Discouraged and grateful

A few nights ago, I was driving home with my little man asleep.  In these rare occasions when I am alone, I either crank up the radio and sing at the top of my lungs even though I can't carry a tune what.so.ever.  Or I have a conversation out loud with God.  This particular night, I praised Him.  I started out praising Him for the amazing Father that He is.  I then went on to thank Him for all the things in my life that are such a blessing to me (including you-- my blog sisters!).  As I was pulling into my driveway 25 min later, I was still thanking Him.  Thanking God for all His goodness, thanking Him for the abundance of blessings that overflow in my life.  As I was cleaning my bathroom yesterday, I was thinking again upon all these blessings.

Life for me right now is really good, really fulfilling.  It's easy to reflect back on all of God's goodness.  I'm just really encouraged by the fact that I'm right where I need to be in this season of my life.

Sometimes I get discouraged or disheartened.

At times, I get discouraged about my part-time job.  A whole lot of that discouragement comes in the form of my commute where I drive 20 out of the 25-mile drive in construction zones and all the crazy drivers that are in a hurry to make it to work on time.  But...I'm grateful that I have a job I love.  A job with an extremely flexible schedule.  A job that gets me out of the home for a few hours a week.  A job that draws us that much closer to not being a slave to the lender.

I get discouraged at my husband for working mega overtime hours while he spends some evenings at the ball field, some days practicing with his bands, and then sleeping the rest of the time he is home, so it seems.  Our time together is very limited.  But... I'm grateful for my husband that is healthy, able, and willing to put in all those extra hours to pay for the beautiful home we live in and put money aside for our kids' futures.

I find myself getting frustrated at my kids because sometimes it seems like I'm a single parent with Rich being out of pocket so much.  The older ones are arguing more, and just being pre-teens in general.  With Dad being away, they are needing so much from me right now.  But... I'm grateful they know what's right and what's wrong.  They know when they need to step up and help out.  They know and respect the fact that in our life it is God first, family second and friends third.

I'm really getting flustered at my spring cleaning and my home.  I don't need to be in control of my daily life, that's God's job.  But I do like to be organized and efficient!  If I am not, then I feel like I can't get anything accomplished.  Every week, I set goals for myself of what I want to accomplish for that week in terms of my home, my kids, my husband.  As I'm maturing, I'm learning that it's okay if those goals don't get met for that week.  It's okay to roll those goals over to the next week.  It's not something to stress about.  As I've learned to deal with these things, I have found that I'm not stressed out all the time like I used to be.  This past month has been a different story.  I'm allowing my frustration of a cleaning schedule that I want to be on interfere with other things.  But... I'm grateful for the large home we live in because it is comfortable for everyone to have their own space, yet a place for us all to come together as a family.

What is so interesting is that as I'm typing out my feelings, I'm realizing how all these discouragements are working together to try and get me down, frustrated, angry.  But... I'm grateful for my God that sends abundant blessings into my life.  Because of the goodness and joy that He fills my heart with, these frustrations are fleeting.  I so enjoy praising Him at any second of the day for the small pleasures and the big discouragements that grow me.

If you've stayed with me to the end of this post, I thank you.  =]  This is really more for me.  I needed to get these things off my chest and remind myself how grateful I am!

I do want to share something about my home that has been taking forever to do, but I am amazed at the results!  Some of you know how much oak woodwork we have in our home.  I have been using a finish rejuvenator by The Victorian House made right here in Skiatook, OK.  It is incredible!  These pictures are of the door to the garage that gets used numerous times daily.  Before...

I only did the door frame so you can see the difference.  After...

Yes, it is incredible!  I buy mine in Claremore but there are a few stores in Tulsa that sell it if you need to bring some wood back to life.  By the way, this is what is throwing my cleaning schedule off.  I just don't want to be spring cleaning this summer when I can be lazy out by the pool.

Thanks for visiting me and listening to me ramble on and on...  I appreciate your friendship!

My dear friend Cora

When you have a minute, grab a cup of tea, and go over to visit my sweet friend Cora.  She is a true Southern girl full of goodness and delightful hospitality.  She was recently, rightfully featured in Gooseberry Patch's blog as their Featured Friday blog.  I discovered Cora when Gooseberry Patch started their blog last year.  Her blog name "Heartfelt and Homemade" drew me to her.  She is sincerely heartfelt with homemade goodness thrown in.  I love how she so effortlessly displays her beautiful photography, her delicious recipes, her ingenious crafting, her charming sense of humor and most importantly-- her love of our Savior.  She never fails to mention Christ and I love that about her.  

