To My Mom, On Her Birthday

So, today is my mom's birthday. I hate that I haven't been able to be there for her birthday in a long time. She always made our birthdays so special. She is the originator of "the birthday week" and breakfast in bed. It was always fun to see if we could make her birthday as special as she made ours. Since I'm not there (and I didn't send a card-although I did get her gift there on time, does that count?) I thought I would dedicate a post to her...so, in honor of her:

51 Things I Love About My Mom.:)

1. I loved grocery shopping with her, she always called me her "commissary buddy".
2. She makes the best pot roast. Ever.
3. She loves a book, I am sure that is where I got it from.
4. I remember her patiently reading so many really long series to us, the "Love Comes Softly" series, the "Little House" books, the "Zion Chronicles"...
5. She was great at encouraging us to memorize Scripture. She paid me $50 when I read the whole Bible the first time!
6. She always has candy in her purse-usually peanut M & Ms!
7. She likes eating in the car as much as I do.
8. She read every single one of the papers I wrote when I lived at home and was in college- and even some of the ones I wrote after I left.:)
9. She always bought really cool surprises for our road trips. And we took a LOT of road trips!
10. She loves to sing hymns. She got that from her mom and I got it from her!
11. She like to talk on the phone-me too!
12. She is the best clearance shopper. EVER! Every good tip I know I got from her.
13. She is a huge fan of Sonic's pebble ice.
14. I love going to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone with her in the afternoons.
15. She always buys fun books for my kids. At Goodwill! I love that.
16. She has the biggest Longaberger collection of anyone I know, but she is always excited to get a new basket.
17. She has the cutest tea parties with her grandkids.
18. She always does a great job with the laundry. She took much better care of my clothes than my friends' moms did.
19. I was never allowed to leave the house without my hair done. Don't worry Mom, I still don't go out without fixing it!
20. She always filled cute little purses with fun stuff for us to give as birthday gifts.
21. She had a terrific party for me when I turned 5. She made aprons-by hand-for all my guests.
22. She makes wonderful Red Velvet cake.
23. She loves a chocolate chip cookie with nuts in it.
24. She always told us that when she was little she would say that she would always have ice cream and chocolate syrup in her house when she grew up. And she does!
25. She always had separate Easter egg hunts for each of us, so we didn't have to fight over the eggs.
26. She puts together a mean Christmas stocking. It is one of the best parts of Christmas!
27. We (Katy, Lisa Dawn, Kelly, my Mom and I) all sang together at Christmas. It was really neat.
28. She is terrific at anything English related.
29. She is still a really good typist. I remember her typing my dad's papers when he was in medical school.
30. She knows the answer to almost any childhood medical problem. She is better than an on-call nurse!
31. She is never too busy to pray with me. Or anybody else for that matter!
32. She never forgets to take delight in the small things.
33. She had a journal that we took turns writing in when I was in middle school.
34. She loves a grilled hamburger. Pretty much anything grilled.
35. She loves a Reese's Peanut Butter cup, too.
36. She loves a neat cookbook.
37. If it is patriotic, she probably has it in her house. I always think of her when I see something red, white and blue.
38. She likes junk jewelry almost as much as I do!
39. She always took the time to kiss me at night. Even when I was in my 20's.
40. She always wakes up when she hears a sound in the night.
41. One of my sweetest memories is her rushing down to the basement with the phone in the middle of the night. It was Joel calling while he was deployed. My mom had hurt her foot but she wanted to make sure I didn't miss his call.
42. She loves our military and is so proud of her son-in-laws for serving.
43. She always irons for my dad. I think that is so sweet.
44. She finds fun things like the cool reusable bags she gave us.
45. She is very supportive of things like writing hobbies and cupcake themed bedrooms.:)
46. She has the most gorgeous, even, handwriting of anyone I know.
47. She loves Boston Baked Beans and Mallow Cups.
48. She is the original Bed Fairy (and Sniffy Bug!).
49. She never forgets how important little things are, like favorite candies and stuffed animals.
50. She always gave us cool stuff to take to summer camp.
51. She loves her family and Jesus and is the best mom ever.:)

Volun"Told" at VBS

I won't lie. Mostly because I can't and partly because I shouldn't... I was not excited to find out that our church was departing from the usual Lifeway VBS curriculum. Not excited is my polite term. I love Lifeway, it is a huge part of being Southern Baptist, and I am Southern Baptist first, church member second. Instead we would be using Group Publishing's curriculum. I am familiar with Group,the post uses it for their VBS. It has it's pros (and of course, it's cons) but I was still really disappointed. However, since I had already agreed to help on post and was familiar with the theme I tried to put on my "big girl panties" and rise to the occassion, my own opinions aside.

