My Ebenezer

I have mentioned before how much Noah loves to play in the large puddle (*cough*, lake) that forms at the end of our driveway after a serious rainstorm. After a 4-day rainy streak, we had a break of sunshine this afternoon, which gave Noah the opportunity to splash and play to his hearts' content. This is a child who spen ds much of his day asking me to watch him do tricks, stunts, and whatever else comes to his mind, so it shouldn't surprise me that he wanted to ride through the puddle one-handed. He also loves to take both feet off the pedals and ride down long hills in our neighborhood, which always impresses/terrifies me. Mostly just terrifies. This next video is just for my own nostalgia. He was floating his shoes and pretending they were boats. This kind of imaginative play is what makes being a mom fun!

*ND, if you can't remember, stands for Naturopathic Doctor. You're welcome. :) On Wednesday of this week, I went back to the ND to go over the results from my (very yucky) saliva test that I performed a few weeks ago. "Performed" makes it sound tricky, which it really isn't, but then again it is . Have you ever tried to spit repeatedly into a tube with an opening diameter of approximately 1/2 inch? I stand by "performed." Anyway. The findings of the test were good/bad. My doctor has every reason to think I'm ovulating (sorry, men! I totally should have warned you.), which is TERRIFIC, but that there's a hormonal imbalance and possibly blocked tubes that are hindering me. (Okay, I think I can safely assume I have scared off any men by now!) My hormone Cortisol--"the hormone of well-being"-- was found to be low, along with the Total Salivary SIgA (whatever THAT means!), and the doctor said that this points to adrenal fatigue, whic

I love how in the midst of a trial, God tends to bring the words of a song to my mind. I'll wake up in the night or early morning, with that song already playing in my head and when I think about what I'm singing, it is so comforting or encouraging or convicting; whatever I might need at the time. I have a CD put out by the Wilds called, "God Meant It For Good" (thanks, Carrie Bennett!) and it is my go-to cd when I need to be reminded that God is in control and does everything on purpose. Usually it is one of those songs that will be repeating itself in the back of my mind. Here are the words to "Peace, Be Still." "When your heart is broken, when you're prone to fear, When you feel forsaken, He is always near. When your life's uncertain with its good or ill, See your gentle Savior, hear His 'Peace, be still!' When your soul, in anguish, bows in grief today, Knowing of His power, will you think to pray? Master of the oceans, Lord of earth

"Just a tiny little child Three years old, And a mother with a heart All of gold. Often did that mother say, 'Jesus hears us when we pray, For He's never far away; And He always answers.' Now, that tiny little child Had brown eyes And she wanted blue instead-- Like blue skies. For her mother's eyes were blue Like forget-me-nots. She knew All her mother said was true, Jesus always answered. So she prayed for two blue eyes, Said 'Good night,' Went to sleep in deep content And delight. Woke up early, climbed a chair By a mirror. Where, O where Could the blue eyes be? Not there! Jesus hadn't answered. Hadn't answered her at all! Never more Could she pray--her eyes were brown as before. Did a little soft wind blow? Came a whisper soft and low, 'Jesus answered. He said "No."' Isn't 'No' an answer?" ---Amy Carmichael I have been that little girl.

Buddy and Loren Fitzgerald, missionaries to Peru As a family, we pray for 3 or 4 missionaries as part of our nightly Family Time. We usually pray for the missionaries by first name or family name, and one night Noah stumped us with his prayer. "And dear Lord, please help Buddy and Loren and If It's Cheryl..." Josh and I peeked at one another through squinted eyes and silently asked each other " what did he say ?" I repeated "If It's Cheryl" to myself over and over, hoping to figure it out. And then all those games of Mad Gab came back to me and the translation was suddently clear as day: "And dear Lord, please help Buddy and Loren Fitzgerald..." I guess "Fitzgerald" would sound kind of like "If It's Cheryl" to a three-year-old. Thankfully, God knew who he was praying for! :)

I find it ironic that the morning after his very first night in his Big Boy Bed, Noah would decide to unroll half a roll of toilet paper onto the bathroom floor. He would have unrolled the whole thing if I had not walked in right then. Really? I thought only babies did that...

There. I came up with a title. I dislike coming up with titles, by the way. I can sit there for 10 or 15 minutes, drumming up a title and then never get to post what I want. Not today! (I find it especially hard when I'm going to be posting about random things in the same post. What do you call a post that's not really about anything?) This has been the most beautiful Spring season since we've been in Florida. The days just can't get any more gorgeous, and I'm so thankful to God! I go outside and smell the air to get a whiff of my wisteria that are blooming. The dogwood trees are especially beautiful, and so are all the other flowers that I know not the names of. :) I appreciate them, even if I don't know what they're called. I've decided against a vegetable garden again this year. Call me lazy, or just plain busy, but I can't seem to fit that in just yet. That, and I'm hard-pressed to find a spot in our yard that receives at least 6

One of Noah's favorite things to do is talk. Morning, noon, and night, if that child is awake, he's talking. He loves to "inform" me about anything and everything. I never know what fact he'll pull out next! "Mommy, did you know that Jesus can walk on clouds and not even fall through them?" "Mommy, did you know that there are two words for "space man"--you can either say "space man" or "space ranger"? "Mommy, did you know that God can see you everywhere you go?" "Mommy, did you know that owls sleep in the day and stay awake at night?" "Mommy, did you know that raccoons like to be in trash cans?" "Mommy, did you know that they don't like you to have lollipops in the library because you'll get the books all sticky?"

