drill seargent getting us all organized and hyped for the game. All of our boys are growing so fast.... Pops looks like he is shrinking but our boys are catching up to him.
Kyle was blessed with a great day of ACC football with his friend Jonathan and our friend, Dr. Bill. They were gone to North Carolina for 20 hours and caught the UVA football game followed by the Va Tech football game. They had such a great time making memories.
This has been a busy season with our youth at church. Each week I lead a bible study for middle schoolers after school on Wednesdays, we then have breakfast club at Mcdonald's every Thursday morning before school at 7:15 a.m., and then Mike and I are leading a study to guys and gals on Sunday nights. I love every moment of it. Youth ministry blesses you when you least expect it.... One of our girls admitted at bible study Sunday night that she finally "gets it" and it starting her journey of faith after being involved in our minsitry for several years. To see these kids fall in love with Jesus is amazing and blesses my heart. This is a place I never ever dreamed we would be yet here we are surrounded by teenagers....Life is good and God is so very good.
October you are living up to your hype!
One of the blessings of the month so far was traveling to Knoxville on a random Thursday night to hear Jen Hatmaker! I have read many of her books and I have learned so much from her books about widening who is invited to God's table. One of my favorite Jen quotes is "As Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live-we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self-preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love. The gospel will die in the toxic soil of self."
I aspire to be an includer-one who invites all to God's table to taste and see that He is so good. I am not always a model christian (hello, road rage...) but I try so hard to boast about God every chance I get. It was a wonderful and unexpected evening and it blessed my soul. We also were blessed with Nicole Nordeman's gorgeous voice.
Our "girls" are getting so big and I love them. They are funny, they are curious and they make me happy. We are somewhat concerned Tractor Supply may have mislabled one of our girls and that Felicia may indeed be a rooster instead of a hen. I cannot even imagine saying "bye felicia" to her but if she is indeed a rooster we will have to rehome her. We should know in the next month or so if Felicia is a boy or girl by the scientific method of waiting to hear her crow! Ha!
Thankful I had an unexpected night out to see Jen Hatmaker. I have always shared that I would have loved to have had a bigger family but our kids are at such a good age and because my parents came to help chauffer kids and feed them it was pretty painless to head out of town for a night that was good for my soul. Mike was out of town teaching his heart out to fellow administrators.
A joy this fall so far has been family and friend time at VT games. We love our Hokies but spending time together trumps what happens on the field. We are a dysfunctional bunch but we do love each other and have a lot of laughs. My brother is the tailgating drill seargent getting us all organized and hyped for the game. All of our boys are growing so fast.... Pops looks like he is shrinking but our boys are catching up to him.
Kyle was blessed with a great day of ACC football with his friend Jonathan and our friend, Dr. Bill. They were gone to North Carolina for 20 hours and caught the UVA football game followed by the Va Tech football game. They had such a great time making memories.
This has been a busy season with our youth at church. Each week I lead a bible study for middle schoolers after school on Wednesdays, we then have breakfast club at Mcdonald's every Thursday morning before school at 7:15 a.m., and then Mike and I are leading a study to guys and gals on Sunday nights. I love every moment of it. Youth ministry blesses you when you least expect it.... One of our girls admitted at bible study Sunday night that she finally "gets it" and it starting her journey of faith after being involved in our minsitry for several years. To see these kids fall in love with Jesus is amazing and blesses my heart. This is a place I never ever dreamed we would be yet here we are surrounded by teenagers....Life is good and God is so very good.
October you are living up to your hype!
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Hearts Full
Life has been busy and here in the Robinson household but we certainly have been blessed with the addition of six sweet little chicks that we are now raising! Mike and I are clueless chick parents but we have read a lot, fretted over them and they seem to be growing. We hope they will be laying eggs by late winter. We are raising them all natural with organic feed so we are super excited for farm fresh eggs down the road.
Here is one sweet little chick sound asleep in my hands. They are curious, a wee bit smelly, but they are so sweet!!
