Happy Memorial Day everyone.

Here is Precious next to Lady. This is all of Precious and only half of Lady. She's a big dog but such a gentle giant...I think she's camera shy!

Holy, humble or helping?

a new mantra

Its late and I should be sleeping but since my dearly beloved husband is home, I feel less pressure to be everywhere and do everything.  God Bless the single moms!  I'm going to try to post quickly before Precious wakes up...

I feel the Lord leading me to speak more about Holistic health, the unity of our mind, body, spirit...so I'm going to try to write more about that.  I've been "under the weather"....a heavy phrase, considering the weather we've been having...anyway, I've been ill for about 6 weeks.  I've battled it with prayer, with vitamins, with exercise, with rest...and can't kick it.  I know this prolonged illness results directly from stress and lack of sleep.  Our bodies are affected by our minds and our spritual health.  I have also felt just weary of spiritual battle lately.  The challenges of parenting an infant again, at age 42, while also keeping pace with kids who are 10, 8 and 6, is exhausting, and add to that a very emotionally taxing job...anyway, I've been feeling worn down and with that comes attacks from the enemy and feeling just beaten up, so without even realizing it, I have been depleting my warehouse of energy in every aspect of my being.  No wonder! 

Last night, at prayer and worship, I was singing and listening and interceding and worshipping and God gave me a new mantra.  Every few years I get one.  Years ago, the mantra was this:  Breathe, swallow, and apply grace.  You have no idea how helpful that tool was for me, and still is.  I've had a few others but this one I want to share with you all, hoping you will receive the same hope and conviction and fortification I did.  This is what the Lord said to me.  "Be Holy, be Humble, be Helping"... That's it.  That's what I heard.  I know, crazy, huh?  Random.  I'm offering it to anyone who wants to pick up this phrase and take ownership of it.  Use it like a tool.  Use it in stressful situations, in times of trouble or times of indecision...use it.  Be holy, be humble, be helping.  Words to live by. 

Ok, the Precious one stirs.  Time to finish this up and get tucked into the next for the night.  Tomorrow, we dance! 

Tonight as I was preparing supper after a very long day, Isaac fell off his brand new rip stick and came in saying his hand was numb and he couldn't move it.  I loaded up the kids and my gracious friend Jen lovingly accepted them so I could take Isaac in to the hospital for an x-ray.  On the way, Jeremiah said, "so mom, what are we going to have for supper"...supper had been boiling on the stove when we left.  Sigh.  Fat-full fast food again.  Dang it.  Thanks be to God, it was a near miss and only sprained, not broken wrist. 

Yesterday I gave in and went to the clinic for antibiotics for myself, after a 6 week or longer battle with sinus drainage and a cough...I was not winning the battle.  Precious also needed medicine because our home remedies were no longer working.  She developed a fever so I knew  her body was wearing down.;  This, too, was a near miss because during the night that followed (last night) her temp spiked to 103.3 under the arm....if she wasn't already on antibiotics I would have been freaking out even more than before!

Roger's car window got blown out in the airport parking lot yesterday.  The airport police called to tell me it was likely due to weather, the extreme heat, and not due to criminal activity.  Another near miss.

The huge tree that fell in our yard is a near miss in obvious ways...it hurt no one and nothing...just landed over my perennial flower bed and bent a pole...and my mother's day bird bath will need some soddering but good grief...talk about a near miss.  30 seconds before the dog was chained to that same tree and would not have escaped.  We had been playing yard games under that tree and standing in the very spot just moments before it crashed to the ground.

These near misses are obvious this week but I am keenly aware that they also happen all day every day to all of us.  The Holy legion of angels that work for God are always a step ahead of us, clearing the path, blocking obstacles, preparing an escape...it was an exceptional week for me regarding "acts of God" and random flooky things...but I am so grateful to the angels for all of their hard work to keep us safe and on the steady course. 

Is it really only wednesday today?  What more could this week hold?  My hope and prayer is for very, very few things to write about and a long pause from drama.  May God's holy angels gaurd and defend and protect us all, and watch over us as we rest, as we rise and as we come and go.  May the Lord bless us and keep us and make his face to shine upon us and give us peace.  Amen.

20 years ago

20 years ago my life was a mess.  Now I just move around the mess in the house. 
20 years ago I expected to live life single, successful, solo.  Now I am fully nested with husband and kids.
20  years ago I thought I knew everything about everything.  Now I say, "why Lord" almost daily.
20 years ago I was sad and confused and angry.  Now I am tired, joyful and grateful.
20 years ago I had supple skin and good muscle tone.  Now I have a supple heart and flabby flesh.
20 years ago I wondered what life meant for me.  Now I know that Life is a gift and means everything. 