I don't know where I picked up my love of a good pun, but I know my sister Lori can appreciate them too. I'm not so much a fan of the contrived ones; the ones that make you groan they're so corny. My favorites are the ones that the speaker did not intend to be funny, but just are in an accidental sort of way. Josh is my supplier of a good pun, and the best part is, he usually has no idea what he has said until I start laughing and point it out. Two examples from recent history: Noah and Josh were talking about the cut that Josh had acquired on his finger earlier that day at work. They were discussing the wisdom of being careful around sharp tools, and what happens if you're not. Josh said, "You really have to be careful you don't get a cut, because that's not fun any way you slice it ." Tee hee! Josh leads the singing at our church on Sunday nights. We had experienced microphone volume difficulties that morning, and Josh was expressing his than

I needed to take a moment to express my strong affection for The Geranium. Not only are they really pretty, but it turns out they are very hardy and almost impossible to kill! And for me to say that is pretty amazing. I have unintentionally killed so many plants in my lifetime, that for one to live under my care is noteworthy. :) I bought a geranium last June and put it out on our front porch to bring a little summer cheer to our front door. I thought I'd be replacing it in the Fall with a nice purple mum. This geranium lived through the Fall months though, and I didn't have the heart to uproot it to make room for something else. It bloomed until December, when the weather turned cold and it gave up making flowers. I was just biding my time until spring, when I would uproot it and plant something else. I even forgot to water it. For months . Then, the other day, some red caught my eye by our front door. My geranium is blooming! How it survived twenty-degree nights and no water

Last Wednesday I went to my very first appointment with a Naturopathic doctor. Having had it "up to here" with what conventional doctors had to offer, a dear lady at church slipped a business card into my hand with the name of an ND on it. I had grown so accustomed to "regular" doctors breezing into the room, reading my chart in front of me, asking me a couple questions without really listening to my answer, checking their watches, and then offering me a band-aid clad in a solution's clothes. Blech. Instead, this doctor listened to me. Novel concept! I was in there speaking with her for an hour and a half, which is also a novel concept in this world of Revolving Door Doctor's Offices. The whole experience was so refreshing. I didn't leave with any assumption that my issues can or will be resolved, but I did leave with the impression that this doctor was going to try, for the first time in my experience, to find out the cause of my health issues.

The longer I spend as a mother, the more I am aware of just how much sacrifice and love my own mother gave for me. Saturday morning, 7:12am: Noah comes pitter-pattering in to our master bedroom, where Josh and I are blissfully asleep. Noah, whispering as loudly as he can: "Mommy. It's time to get up! Can you set me up for a video?" Me, seriously rethinking my decision to stay up until 11:30 last night watching Ben-Hur (and the chariot race scene of all things!): "Okay. But I just need a minute." 10 seconds later, Noah: "Has it been a minute yet?" Me: "No." 8 seconds later, Noah: "How about now?" Me, giving up: "Okay, I'm getting up." I stumble into the living room and pop in a dvd for Noah so that I can take a shower in peace, the whole time having flashbacks of similar mornings from my childhood. Only I was the impatient kid who couldn't understand why adults "need a minute" before they bound ou

In children's literature, I find more and more that the Oldies are truly the Goodies. Some time ago, I sang the praises of Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon The Biggest Bear, by Lynd Ward, which was exponentially more delightful to my guns-and-adventure infatuated son. Sure, the pictures are in "glorious black and white" (does that phrase make anyone else smile? I think it's hilarious to read that on a dvd, as if black and white is what I would choose.). But the story is so dear, and the illustrations. are. beautiful. I don't care how old you are, run to your library and reserve yourself a copy of The Biggest Bear. You'll be so glad you did. Noah will tell you that he knows how to read. He'll swear it to you. What he really knows how to do is memorize. Someday he'll learn the difference, but for now, here are a couple video snips of him reading (reciting) from The Biggest Bear. I took about 6 vide

I love when God answers a specific prayer request of mine and I get to see firsthand another demonstration of His great power. Sometimes I start to forget that God really cares about everything in my life, and it's then when He'll reach down and answer something small that maybe I thought would have escaped His notice or not have been important enough to regard. Maybe it's something I didn't even formally pray for, but just in passing said to the Lord, "Wouldn't it be nice if..." I had one such blessing while we were in Greenville in the form of seeing a dear friend. I knew that our trip to Greenville was going to be fast, and that we wouldn't have time for much besides what we went there for. But in passing I had said to the Lord, "Wouldn't it be nice if I got to meet my friend Jenny?" Jenny is a reader of my blog, and I'm a reader of hers. We have become friends over the past couple years, and it seemed to me that we would be r

Our family took a whirlwind trip to our alma mater Sunday and Monday of this week. Josh had been asked to speak at BJU's Business Association Meeting on the topic of A Business Person's Involvement in a Church Plant. There are so many things I would like to say and I know I won't have time if I'm too verbose, so I should probably cover this post in bullet format (only without the bullets. I really can't stand the bullet software on this blog): The first is a confession of sorts: I love Bob Jones University. You may or may not agree, but I promise the air is cleaner there somehow. I walk on campus and am flooded with sweet memories of my roommates, college life, dating, memorable chapel messages, springtime, classes I took... I just can't help myself or my irrepressible nostalgia. College was such a wonderful time in my life. I cannot believe it has been 9 years since we left! Josh and I both began scanning students' faces the moment we drove on campus, looki