Here is one of our more curious chicks-we named her James Harden after the NBA player! She is super nosy.
We always love having kids over and here is Kyle with two friends during the Hokie football game. Raising teenagers is such an exhausting joy...
But I absolutely love it when our house is loud and full of kids. I love it because it means kids are safe, kids feel welcome here and my job is to listen and to keep the food coming. Kyle and Mike went on their first college visit this past weekend and it hit me hard. These are the days. It is loud and exhausting to have a houseful but I know I will miss this all one day. (I may not miss the slime making these girls are doing though)
Another blessing that has happened in the last two weeks is our youth bible study at church. We typically start a new curriculum each fall for our youth, and this semester I am leading Dare Greatly for our teen girls and Mike and our friend, Chris, are leading the guys in a Tim Tebow study. Hope went into Mike's class and made sure all the guys knew who was leading the study for last week. They take turns leading these guys and it has been great. So thankful for these guys investment in our teen guys.
Preschool is back in session and so far it has been a great start to the year. We have some funny kiddos this year and despite the fact that I am still on my scooter it is going well. Speaking of my scooter, I have a doctor's appointment this week with my orthopedic doctor. I humbly ask for prayers that after being on this scooter for 23 out of the last 29 weeks of my life that this ankle will finally be healed.
Between preschool, our new little chicks, our youth, and our own kids and their friends life has felt very full lately. My focus this year is on kingdom building. I do not want to get distracted on anything that does not bring glory to God's kingdom. I feel like time is ticking so quickly with Kyle under our roof and our other kiddos growing so quickly that I need to focus on what is important-teaching God's word and pointing all kids to Christ as the ultimate example on how to love and serve others.
I am so thankful for a full heart!
Here is one sweet little chick sound asleep in my hands. They are curious, a wee bit smelly, but they are so sweet!!
Here is one of our more curious chicks-we named her James Harden after the NBA player! She is super nosy.
We always love having kids over and here is Kyle with two friends during the Hokie football game. Raising teenagers is such an exhausting joy...
But I absolutely love it when our house is loud and full of kids. I love it because it means kids are safe, kids feel welcome here and my job is to listen and to keep the food coming. Kyle and Mike went on their first college visit this past weekend and it hit me hard. These are the days. It is loud and exhausting to have a houseful but I know I will miss this all one day. (I may not miss the slime making these girls are doing though)
Another blessing that has happened in the last two weeks is our youth bible study at church. We typically start a new curriculum each fall for our youth, and this semester I am leading Dare Greatly for our teen girls and Mike and our friend, Chris, are leading the guys in a Tim Tebow study. Hope went into Mike's class and made sure all the guys knew who was leading the study for last week. They take turns leading these guys and it has been great. So thankful for these guys investment in our teen guys.
Preschool is back in session and so far it has been a great start to the year. We have some funny kiddos this year and despite the fact that I am still on my scooter it is going well. Speaking of my scooter, I have a doctor's appointment this week with my orthopedic doctor. I humbly ask for prayers that after being on this scooter for 23 out of the last 29 weeks of my life that this ankle will finally be healed.
Between preschool, our new little chicks, our youth, and our own kids and their friends life has felt very full lately. My focus this year is on kingdom building. I do not want to get distracted on anything that does not bring glory to God's kingdom. I feel like time is ticking so quickly with Kyle under our roof and our other kiddos growing so quickly that I need to focus on what is important-teaching God's word and pointing all kids to Christ as the ultimate example on how to love and serve others.
I am so thankful for a full heart!
Monday, August 20, 2018
I Got Saved
One of my all-time favorite praise songs is I Got Saved by Selah. I have been singing it all day remembering our beautiful service of Baptism last night at Hungry Mother State Park. Eight of our youth that participated in our Philly mission trip took a big step in their faith and got baptized. It was beautiful and wonderful and made this youth leader so very happy!!