I could make a pretty pathetic list tonight of what I feel and why but that is not relevant.  The list I provided is much more telling.  In a moment of frustration and fatigue awhile ago, I cried out to the Lord to remind me why I am living this life...with 4 busy children, a really big dog, a crabby cat, a tree layed out in the yard and a full 3 work days ahead of me with sick kids and no sub or relief...oh, and a husband who travels...and I didn't get an answer that sounded like scripture or hymn...but then I heard this..."20 years ago..."

so God isn't gonna justify anything tonight but He is gonna remind me of where I have been, where I am and ultimately, where I am headed.  The answer to my prayers is in salvation, grace, purpose and hope.

 Thank you, Lord.  Thank you for the perfect answer, the perfect balm for my wounds, the perfect way to end this day.  You amaze me over and over and over.  Amen.

Last night after the tree incident we had the kids' last musical concert for the school year. Their theme at their Christian school was Fruit of the Spirit and I gaurantee every one of the 381 children who attend can list them all. Here's a picture of half the school(my 3 kiddos are buried in the sea of colors). My sentimental soul cried quietly as I heard them sing "We are One in the Spirit" and other very moving songs. I feel so blessed to be allowed to send my kids to such a great school. The Holy Spirit is working in their lives and blue-printing their hearts with scripture, biblical truths and character formation in ways I just never could. When I brought up Pentecost on sunday morning, Isaac immediately knew what it was and what it meant. "I learned it in school, mom." The principal talked about the 3-tiered stool of school, church and home and whether we attend public or private schools, these 3 tiers are essential to the growth of our kids.

Lord, strengthen our schools, our churches and our homes so that our children will grow up strong in you and strong in love and strong in wisdom and learning. They will need so much more as the world continues to change and get more complicated. We know you are working out your perfect will, Lord, and your perfect plan for us and we ask for supernatural protection and blessing over the next generation that is rising up!

I imagine at Pentecost, the people were awed and terrified and amazed by the power of the wind and fire as the Holy Spirit blew through their midst. I cannot imagine what that was like but today I got a hint of it when one third of a tree in our back yard split away in the powerful winds that have been blowing all day. I was mostly in awe of the mercy of God because just seconds before, the dog, my dad in law and myself were in the back yard right where this tree fell. Noone was hurt and apart from some scratches on the cars (where the great tree landed) and one patheticly destroyed birds nest (baby birds scattered around the driveway, crushed...) everything was ok. Its almost 11pm and I think my heart rate is almost returned to normal.

Here's another one of the first pictures we have of Precious that foster mom took in the week we had to wait before we could get her. It's really hard to believe this is the same child. Wow.

Precious Maryn is nine months old today. Hard to believe this is the same baby!

Ok, so this is not the Wind of the Holy Spririt of Pentecost. It's acturally the Santa Ana winds blowing in Southern California when we were there for my cousin's wedding 2 years ago. We were out wine tasting and it was so unbelievably windy...it was too funny not to share since I'm thinking of Wind this weekend. Its ok to laugh, it is supposed to be silly.

Pentecost sunday

This coming sunday is Pentecost.  We don't make a very big deal of it, at least not in my church, but I did some online research about it and I am choosing to make it a bigger deal this year with my new knowledge.  Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit came down, Acts 2, and annointed the early church, making it possible for the gospel to be spread around the world, essentially to me.  I went on biblegateway.com and typed in Pentecost and then caught a bunny trail of information that gave me a much clearer picture of Pentecost.  One place called it one of the three main Christian holidays, along with Christmas and Easter.  I don't know about all of you out there but I have never put that much weight into Pentecost.  I want to.  I want to celebrate and recognize the significance of the HOly Spirit and the Spirit's influence over me, the convicting, comforting, mysterious and ever-present figure of the Trinity that I feel like I know best of all. 

I would like a Pentecost tradition, so that in my family, at least, we begin to understand and worship in this important part of the history of our faith.  Some places I researched really went into the Holy Spirit being a mighty rushing wind, that we do not know where it has been or where it is going.  The forcast is definitely for wind this weekend.  I'll try to talk about that with my kids, to help them understand the Holy Spirit better.  Maybe we'll buy some helium baloons tomorrow and release them on Pentecost sunday...or maybe I'll just pray for them out loud, that the Holy Spirit would annoint, baptize and bless each one in my family in a new way this Pentecost Sunday.  I don't know.  If anyone has ideas or traditions they would like to share, I would love to hear them. 

Father God, thank you for Pentecost.  Thank you for sending your promised HOly Spirit down to earth when Jesus, your son, rose to the Heavens.  Thank you for not leaving us here alone to figure it all out.  Let your Spirit continue to grow bigger and stronger and clearer in my life, that I will know your Presence through your Spirit daily. 

eph 1:3

Ephesians 1:3 says this:  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 

My life application bible lists the spiritual blessings as:  being chosen for salvation, adopted as his children, forgiveness, insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power to do God's will, the hope of living forever with Christ.  It also says that heavenly realms means these blessings are eternal and not temporal. 

