For Christmas my husband got me a Kindle. Love it! The very first book I read was “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. Great book, loved it and I highly recommend it!

In the book Randy writes about the dreams he had as a young boy and his desire to fulfill all of those dreams before he died. One dream he had was to be an imaginer at Disney World. He was able to fulfill that dream as a young grad student and when he became a father, he planned a trip back to Disney World with his father and son, Dylan.

Just as they were getting on board the train that gives you a tour around the park, Randy’s father noticed that the engineer had seats available up next to him and made a comment about how much fun that would be for Dylan, to ride up front with the engineer. Randy watched as his father continued to board the train on a normal seat and decided to go ask the engineer if the three of them could ride with him in the front. The engineer said, “Yes, please do!”

I love that Randy didn’t hold back and just asked the question. There was a desire of the heart, so he asked. Simple. This made me think of how many questions or desires I have that never get asked because I assume I already know the answer. I know sometimes I want something so desperately for myself or my family, that I share my struggle with all of my friends but never stop to ask God.

In the bible God tells us that he will answer our prayer requests. But we need to ask. It’s not that he doesn’t know our hearts desire, he does, God wants community with us. He wants us to continually communicate with him in all things. There is no request to big or too little. He is into the little stuff just as much as the big.

We may not get the answer we want and we may not get an answer immediately, but he will answer. It will be an answer according to His will and His plan for our lives.

So, what are you waiting for? Ask! The God of the universe, your heavenly Father, is waiting to hear from you and would love to answer your questions.
Matthew 21:22 (NIV)
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Who were you 20 years ago, 10 or even 5? I know for me the farther back I go the more I desire to be less like who I was in the past. Not that the girl of twenty years ago was all bad. Twenty years ago I was a junior in college working toward my B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Journalism at the University of Northern Iowa. My future was wide open; it was a very exciting time of my life. I lived on my own, and loved being independent from my parents. The problem was I had a huge drinking problem. Binge drinking; I was able to sustain great grades, 3.7 GPA , but Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights were spent drinking to get drunk. When I think of the dangerous situations I put myself in, my faith grows ever wider and deeper. God truly protected me through my college years. God was far from my thoughts and actions. Thank goodness He didn’t recipracate the act. We can never truly escape our past and who we have been but we are in control of who we are today. I am in control of how I handle the stresses this world demands of me. My insecurities are no longer in control of the direction of my life. Don’t get me wrong I still have insecurities but with God’s help I am committed to keeping them in check. I believe we need to embrace our past. My past is a vital part of who I am today and in some respects it is what motivates me. There are many things from my past that cause a great deal of shame but knowing and understanding this, helps me when I am faced with similar situations and choices I need to make. I know that I will make mistakes today, tomorrow and next week but by the grace of God I hope I keep my eyes open to my failures and hold tight to the assurance God offers me, that I am His and my sins and past have been paid in full. Recently, I heard someone described learning from our past like this…”being in a row boat, on a lake facing our past but rowing away from it, looking at it straight on but moving away from it to open, uncharted waters.” My tendency has been to turn away from my past. To try and hide it behind me, giving it a good swift kick when it would try to peek out and expose itself. Today I am committed to turn and face it, embrace it but not glorify it. Where is your past? Behind you for sure, but are you looking at it as you row into new uncharted waters?

Acts 13: 38 (NIV) “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” 2009/11/14 Published @ mudpiesformom.com

A few highlights from the year 1990!!! . January 31 – Cold War: The first McDonald’s in Moscow, Russia opens. February 11 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, South Africa, after 27 years behind bars. March 26 – The 62nd Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, withDriving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture April 24 – The Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit May 22 – Microsoft releases Windows 3.0. June 7 – Universal Studios Florida opens to the public July 7 – In Rome, the Three Tenors sing together for the first time. August 2 – Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War. September 18 – The International Olympic Committee awards the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta,Georgia October 3 – Cold War: East Germany and West Germany reunify into a single Germany. November 12 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links…

Being the middle child really is tough.  I have always considered myself the middle child.  There is four of us, my brother first and then three girls.  I am the middle girl, so I consider myself the middle child. (Maybe a stretch but it has worked out for me so far!)