There was a river of gladness
That pours from Emmanuel's veins
This sinner was plunged beneath the flood
and got Saved.
Since then I walk in forgiveness
All of my guilt was erased
The chains of the past
Are broken at last
I got saved
Oh, I got saved
I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus
I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord
I'm restored and made right
He got a hold of my life
I've got Jesus
How could I want more
I've received nothing but goodness
I've tested and tasted your grace
I was so lost
Till I fell at the cross
and got saved
Oh, I got saved
Jesus-he is worth it all. As a youth leader I desperately want these youth to taste and see how FUN and GLORIOUS a life with Jesus is. I want them to see that life with Jesus is not guaranteed to be an easy life but it will be a full and beautiful life. To see Him show up in our darkest times and then also to bless us with mercy, grace, and provision is worth it all.
I want them to know He will never let us down. My meager words could not portray what I wanted to say which was choosing Jesus is the best decision you will ever make. You have now secured your heavenly home and signed up for a life of joy pursuing God.
That trip to Philly was just that wonderful. We worked hard, oh so hard, yet we grew as we were stretched in our faith. We heard powerful sermons each night and heard testimonies from our youth hosts (Micah and Dalton) who encouraged us with their different testimonies. It was a hard and exhausting week but God did a mighty work in these youths lives and last night they took the next step in their faith. It was beautiful...simply beautiful.
There was a river of gladness
That pours from Emmanuel's veins
This sinner was plunged beneath the flood
and got Saved.
Since then I walk in forgiveness
All of my guilt was erased
The chains of the past
Are broken at last
I got saved
Oh, I got saved
I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus
I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord
I'm restored and made right
He got a hold of my life
I've got Jesus
How could I want more
I've received nothing but goodness
I've tested and tasted your grace
I was so lost
Till I fell at the cross
and got saved
Oh, I got saved
Jesus-he is worth it all. As a youth leader I desperately want these youth to taste and see how FUN and GLORIOUS a life with Jesus is. I want them to see that life with Jesus is not guaranteed to be an easy life but it will be a full and beautiful life. To see Him show up in our darkest times and then also to bless us with mercy, grace, and provision is worth it all.
I want them to know He will never let us down. My meager words could not portray what I wanted to say which was choosing Jesus is the best decision you will ever make. You have now secured your heavenly home and signed up for a life of joy pursuing God.
That trip to Philly was just that wonderful. We worked hard, oh so hard, yet we grew as we were stretched in our faith. We heard powerful sermons each night and heard testimonies from our youth hosts (Micah and Dalton) who encouraged us with their different testimonies. It was a hard and exhausting week but God did a mighty work in these youths lives and last night they took the next step in their faith. It was beautiful...simply beautiful.
Monday, August 13, 2018
Beauty from Ashes
I have fallen in love with gardening. I was so excited this spring to plant my new plants in my newly tilled garden. Back in May I was so optimistic my injury was on the mend and I had a summer full of fun, veggies, and quality time with my kids. I love summer and I was so excited!
So it grieves my heart to see my gorgeous garden look like this. I have named it the hot mess express because it is so full of weeds, grass, bugs, and more bugs. My tomatoes have blight, my green bean leaves are so bug-infested they look like swiss cheese. I am so embarrassed how ugly my garden is. My heart is broken that I did not get to spend many hours lovingly working and weeding my garden. My ankle injury sidelined me and hence my garden is the ultimate hot mess express.
How like our God to use this ugly garden to teach/remind me that beauty does indeed come from ashes. That is one of our God's specialties....beauty from ashes. Over and over in the bible there are examples of evil that man tried to conjure up but God brought goodness and beauty from it. We on this Earth deal with evil everyday-mean people, spiteful situations, jealousy, laziness, .... sometimes it seems like evil is everywhere and navigating it all is so hard and exhausting.
