God's Word...living and active

This evening while cooking dinner and contemplating Holy Week (what it means for us, all that Jesus endured for us, etc) an old, familiar tune popped into my head.

Hail, Jesus, you're my King

Your life frees me to sing

I will praise you all my days

Your perfect in all your ways

Hail, Jesus you're my Lord

I will obey your word

I want to see your kingdom come

Not my will but yours be done

As I hummed the tune I was struck by how the meaning changed in relation to life's circumstances.  I know the song stays the same - its meaning doesn't change - but it speaks differently to my soul today than it did years ago.  The meaning is deeper; it seems to penetrate further.

Amazing.

God's word doesn't change but it always speaks to us, to our need, to our present.  It continues to amaze me that God's word is living and active and will always speak.  I will never grow tired of it.  (Side note - I have noticed in the past year that I read an author for a book or two and then grow tired of him/her.  I need a change and desire to read something different for a time.)  Correction:  I should not say "I will never" but instead say, "O Lord, please let your word never seem dull within me but for each day ordained may it penetrate and speak and change and challenge."

Family Memo (A.K.A. my rant for the day) and a Caleb moment

I would like to inform my family that it does no one any good for them to wake me up around 3am to tell me they need to go potty if they have already gone in their diaper.  You have on a diaper!  It can wait until the morning.  (Yes, I do understand that you waking up is getting you closer to not having accidents in the night but I don't wet my bed and you have on a diaper so I would rather not be woken up...tonight please tell your father if you want to go potty and get a dry diaper between the hours of 12am and 7am.)

Now on to Caleb's moment from the day...

All four children enjoyed a great deal of time pretending to be a "rock band" today (playing drums, guitar and other instruments as well as dancing and singing) to music from the computer this morning and then again this afternoon.  They listened to some praise music, Christian rap and some of the music from Children's Worship at church.  Caleb's top two picks were B-I-B-L-E by Go Fish and Don't Waste Your Life by LaCrae.  After their concert was over and they were doing their own things I heard Caleb singing while he played.  He sang:

Don't wanna waste your wife, wife, wife...Don't wanna waste your wife, wife, wife...

Unknowingly Witty

Tonight we had spaghetti for dinner.  Hudson ate like a man.  As I was cleaning him up (he actually ate like a messy man) I said, "Hudson, you ate a really good dinner tonight."  Without a moment's hesitation he replied,

"You're welcome."

He turns two on Friday and has already mastered the art of delivery.

Straight from the Reasoned Child

Anna Grace has a knit pants outfit - very cute polka dot ruffle pants with a shirt that has a polka dot pear appliqued on it - that has had her thinking for quite some time apparently.  The last time she put it on she said to herself (I was within earshot), "Oh, I get it; the pear goes with a pair of pants."  Then this morning she calls me into her room, "Mama, I've been thinking.  Do you think they put a pear on this shirt because it goes with a pair of pants?  Because I do; I don't know why they would do it for any other reason."  Everything in life must have a reasonable element/explanation for Anna Grace I already knew.  However today I learned this thought process extends into her wardrobe...I guess I should have realized.

Heaven forbid someone put a pear on her shirt because it is an easy shape to applique or even more crazy someone put a pear on a shirt and then match it with a skirt...Oh my!  She probably would have never been able to wear it because it just didn't make sense!

She Said It

While in the kitchen this afternoon Anna Grace said, "Ummmm, something smells so good."  To which I replied, "That is the soup you said you did not like."  Looking very perplexed at the situation presented to her, she then said, "Oh.  Well I'm still not going to eat it."

~~~~~

And just so you know she does like the soup.  And she will eat it I am confident - the promise of dessert will get her.

I was just wondering

This afternoon while I have been preparing dinner and Hudson has been taking a much needed nap, the Jungle Princess, Thor and Superman (I would share a picture but I am not certain that the Jungle Princess is appropriate for photographs) have managed to defeat Lex Luthor, Black Cat Woman, Hot Pink Cat Woman, and 2 Jokers.

As I washed the last pot I could not help but stop and wonder who has had the most productive afternoon?

~~~

(And yes I know that I am way behind but we are moved so taking some time to catch up seems doable.)

Life Update

I know I am behind on all things related to the blog.  I am going to try and catch up over the next few days.  Before I do I thought giving a fast family update might help.

11/29 - Anna Grace had an amazing birthday party at Homewood Gourmet.  If you are looking for a fun place to have a party and let the children do the cooking I highly recommend this.  It was all taken care of and the children had a blast.  They planned a menu based on her requests and then did the rest - set up, taught the class, served and cleaned up.  All I had to do was invite the girls and bring some balloons - the balloons were technically optional.  There will be more about her party and turning 7 in a separate post.
11/30 - My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer.
12/3 - We received a contract on our house...insisting on a close date of 12/26.
12/8 - My grandmother died (discussed in the previous post)
12/9 - Children's choir performances (another potential upcoming post)
12/19 - We moved out of our house and left for Christmas in Mississippi with my family.  We stayed at my parent's lake house a few nights, with my parents a few nights but most of the time we were with Laura and Heath.  Great fun was had with the whole family.
12/28 - We returned to Birmingham to live with Neal's family until we are able to close on our new house on 1/17 and move on 1/19.