I am a mother of three, so for those literal types out there, I have a “real” middle child.  He is my joy and fear at the same time.  God is so masterful in how he creates each one of us.  All of my children have such unique personalities.  This was very frustrating at first.  When I felt like I had gotten something figured out with my first child, it would have been nice to use that knowledge on the other two as they came along….but that wasn’t part of God’s design for me as a parent!! I have had to learn different ways to get my children to obey, be motivated and communicate their feelings.

My Noah, oh my Noah.  How I love him.  He is the spitting image of his Daddy.  He is creative, outgoing, competitive, has a heart for Jesus and I think, very handsome!!  Why then, do I struggle, in connecting with him as his mother?  It is a shameful thing to admit that I struggle with this.

Noah is also, a strong willed child.  We butt heads on almost everything.  Sometimes the drama that he creates around some of the simplest things, like putting on his shoes, dumbfounds me.  In my most sacred parts of my soul, I know some of my struggle comes from how much I see of myself in him.

This inner struggle he seems to have, to be heard, noticed, and given praise is never fulfilled.  But is it ever in any of us?  Maybe I relate to his struggle because I am a middle child too.  I have always tried to fill him up because I know what a life of never feeling full can lead to.  I want him to learn from my mistakes and feel full, heard, noticed and known.

In an attempt to continue to fill him up, I started leaving him Notes on his desk 2 or 3 times a week.  Saying things like, “you have a beautiful smile” or “I am so happy God let me be your mom”….and then last week while I was writing one of my notes to him, it hit me, God has left all of us notes to help fill us up.  Notes that give encouragement, security, love, forgiveness and grace.  We can find all of His notes in the Bible.  God is the only thing that can fill any of us up.  So my notes for Noah became scripture.  Notes that Noah’s heavenly Father has sent for him.  I just get to be the messenger!

Thank you Lord, for your book full of notes for all of us. Thank you Lord, for filling me up!  Thank you Lord, for letting me be Noah’s mom.

Go check your book full of notes from the One and only God of the Universe.  He has written them just for you.

Romans 8:38-39 (New Living Translation)

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Some days feel like all I have gathered up are missed opportunities. Missed opportunities with my kids. Good job honey, I can tell you are trying and I am proud of you. Awesome Job on the test! I knew you could do it! Way to go, you got the potty in the potty!

It happens with my husband, girl friends, sisters, neighbors and strangers too. It could be as simple as the missed opportunity of sharing a kind smile or hello. Or something deeper like the chance to connect with a loved one and forgive and forget.

It is days like these that hurt me the most. I want to build into my children, husband, other family and friends. And when I don’t, I cheat myself out of seeing the power of life giving thoughts and words.

I know that today won’t be the last day I feel this way but my prayer is that as I move through tomorrow I recognize the opportunity when it happens and that I then pull myself back on track and seize the moment!

Today is a Monday. I don’t know about you but Mondays tend to be pretty crazy for me and my family. I am going to try and start off my week staying tuned into as many opportunities that come my way today!!!

I hope you will join me!

Thanks to everyone who voted !!! It is so awesome to know that I am not just stabbing in the dark!!!  Your support means so much to me!! Thank you.  Watch for the official post on the top 10 on January 25th!!!

Tami

Have you ever been at a loss for words? Maybe a joy filled moment, a moment when you were awe struck or a time when fear or panic of saying the wrong thing paralyzed your vocal cords…

For those of you who don’t know me very well, being at a loss of words really isn’t typically a problem for me, until now.

My sons, Jacob and Noah, take hitting lessons from an amazing man. The technical knowledge he has is amazing and his ability to get my children to pay attention and do what he says can make me jealous some days!!

John conducts his lessons in his basement; it is not a fancy setup. He has hung a net in between his two by fours and tosses balls into the air for the boys to hit. Often his laundry is going and lots of “basement” stuff fills up most of the space….got the picture? But he has helped my boys with their hitting tremendously and more importantly there confidence.

I can honestly say in the 7 years that my boys have been actively involved in baseball he has been the one and the only (beside my husband and myself) who has truly invested in them. He cares about how they are doing, he gives them praise when they deserve it and helps them see and fix areas that they struggle with.

You may wonder what this has to do with me being at a loss for words.

John has a very rare form of bone marrow cancer that is terminal. He is on the bone marrow registry but his doctors have told him that a match is highly unlikely. His only brother, who could have been a donor, died a year before John got sick.

