Category Archives: Unity

Five Minute Friday: Present

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Writing with the Five Minute Friday group today.
Here are the rules:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog’s footer}.
3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

Present

Being present, enjoying these people God has given me. That’s what I need to concentrate on, not getting stuck in the “I wish things were different or better” doldrums.
We’re not perfect. We’ll never be perfect. I can live in the present and enjoy my blessings or wish for the future and miss out.
The temper tantrums in the car the past two days, by one boy in particular, have worn everyone’s nerves a little thin. That boy needs an extra dose of tlc from his Mama, not threats to miss out on treats. Two days in the nation’s capital, then two more long days on the road.
Prayers in the present. Patience in the present. Persevering in the present. What a gift those would be to my family.

Stop

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On the way to Virginia Beach on Wednesday.

1 Chronicles 23:30 (ESV)
And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening

Currently Studying

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The latest Good Morning Girls Bible study began last Monday. I am in a group with three other homeschooling moms, spread from the midwest to the east coast: me in Missouri, down to Texas, and over to Virginia and Florida.

These were the thoughts I shared with the group onThursday. Nothing profound, but thought-provoking for me.

Luke 9:47-48
“Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child, and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all–he is the greatest.”

I am praying that we will all be welcoming to our children, just as Jesus taught. I often get irritated with their childishness, yet my behavior is often lacking. Oh, the hypocrisy! Argh!

I prayed with my boys tonight as they were being goofy and un-unified after lights out, basically that they would have good memories to share 10, 20, etc years down the road and enjoy each other’s families as they get older.

These years are flying by and I so want my children to remember me as a mother that was “living and leading like Jesus,” as our study title teaches. Starting at about square one here, at least it feels like it!

Bedtime Shenanigans and Blessings

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I wrote a long, rambling comment to this post at Lisa-Jo’s blog and decided to do a little editing and embellishing and turn it into a post of my own! Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa-Jo!

Last night, my husband did the bed time herding while I escaped to my room and enjoyed the last of the leftover chocolate banana cake along with some homemade coconut milk ice cream 🙂 I was not interrupted and able to eat and enjoy before it was all melty.
I joined in for Bible time and listened to my husband read “Man of the Family” and after, the usual whispers started from the boys’ room. They stopped suddenly and we wondered what was going on.
Our second son came in a little later to tell us that The Tyrant, aka four-year-old , aka youngest, aka one of the strongest willed boys I have ever known, was asleep.
He usually visits us several times and then stage whispers all sorts of nonsensical things and ends up talking himself to sleep.
The 14-year-old decided that it would less painful to cuddle him to sleep, than to “have his ears talked off.”
We laughed and thanked him, then Kyle checked and his ears were still there!
Fun!!

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Four and 14. Paul and Luke. “Working” together early in the month. Both super busy. Both super blessings.

Psalm 133:1 NIV 1984
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

Sunday Smiles and Scripture

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Saturday: Paul, Luke and Isaac in the backyard after traversing the neighborhood.

(Note the experiment supplies left from a warm day earlier in the week: baking soda, spoon and recycled greens container)
Things like the broom and bike seem to show up everywhere! 🙂

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Late Saturday: Adam, John and Rachel waiting for the awards ceremony at our local speech/debate competition.

Psalm 16:11
English Standard Version (ESV)
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The top three boys and I read Psalm 14-16 at bedtime and the younger two guys were happy to hear this verse, as it was quoted often one of our latest readers, Rainbow Garden.

Sunday Smiles and Scripture

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Paul, aka The General (For today, anyway!)

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General Paul flanked by his officers, Captain John and Sergeant Isaac

Ephesians 6:10-18
New International Version (NIV)
The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Yes, I do realize that combining the goofy pictures above with Bible verses may be cheesy to some, but I thought of it during my search for children/boy-type verses, as the middle guy, (pictured above), almost has this passage memorized. Go Isaac!!

Let Him Out And Bring Me An Onion

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The brothers that prompted the blog title, standing in front of the pantry, where the event occurred…

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Those boys…oh, those boys…

The youngest guy, Mr. Paul, the one who did not understand what I meant by “Smile” for the above pictures, is a corker. Type-A all the way, I’m sure that he thinks the world would be a better place if he were allowed to be in charge.
He alternately cracks us up and makes me feel like I’m cracking up. His new way of getting attention for 2013 is to step inside the pantry, which is the area under the stairs, and close the door, thus locking himself in. He then proceeds to yell for me or to yell “Help!” Fortunately he has only done it once or twice a week so far.

Yesterday, when the latest incident occurred, I was chopping onions for taco soup and thought about leaving him for a bit. He was confined after all! But, I thought better of that idea and told his next older brother, Isaac, who is every bit the corker and cracker upper, but in a hyper-Energizer Bunny sort of way, “Let him out and bring me an onion.” I thought that was a good statement. Well, maybe it was more of a command. I mean, he needed to get out and one of the onions I had chosen was bad, so two for the price of one, right?

The Blog Engineer, aka Kyle, was working in the living room and immediately burst out laughing and told me that I needed to use that for a blog title. It was brought up again tonight at dinner. I said I thought I added “please,” but that made him laugh more!

So, there you have it–a peek into dinner preparations, Heironimus-style!

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1

ps Sorry I still don’t have the hang of photo placement. It’s on my list for the Blog Engineer 🙂