Gateways to Joy

It's hot, very hot here in Texas!  To make matters worse my Suburbans air has went out.  Not only is it hot in the car, but after being home a while it seems to get rather warm in there too. What does hot equate to over here? FRUSTRATION! I am frustrated and so are the kids. I am a home-body.  I don't care for going out much at all.  And when I must go out it's early in the morning or when most people are working.  Rarely do I ever go to the malls and places like it.  When I do it's always during a time when the crowd is to a minimum, and I can stroll and take my time. When out I usually stay to myself and not chat much.  Usually I'll just give you a faint smile and or glance. I do love going out to dinner, lunch and breakfast, but again it's not doing peak hours. A few of my kids are like me in this area, but a few are not.  One being my oldest girl.  She likes to go. Last night I told her, "If you want me to take your brot...

{ a repost from the archives ... a remeberance for me as I began planning the new school year} Last night when talking with one of my children I wanted to have a big old fashion hissy-fit.  Quickly, words of Elisabeth Elliot's ran fluid in memory.  Words that began to resonate within.  Words that quieted the flare-up that wanted releasing. Don't train your children to respond to your frantic gestures, rants and threats . Instead we mothers should be sure to have their attention first before we began to instruct.  I've found with some ... especially my boys, I do best to have them repeat to me what I've just said.  This method for me causes less feelings and emotions to flare. So mothers lets be sure that we have our children's full attention and speak in a calm normal tone of voice. Warning mothers:  Say what you mean and mean exactly what you say.  If you don't mean it, then by all means don't say it. Fo...

Today is Favorite Blog Friday! I feel like the woman we're looking at today is family.   She's the niece of my Pastor.  She's also one of the grandchildren of the lady that I spoke about in my blog post "The Sacrifice of A Mother." Her family— uncle, Grandmother and her parents—through their ministries, have been very instrumental in shaping me spiritually. I've cried on the arm of her Grandmother many times telling her of my woes. . . my failure as a mom when my children were younger.   As-a matter-of-fact, I did with her grandmother the same thing I did with Elisabeth Elliot.  I sat at her feet. I found in Mother Cannings, sound advice—full of insight and wisdom.  A caring heart, someone who took time with me—never rushing me.  She took time to hear me.  She listened.  And she shared her stories with me even sharing a few of her own regrets. Now, I'm an admirer of Priscilla's from a far.   It still hard for me ...

That's right.   I'm doing "Woman's Work" today!  I do it everyday, but just wanted to shout it out today. Some women become offended by the term: " Woman's Work" when it means simply caring for the home and the family in the way most of us do.   I'm not offended in the least bit. I've learned many years ago that my work, be it " Woman's Work" or White House Work, is not what defines me.  It's just work that I do. What defines people is the content of character. It is our character ... that which decides our steps that defines us. It decides our right and wrong choices.  And it is the revelation of the choices that tells the truth about you and me.  Those choices reveal the hearts true condition. So I say that it is our lifestyle of choices. . . not one choice, but our overall decisions that we should use to monitor our depth of soul.  The monitoring of choices will reveal the integrity or the lack of...

What plans do you have for yourself? Goals? Has God placed a longing ... a desire in your heart?  For many of us mothers, God has given us plenty of desires, goals and dreams. Desires goals and dreams that we, for now must put on hold. I remember my Pastor telling the story many times of his stay-at-home mother.  She was a mother to eight children, they were poor, yet her   desire was to travel the world. Her longing was finally fulfilled years later in her eighties.   Her daughter married a man,  Anthony Evans, who would go on to have a very successful ministry.  But not only would his ministry flourish.  Because of he and his wife's commitment to raising Godly children.  Their children would grow up to be a success in their own right, needing to travel. Guess who traveled with them?  Mother-in-law and grandma. In her eighties, Mother Cannings was reaping the benefits from her years of sacrificial service to her family. ...

How do we know if or when we should stop having biological children? Should we stop ourselves? This is what I call a "hot" topic.  This talk can get attitudes fueled quickly for some.  It's sort of like topics on abortion, women being submissive, staying at home . . . Personally, this was a question that my husband and I had to ask ourselves. But before we were able to sense the direction God was leading us, family members, friends, church members and lo and behold, even strangers, would ask the dreaded question, "Do y'all plan on having more?" I never could understand why it mattered to people that we didn't ask to help us in anyway with our children.   People who weren't involved in our lives cared to know.  Why?  Whose business is it? Rarely do we allow our children to sleep over people's houses, and we never let anyone other than my mother and a few times my sisters-in-law keep our children.  We never had our hands out for money...

"I'm glad I didn't leave him."  This is my thought as we make smoothies for our family.  As I watch this 6'3" man with broad shoulders take the fruit out of the refrigerator. He's talking, smiling handing me strawberries, blueberries, ice, Greek yogurt, organic apple juice, this and that ... all the while being oblivious to my long stares, stares of how my eyes are watching him ... tracing the outer curves of his body. I wash the fruit.  The kids are all there looking on, listening and smiling. There, in our kitchen, we all stand and talk ... laugh and I do my usual: interrupt so I won't forget my words ... my thoughts.  They all laugh.  Their Dad tells them about our daily Wheat Grass routine.  He likes it and I don't!  But I do love the many benefits so I partake daily, consuming the horrible! The kids laugh and tease as we tell our tales. I think back to doctors saying they—my children would never be.  But God saw fit to...