Extra in The Ordinary

From one mom to another, let's just say I can meet you right where you are today. You have a million things to do, several little shoulders to hug and mouths to feed (ones much bigger than the others), and far too few hours to get it all done, and very little (or zero) time to refresh yourself mentally, physically, or spiritually. "Me time" is rare for moms, and that's ok. If it were up to us, and we had a bottomless pit of energy, we'd probably never stop to take car of ourselves. God gave us that instinct to care of our families first. Our precious kids need so much of our attention while we are with them. I remember needing lots of attention when I was a kid, too. There's just only so much one brain and one body can take, right? Some days I feel like this: (yes, even in my frustrated moments I'm probably thinking about coffee) Of course, when we get to this point of frustration, we have a choice. We can spiral down the negative nancy, the sky is...

I was blessed to have an extraordinary week of snow and winter weather (in April) in Colorado this week.  This morning I was so overwhelmed by the view out of my window of 18 mountain tops, as seen below, that I wrote a poem. Yes, I counted the mountain tops! I hope you like it! God's 18 Mountains 18 Mountains paint my view God declared through fog and hugh 18 peaks lift my eyes I lift my face up to the skies On and on the mountains go On and on new mercies flow Like rivers down the rocky slope God's love and grace brings down new hope Nature's perfect glory song 18 mountains go on and on

Well, it's official, I'm writing a book! I decided to take the Tea Time concept, and for the next year, as I'm doing Tea Time with my own daughters I will give it a little more forethought as far as what we are talking about, and I'll just write it all down. I will turn it into a Tea Time devotional book for busy moms who want to be intentional with sharing God with their daughters.  I started recording our tea time conversations 2 weeks ago, and I've got my mom on the job of keeping me accountable and reviewing my work. Oh, and my husband has already been very helpful with guiding me through the publisher and marketing plans. I can already see that this book will be a family project, and will hopefully bless our family and many others for years to come.  Thank you for your prayers! Tink

Happy New Year my Friends!! So, are your Christmas decorations down? Mine aren't! I'll do it this weekend I'm sure. I did, however, take down the Christmas cards off the blinds and off the China cabinet (or the Chinese cabinet as IPK calls it). I went ahead and took those down because I knew exactly where to put them, and I love to put things where they belong. Yay for feeling a little bit organized!! I love to see the the mail pile with handwritten addresses and colorful envelopes. I love to carefully open each one. I love to see the pictures, and think about those who have sent greetings, and post them up in the dining room. It's just a happy process- getting a card in the mail. It reminds you of the loved one who sent it, and fond feelings and memories flood closely behind. But then, after the holidays, what do you do with them? I have an idea for you- make a prayer basket! The last time I visited my late Aunt Wanda I noticed that before we said our p...

Today is a great day to remember what God has to say! Keep marching in truth! (and a little Inositol vitamin for anxiety is helpful too) Tink

Ya know what's hard for me? Stillness. I can't sit still through a movie. I can't sit still for a long meal. I just can't be still. I need to be moving, working, or at least writing and thinking. Right now I'm washing the clothes, washing the dishes, and cooking oatmeal bars in the oven while I write this. Being still and alone is really hard for me. I'm bad at still. Do you struggle with this, too? Do you try to plan the grocery list while making cookies while reading that book? Are you looking at this on your phone while driving or walking? (yikes if you are driving please check back later!!) Well, I know in this fast paced world we live in, God wants us to occasionally slow down and just sit still. That's the only way we can experience His peace and the recalibration we need from remembering that HE is GOD. (blessed be HIS name!).  This morning in my Bible reading God called me out like He always does with just the thing I needed to hear. Psalm 46: ...

Does mom need a little bit of encouragement today? Me too!! Ordinary: Refereeing the kids while they fight over a toy Extraordinary: Thinking beyond “who had it first?” to the heart of the matter   The book, Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp, is the best parenting/training   book I’ve seen so far, and I needed a good book…here’s why: Mostly my kids are really REALLY good (yes I know I’m blessed), but just like anyone else, when they are tired or hungry or bored…wow they can get into a heap of trouble. Clarification: My first born, IPK, is the pleaser, and an angel. She wants to save the world of heartbreak and share Jesus and fix everyone’s problems. She is really fun and silly, too, but she just has a good, pure heart. My second born, Adi Boo, is the wild one. She likes frilly skirts and jumping off things. She questions ideas. If I say it, she questions it. She is bold and courageous, with what SHE wants to do. She is learning to obey, and doing...

Sea shells: Have You Heard the Story?     Legend says there was a man, walking on the beach, picking up seashells. Of course, most of them are broken, but he wants to keep as many as possible, so he picks up one after another. Finally his hands are full, and he has to drop a broken shell or two to make room for a new broken shell, but he keeps going on and on. Finally, he finds the most beautiful shell, completely whole, but he doesn't have room in his hands. He is unwilling to drop his broken shells to pick up the one whole shell, so it stays on the beach, and the man walks away sad with regret.    Why do we pick up broken shells? What's your broken shell? Is it worry? Is it a broken memory from your past that you can't let go of? Is it an expired dream? A broken heart? Is it the notion that you can do it all? Sometimes I think I can fill my hands with 50 broken shells, and then I have to remind myself to keep an eye out for the shells that count, an...

Ordinary: Bath time frustrations with kids Extraordinary: Hearing God's voice among the noise My daughters like to test my patience at bed time. Well, they don't do it on purpose, but they are really good at it. I, on the other hand have had plenty of bed time opportunities to cultivate a very refined patience level. God chooses moments such as this to teach me lessons I'll never forget. On one such occasion, my oldest girl, IPK, was finishing in the bathtub, and while competing with the usual background noise in the house, I told her it was time to "pull the plug please, and get out of the bath". I'm sitting right there with her, so I didn't yell. My voice was firm, but I was competing with the background noise which was much more attractive to her ears. A show on TV, daddy's computer, and sister's story telling from the bedroom. She didn't even look at me, so I knew she wasn't listening. I said it again, and then a third time. I took...

Today my 4 year old little girl wanted me to read her a few books while my other daughter did homework. Tempted to tell the little one "go ask your dad", I thought, ever so quickly, that I just MIGHT think back as a decreped 80 year old and completely cry about the day I didn't read to my baby girl when she asked, so I did. So, as we were reading tho story of Jonah I decided to point to a few words and ask her to sound them out. She just turned 4, so she isn't reading yet, but she knows the sounds of most letters. Well, at first she recognized "the" and "a", but by the end she knew Jonah. And Nineveh. And then it happened. I pointed to the word God for her to sound it out, and she did. It's like she already knew it. Then, the word God came up again. Again she knew it. So I thought to myself, that my completely ordinary tendency was to tell my little girl that I was too busy to read with her. If I had done that I would have missed out on a compl...