Monday, February 28, 2011

Starved for Love

She stomped around the kitchen. All morning she pecked and stomped. Every word spoke taut, looking to confront. The snag in her plan, no bites. I'd witnessed it for hours. Her brother and sister, in good moods, and every gauntlet she threw down they turned into something silly. Not in a mean way, but a, you can't help but laugh along, sorta of way.

Only for her the laughter and joy brought no relief.

She continued her prickly ways into the afternoon chore of lunch cleanup. I sat on the sofa and watched as she washed up dishes and threw away napkins in that sharp, frustrated manner. Dad overseeing the cleanup allowed observation on my part. I sent up prayers for wisdom and eyes to see what's really going on here. With my new glasses I began to see a girl love starved. She finished up her chores and I called for her to sit with me a moment. I snuggled her under the big blanket we call the bear. I pushed a stray hair aside.

"Darling, you do such a wonderful job cleaning the kitchen and I think you are an amazing big/little sister. God knew what he was doing when he made you our middle girl. I love you so much."

Tears puddled up and spilled over.

"Mom, nobody has said those kind of words to me in so long."

I know it's true. Life gets busy and I try to remember to say all the precious uplifting words those around me need to hear but minutes tick by and before I know it souls are starved for love.

Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs


Dr. Emmerson Eggerichs' wrote Love and Respect. He nailed the love side of women. 

I watched as my young daughter, feeling unloved, began to suffocate and attack her world in desparate attempt for air. I shared with her how this is a common struggle for women. How important it is for her to recognize when she is feeling starved and even more important to learn to communicate her needs before she goes on the warpath. How the first place she needs to go is the God who made her and then to those that can be hands and feet here, to love her. What a lesson to learn at the early stages of double digits.

Loving the Counting:

706.
A Birthday Celebration at Sweet! with folks I love so dearly



707.
Girlie #2 search for a Blog title

721.
The Boy making eye contact to wink at me from center court

728.
Walking out of the Home Depot Restroom and stopping short 'cause I recognize those kids  in that picture.







736.
That her demi-point is better and I must see it now before my eyes are even focused and her face is flushed and eyes shine with joy and excitement.



740.
Girlie #2 realizing she likes to do laundry. WAHOO!

747.
Voicemail from a traveling man asking for a prompt call back because he wants to hear my voice and know I'm okay.

748.
All three armed  with ice, peanut butter and Goo Gone determined to extricate the Gum from Girlie #1's hair

749.
When Amuba meets the Prince in The Cat of Bubastes and you learn it is exactly who you thought it might be.

The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt   [CAT OF BUBASTES] [Paperback]
761.
The reflections of early morning on the still waters of the pool.



Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Staking the American Dream

Radical. It's quite a word.
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

American Dream, it's quite a concept.

I can hear the echos of myself speaking words on this concept. In history lessons, explaining how immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of it. My own ancestry dates back to the American Revolution. My china cabinet hosts a beloved cake plate entrusted to my care. I have been threatened upon pain and death should I allow harm to befall it. This beautiful piece rode on a covered wagon whilst my great, great grand walked beside to stake their American Dream in the wilds of the west. I think I am clearly identified to the American Dream much like a Christian knows it belongs to the lineage of Abraham, Noah, and Adam.

I have spoken the words to my children. Words identifying the cold hard facts that they will struggle to elevate themselves to an economic status equal or advanced to that of their parents. Why? Because we all know this is the reality of the 21st Century American Dream. It has slipped from it's original fingerprint of a group of pilgrims, pioneers longing to preserve their godly heritage into a selfish pursuit, elevate up an economic ladder.

But as Eric Ludy tells us in his sermon Depraved Indifference,

"You see there is a caste system in heaven, it is exactly backwards to the caste system this world actually creates. This world applauds and esteems the wealthy, the powerful and the privileged and the talented. That's not how God's system works. Jesus came and he proved it. He took the lowest spot. He was God."



