Some Things Just Take Time...

Something that I've been noticing lately is how critical people in the church can be...  Those who tithe, criticize those who don't...  Those who adopt criticize those who don't...  Those who faithfully serve the poor criticize those who don't...  Even those who have a regular quiet time criticize those who don't...  We can be a very self-righteous group of people...  And if I'm honest, I can criticize and be self-righteous with the best of them.

But something occurred to me as I've considered our journey with Abby these past two years...  She didn't come into our family automatically behaving the way we would want or doing the things we would hope.  She brought traditions, behaviors and ways from her own land and while some of them were fine, some needed to change.

Just because the adoption was final and Miller was part of her name, she didn't magically change overnight...

And the same is true for Christians...  Just because we are eternally adopted into God's family and we have a name change to 'Christian', we don't transform overnight, it takes time.

Abby had to get to know us and love us, she had to learn what it meant to be a part of a forever family and she needed to learn some of the ways of our culture (like you don't slurp your soup out loud!). 

And the same principle applies to us, as Christians.  We don't get to know God overnight...  It takes time for His character to influence ours...  It takes time to grow to love Him, to know His ways and to obey Him...  It takes time for His Word to shape our hearts...

Patience and a WHOLE lot of grace has been essential on the journey of Abby learning to be a part of our family...  I think we need to show that same patience and grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ.   No doubt God shows it to us every moment of every day.

Africa!

In just a few days, Heart for Africa will host 20,000 children and adults at the stadium in Swaziland...  10,000 blankets have been donated, 20,000 beanies have been knitted for the children, it will be a day when the children hear about the love of Jesus.

Here is a link to the blog of the lady who is coordinating the production for the whole event, she is a great writer with an amazing heart for God... http://masiswaziland.blogspot.com   (I've also put a link to her blog in the right hand column under favorite Africa blogs.)

I didn't feel called to go with the 300+ that will be there for the big event on July 23, but I will leave with the follow up team on July 26!  I can't wait to go back...

If you want to watch God do some amazing things, be sure to follow Masi's blog above...

Beach Trip

So before I post the photos from our family beach trip, I've got an Abby funny...  For the trip, I bought Abby some of her own books, she's reading great now and I thought it was time for some chapter books.  We found some she thought she'd like and she loved them.

The other night, she was finishing up one of the books and she said, "Mommy, I really like this book, but it has a bad word in it."  I tried to be calm, but inside I was livid...  A bad word in a child's book.  I was picturing walking into the local bookstore and having a good old fashioned rant...

"Abby, what kind of bad word?"

"You know mommy, the 'sh' word..."

At this point I'm flabbergasted...  Really?  The 'sh' word in a 2nd grader's book...

"Abby, are you sure it was the 'sh' word?"

At this point she leans in and whispers...  "Mommy, they said 'shut up'"

Ohhhhhh...  The 'sh' word!  I love innocence!!

So now for the beach pictures...

A couple of weeks ago, our family (29 of us) went to the beach...  We had to try a new place because our usual location is on the Gulf and we were worried about the oil and the beaches.  But we LOVED our new location and we had a blast...  (These are a few of my favorites!!)

(I just love seeing those sweet China angel faces as part of our family!)

(The boys with their grandmother...  YIKES...  My babies are growing up!)

It was truly a great week!!

A Great Man Passed By...

It's funny, on sad days, the things that leave lasting impressions on your heart...  When my grandfather Pop died, it was a young State Trooper who pulled over at an old grocery store, removed his hat and waited for the funeral procession to pass...  12 years later, I can still see that young man standing by the side of the road, with his hat held over his heart.  I wish I knew who he was so I could thank him for honoring my grandfather in such a humble way.

And then on Tuesday, just a little over 12 years later, it was the honor and respect of strangers, on the side of the road that grabbed my heart...  My uncle, my grandfather's best friend, went home to be with Jesus and I will never forget the images of so many cars pulled over or the picture of a father, holding the hand of his young son in their front yard, waiting as another great man passed by...

I know these people didn't know who was passing, but if they had, they would have been glad they took the time to show respect and honor for a grieving family today...

I have been blessed in my life, to have my heart touched by some amazing men, but my grandfather and my uncle are unrivaled with the legacy of faith they have left behind for all who knew them... 

These two men loved Jesus with all of their hearts and that love overflowed on everyone who knew them...  They both breathed the Spirit of Jesus into the air, everywhere they went...  There is no telling how many lives were impacted, maybe even completely transformed, because they made Jesus so very real...