The Lord gave me this verse one night years ago.  I woke up hearing it whispered over me and I knew the words and where they were found immediately.  We studied this verse again last night with my girls group and I am still here, on verse 3 of the first chapter of Ephesians.  Apparently, God is not finished revealing it to me.  Isn't that amazing, that you can feel connected to a piece of the bible and years later, still know there are mysteries in those words that you don't yet understand.  When I first received it, I said, "oh.  ok.  that's nice.  Thank you, Lord."  then a friend said, "are you kidding me?  what a high honor to know the Lord is telling you that you are blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing available to Heaven"...so then I took it more seriously, and now, here I am again, years later facing off with these words. 

For today, I feel He is reminding me that he is more interested in the heavenly blessings than the earthly ones.  My worldly concerns and desires are fine, but not where his warehouse of blessing is pointing.  I think he wants me to go after the heavenly blessings.  In Christ, I have access to every blessing in the Heavenly Realms.  How do I even begin to ask what that means?  In Christ, we all have access to every spritual blessing in the heavenly realms.  What should we be asking for? 

Thank you, Father God, for my salvation, for my adoption into your family.  Thank you for grafting me in so that I can truly be your daughter of Zion and not merely a gentile who has no birthright.  Thank you for forgiveness, applied to me and for my ability to forgive others.  I savor the blessing of not harboring unforgiveness.  Thank you for letting me get right to grace through forgiveness!  I ask you now, Lord, to increase my insight, my gifts of the Spirit.  Pour out more and more of your gifts to me and then help me, give me the power to use them for your glory.  Increase your power in me to do your will and not my own.  Extend more of your hope to me, Lord.  You are the eternal hope and I am so glad that I get to live forever with you.  I lift up the hurting people now, Lord, and ask that you would pour out every spiritual blessing available in the heavenly realms, to heal, to comfort and to restore those hurting in this broken world.  Whisper scripture to them, Lord.  Give them your living, holy words.  Amen and amen and amen.

Sunday morning before church, mom snuck the baby out on the porch for some photos...that is the smile that mama gets all day long without any prompting or silliness. That is the love my baby gives me. Just look at those eyes!

dad and Precious sunday afternoon, having a picnic and some family time. She has that serious look alot. She's not grumpy, just very, very serious.

Sunday we took Lady to a local pond and she was in the water most of the time. Dad decided she needed a bath so he and the boys gave her the first "home bath" treatment in the yard. She smelled much, much better!

The gates and the courts

Psalm 100:3-5  "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.  Give thanks to him and praise his name."

Often I read scripture first, then meditate on it in prayer, journaling, etc.  Today it came in reverse.  I was dressing Precious for the day, rubbing oil in her skin and then her hair...and as I groomed her I began to pray for her.  As I rubbed her soft chubbly legs and massaged her head, I prayed out loud for her.  I used the hair lotion as an annointing oil, to bless her.  I prayed for her salvation, for protection and healing for her.  I prayed for her future spouse, that the Lord would even now be making plans for her husband and family.  Once dressed and fresh and smelling yummy, I sat down in the chair with her and put on the blog tunes that are so worshipful to me, especially in the quiet of the morning.  As I listened and sang and worshiped, she rested on my chest and listened with me.  I began to pray for the other 3 children by name, for their walk with the Lord to grow and thrive and for their salvation and for their future spouses.  I prayed for my husband and for myself.  I sang and worshipped and just sat before the throne room of the Lord, in my office chair. 

I felt the whisper of God saying enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.  I was giving thanks and praising already and so I looked up the passage, wrote it out, and really began to think about the gates and the courts.  His gates for me this morning were my attitude, my choices to sit with God awhile before starting a busy day.  His gates were my posture, my actions....all of these provided the path to get to Him.  His gates.  Once through his gates, I have entered his courts.  Guess what his courts are?  They are the office where I am seated at the moment.  They are the rest of the house where I will move about today.  The courts of the Lord are also the school lunch room, since Jeremiah asked me to come have lunch with him today.  They courts of the Lord will be my planner as I set up my work week, they will be the soccer field later today.  The cours of the Lord will be everywhere I am going, since I have entered through His gates. 

spring pictures

Around the Kredit home, spring includes dance recital prep, soccer, musical performance practices and clean-up.  Spring also includes fresh lily-of-the-valley from the north side of the house, perennials shooting up to declare their survival skills to old man winter, new cracks in the pavement and green, green grass.  Around the Kredit home, in the spring, we start grilling spare ribs and potatoes, letting the kids stay out late and play on the trampoline long after dark on a saturday night, and going for long and longer walks.  We schedule more frequent hair cuts and marvel at how the kids are growing like weeds...and then marvel at how fast the weeds are growing in the flower bed.  Around the Kredit home, when spring has sprung we begin to plan for summer camps, summer babysitters, and vacations.  We gear up for ball games and trips to the icee stand and bike rides. 

Bless the Lord for giving us such beautiful and drastic changes each season.  Bless the Lord for spring time and all of the newness we experience. 

Claire's dance pic...the recital is in just a few weeks and she has 8 costumes! Yikes!

JEremiah is never far from the ball in kindergarten soccer!

soccer mom and soccer baby

Isaac in action

Precious at the Tulip Festival this weekend.