The time is now to drive a stake through the heart of this evolved American Dream, this vampire. Yes, that is what it has become. A phantom that lurks in the dark and drains us of our life blood; our time, our focus, our vision. Too few of us follow the breadcrumbs to play out the logic of decisions made in pursuit of this dream.  Choices are made with little thought, they are just what you do in pursuit of the American Dream. We are missing our pilgrim/pioneer spirit and we do not process our decisions to find their ultimate purpose and as David Platt points out in his book titled Radical,
"I could not help but think we have missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.....  settling for a Christianity that revolves around and catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves."
There's a time to be emotional and explore feelings, give them a voice to dictate actions and then there are revelations that demand obedience and we pack those emotions into a box and get moving.

The writing is on the wall.

I will be moved.

Will you?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It's Super Cool When...

You're tooling along with your kids in tow doing the usual grocery store thing and you see...

 Juliette pushing a giant grocery cart full of Organic Gala Apples.
You know what the Doctor says?

Yes, this is cool.
But what's SUPER COOL is passing a counter full of magazines and seeing...


Folks you know gracing the cover of  Edible Orlando Magazine. Our very own still kinda a Newlywed Erica and her co-worker Emily from The Bee's Knees Sweet Treats.

Of course you must stop everything you're doing and read what they have to say about these cool people you know.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Valentina


She picks up the clipboard and calls my name. Her beautiful English is spoken in a thick Russian accent. I follow her back and so has been this wonderful relationship between me and my amazing Dental Hygenist.


The view from her chair
Born in a small coastal town in Russia and to fly home is long. She doesn't get to go home often. She, her husband and daughter, came to America and they love it here. They do not want to return to Russia even though there she had a full Dental/Oral Surgeon Practice there and to practice here she would have to attend Dental school all over again. She tells me she loves America, that we Americans are not grateful enough. I know she's correct. I know my own children take for granted the amazing freedoms they live amongst.

Her walls are full of sweet notes and drawings from her patients
Valentina is encouraging, uplifting and kind. She remembers my name, information about my family. She does her job to the best of her ability every time. She smiles, even with her eyes she smiles. I look forward to my dental visits because of this sweet, vibrant woman. I am so glad she came to America, so glad she chose to be a dental hygienist, so glad I get to sit in her chair twice a year and catch up on her and her life.


Thank you Valentina for taking the time during your daily job to invest in the folks who sit in your chair. You are a blessing to us.



Monday, February 14, 2011

Very Valentine

I love, Love, LOVE Valentine's Day. It's a day of no expectation. No, it's a day of less than no expectation and blessing someone on Valentine's Day has proven doable. I love that! I can bless and show love to folks who just didn't expect it and I do it with silly, simple things that I make.

This year I created a minion of birdies (the beast enjoyed knocking all the birds off their boxes, he did it in running gazelle like leaps and he would wait til I set them back up to leap again).


I first saw these little birdies at The Nesting Place.
She had received one as a gift from Denise at Living Life Creatively.

title decoration

I fell in love and had to get my hands on Denise's pattern to make my own birdie army. People just smile when I give them one of these flightless friends. You should check out her website and then go straight to her Etsy site to get the pattern or your own handmade birdie. I made my Birdies from dishtowels in Target's dollar section and sewed away in front of my most favorite BBC mini series. I love making stuff to give. I pray for the receiver as I create (in between watching Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy). The creation brings me such joy!


We've been celebrating Valentine's day for years this way, the kids and I. This is what homeschool families do in lieu of a class party. At least, that's what I tell myself. It started when they were mere babes. I would make up little love packs and dress everyone up in red and pink. We'd stay out until all the goodies were gone.


When we moved far away and didn't yet know a lot of folks we would send them off. Now we do a combination.


So, we're off to be little cupids. I pray your Valentine's Day is full of unexpected blessings!

Valentine Counts:

Story of the mis-gendered rabbit.

A Valentine Gift for me. 

A day of rest.

Experiencing 'Footprints' all over again through Girlie #2's eyes.

Chats with Mom over hair colorings.

A dozen red roses and his 'proud as punch' face at his offering.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Made to Crave

Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food


It's something I know. Cravings are everywhere. At the hair salon, when a super skinny, well dressed, well coiffed young woman walks by. Pumping gas at the 7-11 with this massive glazed donut calling to me from inside the conveience store. I'm very grateful for pay at the pump. I crave. Too often it's chocolate, and french fries and can I just say I am addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper.


