Back to Blogging and off to Africa!

Well, as you can tell, my last post over a year ago about not blogging often enough really inspired me to blog more :)
But now I am planning a trip to Africa in June with The Raining Season and I really want to keep a record of the process so here we go once again!
I hope to back-blog a little to record some family happenings so we will see if that actually happens.  In the mean time, Happy New Year!

Bad Blogger Busy Bee

There was a little mother,
who had a big beehive.

She buzzed around and
        
       o  u
    r         n
a                d
         &
a                d
    r         n
      o   u

Her life was full of sweet
little honey treats

known as baby bumble bees.

There was a little mother
who loved and

         v

    o        e 

 l                d

         &

 l                d

    o        e

         v

and forgot to "blog" it down.

So if you want to know
how the little bumble bees are doin'

they are turning into busy lil' bees
just buzzin' and

        z   z
    u           i
b                  n'
          &
b                  n'
    u           i
        z   z

I've missed writin' it down.

Blessings we don't even see...

There is such a dichotomy of pain, beauty, need, abundance, joy & sorrow all around the world and my eyes are beginning to see clearly now.

A prayer that I have been praying for about six months now is a quote by Bob Pierce, Founder of World Vision:

"Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God"

I guess I should be careful what I pray for.  I am beginning to yearn for deeper involvement in The Raining Season.  As I read their blog and blogs that link to their blog and blogs that link to those blogs……. I am so very moved by all of the wonderful ways that God is using his Body of Christ to help Save the Orphan.  I am inspired by all of the Godly, giving, loving women and families that I am reading about and I seem to want to get involved more deeply.

Because I dream about it, think about it, read books about it, and don't forget; read blogs about it!

I just finished a book called Little Bee, which I probably won't blog about on my book blog because I want to forget it.  It was a fiction book that started out amazing, was written very very well, but took a terrible tangent on infidelity that I felt was completely not required for the plot.  But, it did get me thinking, so here are my musings:

What a wonderful world I was born into!  I have had so many blessings and opportunities that so many other women my age around the world have not had.  So let's pretend for just a moment that I haven't had some of the advantages that being born in the United States of America in the 1970's has given me:

• I was born with severely bowed legs, I don't know the medical term for this; but I do know that I had to have casts on my legs for months to straighten out my bones.  I was still teased mercilessly in school for my silly walk, but I have grown out of it.  I do still have the cute little white cast that was on one of my infant legs. 
• I got my first pair of glasses in 3rd grade, and my first pair of contacts in 6th.  I have complained almost every day of my life that my eyes don't work because I am hopelessly nearsighted and even laser surgery is not an option for me, but contacts help me see 20/20!  Do you think I would even HAVE glasses if I lived in a third world country?  
• I broke my arm jumping on a trampoline when I was 10, and when it didn't heal right, I had to have surgery to cut out the dead bone and replace it with a new bone from the hospitals bone bank as well as 6 pins to secure it in place.  I now have 100% use of my arm and wrist; before surgery the rotation and strength was diminishing daily.
• I now have straight teeth because my mother worked very hard to provide me with orthodontia and way too many fillings for cavities from my sugar addiction…..
• I had surgery at 21 to diagnose severe abdominal pain and was diagnosed with endometriosis; which causes infertility and of course, severe abdominal pain.
• I did 6 months of hormone therapy to shrink the endometriosis and enable me to become a mommy of four beautiful and much wanted miracle babies!

And that is only SOME of my boring medical details……

• I was able to attend school every single day it was offered while I was young, and they even fed me lunch and bussed me to and from school 5 days a week!
• I played baseball, volleyball and danced in drill team to my heart's content!
• I was given a love for reading and writing and as an adult, yes; even a love for math!
• I went to college (after college, after college, after college) - we moved a lot, ok?! It's kind of an ongoing joke between hubby and I!
• I am now a working mother with an amazingly supportive husband who co-parents with me!
• I earn a great salary and am able to care for my family while working at a job I love in the construction industry where I am usually the only woman in a room full of men; where they treat me (mostly) with kindness and respect.
• I am free to worship my God with abandon!

