Monthly Archives: September 2008

Learning To Obey

Do you ever have those days when you feel you could be a much better parent? Maybe you’ve yelled too much or not spent enough quality time with your kids. Then the guilt kicks in and you make the decision to try to do better. You make a vow things are going to change.

Recently, I made a solemn vow to myself that our “getting ready” time was going to run much smoother. “Getting ready time” is that time when you are “getting ready” to go out the door some place. Most often for us it’s to church or school. It seemed lately that “getting ready” had become a circus.

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A Good Night’s Sleep

Have you ever had a hard time sleeping? Have you ever lay awake at night, tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling?

Whether it’s brought on by things like worry, too much caffeine, little kids keeping you up, or sickness, everyone has a sleepless night now and then.

Earlier this year, I went through a period of several sleepless nights in a row, along with migraines. I’d never experienced either before, and it left me discouraged and wondering if I’d ever feel “normal†again.

Those nights were hard. My husband was on a business trip and it seemed like morning would never come.

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Then I Realized it was Jesus

“After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1Th 4:17 (NIV)

The other morning I instructed my children (6 yr. and 8 yr.) to finish their copy work while I exercised on the elliptical. They asked if they could color when they were through. Sure, anything to help keep them busy while I got in my work out. Little did I know while I sweated away, they toiled on a “book.”

Grace (6) came to me first and showed me her story that grandma helped her write out.

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It’s All In The Name

I was chuckling with a friend about a Principals Award given out last week to a little boy for “trying very hard to write his name”. And when my daughter got the award this week for “excellence in reading and writing skills” I was very proud. But I was humbled not long after when I realized that the little boys surname was Grebenshikoff! No wonder he got an award for trying to spell that!

I thought measuring up to the standards and rules was more important than a name, but it depends on the name.

Many people think that Christianity is about measuring up to the standards and rules in the Bible, but as Christians we ‘bear the name of Christ’ (1 Peter 4:16) and thats something I want to live up to.

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What’s In A Name?

When people hear your name, what kind of person do they think of? Someone who is compassionate? Kind? Someone who cares?

Or do other descriptions come to mind…

Like someone who is impatient? Judgmental? Or selfish?

It can be sobering to stop and think about what our name means to others. In Proverbs 22:1, it says,

“A good name is to be chosen above great riches.â€

The way we live our lives–the things we say and do—affects others, whether we realize it or not. And it especially affects our kids.

I love Nichole Nordeman’s song, Legacy, and how she says…

“I want to leave a legacy.

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High Maintenance

I love those loving me, And those seeking me earnestly do find me. (Proverbs 8:17 YLT)

I was first labeled as “high maintenance†by a college roommate who found the variety of beauty products I had amassed to be somewhat astonishing. Nearly 15 years and possibly hundreds of perfume bottles, make up containers, and floral scented moisturizing lotions later, some still deem me as high maintenance.

My first inclination is to protest being labeled a term coined for those extremely fragile individuals who spend hours primping and exact gobs of attention. After all, becoming a stay-at-home mother decreased my self-maintaining abilities and desires.

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We’re All Born With A Hole In Our Hearts

The Lord will be the hope of his people. Joel 3:16

Three days last week I was in a training class. I am a part-time 911/Police dispatcher. This class was mandatory to keep my POST (Police Officer Standards Training) certificate current. Two days specifically focused on critical incidents and debriefing after a critical incident occurs. We were shown quite a few videos. Some were so very sad. In one we witnessed the debriefing of the EMT’s from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, in another we saw the aftermath of an officer involved shooting and later watched the unthinkable…a dispatcher who takes a 911 call from her own husband who is trying to get an ambulance for their dying seven year old son.

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Are You Laboring Today?

Today many are celebrating Labor Day and enjoying a day off from their normal work week. Some have been looking forward to this long holiday weekend, because it provides an opportunity for rest, and rest is what many are seeking. But they are also seeking a full life, which is why they labor so hard. I was helping my son look up some information on the history of Labor Day and this is what we found on History.com.

“As the Industrial Revolution took hold of the nation, the average American in the late 1800s worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in order to make a basic living.

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