Yet God is in the business of bringing beauty from the ashes of our hard times. It is no secret that this has been a rough season for me and this stupid ankle.I will never understand why it has been so hard yet I trust and believe that our God will bring so much beauty from the past few months of despair. I have spent so much time with Him that I know I will look back on this as precious spiritual growth time for me. Life is hard folks, but our God has our back. Everyday.
..and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes. the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:3
So I do not know about you but I am eagerly waiting for that display of His splendor that is talked about in Isaiah 61:3 I am ready to wear my garment of praise and witness 7 youth getting baptized this upcoming weekend!!! I am excited to begin another year of morning youth group time at McDonalds that we call Breakfast Club this week with our youth. I am ready to see how the Lord is going to use this stupid ankle for His glory.
I am so thankful for the lessons learned from the ugliest garden in Smyth County. Because of God... beauty can and will come from the ashes.
Monday, August 6, 2018
July 2018
I am stunned that it is the time of year again to drag out those backpacks and head back to school. This has certainly been a different summer than I pictured, yet for lots of reasons it has been one of my favorites. Watching my boy work his first job ever (cutest lifeguard I have ever seen), working my garden on my hands and knees, and lots and lots of time in God's word and Netflix have all been good for my soul. God is up to something with a close group of people I adore and we are trying to pray and follow His lead. I wish I could tell you more, but we have no idea what God is up to....just that it involves service and as families being the hands and feet of Christ.
God and I have also wrestled a little bit this summer. I have no idea why this ankle injury has been so freakishly awful. I have very little faith in the medical community and just know that there has to be a special place in heaven for Mike Robinson for what that man has done and endured for me. It has been so hard to travel on a scooter and the most I have mustered is some housework via my scooter and some garden time on my hands and knees. On this side of heaven I will never understand why this happened but this is what I know. God loves me. God's plan is perfect for me. God understands my anguish and even can handle some hard questions I threw at him. He is sovereign, perfect and in total control. Those are the truths that have helped me this past month. Without Jesus this would have been a very hard month.
On a different note this past Saturday was our fourth annual trip to VT for Buzz's Bunch. For real, this is David's favorite day of the year. We all love Coach Buzz and of course my boys love basketball.
Here is David with his favorite basketball coach! Buzz!
This year David loved Buzz's beautiful daughter as much as the basketball! Ha! We had such a good day with them and Dave announced to Coach Buzz he wanted to date his daughter. Crazy boy-we need to coach him on his gentlemen skills! This day is so special because of the love and enthusiasm from the players, the Williams family, and the staff.
Caroline also was there and here she is with Hope and another of Buzz's daughters. So much fun!
After returning from our trip to Philly we traveled to Greensboro for Kyle's basketball live period. Our last tournament of the season was then to Myrtle Beach. I learned a scooter is really hard to use on sand (God bless Mike for getting me out there once) but it such a fun trip.
Here is Kyle with most of our 16u guys and a few 15's that had to fill in. Kyle was challenged and had to play post most of the weekend which is hard around those big guys. There is such amazing talent at these tournaments and we just wanted him not to get hurt while getting better.
Kyle loves his teammates and they have such fun together. Between games they had some beach time, ate of course, and just enjoyed their time together. They all go to different schools between east Tennessee and southwest Virginia. They are a great group of guys. We have such fun traveling with these families and making memories.
Our three growing babes on the beach. Kyle got stung on his neck by a jellyfish on this trip. That was a new one for us. Me being the one that often gets a little dramatic, almost called 911 but wise Mike called a pharmacists and was told a Bendryl and warm compress should suffice.
Of course Coach Buzz is our favorite college basketball coach ever, but I did happen to run into this famous Duke coach in Greensboro. He was at the same tournament we were at recruiting. He was very gracious:)
I captured this sweet picture of my Kyle working the projector at church. This is what he does on Sunday mornings.... perfect way for a shy guy to serve the Lord. I am so excited for our youth activities to get back into full swing. I am so thankful God called me (and therefore our family) into youth ministry. We have a service of baptism coming up later in August and I already have a lump in my throat thinking of those teenagers who are taking that big step in their faith.