Then I found out that Group produces two VBS tracks. Our church, of course, was doing the other one! And not only that (this gets really complicated so try to follow along) but it was the "Family" version. The program was written for entire families to participate-mixed ages of children and adults- but our church would be following the traditional VBS format-groups of same-age children, no adults-and changing the curriculum accordingly. I knew that would be a considerable amount of work and I just didn't want to do it. I felt like I had already agreed to lead on post and my position there was fairly considerable. I would just help at church, show up and follow someone else's directions. Easy, right?

I couldn't make it to any of the meetings (except one that had to be cancelled after I had gotten there), and unfortunately our very competent regular director had some health issues and had to be replaced last minute,so I was pretty out of the loop when I arrived at church yesterday. I thought I was in the first grade class. I checked in there and found two teenage girls slapping posters on the walls and furiously trying to make the room look decorated. Okay...where was the teacher? I found the director, she said the teacher was coming. Then we realized: there had been a miscommunication and the teacher wasn't coming-she wasn't even working in VBS. Yup, that's right: there was no first grade teacher. Okay....well, the director better find one! It was like a bad movie. I'm looking around the room and everyone is looking at...me. As the only adult in the class I was selected as the teacher. What?! I was NOT gracious about it. I would love to say that I sweetly replied with, "I can do all things through Christ", or "God works all things together for the good", but I think it was basically something like,"NOOOOOO!". Nice, huh? Big girl panties were no where to be found. But realizing it was between me or a teenager who had only helped, not served as a lead teacher, I figured I may as well put my 12 years of VBS experience to good use. We scrambled to find a book and I had 15 minutes to prepare. Okay, I can do this!

Well, I came up with a game plan, the rest of the staff prayed over me and I began to feel strangely confident. This was no one's fault, it was just a simple, plain accident. A comedy of errors. I was waiting in the sanctuary to gather my class when someone said that the teacher was coming. A different person, who had materials and a lesson plan. Yay! I was off the hook! Hallelujah! Then she arrived. She hadn't been sure she was the teacher, she thought it was someone else. She didn't have a lesson planned and wouldn't even be there two of the nights. She wanted me to teach! "Are you sure you don't want to teach? I am fine with that, I will be happy to help. Are you sure?". I think I was whining at this point, I'm not sure where all my bravado had gone. Nope, she thought I would do a great job, and since she was missing two nights it would be better this way anyway.

So, okay Lord, I get it. This is what happens when You ask me to do something and I say, "No". I get to do it anyway, sans preparation! So, the Lord DOES discipline those He loves! I wasn't feeling real loved at this point but realization was beginning to dawn. I had allowed my own opinions to get in the way and I had missed the Lord's leading. Whoops! I feel bad for everyone who had to suffer too, just so the Lord could teach me a lesson, but I am just praying that I will be wiser (and maybe a little less full of myself) the next time. Praise the Lord, because He is the only One who could have done this, class went swimmingly. It was a little tricky because the lessons are only planned in two 15 minute increments and we have a 20 minute block and 50 minute one (the last one will be kind of interesting) but the kids seemed to have a good time and I have a what seems like a ton of time to prepare for this evening after what happened last night! So, I better go hit the books but I do know that obviously the Lord just needs my willingness and He will make it all work!

Running the Race

So, no doubt by now, you have heard that I ran in my first 10K on Monday. It was....AMAZING! I have had a secret life-long dream of being a "runner". There is something that just appeals to me about the idea of running. February 1st came and I had not run one step, not a single one. Then our Lifegroup (that's Sunday School teacher for those of you unitiated into FBCBF lingo) leader challenged us to sign up to run the "Bolder Boulder", a 10K run. I was a little frightened but decided to go for it. I started out running a measly 4 minutes and walking a minute.Yeah, I know, that whole 5 minutes was definitely going to get me in shape!

I kept at it,though, hardly ever missing a run. I found out that it was hard, but I really liked it! Some days were good, others were bad. I ran in the rain, in the snow and in the wind.In the beginning of May I bruised my right foot pretty badly. That kept me off of it for a week and then I bruised it again! I was a little nervous that was going to keep me from running the whole race but thankfully it started feeling better the week before.

The morning of the race I was even more nervous but I just kept thinking that if worse came to worse I knew I could just walk the whole thing. Boulder was crazy when we arrived! There were cars and people with race bibs everywhere! I am not a big person for crowds but I just kept thinking it wasn't about all the other people. It was something I just wanted to do for me. I found my "wave" and joined the crowd. There were 54, 000 participants! That is a lot of jostling elbows. I was glad that, in the end, I was not early because I think I would have gotten even more anxious waiting. Soon, the gun sounded, and we were off!

