He is Greater.....John 3:30 says He must become greater, I must become less"

 This morning I was starting my day in a quiet, contemplative, prayerful way.  Those are my favorites.  I was considering my parents-in-law who are planning to pack up and drive to Arizona again for the winter.  They came on Sunday to see us because when the leave for Arizona they are gone for about 6 months.  We worry about them when they are in the midwest and we worry about them when they are travelling and we worry about them when they are down south because we love them so much.  Also, we worry because they are 88 and 89 years old......so there's that.  This morning I felt compelled to send a prayer to the sisters as we all are wanting their trip south to go well, and because we worry....and in the writing of the prayer to them, I heard in my heart the words to a very old song.....by Steve Green....called People Need the Lord.   We just really, really do.   We need the Lord.  The words talk about hurting people, lost peopl...

 I'm writing today so I won't forget a lesson I learned last night from our extra kredit.  Sharing it with friends who still read the blog is simply an added bonus so I hope it serves to bless and convict others as it did me.  Recently, it has been a struggle for me as a mom, here.  I've been frustrated and impatient and less than awesome.  Far, far, far less in fact.  I wake up most mornings and ask God for fresh manna for the day, for more patience and wisdom and grace and joy......and to be honest I dread getting up because the demands of the day will start and they will continue to be demanding with very few breaks until everyone is settled in bed again, and then the guilt of everything I did wrong, my potty mouth, my short fuse all come crashing down on my head again as I try to finish the day.  Mom-ing is just freaking hard work.  And, let's be honest, I signed up for the intense version of momming......longer than many women need to endure....

In the earliest of hours this morning, I was awake and tossing and turning in bed.  I felt a wave of panic overhwelm me, thinking about covid and isolation and quarantine and the ever-threatened in-person learning vs. being shut down again and sent home.....I reached for God in prayer, like a child drowning in a pool.  I reached for God and said, Lord, take this fear and dispair and panic from me.  Remove it from my body and my mind and let me instead trust you...  Before the prayer was done I was sleeping again.  I woke up to the news of the latest racially-toned shooting, and the Ginsburg funeral, and the concern over the drought and worry for the farmers...and wondering which checks  I can write today vs. which ones have to wait for another paycheck..... And then I drove down the road to bring something to Claire at the apartment.  And I noticed.   I noticed that the trees are even more beautiful today than they were yesterday.  Overn...

 1 John 4:7 says "Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God"  in verse 8-9  John continues to say "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  this is how God showed his love among us;  He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." Today is our 24th year wedding anniversary.  Yey us!  We are spending it in a Monday-ish kind of way, working from home because of covid....but reserving the right to celebrate next week when we take a little get-away for Roger's birthday.  With 6 kids and about 4 jobs between the two of us, we decided to just condense the celebrations.  I'll stay married to Roger for sure another 24 years plus  no matter if we  go out for dinner or dine in.  We have developed a capacity to throw down a serious meal right here at home after all this time.   1 John 4:7 was a ver...

 Extra kredit had his first day of school ever today.  He was so excited to go.....was counting sleeps for a week or more until today came.  He was up and ready before 7am and the bus wouldn't come until 7:45.  He was brave and he was ready.  I washed dishes today at school so I was able to check in at lunchtime and he said he was doing great and his teacher said he was doing great.  Great!  Great.  It was all great until bedtime where a meltdown started and continued for over an hour and a half regarding whether to have a shower or not and then in bed, wishing he had had a shower and then not wanting to go to school ever again because school was scary and he just wants me.......and Roger and I both sat in the bedroom a long time while he cried and I eventually left the room and Roger stayed while he cried some more because he really just needed to cry out everything he had held in all of his great, great day long.  I need this kiddo to wake ...

 We all knew this one was coming.....and we are now to the firstborn child of our family.  I don't usually know exactly what I will write until I start writing.  You guys all know how I feel about Claire.  I've shared some of my thoughts on her before.....Two years ago she left for the first time to live at college.  Man that was a hard day for me.  I have ached for other friends these past days who have sent their first child to college......know this friends:  It gets easier.  Year 2 was easier and more familiar.....until Covid hit and they all came home early.   Claire is starting her third year at Dordt University.  She is one of the captains of the dance team and she is a social work major.  She has a work study for the Social Work department heads, and she teaches dance at the local dance studio.  She's also planning a wedding...... She and Jonah will get married January 2 of 2021 and then they will finish up their 4...

 Isaac Earl was born in the spring of 2002, right after 911.  I was pregnant with him when that happened.  I had a difficult pregnancy with him and there was a threat that he could be lost prenatally the first half of the pregnancy.  At 9 weeks gestation, I went to a church service and knelt at an alter after an alter call....and I was bleeding and the doctors had told me that for now I had a viable fetus but the future was not gauranteed.  I knelt at that alter and I gave him to the Lord.  He was not yet Isaac...he was just a baby I was carrying.  I told God this was his child and asked him if I could please carry and raise him.  I got a yes.   Isaac was a hard baby.  He cried and fussed and didn't sleep and wanted to nurse 24/7 and he was exhausting.  He was spitty and he was crabby....and I mothered him every minute of every hour of every day.  Eventually he grew out of that stage and became a very brave and boistrous t...