As the seasons change, I find myself again missing Hawaii. I am not sure what happened to make the ache return in my heart. Maybe it is the frustration of missing children's socks in every laundry load, muddy tennis shoes tramping through the house, digging out jackets and changing over the drawers from summer to winter clothes for 6 people, realizing my wardrobe is not east coast fashionable at all, or the fact that in 7 months we will be facing another move all over again. We have had a hard time getting back into the routine of school, activities, bible studies and just when you find a routine, life turns it upside down again and sometimes I just want to throw my hands up in surrender! I swear that there were more hours in a day when we lived in Hawaii. There was always time to sit with my girlfriends and drink coffee, take leisurely walks to the beach or playgrounds, and workout. What happened here? There have been days where I just didn't want to crawl out of bed and do it all over again. Please God, can I just stay under the covers and hide today! Somehow, I lost something important that God taught me in Hawaii about enjoying life and the moments instead of rushing through the motions and routine. Somehow walking through the season change has reminded me of that joy that fell over our family there and how important it is in every day life. I am reminded of Psalm 90:14 "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days". So in order to bring myself back to joy and thankfulness I will be sharing moments of celebrating in the past few months...moments full or joy and thankfulness that I pray to find every morning and every minute of the day so that it will spill over my family.
Joel has become a motorcycle guy thanks to my dad (and dismay of my mom). I kind of like it! This past weekend, we got a sitter and enjoyed a long beautiful motorcycle ride and enjoyed coffee in a quaint quiet town. It was so peaceful and the perfect afternoon. I pray for that peace to continually fill my soul.
In August we celebrated Josie's birth with a baby dedication at our church. We also had Jesse dedicated as we never found a church in Hawaii that we felt comfortable in supporting our family in this way. What a gem we have found here in a church home! A true family walking through life with us in prayer and thanksgiving, tears and smiles. The dedication was a true reminder or what a gift each one of our children are and what a blessing God gave us here in community.
Josie, as #4, seems to have way fewer pictures taken. This is something I swore I would never do! So Joel and I took a million in one night (does that count??). She is a rolly polly now, has gotten 2 teeth, and is on her hands in knees (only rocking, not crawling), but somehow she manages to get legs stuck under couches and behind doors??
A reminder of joy every day.
A true celebration!! Every day at school, Asher takes a math test. The kids have 3 minutes to complete the test. There is no pass/fail, only rewards as you move up the levels. Asher has been on level 1 since school started (50 problems of addition) and believed he would never pass level 1. Joel and I have worked so hard with him and he would get so discouraged. He knew the math but just has trouble focusing for 3 minutes...the spider crawling up the wall would grab him 1 minute in and he was a goner. Homework has been taking hours as we get into school again and the poor boy has been left exhausted. We promised him the dinner of his choice the day he passed level 1 and tried to encourage him every day. Orange chicken was his choice and I have had it waiting in the freezer praying for the day to celebrate. Yesterday he came bursting into the house exclaiming that HE DID IT!!! I have had this celebrate plate sitting on top of the fridge...a beautiful decoration, but what a wonderful time to break it in. I now vow to use it more often to celebrate many occasions with the kids and remind them how special they are to us and the Lord.
Joel has become a motorcycle guy thanks to my dad (and dismay of my mom). I kind of like it! This past weekend, we got a sitter and enjoyed a long beautiful motorcycle ride and enjoyed coffee in a quaint quiet town. It was so peaceful and the perfect afternoon. I pray for that peace to continually fill my soul.
In August we celebrated Josie's birth with a baby dedication at our church. We also had Jesse dedicated as we never found a church in Hawaii that we felt comfortable in supporting our family in this way. What a gem we have found here in a church home! A true family walking through life with us in prayer and thanksgiving, tears and smiles. The dedication was a true reminder or what a gift each one of our children are and what a blessing God gave us here in community.
Josie, as #4, seems to have way fewer pictures taken. This is something I swore I would never do! So Joel and I took a million in one night (does that count??). She is a rolly polly now, has gotten 2 teeth, and is on her hands in knees (only rocking, not crawling), but somehow she manages to get legs stuck under couches and behind doors??
A reminder of joy every day.
A true celebration!! Every day at school, Asher takes a math test. The kids have 3 minutes to complete the test. There is no pass/fail, only rewards as you move up the levels. Asher has been on level 1 since school started (50 problems of addition) and believed he would never pass level 1. Joel and I have worked so hard with him and he would get so discouraged. He knew the math but just has trouble focusing for 3 minutes...the spider crawling up the wall would grab him 1 minute in and he was a goner. Homework has been taking hours as we get into school again and the poor boy has been left exhausted. We promised him the dinner of his choice the day he passed level 1 and tried to encourage him every day. Orange chicken was his choice and I have had it waiting in the freezer praying for the day to celebrate. Yesterday he came bursting into the house exclaiming that HE DID IT!!! I have had this celebrate plate sitting on top of the fridge...a beautiful decoration, but what a wonderful time to break it in. I now vow to use it more often to celebrate many occasions with the kids and remind them how special they are to us and the Lord.
Mary, I appreciate your honest posts. I have never lived out of state, but sometimes I wish I did, just for that change of pace and a change of routine. Although, (for my 2 sisters who read this post), I wouldn't think about leaving family unless God wanted me too!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I LOVE your celebrate plate idea! I definitely want to use that idea with my future family! I already told Eric about it!
Miss you guys!
Beautiful post Mary, thank you for the reminder to be thankful for the little things. With all the rushing around, it seems to get lost!
ReplyDelete