I wasn't running for time, I just wanted to run. Good thing, too, because there was so much to see. Every block had live performers and most of the houses along the route were having parties in the front yard. There were people with sprinklers directed at the road to cool everyone off. There were even houses where people were throwing marshmallows and giving out Doritos! There were belly dancers, too, old ones! That is not to even mention all the people in costume. There were women in their fifties dressed as Alice, the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. There were teenagers in "Flash Dance" costumes. There were even two boys, one with a crown and the other with two coconuts, replicating the horse scene from "Monty Python".

It was certainly enough to keep my mind off running! I hit the first kilometer sign and I thought, "I am 1/10th of the way there. Lord, here is my tithe of running, I guess the rest is up to You!" And He, of course, surpassed my wildest expectations. I didn't even realize I was running half the time! I just ran my little heart out. It was truly one of the most satisfying things I have ever done. It so reminded me of the passage from Hebrews that talks about running the good race. I had trained to run and I couldn't let anything stop me. Every mile there was a drink station and I had to be careful not to slip on all the cups in the road. I had to not get too distracted by all that was going on around me. I couldn't focus on anyone else's race-only my own. If I needed encouragement I only had to look around at all the people cheering me on. Especially encouraging was the runners who had already completed the race who had come back to support those still running. You know, the "great cloud"?

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

I guess I never really expected running to be a spiritual experience. But, it really was. It was such an amazing opportunity to be able to worship the Lord in the midst of all those people. My little Ipod blared my favorite songs by Jars of Clay, 10th Avenue North and the Newsboys while I focused on the beautiful mountains in front of me and all the joy around me. It was really great to see Joel and the kids right after I finished the 6th mile. They gave me that final boost to complete the last .2 mile I had to go. Finishing was so wonderful! Even though my time wasn't anything to brag about (1 hour 22 minutes 56 seconds), it wasn't the time, it was the completion. I can't wait until next year... .

Take a Breath, Maybe Not Yet

I finally feel like I am at the "breathing" part of the year. All regularly scheduled activities are over. This next month or so will still be a little hectic because I am:

-hosting my sister and her family for the Memorial Day weekend. Yay!
-running the "Bolder Boulder" on the 31st. Praying my foot will quit hurting and more than a little nervous to try my first 10K. Yikes!
-having a yard sale. Woo-hoo for getting rid of useless, space consuming junk!
-working in two Vacation Bible Schools back to back. Our church: June 7th-11th, on post:the 14th-18th
-waiting to see if Joel will have surgery on his first ankle towards the end of June. I am anxious because I know recovery will be hard, but I know he really is hoping this will bring an end to all the pain he is in.

Okay, so maybe no time to breathe yet. Maybe in July...

Can I Have S'more?

After Joel came back from Iraq last year he experienced a craving for s'mores. We enjoyed roasting marshmallows on the grill several times last year before the weather got too cold. Jocelyn, because elephants (and four year-olds) never forget, had been begging to do that again since, oh, about December. Joel decided on Sunday to indulge her, so we grilled hotdogs and ate outside.
I have to say, it was one of the best days. So perfect in its simplicity. We just enjoyed leisurely grilling, everyone in the backyard together, gorgeous mountains setting the scene. There was no pressure to impress anyone, no hurry to go anywhere. The kids set up their little camp chairs and the menu: hotdogs, chips, s'mores and not a veggie in sight. The weather was perfect-it is hard to find a day in May in Colorado with no wind. We enjoyed our 'dogs and then proceeded to the real main course: S'mores! Joel is always the grill master, expertly perfecting each marshmallow to a golden brown. He did let each of the kids handle a roasting fork, which they thought was great. The s'mores were delightful, each one a perfect square of overwhelming sugar. Because the roasting was conveniently taking place in our backyard we even had access to ice-cold milk. I personally believe all sweets are improved by the presence of that particular dairy product!
Anyway, it was just one of those "moments". Everyone having fun, just truly enjoying the togetherness. Then it started to rain. You would think that would have immediately ended everything. Instead, we just enjoyed the light drizzle, laughing that Josie had predicted it would rain. It didn't change a thing, if anything it just made it a little more special. And then I realized that is how life is. The more appreciative I am of each thing that I have, of each moment that is taking place, the less likely I am to let it be spoiled by a little rain. When you are focused on the joy, on the positives, then even something that could have potential to be frustrating, (or at the least disconcerting) doesn't even merit notice. Or it may even heighten the experience! There are things that can ruin even the best of moments, those unavoidable torrential downpours. However, usually it only takes a little sprinkle to ruin my parade. I need to be more satisfied with my Savior, more joyful in my salvation, and then I will be able to dance in the rain-or least make my s'mores...