So as the new school year begins I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us. For me personally it has been a hard season but I know that God makes beauty from ashes. He is so very faithful. Even to this grumpy, peg-leg, drama queen!
God and I have also wrestled a little bit this summer. I have no idea why this ankle injury has been so freakishly awful. I have very little faith in the medical community and just know that there has to be a special place in heaven for Mike Robinson for what that man has done and endured for me. It has been so hard to travel on a scooter and the most I have mustered is some housework via my scooter and some garden time on my hands and knees. On this side of heaven I will never understand why this happened but this is what I know. God loves me. God's plan is perfect for me. God understands my anguish and even can handle some hard questions I threw at him. He is sovereign, perfect and in total control. Those are the truths that have helped me this past month. Without Jesus this would have been a very hard month.
On a different note this past Saturday was our fourth annual trip to VT for Buzz's Bunch. For real, this is David's favorite day of the year. We all love Coach Buzz and of course my boys love basketball.
Here is David with his favorite basketball coach! Buzz!
This year David loved Buzz's beautiful daughter as much as the basketball! Ha! We had such a good day with them and Dave announced to Coach Buzz he wanted to date his daughter. Crazy boy-we need to coach him on his gentlemen skills! This day is so special because of the love and enthusiasm from the players, the Williams family, and the staff.
Caroline also was there and here she is with Hope and another of Buzz's daughters. So much fun!
After returning from our trip to Philly we traveled to Greensboro for Kyle's basketball live period. Our last tournament of the season was then to Myrtle Beach. I learned a scooter is really hard to use on sand (God bless Mike for getting me out there once) but it such a fun trip.
Here is Kyle with most of our 16u guys and a few 15's that had to fill in. Kyle was challenged and had to play post most of the weekend which is hard around those big guys. There is such amazing talent at these tournaments and we just wanted him not to get hurt while getting better.
Kyle loves his teammates and they have such fun together. Between games they had some beach time, ate of course, and just enjoyed their time together. They all go to different schools between east Tennessee and southwest Virginia. They are a great group of guys. We have such fun traveling with these families and making memories.
Our three growing babes on the beach. Kyle got stung on his neck by a jellyfish on this trip. That was a new one for us. Me being the one that often gets a little dramatic, almost called 911 but wise Mike called a pharmacists and was told a Bendryl and warm compress should suffice.
Of course Coach Buzz is our favorite college basketball coach ever, but I did happen to run into this famous Duke coach in Greensboro. He was at the same tournament we were at recruiting. He was very gracious:)
I captured this sweet picture of my Kyle working the projector at church. This is what he does on Sunday mornings.... perfect way for a shy guy to serve the Lord. I am so excited for our youth activities to get back into full swing. I am so thankful God called me (and therefore our family) into youth ministry. We have a service of baptism coming up later in August and I already have a lump in my throat thinking of those teenagers who are taking that big step in their faith.
So as the new school year begins I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us. For me personally it has been a hard season but I know that God makes beauty from ashes. He is so very faithful. Even to this grumpy, peg-leg, drama queen!
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Highs and Lows
Life is certainly a roller coaster full of highs and lows. Two weeks ago I went to my surgeon for my last follow-up. I thought for sure he would tell me to have a great life and stay off the hiking trails:) Instead he came into my room and broke the news to me that I have another fracture-straight up my tibia. I was shocked and frankly cried so hard I could not get it together. It was pretty obvious it is broken and that more surgery would be required. Blessedly the surgeon agreed that if I would get out my scooter and put no weight on it at all, I could still go on the mission trip I have been planning for 8 months for our group of 57!!
So with doctor's permission, off our whole family went on a mission trip to Philly with lots of friends and youth from church. We took in a phillies baseball game, saw the Liberty Bell, and ate lunch at the Reading Terminal before checking into our campus dorms for our mission to start. It was a wonderful trip and I am so thankful I could still go. The whole week was amazing-watching our adults and youth get split up into different ministry sites and serve so well around Philadelphia. We had three give their hearts to the Lord for the first time, and several that want to get baptized now. It was magical-we had six families go with lots of other teenagers. Our day was filled with worship, bible study, ministry site work, and some downtime for showers and rest.
