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I LOVE the story of how the Lord calls to Samuel in 1st Samuel chapter 3. It’s one of those Bible stories that always brings a smile to my lips. I think that I am often like Samuel, needing the Lord to call out to me multiple times before I know it is Him. But what brings this story to mind today is that I OFTEN start my quiet time with the words, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” And today is no different.



I read an article today about mothers and that paragon of virtue, the Proverbs 31 woman. For those of you who are not familiar, here is part the text:

Her children arise and call her blessed;


her husband also, and he praises her:


"Many women do noble things,


but you surpass them all."


Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;


but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised (Proverbs 31:28-30).


King Lemuel is speaking of a “wife of noble character.” But this particular article (I could not find the author of this piece) talked about the theory that people begin to see themselves the way other significant people in their lives see them and ultimately, they reflect the expectations of those closest to them. The noble woman's husband praised her. He took notice of her good deeds and built her up. Her children went out of their way to thank her and bless her for all that she had done. Could it be that their affirmations energized her to do those good deeds in the first place?

So what happens, then, if a wife/mother DOESN’T hear the words of affirmation, if she ISN’T praised for her good deeds, if she ISN’T thanked by her children. Hmmmm. . . . .

Ultimately, I know that the responsibility to bring good, to work vigorously, to open her arms to the poor, to speak with wisdom, and to fear the LORD falls on each of us as women, as wives and mothers. But I wonder how much of our success or failure stems from the praise (or lack thereof) from those around us.


Thoughts to ponder. . . .














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McKenna is 7!!!!!!!

On this day, seven years ago, the heavens opened up, and the Lord rained down this seemingly tiny blessing into my life.

At 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and just 17 ½ inches long, it was a little bitty blessing, to the naked eye, but oh, the Lord was smiling on me that day!



I sometimes find it hard to put into words what McKenna Loree’ means to me. When you look at her, obviously, you see this GORGEOUS child.

If you take a minute, you notice this sparkle in her eye.

And if you spend more than just a couple of minutes with her, you’ll notice quite a bit of SASS, too!

You see, I think that the Lord knew that she was going to have a little bit of a rough road in life; so He made her beautiful and He gave her SPUNK!


I believe that, like all children, she is beloved to Him. But I also think that, maybe, just maybe, our God has something special in mind for our Miss McKenna.

I am often fascinated by watching McKenna grow up. She is a wonderful mixture of the best of Barre’ and me. She has her Daddy’s practical manner, his inquisitive nature, his fondness for exercise, and his love of spicy food.

From me she gets her sweet heart, her love of animals, her quirky sense of humor, and her love of sunflower seeds!

She can sit and watch two hours of “Cities of the Underworld” on the History Channel or two hours of “House Hunters” on HGTV.


And then you can throw into the mix the fact that her sister Bethany has helped raise her.

 

McKenna has always spent time with older kids. From Bethany she has learned to quote monologs from “Dot,” how to play “Rock Band,” all the words to a million songs, and the importance of knowing how to time a joke.

She loves her brother Dax and her sister Yani so very much.

McKenna comes from a long line of family that loves their Nanny and Papa.  And she is no different. 

In the end, we are left with a 30 year old seven year old!! She is an amazing mixture of sweetness and maturity, vulnerability and toughness.

She is my sweet Angel Baby,


And man, oh man, I love her. . .



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Here’s what I have to say about BLOGS. . .

I currently have 19 blogs that I follow. I really don’t know if that’s a lot or a little. Four of these are what I call “professional” blogs like Beth Moore or “My Husband is Annoying®.” Then there are 5 that belong to people that I don’t even know. For an example, I follow this amazingly cute little pug name Ronin who, by the way, just had a birthday. I follow a couple of little people blogs, just to “get inside the head” of other LP moms. Then there are the remaining 10 that are people that I know. Some of them write amazingly insightful things that they hear from the Lord; others just ramble on about what is going on in their lives.



When I started MY blog back in March, I decided that I would not do the “Well, today I went to the MALL” kind of posts. I decided that I would write about things that the Lord lay on my heart; things that I felt were meaningful. I have done around 20 posts so far, ranging from the extremely serious one on domestic violence to ones that deal with my walk with my Lord to tributes to people in my family that I love. I don’t have a set day of the week I post. I just do it when I feel like God has something to say through me.


And one of the things that I said I wouldn’t do when I started this was be an ABSENT BLOGGER. Oh, you know what I mean. Of those 19 people I mentioned, only 8 of them have posted in the last month. Two of them haven’t even posted in the last SIX months. One hasn’t even posted in over a YEAR.


But guess what? Life DOES happen. Marriage gets hard, kids go into crisis, health issues arise, work overwhelms, money troubles threaten to envelop you. And you kind of go into this “survival” mode, where you just prioritize, and you ONLY do the things in life that ABSOLUTLEY HAVE to get done.


This is where I have been. Where I AM, really.


And so this is why I haven’t posted in so long. I’ve just been trying to GET BY.


So I’ve learned that the GRACE that my LORD gives me each day, that I take so freely, needs to be given just as freely, to the people I love, to the people I meet in stores, and to the people who start blogs and then just don’t keep them up.


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