Food and I we have a love hate thing going on. I love it but I hate that I don't understand what type of relationship we're supposed to have. Obesity is a demon that grips my maternal lineage. I have grown up in its shadow, waiting for the day when it inflates my body. While I have worked super hard to keep it at bay I can honestly say the battle I have waged against it has caused a permanent binge and purge of my soul.  I let the cravings for food overwhelm me and I consume in secret. Then the guilt assuages me. In the guilt I find my self begging God to get me under control and I swing the pendulum. I swing so far in the other direction. I become a food Nazi. I consume only carrots for weeks at a time and I become thin but my soul feels the emptiness of this kind of thin.

And then I read this book by this sweet, honest woman, Lysa TerKeurst, President of Proverbs 31 Ministries. Yes, I know I was made to crave but I never carried the thought all the way through,
"We were made to crave -- long for, want greatly, desire eagerly, and beg for --God.  Only God."
There are times when I fell dense. How could I miss this seemingly simple connection? I have fasted. I have spent days forgoing food to leave room to only crave Him. Those days proved blessed days of richness and connection. How did I not put that into my daily relationship with God and then with food.
"Growing closer to God has a whole lot less to do with any action we might take and a whole lot meore to do with positioning our hearts towards His."
So, I have a goal. To use my thoughts on food to bring my heart closer to Him. When I want that Chicken and Dumplings at Cracker Barrel I will ask God to fill my souls need for comfort and then ask for help in that moment to make a wiser choice. And then maybe, next time, I'll ask for the wiser choice assistance before I enter the Cracker Barrel.

This sat over our table at a recent Cracker Barrel Dinner. I just couldn't get that '2 full glasses in each 12oz King Size Can' out of my head as each child sucked down a 12 oz iced tea. It helped me make my dinner choice of vegetables.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Kim


I have proven to be a faithful 'Paint Your own Pottery' patron over the last twelve years. My first piece made when I bulged with Girlie #1. I mostly gifted my art so there is little in my own abode to show for my efforts. Over the years I found the process of painting enjoyable yet the establishment owner/directors unmemorable, that is until I met Kim and her crew at Amazing Glaze.


Amazing Glaze is part of the Arts Ministry of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. It's a quiet space in the basement. You have to buzz the school receptionist to get in the door, head down the stairs and you hear the din of voices. Round the corner and enter the little room with walls stacked high of unpainted pottery pieces. Inspiration pieces abound on every surface. It looks like any other pottery store but its ladies set it apart.


They all volunteer their time. They know each other well. They are friendly. They are welcoming. Kim leads the way.

Kim encourages
Girlie #1 gets guidance to execute her pottery vision
She hails from the United Kingdom. Her American English is thick with a British accent. She uses words like "lovely" and it sounds absolutely lovely rolling off her tongue. She gives selflessly to this ministry/art and the people partaking of it. She is an artist. Her abilities are displayed throughout the room in the form of sample pieces and the many, many completed items that will be gifted to delighted recipients. If Kim isn't assisting she is creating works of arts for others. The first thing I do when I arrive is look over the room for newly made pieces.

The Boy chatting with Kim
Kim has unbelievable patience and passion for others to express themselves on a piece of bisque ware. She will answer endless questions with a kind, thoughtful manner. She gently responds to even the littlest artists in the room. The Boy is a talker and he follows her around asking question and telling her stories. Kim listens and answers like he is a most important person. He's always trying to negotiate the prices of the pottery. She calls him her Donald Trump. He loves showing her his pieces and she gushes over every one of them. Most are pieces only a mother could love.


She has a remarkable memory. It can be weeks since we've spoken and she will ask me about something even I have to ponder on to remember. She makes everything in that room beautiful and it lacks a certain glow when she is absent.


Thank you Kim for all you give to Amazing Glaze. Thank you  for the time and energy you invest in this little corner of the world. We come to create pieces for ourselves and others and we receive love, acceptance and encouragement to explore the artist many of us don't even realize we are.

So, if you, Dear Reader, are ever in O-Town make a trip to this little spot of quiet beauty and say 'Hi' to Kim. You'll be glad you did and have a lovely piece of pottery to remember her by.

Until then link along with me today or leave a comment and you will be entered for a drawing to win this cutie piece, handmade by me, with guidance by Kim.

In Process. That's the inspiration piece at the bottom of the page.
Fired Piece This is what I imagine Kim looked like as a wee one.

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