Blessedly I got to serve with Mike, Kyle, David and all these other wonderful people at the homeless shelter named CHOC. The staff at CHOC modeled true ministry to me everyday they were there. They treated the homeless folks with respect and dignity and they are truly saving lives at this shelter. I was so thankful to learn that my stereotype of a homeless person is actually very different than the reality. We were encouraged to sit down and visit with the clients and I learned so much about life and grit from theses brave souls who came to CHOC for help. Our group did some painting of walls for them, minor maintenance, and we were asked to design a mural on a wall! Their goal is for CHOC to feel less sterile and more friendly and welcoming.
While I was with the boys serving at the homeless shelter, this little love went to West Philly and played with children in the housing projects. One of the chaperones sent me this and it melted my heart. This girl has a heart for children and Jesus.
We will all remember 7/4/18 because we were in Philly serving the Lord. We had a few hours of group time and we chose to go to see fireworks. It was awesome to have such a large group with so many families participating in this trip. It blows me away each year that parents take off from work to go sweat, get up early, chaperone teenagers, and sleep on crunchy and flat dorm mattresses for a whole week to invest in our youth. Even on a scooter with limited mobility I had an amazing time. It never gets old when teenagers ask you to pray with them and you get a front row seat of what God is doing in their lives.
Here is the mural our group painted and we added paintings from many of the clients to go on the wall! It was amazing!
This is Mr. Charles who helps run CHOC. He has literally and figuratively saved so many lives at CHOC in the last decade or so. It is obvious he loves the Lord, loves his clients, and I was so thankful that he took time to teach our youth how to do small jobs. They truly modeled genuine ministry. I think sometimes we feel like "true ministry" has to be this expensive and overdone book or program, but Mr. Charles reminded me that ministry for the Lord involves listening, accepting folks for who they are, and helping them get their feet underneath them while showing friendship and love. I will never forget those clients we met and how willing they were to share their stories and hearts with us. It was a humbling reminder to me to never judge a book by its over.
We came home from the trip with 6,978 loads of laundry and wonderful memories of serving together as a family. Not even 36 hours after we got home, Mike and I were headed down the interstate to Kingsport for my third surgery on this ankle. The ankle saga of 2018 has taught me so many lessons but here I am one day post-op and it hurts. Sigh.
One of the reasons I was so devastated to have more surgery is because David was scheduled to have his first ever visit at the survivors clinic at UVA. Mike had to take him solo because I cannot travel this soon after surgery. We are still waiting to hear about his echo and his labs, but everything else looks very good! He is 5'1 and weighs 125 pounds! Ha! Here is David with Nurse Pat who is a legend and one of the best nurses ever. She will be retiring in one month and I am so thankful Dave got to see her one last time. The UVA pediatric oncology team will always be special to us.
So I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we have already made with David's good checkup so far, our amazing trip to Philly, and lots of family time. I am not thrilled to be back at square one with this stupid ankle, but I know our God can take everything and make it good:) He is so faithful!
While I was with the boys serving at the homeless shelter, this little love went to West Philly and played with children in the housing projects. One of the chaperones sent me this and it melted my heart. This girl has a heart for children and Jesus.
We came home from the trip with 6,978 loads of laundry and wonderful memories of serving together as a family. Not even 36 hours after we got home, Mike and I were headed down the interstate to Kingsport for my third surgery on this ankle. The ankle saga of 2018 has taught me so many lessons but here I am one day post-op and it hurts. Sigh.
So I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we have already made with David's good checkup so far, our amazing trip to Philly, and lots of family time. I am not thrilled to be back at square one with this stupid ankle, but I know our God can take everything and make it good:) He is so faithful!
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