What’s keeping my mouth shut? I am not sure if John is a Christian.

I am stuck. I have witnessed and shared my faith with people. I try to live my life so that no one would be shocked to find out that I am a Christian, some days better than others. But I am stuck. I fear not having the right words, I fear offending him, and I fear turning him from God….

We have been commanded by God to share the gospel. I deeply care about him but know that our days with him are limited. I feel God urging me to speak up and my hearts desire is to speak. But I remain silent. I talk myself out of it, saying that it is too personal a subject. But after a hitting lesson with one of my sons, I feel devastated that I have not followed God’s urgings. It is like I am stuck in between who I used to be and who God wants me to be. I am trying to find that middle ground.

I have tried to think of different ways to “kinda” do it…leave a book talking about Christ and heaven “accidentally” at his home…or maybe talk about someone else…like this “friend” I have who is struggling with sharing her faith…ugh! For me, it seems there is no middle ground.  I do realize that John doesn’t need me or anyone else, like all of us what he needs is, Jesus.

I will share my faith with him. I am praying for courage and a heart that demonstrates God’s unconditional love for him. Why do I know I will do it? Because I am sharing this with you now. It makes it real. I feel it holds me accountable. And most importantly I have discussed it with my oldest son and I want to show him that even though I am fearful, I know and trust that God will give me the words. I will not stay caught in the middle.

What John chooses to do with the information is up to him but I will pray continually for him and for a miraculous healing!!!

Do you have a John in your life? Will you share your faith?

Mark 16:15 (NIV)
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

This is my first Blog Hop!! My Best Wishes for 2010 are wishes of love and gratitude to all my faithful followers. The support you have given me over the last 6 months has been amazing! God has truly blessed me with so many treasured friends, even though a few of you may have been guilted into coming to the website!!! Thanks so much and blessings on 2010!

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links…

So tired of the cold weather, so, I thought I would publish something I wrote last summer!!! Hope it helps us all feel a little warm for a while!!

I have been blessed to be the parent of multiple children, and am amazed how different each one of them can be. I am a mother of two boys and a girl. I happen to be the mother of a child who loves everybody, a child who wants to boss everybody and a ballerina. My oldest son Jacob, who loves everybody, recently, showed me what complete joy looks like.

I truly believe that every one of us has a deep desire to belong. I also believe we were designed that way purposefully. This desire is easier to see in some but it is still part of what makes us human. Jacob’s desire has always been unashamedly obvious.

As a preschooler he would always approach other children to play. If some other child wanted to join in a game he always welcomed an additional set of hands and legs to help build the fort or help chase down the bad guys. This desire to include everyone became a bit draining every year when we would try to make the birthday party invitation list…Even when we would threaten,” no sleepover if you choose to invite so many”, Jake always pushed for the option that allowed the most of his buddies to come. Have you ever found yourself saying “16 boys invited for a sleepover is ok because only about half will actually be able to make it” and then spent the next two weeks praying for an outbreak of strep at school?

Not all kids have the desire to include everyone. Jacob, as many kids do, has experienced his share of exclusion. It is a painful thing to watch and an even harder, to not intervene as a parent when your child is excluded. But the exclusions have never tempered his desire to include.

Jacob is 12 years old as I write this today and plays little league baseball. He is not the fastest. He is not the most agile and he spends a fair share of his time on the bench and or in the outfield. But he is part of a team and he loves it! A couple of weeks ago on an ordinary Tuesday night at the ballpark, an extraordinary thing happened.

Jacob hit a homerun. Not your ordinary run of the mill homerun, a GRAND SLAM. For those of you who don’t know, that is a bases loaded homerun! And somewhere in between my screams(and I do mean screams) of encouragement and realizing I may pee my pants if I don’t stop jumping up and down…I locked in on my child’s face as he rounded third base. This is what I saw…

Joy…pure joy. The kind of joy that starts at your toes and travels up your backside to the back of your neck, and up over the top of your head and like a wave crashes over your face. Joy, that if only for a moment, seems to make you float. Joy, that has no boundaries or disclaimers. Complete joy. Joy from a 12 year old boy, with the drop of his chin, and

a curl of his tongue into the side of his mouth, that says awe shucks, as he sees every one of his teammates jumping up and down on home plate waiting for him… he belongs.