I'm so grateful for all the wonderful, sweet friends that I have made through this blogging journey.  I truly believe that each new friend I make is a divine appointment by God to give me one more precious sister to keep me accountable, pray for me, encourage me, bring me joy, and lift my spirits.  Thank you dear friends!  I love you all!

A fabulous woman

A fabulous woman is any woman who is whole.

A whole woman in every aspect of the word.

She is complete, unbroken, undivided, and full.

Her mind is heavy with her dreams and hopes, and is on track and willing to learn.

Her heart holds love and desires; and she is ready to share room in it for her family and all that breaths life.

Her smile is beaming with kindness and is given away in a split second.

Her eyes are set so that we can see deep down into her very soul.

Her ears are ready to listen and keep many secrets.

Her hands are talented and prepared for work; helping, creating, making, and holding.

Her arms are far-reaching and willing to embrace the moment.

Her shoulders are strong enough to bare the burdens of the whole world.

 Her legs are equipped for running and walking beside her loved ones;

they are prepared to travel the distance; and even for kneeling.

Her body is predestined for the Lord’s labor of love here on this earth.

Although she may not be physically whole...
she can still do all these things and so much more.
Her capability is unlimited.

She is absolute and total.

She is without a doubt FABULOUS.

Family Devotion Time

We had a most enjoyable Easter weekend.  It was full of God’s goodness all around!

We bought each kid a Bible for their basket.  You know it’s time for a four year old to have a Bible when he begs and begs for one.  Robbie was so cute.  He said “Oh look, a book.”  When I told him it was a Bible, he said “For me??”  It was so sweet!

I just wanted to share something that has been heavy on my heart.  I had a conversation with my 11 year old daughter Amariah a couple of weeks ago.  I don’t remember what we were originally discussing, but I started talking about the rapture.  This is how our little conversation went:

Me:  That’s how it’ll be when the rapture takes place.

A:  What?  What are you talking about?

Me:  You know, the rapture… when Jesus comes back…

A:  What?? He’s coming back where?

Me:  To this earth.  I’m very concerned at this point!

A:  What?  Jesus is coming back to the earth?

This conversation is happening as we’re driving down the road.  I just about ran off the road when she said this.  I had to whip my head around and see if she was serious.

Haven’t we talked about this before?!?  In her 11 years existence, has this not been mentioned?  Did I just assume that since I knew about it, she would too?  Didn’t her Sunday school teachers teach her about this??  Then it hit me.  Whose responsibility is it to teach her?

God has been heavily convicting me of a family devotion time for quite a few more years than I care to mention.  I’m just an extremely slow learner!  I will be honest in saying that I waited patiently, thinking that the head of the household should start it.  I mentioned to Rich many times how I wish we would set aside a time when our family would turn everything off, sit with our Bibles, and share with one another.  I laugh now when I think about how collectedly I told him one evening that we were having a Bible study that night and if he wanted to join us, he was more than welcome.

We’ve come such a long way since that first night.  We’ve learned that sometimes you just have to stop in the middle of the devotion and pray.  We’ve learned to ask specific questions to each kid so one kid doesn’t answer all the questions.  Three year olds can be quite disruptive during a Bible study, but works out when the three year old is put in front of the TV during this time.  We now all have prayer journals that we use.  After the devotion is over, everyone goes to their quiet spot in the house and writes out prayers to God.  I’ll never forget the first time we used the prayer journal…  I had to make Amariah stop writing after four full pages and go to bed!

Yes, we have come a long way, but we are so far from where we should be.  We have been very inconsistent.  We allow other things to pop up and invade our time.  This is where the conviction has been heavy this past year.  Before the Extraordinary Women’s conference I went to in March, I was praying for God to show me exactly what it is I need to be doing for Him.  Boy, oh Boy, did he ever whap me upside the head and show me what I was doing wrong!

So.  Please pray for the Berry family as we start our next phase of Family Devotion Time.  These changes will be forged immediately.

·        Four year old Robbie will now be joining us so he can learn right along with the other kids.

·        We WILL start our devotion as soon as the kids are done with their homework, before we have dinner and let the night settle in.

·        We WILL make Monday, Tuesday and Thursday our devotion days. 

·        We will scratch where we left off and start anew in Romans with basic Christianity.

Hm… sounds simple when I put it in writing.  Life is sometimes not as forgiving as a written list.  But I know with God leading us, IT CAN BE DONE!

Even though most times I don’t like it at the time, I am grateful for the convictions that God places on my heart, in my mind because I know He is doing that out of love and He truly desires the best for me and my family.