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

 Just one more January day left for 2021.  Have you ever paused just long enough over a day to think through that?  Today is a day I will never see again, never repeat and never skip.  It is 24 hours long, no more and no less.  Tomorrow is the last January day for year 2021.  It will probably look like other Sundays for us, meaning church, then lunch, then napping/playing/take dogs for a walk/watching sports on tv.....and a good meal with my parents and kids in the evening, using all the dishes and most of the silverware so that it can all run through the dishwasher overnight and I can start Monday with clean dishes.  It is my expectation that tomorrow will look that way, but not necessarily what will happen....and that's ok.   Precious and I have chosen to consider the idea of confidence for 2021.  Martin Luther once said, "Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a t...

 Parenting.  Wow it's hard work.  Some people get by with easier kids for less years and don't get what I'm handing out...but for the rest of us.....it's so hard.  It's every day hard and enjoy the moments when its not hard....It's what am I doing hard and Oh please, Lord, help me hard.  Much of the time I mess up and get it wrong and have to apologize....once in awhile I get it right.  It's just hard work. There are very few thank-yous....and so many demands....and it is really hard to measure if the work of the day is making things better or worse.   I had joined a group online to try to read through the bible in a year because, well, why not, right?  So I read on Jan 1 and then not on Jan 2 because of the wedding and I have basically been behind ever since.  Today I spent some time in Genesis and Psalms and Matthew and my take away is that the Lord is my shield that protects me....and is calling me to bear good fruit.  It oc...

 Last week saturday was the big day!  It's hard to believe it has been a week already!  I am beginning to wonder if it was all a dream, or if it really happened.....but I have been to the newlywed's apartment a few times to watch them open gifts, drop off some food staples, etc. and it definitely happened on January 2.  Wow.  Wow, wow, wow!  I was so proud of us.  We did a good job marrying them off and I am beyond grateful for my tribe.   Josiah was so handsome and proud and capable.  He was mad at me that I didn't seat him at the head table with the rest of the bridal party.  I assumed he would want to sit with us so we could help him with food but after hanging with the big guys all day in their suits he was mortified that I wanted him back at the table with mama at the end of the night.  He decided to sit at the aunt/uncle table right behind us just to prove his point and not sit with me.  (suited me just fine because ...

 A week ago we began the process of uniting our oldest daughter with her new husband.   A week ago we sat at the church for dress rehearsal and I cried.  A lot.  Then we went and had a lovely meal and I looked around the room and saw all of their people, gathered together, breaking bread and laughing and smiling and preparing to bear witness to a wedding.   On the way home from the wonderful rehearsal meal, our extra-kredit began a meltdown that indicated he would be unable to participate in all the wedding day stuff.  Because God is my helper and friend and interceder I was able to hear what he was saying.....please, mom, just find somewhere else for me to go tomorrow.  He didn't want Claire to "move away" and he didn't want to go to a friend while we did family photos and he was definitely done with all the extended family and noise and lack of routine....not to mention all his own stuff around holidays and trauma and being separated from h...

 I have a personal challenge going and I feel compelled to expand on it a bit since I am just over halfway through it.  It involved 14 days straight of being purposeful and intentional and doing something fun with my 3 younger kiddos. That may seem whimsical and carefree, if not a bit crazy, but let me explain.  In the weeks leading up to Christmas break, I was in a state of fear and dread.  How would I keep them happy and entertained?  No one was available to provide child care.   I needed to get at least the minimum amount of work done for my job, so I needed distraction and contentment here at home since I am still working from home due to Covid.  None of the 3 of them are good at finding creative ways to play like my older 3 kids could do at the same age.....and at some point in the fear and dread I came up with an idea.  Rather than survive and tolerate the 14 days of Christmas break, why not celebrate it? The 3 older kids are all workin...

 I'm sitting here in the sunset of a  profoundly ordinary and extrordinary day.  They can be like that, can't they?  So methodical and trying and mundane....and yet also so unbelievably wonderful.  That is what today is.  Actually, it's what every day is....but today I am finding some words to write about it.  Some days I don't.  I'm asking Father God, just now, to help me find the words to tell about today.   The plan for today was to have extra kredit go on a longer visit....and I had high hopes of getting some time-sensitive work done because even though we are on Christmas break, I have a job.(  and no daycare.)  A storm rolled in that turned into a blizzard and canceled his visit completely....and changed my plans abruptly.  I wanted to be frustrated about my plans changing but instead my heart broke again because this little friend has endured more disappointment than most have over the course of their life...and he ...

 You know that place we  get to about mid-December?  It's a place where we make lists and try not to forget the mundane things of the week as we look ahead to Holiday celebrations for Christmas and plans for feasts and parties, or if we are distancing due to COVID we are working on alternative plans that feel special and wonderful for the 2020 Christmas season.  The decorations are up, we are eating chocolate covered cherries and drinking egg nog....the Christmastime is here!   We are doing a mix of both planning and pivoting and adjusting with our Christmas planning.  There is a Christmas day menu being discussed and presents are progressively appearing around the Christmas tree.  The lists are in full swing.....and maybe you want to hear about how we are having to daily discuss what we can and cannot do for Claire's upcoming wedding January 2, and maybe you want to hear about the tears we have cried and the hope we have reached for and the truth...