So now for the third world version of me:

I am a bow-legged, blind, snaggle-toothed (ok, lets be real - I probably don't have but a couple of teeth left at this point), uneducated woman (who can't read) with no children and an arm that is bent up and atrophied, and if I know Jesus; there are those who will kill me if they find out.  If I live in Sierra Leone, my life expectancy is 41 years; so that means I have less than four years to live.

Talk about a wake up call to appreciate my circumstances!!!!

Please forgive me if I feel a little disconnected from this life that I am living that includes an over-abundance of things, and over-indulgance of food, and an un-concerned community for their neighbor.

I hope you also see that I have an abundance of love in my home, a heart indulging in the great things around me, and a concern growing for my neighbor; including the orphan.   

For now, I will continue to study God's Word and pray for his will to become my reality.  I will also thank God every day for my glasses (ok, contacts!), straight teeth, able body, beautiful babies, nice home, loving husband, steady income, books galore, vacations, good food, technology, air conditioning, motrin, coffee, washing machine, soft bed, closet full of clothes, toys all over the floor, bills, chores………. 

Please won't you join me in my prayer to have your heart broken by the things that break the heart of God?  I promise, your heart will burst as you see more of the blessings all around you as the things that you don't have will not seem so important anymore, and the things that others don't have will.

  

Back to the Future

All my back-posts are now done and I can officially come

Back to the Future! 

I will try to keep updating on a regular basis, looking back I have actually done pretty well (for me!).  My mom and sister Model-T have volumes and volumes of journals, but I didn't get that gene obviously because I have volumes and volumes with two weeks worth of entries each!  My blog now has more entries than all my diaries put together! 

Blogging - My Rules & Regulations

So..... hello to all you bloggers and followers of blogs! Is there a name for ya'll; like maybe blog-sters, blog-spotters or blog-stalkers? I like the last one myself, and am all for reading other people's random thoughts on a regular basis from the comfort of my own home!



I am joining this "blog - thang" a little hesitantly. This is because I am not one prone to addictions of any sort. No smoking, drinking (ok, not to excess - don't get crazy on me), gambling or chocolate benders in my recent past. That was, until Facebook came along. Innocently invited by friends to join, I have learned that I have to limit my time and only check once (ok, maybe twice) a day and not get to interested in people's lives that I haven't actually even seen since my High School Graduation. So here goes, I am now officially listing my own terms of agreement to use this site:



1. Posts will only be made on Sundays, as this is my official "Day of Rest".

Day of Rest from what, you say?

Chores, home improvement, hard labor and any organizing of any kind. Church attendance and taking a nap are the only requirements of the day, and only because these are the things I WANT to do on my day of rest!

Of course, this explicitly excludes:

• the preparation of meals,


• washing of laundry beginning at 6:00p.m. when I realize I have to work the next day and have nothing to wear,


• bathing of dirty babies so I am not embarrassed to send them to school,


• signing of school work to be returned to teachers,


• enforcement of chores to be done by my children,


• referee duties of said children to get the REAL story of who did what to whom.


• tucking in and commencement of The Bedtime Routine.

Whew.... I need a day off! Ok, maybe I can post any day, because my day of rest is officially full!

2. Blogs will only be of something interesting to other people who may read it.

Wait. just. a. minute.

This is my blog. If you don't like it, make a comment! I love feedback, but be prepared to hear about how fabulous my kids are, or how they drive me crazy (all in the same day!). This is a place for random thoughts, yes? Ok. So be it. Randomness to follow, I promise!

3. Blogs will be honest, and reflect who I am right now.

Right. People will be reading this!

As a Wife, Mother, Career Woman, and Co-Manager of the Q-Crew, I will have my moments. Please bear with me. I love my Jesus, Family & Career.... but I am also a little girl at heart with big emotions & in need of some TLC! So, honesty is my policy. Thank God for GRACE and no need for perfection here!

4. No need for rules, since I detailed all the reasons my rules don't apply! Blog is a go!