What's Really Important

Tomorrow is the last official day of school...then Friday Morning there is graduation. It's been a busy year for my class. We've learned about ABC's and 123's and colors and shapes and phonics. We've learned about vegetables, pilgrims, patterns and weather. But, all of that is second to the really important things that I hope these kids came away with. 

My prayer is that when they look back at this year that they'll remember these lessons:

1. Jesus loves them. If they know that, then my job is done.

2. Be kind to others. It's not enough to just be kind when someone is nice to you. If they can remember to treat people with kindness...even someone who doesn't deserve it then they will have learned a valuable lesson for life.

3. Say I'm sorry. When you do wrong, on purpose or on accident, say "I'm sorry" and then get on with life. If you take a toy, interrupt, cut in line, push, bump into someone, or call them a name...do the right thing and apologize. Don't let things build up....you'll get angry.

4. Forgive...when someone hurts you, or your feelings, forgive and move on. 

5. Share....your crayons, your glue, your toys, your books, your colors. 

6. A hug makes things better. It's a bandaid for your heart. And we all know preschoolers love bandaids.

7. Be a helper. If someone is struggling give them a little help. One day they will return the favor.

8. Do your best. Whatever that is. Your only competition is yourself.

9. Work together as a team. 

10. Try try again. Don't give up just because you don't get something the first time. Keep trying...and then try again. 

Come to think of it, I hope these are lessons I have learned this year! What an amazing time we've had.

This truly was a year of life change for me and my little class. What a wonderful group of lives God allowed me to be with each day.  

- Thank you Lord, for these unspeakable gifts.

Spring Rain

Dust covered, spiderwebby, dirt laden, grime covered. That about sums up the vibe my porch and backyard were giving off this afternoon before the gentle fall of spring rain. There's something about that gentle pitter patter of continuous rain that washes the earth of it's oldness and rinses the filth from nature. It leaves everything feeling fresh, more alive, vibrant, greener, cleaner, nourished.

Ever feel like you need your own personal spring rain....a couple of hours of uninterrupted washing away of the world's grime? Where forgiveness and grace and mercy and healing and nourishment can do their work and you can sit and soak every last drop of it in? Where you walk away feeling vibrant, healthier, more alive than before?

I think this must be what the God must have had in mind when the Psalmist penned...

Psalms 72:6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.

This watering from heaven to earth ...or from God to us is exactly what we need after days filled with drought. When our own spiritual grime is so thick that it takes more than a quick squirt of the water hose to get cleaned. When our thoughts don't match His, when our mind is not His, when our hands and feet are not His. We need this washing....this cleansing that comes from sitting in a spring rain...soaking in His goodness, His presence and His forgiveness. 

This cleansing rain helps us grow. Just like the flowers and gardens and trees will flourish after a spring rain, so does our own walk with Christ. The fresh feeling the earth has after rain is mirrored in my own life after I've sat with the Lord and soaked in some of His goodness. What a generous God we have that He would have enough for all of us and that in the middle of any personal drought He can bring the spring rain to provide refreshment, healing, nourishment and fresh growth.

Buried

From the moment I realized I was pregnant with Savannah I have prayed that she would know Jesus at an early age. I'm not talking about every once in a while I would shoot a prayer skyward and think it would nice....I'm talking about a fervent prayer. When she was 4 she began asking questions. 

"Why did Jesus die on the cross?"

"Why were people so mean to Him?"

"What is sin?"

"Am I a sinner?"

I even remember getting very nervous one time thinking "She's too young, she couldn't possibly be ready to know Him." Yes...I know....wasn't that what I was praying for??? But I found myself almost talking her out of salvation instead of explaining this wonderful gift of God to the world. I struggled with the reality of her being able to in any sort of way really understand what Christ had done for her. 

One night in late August just days before her 5th birthday she cornered Bruce and I and said, "I'm ready to be saved." We asked her a few questions and after she gave a full dissertation realized that she was ready. She didn't repeat a parent led prayer, instead, she said her own version of some sort of sinner's plea for God to forgive her, make her clean and let her live in heaven when she died. It was the most beautiful prayer I will ever hear. 

That prayer of any lost soul coming to Jesus for the first time is sweet, but when it is your own child reaching out, accepting, believing, confessing....that is something that will be ingrained in my heart forever. I completely understand how all heaven must rejoice when someone comes to know Christ. It's amazing. And having recently experienced the spiritual battle that goes on when Satan feels the sting of loss or the elation of some temporal earthly victory, it is fresh on my mind how truly spiritual this salvation experience is.

So...now, over three years later Savannah got baptized last Sunday. Dad got to do the honors. And yes, I know that her knowing Christ doesn't stop at salvation or baptism, in fact, it's really only the beginning. My prayer continues to be that she will grow to know Him more and more and more....to be a lifetime learner of Him....to keep her eyes fixed on Him. 

Thank you Lord, for answered prayers!

Buried with Him in baptism...

Raised to walk in newness of life.

Small Changes

A few things that changed this week:

1. Spring clothes unpacked

2. Winter clothes packed

3. Shoe organizer bought

4. Plan for our own version of Trading Spaces....bedroom edition (stay tuned for the details)

5. Morning routines posted in bathroom for both kids (thinking about making Bruce one --hehe)

6. Threw away some old....really old....really worn out clothes

7. Bought new storage containers 

8. Took Valentines decor off tree.... I'll be doing THIS for Easter

9. Cleaned off the kitchen table and redid centerpiece for spring

10. Took 5 bags of trash out of my house.....WHERE DOES IT ALL COME FROM!!!

One reason I am posting this is to convince myself that I'm heading in the right direction! Boy is there a ton to get done....and I am determined to have it done by the time school is out for the summer....cause I don't want to spend my summer doing it!!!

Do you have an organizational tip you want to share....I'm all ears!

Park Pics

Yesterday Savannah was scheduled to begin tennis lessons. Well it was so windy that they had to rescheduled lessons for Thursday. Since I had planned on walking at the park where she has lessons I was as disappointed as she was. So...I suggested we go to the other side of the park where there was more for the kids to do and I could still get my walk in. We had a great time! 

Tickling her toes in the creek. I love this girl! 

I love the look on her face here....she was so silly!

Tucker suggested we all pose together....

thank goodness for that little reverse camera feature on my phone! *Wow my head sure is big

Such a cutie pie! My favorite 5 year old ever!