August 2013

The littlest one is my house started kindergarten.

I’d love to tell you she is as happy-go-lucky about it as her brother.

Sophia is the one who inflicts my deepest fears…the hyper-emotional mom moments. Cephas was just excited and ready to go, waiting on me to leave, full of confidence and enough creativity to have me not worried for him, but his teacher (who was awesome…and has Sophia this year). Sophia looks up at me with those big brown eyes. The eyes that are normally so confident and sassy…look at me with a certain degree of fear and a whole lot of nerves. Those eyes have me having to trust God with her fears and that He is able to relieve them.

This got me thinking about my mom.

God bless her…

She doesn’t realize how much she has taught me how to trust God with my kids.

When crazy 15yr old daughter comes home from youth camp and says “I know I’m called to ministry”. She said “are you sure”? When I sang the crazy surrender songs, “are you sure”? When I said I don’t belong here anymore and knew I was heading to CFNI, “you will never live at home again”. I was sure, I was sure…and I didn’t. When I made major moves (a lot of them…like to Dallas for school by myself and a stranger picked me up at the airport), dealt with others challenging leadership decisions, had challenging decisions to make my own, when my heart was broken and when it was overjoyed…she is still Mom and responds like a mother to a daughter. She encourages my faith when it comes to trusting God with the lifetime of unknowns ahead in raising children.

Pardon me as Sophia starting kindergarten brought all this up.

I want my kids to choose purpose over proximity every time. I want them to take risks, follow where God leads them and do what He calls them. I am learning that this will likely be an assault to my mother heart and emotions as their faith is stretched. They will deal with the choices of others and face situations that cause them to cling to Jesus.

While babies return from the first day of school full of stories and excitement, I sit and wonder how the 2’s seemed to last forever yet the littleness still managed a disappearing act.

School starts in 3 days. These are the last days of summer. Mind you, I’m only referring to the summer-living. The summer temps will continue…cause it’s Texas and we learn to live with it. Since days are about to change and I have a few blogs to post, we are wrapping up summer with a recap. Between vacation, family and a surprise that made me cry…this is needed.

I’ve posted some pics along the way. Whats a vacation without pictures?!

So we took a vacation. For this family, this year, it was a road trip.

After a year and a half, I FINALLY got to hug this face. Only for him to like these guys more than me. I’m okay with that. You can’t help but find it adorable when your husband shoots your nephew with a nerf gun for 20 min, and the little one thinks it is the greatest.

I got to see my grandma. She is 98.

My kids got to enjoy some aunt and cousin time…and so did I. This isn’t even close to all of them…but this is what I got. I love them. I got some sister time. One night, all us grown ups piled on couches and watched Sharknado. Apparently, it was what the occasion called for. It was such ridiculousness that I called it greatness.

Then we went to the beach! Yes, the first picture has storm clouds. The thunder and lightening from those clouds sent us running off the beach. We were back with sunshine less than two hours later and were good for the rest of the trip. I had said for months that I needed white sand, clear water and waves in my life…and I got it. I would snag the kids boogie boards and ride those waves and laugh the whole way in. Sophia had it down by the end of our trip. The kids all got buried in the sand, rode waves, tried to catch fish with their hands, built sand castles (including one dubbed Sharknado) and we all wore ourselves out. It was fantastic.

Texas is BIG and the drive home was long…but worth it.

Then to end our vacation, we had a surprise. After a week away, we missed our church family. I was ready to get home, hug necks, talk and worship with this crazy group of folks. What I didn’t expect was to end my vacation with God reminding me how big God is. I turned the corner after walking in the building and burst into tears at the sight of Reese’s.

I bawled. I cried through worship. I declared it the best Sunday ever. I said that worship that week was awesome. Jordan was quick to point out that they could have played spoons and a washboard that week and I would have had the same reaction. I deny that…but it’s still funny.

God blessed us with the chance to remember how big He is. I posted about this crazy bunch just a few weeks prior. Oh the desires of my heart… He is good folks!

Summer is almost over…and the best is yet to come!

Month: August 2013

Momma Momma

Summer Lovin’