thoughts

I am SO READY for my husband and older boys to get home.  Todd just sent me the text I've been waiting for~they just got on the road and are headed this way!  Well, in about six hours, plus however long it takes them to eat.

I pray it's before midnight...I'm not sure I can last that long.

I spent today cleaning and getting my washing machine empty so I can start watching the "camp" clothes.  I say "camp", because my idea of camp does not involve a beach.  Fun was had by all, though...and they all stayed healthy and safe, praise God for that!

Jonah and Noah are in the pool next door.  I'm fighting with a headache.  Hopefully I'll win the battle.  Maybe after a little catnap...

And as I write this, I sit here and don't have any idea what we're going to have for dinner.  We've eaten out a little too much this week, and I'm in the mood for something simple.  Like grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  Hmmm...I think I just got inspired by writing that.

I am exhausted.  I don't know why...except maybe for the twin ten year old's I had in bed with me last night. It seems like I woke up every five minutes with a knee in my back.

Jonah and Noah cleaned out their chest today and got rid of some shorts and shirts.  I have to admit that I had a moment of sadness over a certain pair of shorts that Jonah wore every single Friday for two straight years in a row.  It's another end of an era in their lives.

I posted this pic on Instagram and Facebook, and a sweet friend of mine told me that her son had outgrown some shorts identical to these.  Two hours later, when I opened my front door, there was a bag hanging on the door knob, and in it like ten pairs of shorts!  You can imagine the excitement in my house.  All of them fit perfectly!  I am so blessed to have friends like her, and we have no problems at all with taking shorts that my kids' friends' have outgrown.

I happen to have several friends like Danielle~Maria, Beth, Andrea, my sisters Debi and Tricia give us things, my sister Lisa buys them things, my Mom buys them things, my mom-in-love buys them things...I am so blessed!  Thank You, Lord, for their generosity!  I pray I can give back like them.  In fact, I do have a bag of clothes that I'm going to let my neighbor go through for her youngest nephew.  Hopefully she'll be able to use something, and the leftovers will go to our church's clothes closet.

I started this post two hours ago, and I am happy to say that I won the battle against my headache.  I've been having sinus headaches the past few days, and I don't always like to take medicine.  I'm trying to just wear my glasses and drink plenty of water.  It usually works, too, although I do take things when nothing else works.

I am on chapter three of the book Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst.  Can I just say, "Oh. my. word.".

I have underlined too many things already and taken too many notes in my journal.  If you are alive and breathing and are around people at all~read this.  Now.  Run, do not walk to the nearest bookstore.  Some highlights of what I've read so far:

"I know what it's like to praise God one minute and in the next minute, yell and scream at my child."

"I also know what it's like to be on the receiving end of unglued behavior and to experience that painful sting of disrespect that makes me want to hurt the one who hurt me."

{Ouch.}

"Imperfect progress~changes that are slow steps of progress wrapped in grace."

"No, we won't bend from the weight of our past, but we will bow to the One who holds out hope for a better future."

"God gave us emotions so we could experience life, not destroy it."

I learned in chapter two, called "I'm Not A Freak-Out Woman", that I can develop a new perspective, a new vantage point, and in that in doing so I can react to life around me in a calmer, more grounded way.

Developing a new perspective comes from renewing our minds~which can only be done in the reading of God's word.

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and prove what God's will is~His good, pleasing and perfect will."

We can also take captive our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ.  {This is straight out of God's word~this verse is found in 2 Corinthians 10:5.}

Lysa then writes about Joshua and how he might have felt when God gave him instructions on how to tear down the walls of Jericho.  God willing, He will give me instruction through His word, on how to tear down the walls I may have built up in my heart.  It all starts with one good choice~that choice being the knowledge that "I can face things that are out of my control and not act out of control."

***Please know that everything inside quotation marks was taken out of Lysa TerKeurst's book Unglued.  The Bible verse in quotations was taken from the Bible.***

I love the phrase, "wrapped in grace".  Lord, may all my thoughts and reactions all be wrapped in Your grace.

Love to all.