A Mommy’s Life February 15, 2008

Okay my toddler didn’t want to talk long, so I’m back with a quick funny for you.  After he decided he didn’t want to talk anymore, I ran to the bathroom.  Of course, he followed me in there.  This is the conversation between myself, Jack (2yrs old) & Beau (4yrs old).

Jack:  “I want in too.”

Mommy:  But I don’t want you in here.  I want to go to the potty.

Jack:  No.  You want me in.

Mommy:  So basically, I’m never going to be able to go potty without an audience.  Is that what you’re telling me?

Jack:  Yeah.

Beau (upon barging into the bathroom):  Let me in! 

Jack:  No.  I in here.

Beau:  But Mommy can’t potty without me!

Mommy:  Are you sure about that?

Beau:  Yes.  Jack, Mommy always wants me in here when she potties.  You can go now.

Seeing Some Improvement

Yes, I’m still sick, but feeling a bit better.  I have a little more energy today and no fever at all.  So that’s good.  But I’ve been dizzy all day which is really weird.  I guess it’s because I’m so stuffed up.  Beau’s fever seems to be gone now and he’s full of energy.  Poor little Jack is still really sick.  No fever, but the coughing, etc just won’t go away.  I feel so bad for him.  He had more energy today too and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.  He’s kept me hopping.  But I’m really happy that he’s in a better mood, so I guess he is feeling better even if the symptoms haven’t improved.  Thank you all for your prayers for us!

I’m trying to type this while still dizzy so I should probably just stop.  Every time I turn my head, it takes a minute for the room to catch up.  Sometimes I don’t even have to move….the room still moves around me.  🙂  But I’m feeling kind of chatty tonight and have nobody to talk to.  The kids are watching a movie and don’t want to talk, Stephen has been on the phone all night and Rodney is already asleep (poor guy is worn out).  So that means I’m chatting to you tonight.  Thanks for listening.  🙂

I talked to my grandmother on the phone today.  This woman is fantastic!  She is so filled with wisdom and I always learn a lot when we talk.  Today we were discussing the book of Revelation and the Left Behind series of books.  We both like the way that the authors took Revelation literally and translated it into a fictional story that everyone could understand.  I’ve often felt that much of my confusion about scripture could easily be cleared up if I were to take the scriptures literally rather than figuratively.  For instance, if the Bible says that there will be a great earthquake that shakes the whole world….couldn’t that be a literal statement?  I’ve actually been told that God didn’t mean a “real” earthquake but rather a historic event that everyone took notice of.  Why couldn’t it be literal?  Like my grandmother said, “God isn’t trying to confuse anybody.  He’s telling you exactly what’s going to happen.  You can window dress it all you want, but it’s still an earthquake.”  🙂

Nanny (my grandmother) and I also discussed how Christ’s love in us is what people see.  She read a poem to me that said this….”I’d rather see a sermon than hear one.”  She said that we may be the only sermon some people ever have contact with and we should remember that at all times.  How we treat people, what we say, the things we do…all these things directly affect others around us.  If we say we are Christians but don’t show authentic love, what have we accomplished?  Nothing.  She referred to I Corinthians ch. 13 where Paul talks about divine love.  He says that even if we speak like angels, even if we die as martyrs, even if we gain the whole world….if we don’t have love then we’ve gained nothing.  Nothing.  And he’s not talking about romantic love or even the kind of love we have for our kids.  He’s talking about divine love.  The kind of love that we aren’t capable of on our own….only Christ in us can give that kind of love. 

We also talked about how people confuse religion with who Christ is.  It’s not about religion.  It’s about relationship.  It’s about love.  When you love somone, you WANT to spend time with them.  You want to know all their likes and dislikes, you hang on their every word, you think about them all the time.  It’s really the same way with Jesus.  He loves me.  He cares about what I’m feeling, what I’m doing.  I love Him.  I want to know what He says, what He likes and doesn’t like.  I want to spend time with Him just like He wants to spend time with me. 

