Praying Through the ABCs

After much ado at Christmas-time, I decided to add a little fun to my BLAH crappy white kitchen cabinets by adding ribbon and cute little clips to hold Christmas cards of ones I love.

And then I took them down. Yesterday. Yes. 5/29. Better late than never, right? :)

I loved the color the ribbon brought, but what to put up there? Pics? Yea, but I don't EVER keep up with printing them in a timely manner (like I have NONE of Miss R on our fridge yet, and she's 20 months old), so no.

And then it hit me! I won these cards a few years back (and actually printed them then, too), but never had a great way to display them (and therefore rarely use them). They're fantastic! Praying for your Kids through the ABCs. Just fantastic.

Rebecca @ Better Life Bags designed them. She sells them in her shop, as well. They're fab. {She also has ones for praying for your hubs and praying through your pregnancy...all great gift ideas for people you love.}

                                          

So, here we are. Since I only have 4 wall cabs, they're kinda crammed up there, but one will be our family verse of the week, so it will be down on display somewhere else.

                                 

Dresses up my cabs while keeps my eyes on what matters - praying for my kidlets. And oh, the discussions they will bring up. Looking forward to it.

                                  

And my personal favorite {at the moment} - for I never want my kidlets to struggle like I do with this idea of unconditional love. I plead with God, as we memorize these Words together - that my family will be transformed by the words on my kitchen cabs.

                      

And thanks, Rebecca, for making these so all I have to do is pray 'em. :) What a good momma you are!

Condemnation

I hear her voice on the phone. It's layered with guilt & shame. She doesn't want to tell me but at the same time, she does. And she's scared to death of how I will react.

She's scared I will judge her.
She's scared I will be angry with her.
She's scared I will be disappointed in her.
She's scared I will think differently of her.
She's maybe even scared she will lose me.

And when the ugly truth comes out, the only thing I have is more love. My heart hurts for her...aches for the troubles of this life. I cried with her and listened as she poured out all the ugly - And It. Was. Ugly.

Because life is ugly sometimes. Sin is ugly. People are cruel and selfish. The Bible doesn't hide these things. The Psalmist spends almost as much time agonizing as he does praising. And there's a piece of me that is so very thankful that our Word is real in that way - because somehow, it helps me to cope with the ugly.

But more than anything else, I long to be a place of healing for her...for her to understand that the ways I have maybe reacted in the past were WRONG. I should never have quoted Bible verses that condemn, for that's not what those truths are there for. I should ever have given her advice so that people won't see the ugly pieces of life. I should have never made her feel guilty, no matter what. {No.Matter.What.}

No more pretending, you know? No one is perfect, outside of Jesus, who was our ultimate example and also is our absolute Way to the Father. Absolute. Only. Way.

And there's no condemnation in Him. None. {read Romans 8 for more details}

If I am in Him {which I am}, and I am to be more like him {which I am - read Philippians 2 for more details}, then there should be no condemnation in me {whether it's for myself or giving out to others}.

Did Jesus support sin? No. Did He encourage it? No. Did He excuse it? No. Over and over and over, he said "Go & sin no more." That's it. "Stop it. I love you. Don't do it anymore. You are free." That's what He says.

Fellow Jesus-lovers, we sometimes get lost on our way to "good things." There are hurting people...in our homes, in our church, in our family, in our friend circle, at our work place. How we react will either point people to Jesus or turn them from Him. And judging {condemning} them will not point them to Christ, this I am sure.

So, sweet friend, the one struggling with hidden sin...the one hiding behind her own shame...STOP. There's no condemnation. None.

And Jesus-loving friends, seriously...STOP. Don't talk if you're going to be judgmental. There's no place for that in Him.

A Day of Firsts...

I always thought I'd be a great "keeper of firsts," since I love scrapbooking so much. Unfortunately lack of time & energy have stiffled that dream. But for today - I will write down today's firsts to remember forever.

Today was Mister's first meeting as the Mayor of our fine village. {He's cute, though he'll be mad I said that b/c "what kind of mayor lives by the train tracks AND gets called 'cute'?"}

In order to be present and take pictures of our very memorable day, I *needed* Big D to be good. And he was! It was so refreshing! {I may or may not have bribed him with playground time if he could just.be.good.for.a.few.minutes. Is it asking too much?}

And though she's cute here, Baby R got her first busted lip just mere moments after all the fun was had tonight. And she rode the big girl swing - that makes TWO firsts today! Baby swings aren't her favorite, so I was surprised at her interest. But she let her Uncle Steve push her for quite a while. A still toddler...so THAT'S what that looks like! {I kid...nope...I don't. She's never still.}

Momma Mia...

Though this is FOUR days late (for good reason - a story for another day), I want to give credit where credit is due. If you know my Marmi, then you know why I think so highly of her. She's amazing. Hands down. She gives and gives and gives and gives and gives of herself...and then she wakes up and does it all over again.

Few days go by without hearing her voice, and even if it's a 2 minute re-cap of my day amidst a screaming toddler and a rowdy boy, it's still 2 minutes where she's all mine.

I could write blog after blog about her, but instead, I'll keep it simple: I want to be like her when I grow up.

She plays with her grandkids (really  plays...not just enjoys them). She keeps up with all of her kids (and some of our friends). She may even be a saint in my book for having four under the age of 5 back in the day. She serves people by day as she's loving them into the Kingdom. She has this resilient spirit, but mostly she just brightens a room as she walks in it. She never stops. Ever.

This week, though, my sister & I exchanged a glance and a few tears as we watched our mom go through some of the hardest hours she's known. As great of a mom as she is, she's an even better wife to my Daddy. And really, isn't that part of being a great mom? {Oh, to learn this now!}

Watching helplessly as the love of your life lays hurting in a hospital bed has to be the saddest thing.
And we watched her do it.
And comb his hair.
And pull blankets on and off and on and off.
And advocate for his meds when they weren't coming fast enough.
And kissing him on the forehead every once in a while just to make sure he knew she was there.
And shedding tears in the hallway so he wouldn't see them.

So I'm sitting here thankful for the example of love that she is to me. Not only to my siblings & I, our kids, and really anyone who comes in her path - but also to my dad {who is on the up & up today after an agonizing week}.

And I'm thankful for these two. Who both surprised me and changed me by calling me by a new name: Momma.

How could I ask for more?