Life has been anything but normal the past few weeks.  We are tremendously thankful to spend time with family making more memories as we "go crazy" (that is what Anna Grace has decided to term this phase of our lives).  It is odd being homeless in a sense but we are grateful for a warm place to call home in the mean time.

God has abundantly provided and blessed.  We shared Christmas trees with the family and kept only two Christmas things with us as we moved from house to house - our advent calendar and our advent devotional.

All four of them worked hard to get the calendar just like they wanted.

Thank you

Thank you to all who have been praying for our family the past few weeks.  Our trip down to Mississippi for the funeral was fast and exhausting but totally worth it.  It is now time to move on to packing as the move date is rapidly approaching.  However before I do, I wanted to share with you some of the possible things small children might say at a funeral...and yes I know because of yesterday's experience.

Dean (as we were turning into the cemetery): This is a nice garden.

Anna Grace (very loudly):  DEAN!  This is not a garden; it is where the dead people are!

Anna Grace (again loudly as the casket was being carried from the hearse to the site):  Is she in that box?!?

The Great Cloud of Witnesses

 I have always had the blessing of being surrounded by godly women - role models, mentors etc.  I count it a blessing and a responsibility knowing that much has been entrusted to me.

This morning my mom called at 7:38 to tell me that my grandmother had passed away.  It was expected.  Yesterday hospice told the family that she would probably die within the next day or two.  Our family began to prepare for this day months back when the doctors said her cancer had come back and that she had anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.  Nothing this morning was shocking.  Our family - with the children often leading the charge - prayed for God's timing and his mercy.  Nothing was shocking - especially the sweet moment of rejoicing and reminding the children that God had heard our prayers.

I stopped this morning to think of what made her so special...what made her my Grandma Brown.  I realized that it was her southern charm, always seeming to do the right thing.  She knew her way around the kitchen and made amazing Chicken and Dumplings (don't tell my other grandmother please).  Thanksgiving and Christmas were celebrated in our finest attire - khaki pants and a button down at the very least for the men.  It was her encouragement and prompting that lead to my first solo.  I was about 5 and I was allowed to stand on the settee (the family knows this was huge since it was only sat on Christmas Eve and never stood on because she had to fluff the down back up and it was hard to get it just right) and sing a Christmas song she taught me.

She is probably the only person I know who shopped almost exclusively at Neiman Marcus and Hudson's Salvage - two stores that could not be more different.  She dressed in her finest all the time except when she was working in the yard and there she wore terry cloth dresses (for lack of a better word) and tall combat boots.  She had a pet Myrtle the turtle that she adopted in the yard and took great care of for years.  She had no problems killing snakes but only the harmful ones.  She got mad at me when I happen to mention a few years back that I did not want my children playing with snakes so we killed the garden snake that lived in our bush out front.  She was of the mindset that boys play with harmless snakes, pick up frogs and lizards and play with real bow and arrows - her boys are living proof.

Her well worn Bible was always close at hand.  I can remember going to church with her when my parents were out of town and sitting in the room where she taught the children's Sunday school class at her small church.  She is the reason my family reads the Luke 2 account of Jesus's birth every Christmas - that was her tradition on Christmas Eve.  The youngest grandchild who could read read it after dinner before presents.  Being the youngest I read it all the way through high school maybe even college.  I knew I would get a call a few days before or that morning asking me if I would do the honors.

She was full of grace and tact - but she would tell you if you had worn out your welcome.  For the past year, the joke between Neal and me was that we could get in a "good visit" in 15 minutes.  I am proud to say that she never had to tell me it was time for me to leave - but I think I exited a few times moments before she could say it.  She asked for black cloth napkins at restaurants if she had on black as to not get white lint on her pants.  She taught me to "dab the corners of my mouth" with my napkin covering my index finger while at the table instead of wiping my mouth.  She took an afternoon nap just about every day and told me I should do the same when the children were napping.  She got that tip from the Kennedy's I believe.  She was charming, godly, truthful, well respected, to the point and poised all at the same time...she was, she is a southern lady.

As we say good-bye for now I smile knowing that the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) got bigger this morning.   And the opportunity is before me to run with endurance and leave a lasting legacy for the King; a legacy that encourages those behind me as I have been encouraged by her example.  As Dean said, "It's okay because she is going to be with Jesus on his birthday."  What a blessing!

Where is the adult?

Two classic parenting moments happened only moments ago.

First, I am currently potty training Hudson - who has extreme bladder control; it is day one.  In the past he has been willing to go to the potty however not today.  He finally had an accident in his pants.  I pointed at the potty and said, "Hudson, where do we go potty?  In the potty."  Hudson looked at me very sweetly shook his head and said, "No."  He might be the biggest battle of wills potty training yet around here.

Then Dean came in asking for his big stick to play with in the back yard.  My response was, "I'm not really comfortable with y'all playing with those sticks without an adult present."  Caleb, my personal peanut gallery, chimed in, "Mama, where is an adult?"