Disappointment

He stands imposingly in the doorway.
Broad shouldered, darkly staring me down.
Accusing. Glaring. Denouncing.

I steal a look at him and run weakly to my hiding spot,
like an injured rabbit.
Where my eyes grow bloodshot hot
and my heart red heavy.
Foolish. Scared. Embarrassed.

It seems impossible to face him.

To go up against him nose to nose.
Confident. Empowered. Believing.

I would rather not take the risk.
And turn inward.
Quiet. Paralyzed. Numb.

Or I would rather fight him like a crazy woman.
Swing my fist into his jaw, hair flying insanely.
Wild. Angry. Hurt.

Instead.

I will pick myself up.
I will walk calmly towards him.
I will give him a steel look in the eye.
Mouth set, I will say firmly,
"Move over. I am coming through."

Faith-filled. Moving forward. Expecting God's best.

Of Pumpkins and Mud

Once again, we went to the pumpkin patch in Bixby.

We enjoyed the usual elements:
mounds and mounds of bright orange pumpkins.
Cute little girls in kitty cat shirts.Interesting farm animals. Lots of 'em.Bags of feed for .50 cents apiece. Pony rides: $4.00.
Scarecrows and other photo ops. And something new for us this year: mud. See it on the pumpkin?
Look at the ground. It was impossible to avoid the sludge of muddy soup.
The mud on this boy is just a small sample of the total amount that covered him by the end of our visit. The pictures don't do the mud justice. The upside? Not many people decided to brave the mud like we did, so we had the whole sloppy place to ourselves. I tried to ignore the fact the mud won; it took me an entire day to get the boots, the blankets and my car free from the caked on baked on mud. The kids didn't care, in fact they had fun in spite or because of the mud!

Perfect Pairings

Here are Kami and her friends at "Gross Night" at Fellowship Bible. One activity included Mountain Dew, Baby Ruth Candy Bars, and an actual toilet. I will leave it at that. The final activity was the shaving cream war, below.



~Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

Kindergarten Confessions

You may remember our struggles with Luke's FIRST Kindergarten year. We had roughs and tumbles and timeouts and even a trip or two to the Principal. I think I about used up all my tears and brain cells trying to figure out what to do with the child.

After much talking and reading and discussing and praying, Luke is now in superkindergarten, and he has an alias. He has transformed into a boy named "L.J." Before school started, we heard that his class was bursting full of Lukes, so he took it upon himself to find a different name. Luke James dubbed himself L.J.

It's been such a fantastic year so far that I may insist that he goes by L.J. every year. Now, to clarify, we haven't had parent teacher conferences yet... however, it feels better. It feels like he is NOW ready for kindergarten. There seems to be a peace and a certainty with Luke's situation that I was afraid wouldn't find me for years. It probably helps that Luke's teacher is an angel sent straight to her earthly classroom strictly for one little 6 year old stinkbug named L.J. She's beyond fantastic.

Anyway, the boy just cracks me up. I walked by his classroom this morning and observed some of L.J. and his classmates' art on the walls. The children were apparently supposed to draw a picture of what their family likes to do together.

Here is Kylie's creation. She and her family enjoy swimming in Grandma's pool.Annette and her family love to go to church. How sweet.

L.J.'s friend Wyatt has a family who enjoys boating. I love Maya's picture of her family playing tic tac toe.

and here is L.J.'s picture. Read the bottom of the page: "My family likes to have fun together. Here is a picture of us. We are on a trip on a pirate ship." There is even a cannon firing and I believe we are holding guns. I hope that is Tom up on the mast.

Perfect Pairings

This weekend, Oliver Twist opened at our local children's theatre, in which Ellie played an orphan and a pickpocket. I caught this pic between scenes. She likes to hole up underneath some tables during the other kids' scenes and I thought she looked awful pitiful here - sad eyes. Though she has had fun pouring herself into a this role, the word of God says something very specific about people like Ellie's characters.
You're blessed when you've lost it all.
God's kingdom is there for the finding.
You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
Then you're ready for the Messianic meal.

You're blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

The Message - Luke 6:20b