One of the most special things that my aunt and uncle always did for me is that they would come to see us, when we were in town...  They didn't wait for us to come to their house, they were so graciously understanding of how hard it was to get around to see everyone and they made a point to see us...  I will never forget, when we brought Abby home and I went to see my grandmother, they made a point to come and meet the newest member of our family...  They loved her before she ever arrived and that love overflowed onto her that sweet afternoon..

I have so many great memories of times spent with my aunt and uncle...  Trips to the beach and to the mountains...  Sweet conversations about our faith...  Christmases and Thanksgivings...  Easters...  Weddings...  Births...and even Funerals...  Summer afternoons on their screened porch on an old metal glider...  There are so many memories that flash across my heart as I think about my aunt and uncle...  My life has been so blessed by an amazing family...so full of laughter and smiles...  grace and unconditional love...

Uncle F...  I will miss you SO much... Thank you for all of your prayers for me and my family...  For sweet talks and lots of smiles and hugs...  But most of all, thank you for the imprint that you left on my heart...  The imprint of the love of Jesus...  I hope you're having peaches and watermelon with Pop and Jesus right now!

Summer Challenge For Our Family...

Our family has decided to take on a summer challenge... Each week, we are going to memorize a verse of Scripture as a family. But it's about more than just committing words to memory. The challenge is to really think about the verse throughout the week and see how it impacts our lives. At the end of each week, over dinner, we are going to discuss it as a family.

We just finished our first week... Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for men."

I loved meditating on this verse this past week...

Whatever you do... The word 'do' carries the idea of spending time, so you might say, "However you spend your time"... Laundry, driving our family taxi service, cooking dinner, cleaning out the dishwasher...

Work at it with ALL your heart... Perform it, accomplish it, achieve it, with all your heart... The heart in the Greek encompassed the inward life... The heart, the mind, the emotions, your very soul and life...

That's pretty overwhelming to think about. So much of what we do in life seems so trivial, routine and mundane, and yet, I'm supposed to pour my very life into everything I do. So much of what I do feels like a mindless task, but what occurs to me from this verse is that I need to be present in the moment and really live out each task I do...

And the word 'work' is about accomplishing or achieving something...  I can honestly say that I've never seen laundry as an accomplishment or something I've achieved, but what if I worked at it with all my heart...  what if I poured my heart into it as much as I do when I think I'm doing something important, perhaps then it would become a whole different experience.

As working for the Lord...  Another facet of the word 'work' is expending energy.  As a mom and a wife, I expend alot of energy during the day that leaves me tired, sometimes cranky and often depleted.  But what if, with a simple change of perspective, my daily tasks could become tasks that bring me joy and fulfillment? What if each and every one became an act of worship and an overflow of my love for God? What if I saw each task as a way to reflect the very nature of God? 

For example, what if I began to see cleaning house as a means to reflect the order of His nature...  Or laundry as a reminder of His righteousness (thinking of the saints in their white robes of righteousness)...  Or cooking healthy meals as a reminder that my body is the temple of God and I need to take care of it...  All of a sudden, routine tasks become  part of something much bigger...

And not for men...  Everything we do should be for His pleasure, because we love Him and long to obey Him.  Yes, I love my family and want to serve them, but ultimately, it will be my love and gratitude for all that God has done for me that will keep me going when I just don't feel like it. 

I think I'm going to like this summer challenge very much...  As the kids get the knack of meditating on Scripture, I will (with their permission) share some of their insights also.

For the new week, our verse is Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."  Easy to memorize, but much to think about!

Sweet Security...

So first, it's been so good to hear from some of you! I feel like I'm catching up with old friends!! I didn't mean to drop off the planet, but the last couple of months of teaching Revelation was so hard, it consumed my time and thoughts.

I'll tell you more in another post, but this was my last year as Teaching Director for our CBS class. After my trip to Africa in November, I clearly sensed God leading me in a different direction, so I finished the year, but starting in the fall, I will be on to new things! I'm really excited, but as I said, I'll save that for another post!!

I just wanted to take a minute and share something else about Abby that has been really obvious the last few days...

Abby has a tendency sometimes to get overly excited about something and she tries to take control of some situations. It's almost like she forgets she's 8 and tries to tell me what to do. I don't think it's malicious or disrespectful, because it's always at times when she's either excited or trying to be helpful.