Don’t get me wrong.  Doctrine is good.  Knowing what you believe is important.  But what good will that doctrine do you if you have no relationship with Him?  What good will it do anybody?  What have you accomplished if you don’t have that love?  Bro. Keith has often said, “I won’t spend five minutes trying to convince you to be a Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Pentecostal or any other religion.  But I’ll spend my whole life trying to show that Jesus loves you.”  I love that!  It’s not about religion.  It’s about love.

Oooh!  I have to go now.  One of my kids actually wants to talk to me!  Okay, it’s a cranky 2yr old, but I’ll take what I can get.  🙂

Worship Pre-fessional

Well, I’m still sick, but my fever broke this morning.  That means I’m no longer contagious…..still diseased, but not contagious.  🙂  So I was able to attend practice tonight.  My voice held up much better than I expected and I’m grateful for that.  I’m still going to keep fairly quiet over the next couple of days in an effort to maintain my voice so I can sing Sunday.  Please pray for me.

Just before I was leaving my house tonight, I got a wonderful surprise.  Bro. Keith (our pastor) and his lovely wife Annette came over.  They didn’t come in (since we’re all sick around here), but they gave me a really sweet card AND brought supper for my family!!!!  That was SUCH A BIG HELP!  Rodney was tired after working all day and I was definitely not feeling good.  Not having to cook supper was so incredibly helpful tonight.  And it was Popeye’s chicken and fries, which my whole family loves.  And here’s something interesting about it….there was actually enough for everybody in my family to eat their fill.  That may not sound like a big deal, but most people don’t realize just how much food it takes to feed this size family.  Thank you sooooo much, Keith & Annette!!!!!  We are truly grateful.

And now on to the pre-fessional….

We learned two new songs tonight at practice, so it ran a little long.  I’m kind of frustrated about equipment right now.  We’ve only got a certain number of channels on our mixing board, so we’re limited in how many mics we can hook up.  This week, we need more and aren’t able to do it.  We don’t want to buy another mixing board because as soon as we’re in our new building we’ll have a mixing board with more than enough channels.  So for now we just have to adjust.  That’s okay though….just a couple more weeks.  🙂

So this week on vocals we’ve got Speedy, Shalyian, Jennifer, Bryant, Raymond & myself.  On instruments we’ve got Josh on drums, Raymond on keyboard & Bryant on acoustic/electric guitar/mandolin.  FUN!  Lot sof stuff happening vocally this week.  Bryant, Raymond and I will each be leading different songs.  We’ve got a really great worship set lined up and I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ve been worshiping with these songs all week and it has been so uplifting.  So Sunday morning, y’all just let go and worship.  It’s gonna be great to worship together!

Raymond and I are doing the special music this week.  We’re doing a song that I’ve been wanting to share with our church family for several months now.  I won’t tell you what it is, but I will tell you that it is beautiful.  Raymond plays beautifully on this song and feels the same way I do about it…that it will be a blessing to you.  Hopefully my voice will hold out until Sunday and I won’t start crying in the middle of it.  It really moves me.  This song has been such a blessing in my life and I hope it will be in yours as well.

Finally, I want to tell you something very personal.  I could really use your prayers this week and next week.  Feb. 19th marks one year since we lost my older brother, Neil, in a car wreck.  After his funeral, I felt almost guilty that I hadn’t grieved more.  In fact, I sang in church the following Sunday.  My heart hurt, but I still needed to worship the way I was made to worship.  But a few months later, reality hit and my world came crashing down around me.  And before I could fully deal with it, our church (not Heart of Worship…the church we used to go to) had a major traumatic split.  It was absolutely heartbreaking and I had no clue how to react since I’d never been in that situation before.  So I was overwhelmed with grief over losing my brother and grief over losing my church. 

In the last couple of months, I’ve finally gained peace over the church split.  My heart still hurts because people we used to see every week are now rarely seen, but I have peace.  I still have no peace over losing Neil.  I’m still confused and heartbroken.  And this is not the kind of anniversary I ever thought I’d see.  Watching my parents hurt is just tearing me up and I can’t do anything to make it better.  I can’t even make myself feel better.  So please pray for me and for my parents.  This week and next week are going to be particularly hard for us.  Thank you.