A Little Break

Okay, I know I just started this blog. But I need to take a break for about 3 weeks while I work on a session that I am teaching March 19-20th. I will be leading a break-out session at a women's retreat and I need to focus on that. So, if you read this from now until March 19 say a prayer for me. That I will speak the words that the Lord wants me to speak. That I will have time to prepare. Thanks. I'll be back after that.
Kathleen

Tea, Jungle Jingles & A Memorial

What do tea and jungles and memorials have to do with each other? Well, they are what has occurred in my life in the past 24-hours. Church had a Valentine's Tea. It was good to be around other women from church who were also sad about the sudden death of a very loyal faithful church member.

It got my mind off things more than I thought. The church service was dedicated to her memory today. It was good to be together and to share memories, songs, tears and laughter. We knew the tears were only for us that we will miss her faithful loyal presence. We knew she wanted us to still have the tea and have fun. She is no longer in any pain. She is with Jesus and her husband. She lived independently and serving the Lord to the end. She lived well.

And then we (just the 6 of us -- not the whole church) went and enjoyed the play of The Jungle Book for kids. My in-laws treated. We were suppose to go last weekend. But we had our plans postponed due to illness (3 out of 6 of us were ill with a short-lived stomach bug). Instead, we enjoyed the play today. My heart is happier today.

On Friday, I didn't really share the burden of my sadness and had to bear it all by myself. I finally shared in the evening with my husband. Shared a little more on Saturday and a lot on Sunday. And bearing the burden together really did help. Thank you Lord for that.

My spirit is lighter tonight. And I am thankful for that.

Sadness Go Away Today

Today our pastor called to let us know one of the women of the church had died last night. Unexpected. Unknown that she was feeling ill.

I am sad today. I have known this woman for only a year. But I am still sad that she is gone now. Two weeks ago, another woman from church's dad passed away. A week ago, my best friend's brother died tragically. And my sister's husband is in the last stages of pancreatic cancer.

A flurry of thoughts come to my mind, "Oh, death where is they sting. Oh death where is thy victory. Though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. He is close to the broken-hearted. "

I am sad today. Sad that death has entered the world. Sad that we have to say goodbye. Sad at so much grief in this world. In MY world. In the people around me.

I don't like to be sad (who does?). It's okay to be sad. I have good reasons to be sad today. I just don't want these 'good' reasons to be sad today. Sadness, sadness go away. I don't want to be sad today.

But I am thankful for my sweet ten-year-old daughter who made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. For the sweet questions from a friend today at a homeschool field trip. I am especially grateful for my husband's sweet comfort in my life. So cheerful is he. So understanding, caring, and compassionate. He had each of the children hug me and kiss me because I was sad. My youngest wanted to buy flowers for me at the store.

Thank you for sweet encouragement, Lord, in the midst of sadness today. And especially for the sunshine. Thank you.

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

The Lounge

The Teacher's Lounge happens one Monday night a month. Others watch our kids while we discuss school -- things like spelling, math, and reading. But it quickly goes to cleaning, parenting, in-laws, nutrition and gardening and getting stains of clothing or the mildew out of towels. It moves to prayer requests for loss of jobs, cancer, children, health issues.

We chat about tutorials and co-ops. And our children. Of course, we expound about our children. We talk about wanting to give up and send them to the big brick school building down the street. Which some of us have done and will do. And that is okay. But when we say it here in The Lounge it is not bait for the critics to say "Aha, see I told you that you shouldn't do this." No, here in The Lounge we admit that it is hard and that we're discouraged. And we look up to see sympathetic faces and a few good ideas. And the next day we are spurred on to keep going and to keep trying.

I am so thankful for The Lounge. We share. We talk. We laugh.

Some of us have one child. Some have two or three or four or six or eight children. Some have taken kids in and out of public/private school. Some have home schooled from the beginning. Some of us have brilliant children, some struggle with learning disabilities. Some of us have average children.

Some of us are from Tennessee with family all-around and some of us are from out of state with family far away. Some have friends down the street. Some don't. But we all love God, our husbands, our children and our job as Teacher Mom.

And we all Laugh!

The Laughter is our M0nthly Camaraderie Medicine. And it helps.

It surely inspires me to "not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)

Thanks my Teacher's Lounge friends. Thankful, thankful, thankful I am for all of you.

How about you? What do you have in your life that encourages you to not grow weary in doing good?

A Dramatic Change

Here are the before and after pictures of our second born getting her hair cut. It would have been enough inches for a Locks of Love donation but they don't take curly hair. Did you know that? So only one of us can donate hair.

It is even cuter than in person than in this picture. (I am a biased mother, you know!) It began as a project to enable her to care for her hair better on her own. And we got a really cute change in the process. Isn't it fun?

Oh, that is not a bruise on her nose but rather a hint of green color. The day before was Wacky Tacky at our AWANA clubs where the kids dress up wild and crazy. Which is the perfect opportunity for three out of four of my children to color their faces with abandon and not get in trouble. (Can you guess which one does NOT like to do that?) Except that the stuff didn't come all the way off even with lots of scrubbing.

The Logic of a Four-Year-Old

Two days ago, I was trying to explain something (unknown to me now) to my four-year-old son. We were getting nowhere; so, I said to him, "You're not understanding me."

He replied emphatically and loudly, "I do understand you! But I don't know what you're talking about!"

I stopped and laughed.

Then, my husband said, "I guess that means he understands your English but not what you mean."

The four-year-old (whom we thought was no longer paying attention) said, "I understand that she's English."

"Except that she's not," said hubby.

We relived this moment tonight at the dinner table because hubby had printed a page from "the quote board" from his work. He had added this to the list. We read the silly quotes and laughed, including this incident from our house.

Afterward, the four-year-old came up to me and said, "I don't understand that you're English."

How about you? Do you ever have "conversations" like this at your house?

Snow, Glorious Snow

We had snow over the weekend that is still here. Snow that canceled the scrapbook retreat that I was to attend. So instead of scrap booking old memories, we created new ones as a family.

Snow that interrupted my life & my plans -- plans to scrapbook. One would think that I would have lots of fun photos of the snow except that I ran out of film, then the camera kept locking up in the cold. So these snow photos are from two weeks ago when we had a light dusting of snow that stayed on the ground for several days unlike the 4 inches that have stayed this time.