But sometimes when I'm tired, or focused on getting something done, I respond a little more sharply than I should and that happened twice yesterday. The minute the words were out of my mouth, I cringed because my tone sounded harsh and for some reason I'm so afraid of that feeling like rejection to her.

So each time yesterday I waited to see how she would respond. I didn't really do anything to warrant an apology, but I was willing to step in if I needed to reassure her. I think I really expected her to withdraw from me...

But I was blown away by how she handled it... Both times, it was almost like she took a minute to reconsider her approach and then jumped right back into the situation, handling it in an appropriate way. She seemed to understand that she had gone too far and was willing to take my response as correction, but not as rejection.

As I thought about that last night, I realized how far we've come! Abby is so secure now! She knows I'm her mommy... She seems to understand, with all of her heart, that I love her and she is finally letting that love penetrate her heart.

But you know, it's occurred to me more than once during this journey, that like Abby, I have a hard time receiving love from others, especially God's love. His love is so great and so undeserved that sometimes I think I just don't allow the magnitude of it to penetrate my heart and soul. But wow, when I take some time to soak in it, life just looks different!

I am so thankful that Abby is finding her security with us... That she really gets that we love her unconditionally... And I pray that God will use our love to teach her what His love is like, because our love for her is just a taste of His lavish and abundant love...

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

Finally Back...

I guess it seems like I just completely dropped out of the blog world, and I guess I did, but WOW, it's been a crazy couple of months...

There's so much I want to update you on (if I still have any readers), but I'll do that over the next week or so, today I just wanted to tell you about Abby...

Before I do that though, one sweet bloggy friend sent me a note during my absence and I just wanted to say thank you K... You were a real encouragement!

So, about Abby... We have a new neighbor! They're a sweet family and their 5 year old daughter (I'll call her 'M') has really latched on to Abby. They play great together and she's over at our house most days.

It's been interesting though to watch Abby in this new situation. Abby can really hold her own with her older siblings, but for some reason, she has a harder time with miss 'M'...

'M' is not shy at all and when she's over, she goes and gets whatever she wants to play with (I'm totally fine with that, I like for the kids on our street to feel at home here, within reason) but sometimes she gets something that is really special to Abby, specifically her little Asian baby doll that we gave her when she first came home.

Abby has such a tender, generous heart that even though she doesn't want to share this one special doll, she finds it hard to tell her no.

The first time it happened, little 'M' wanted to take her doll outside. I could watch the conflict play across Abby's face and I quickly intervened and told 'M' that her special doll needed to stay in the house.

Abby was visibly relieved and I was rewarded with a grateful smile (the kind that will warm any mom's heart!)!!

A few days later, they were playing inside and 'M' wanted to play with Abby's special doll, which Abby had been playing with... Now, I am a HUGE advocate of teaching our children to share, but I also believe that they're entitled to have some things that are special to them. Especially since Abby probably had her first 6 years of not being able to claim anything as her own, I feel very strongly that she should have a few things that are just hers...

Well, as this conflict started to play out, Abby immediately looked up at me, with a 'what do I do now?' look... I quickly jumped in and explained to 'M' that this was Abby's special doll and one that she only had to share if she wanted to... 'M' was very sweet and said 'Oh, I didn't know that.' and was quite content to play with the other dolls.

Once again, my heart just overflowed... I loved that Abby's trust has grown so much that she knows she can look to me to help her and it's her first instinct to do so...

And as usual, that got me thinking! That's EXACTLY what our Abba Father wants from us! Today, I had to go and get my new prescription for my glasses. As the lady was writing up my order, she started to tell me how her relationship had just ended and how hard it had been. Turns out she has been divorced twice and had been in this relationship for 5 1/2 years.

I didn't have a clue what to say and immediately I said a little prayer, "Lord, what do I say?" But it seemed that I was just supposed to listen and tell her how sorry I was...

But after I realized that I had just done the same thing that Abby did with me...

I looked to my Abba Father for help. I've uttered those little prayers of help a thousand times, and every time my Abba Father comes through for me... Sometimes He gives me words, sometimes a heart to listen, but when I look to Him, I ALWAYS have peace that I handled it in the way I was supposed to... Over the years, my trust has grown and now it's a natural response for me to look to Him with a "what do I do now?" look in the eyes of my heart.

And I have to think that it pleases Him as much, if not even more, as it did when Abby trusted me to help her.

What an awesome God we love!!

(P.S. It's good to be back...)