It wasn’t so much the grand slam or the three run home run he hit later in the same game (ahem.. sorry just a proud mom) it was all of his teammates cheering and waiting to meet him at the plate. It is my favorite part of any homerun he has hit so far, when he rounds third base and looks towards home plate.

I believe that our God given desire to belong is what churns inside of all of us and that God uses that so that we will search Him out…that we will have the desire to know and to be fully known…and that when we have success in our lives I believe that the joy that God feels for every one of us looks a little like the joy on Jacobs face. I want that joy. I want to live my life in such a way that when I round third base and head home God will be standing, maybe even jumping up and down waiting for me and I will know I belong.

Romans 14:8 New Living Translation
“if we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

I am really not interested in making resolutions that I won’t keep. Call me crazy but I hate setting myself up for failure! It doesn’t look very pretty on me. So instead I had this crazy idea, what if instead I didn’t run from 2009, but focus on last year as I move into 2010.
I mean it when I write that I am committed to growing and becoming the woman I know God has created me to be. If I don’t look at 2009 and examine how I did last year on my journey then I may never get anywhere. It is kind of like Scooby Doo and Shaggy right before they run from the monster…they start running but don’t move at all. Their feet are moving but they aren’t getting anywhere. They don’t have any traction. I want traction. I want to make a path and take a bold step in the right direction.

What if all of us focused on 2009 while we move toward 2010? See the mistakes that we made and learn from them. Bring that knowledge into 2010 and apply it to our lives this year. Embrace our success and bring that with us also.

I am not going to create a list of resolutions; I am going to create an action plan. A plan that has steps to get me further down the path and an accountability partner that can check in with me every once in a while and see how I am doing!!

I don’t know that I will be anymore successful; I hope I am, but I do know that I want to learn from the good and the bad of last year. I want to keep moving forward while I watch what is behind me!!

God bless you all!! Thanks so much for your support! Please keep me in your prayers and feel free to comment anytime. (It lets me know I am not just “singing in the shower”)

Tami

I was struck recently with how little the material things that we surround ourselves with, really matter in the end. When my grandmother had to be admitted to a Nursing Home a few months ago and my mom described her living space, I was devastated for my grandma. It wasn’t the fact that her space was small; it was the fact that so much of what she had loved and had always surrounded her self with, would no longer be with her.

I have never thought of my grandma as a materialistic person and I still don’t. It was the realization that my grandma’s home was gone. My grandparent’s home had always been a place where celebrations had happened. Whether it was someone’s birthday, Christmas Eve dinner or a special girl’s sleepover, grandpa and grandma’s house had always been a very special place. Some of my fondest memories took place in their home.

But if you asked me to name 10 things in her home that I thought had significant meaning to her, I probably couldn’t. When I think about it, it all seems so pointless to work our whole lives to accumulate things that in the end “you can’t take with you.” Society has become so driven by who has what and what is the next best thing to get, must have or cant live with out….whatever. So why then, especially during this time of the year, do I run around looking for the new must have, cant live without….whatever?

Suddenly, it occurred to me the other day that what I would be missing about my grandma’s home and what ultimately matters most is relationships. I will miss the simple days of celebrations at my grandmas home when grandpa was still alive and all of us kids lived in the same state and all of my cousins would come around! It is those relationships that I treasure and grieve for the most. My grandma, happy and available to have a chat with, or a spontaneous sleepover! My grandpa, tickling me and discussing the latest sports drama with my brother and dad. My siblings, around me, bugging me, but some how all part of creating this home and place that I miss. Not the objects in the home, the relationships that happened there.

It shouldn’t be a surprise then that God’s greatest gift to us would also be in the form of a relationship. A relationship with His son. He could have come to this world, driving the latest it mobile, but he didn’t, wearing the latest must have but he didn’t and ultimately He was and is the cant live without! I think God sent Jesus in such a humble way, to demonstrate, that it isn’t about the material things in this world, it is about our relationships.

My advice for this Christmas, celebrate your relationships! Tell someone you love them, forgive them, cherish them, believe in them, understand them and value them. And most of all receive that most precious of gifts, a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!
Luke 2:10-11
“But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. 11For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord!”