After tucking the boys in tonight. I sat at the edge of the bed singing them a few lullabies. By the end of the first song they had each left their beds, and without a word huddled together on a mattress in the middle of the room for a prolonged brother snuggle.
I am going to bed tonight humbled by my many undeserved blessings, but especially for these three.
“Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.” (Pslam 103:2)
On New Years eve my baby turned four years old, how could this be?
I remember discovering I was pregnant with him on Mother’s day 2007 and how he insisted on arriving a week before his due date to party with us on New Years!
I remember fearing for his well-being when I was admitted to the hospital 26 weeks into the pregnancy for what turned out to be complications with a pesky kidney stone. And how relieved I was when we both made it home healthy a week later.
I remember the doctor (who had also delivered my two blondies) cheering during the c-section when she saw he had brown hair like his mom.
He entered the world with perfectly formed sideburns but no name. Dirk and I called him Alexander at first, but after a day getting to know him, agreed that his name is Levi.
Levi had serious health concerns all before his first birthday that called for numerous trips to pediatric cardiologists and a few nights in the hospital. Doctors and nurses marveled at his cheerful disposition and ultimately at his healing.
Levi ADORES his big brothers and tries hard to keep up with them. There are many times I unsuccessfully attempted to calm him down after a grave injustice or injury, then watch as his tears and whining halt immediately when Jaxon or Luke says, “Levi, tough it out!”
He loves to make up songs with lyrics such as ” I love Jesus infinity three.” Little body. Big personality. Huge heart.
The little guy’s blessed with the world’s longest eye lashes, an inquisitive mind, and the prestigious title of our family’s “best snuggler” . He often searches me out from another room just to give me a hug and say, “Mommy, I love you taller than God” .
Today during one of those hugs, I held on to his warm, perfect little body longer than usual. Trying to wiggle away, he looked up at me, and with a twinkle in his chocolate brown eyes squealed, “Mommy, let go, you can’t hold on to me forever.”
I laughed and cried at the same time. And marveled once again, that for a little while, he is mine.
Levi, you, little boy, are a delight! Nothing on this earth brings me more joy than being your mommy.
Love you forever, Mom
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so we may grow in wisdom…” Psalm 90:12
The Scripture will not leave me alone. It haunts me day and night. I cannot stop thinking about it. I have read it many times before but something happened in my heart when I read it again a few days ago. I have been meditated in these words and have made them my personal prayer.
“Teach me, Lord to realize the brevity of life, so I may grow in wisdom” I have been asking hard questions and insisting on honest answers from myself. I have come to the conclusion that there are things I would be doing differently if I knew that 2012 would be the last year of my life. Two of them are…
I would love more intentionally!
I would write, recording the things I have seen God do in my lifetime.
Whether I live 1 or 100 more years upon this earth, time is gonna fly! I am reminded of this daily as I watch in amazement how quickly my little boys are growing up.
Without the prodding of the Holy Spirit my life would be riddled with regrets of the things I DID NOT attempt, steps I was too timid to take. God’s Word has awakened my Spirit and become my heart’s daily cry.
“Teach me to realize the brevity of my life Lord, so that I may grow in wisdom”
Join me in this prayer. Let’s see what God will do. Prepare to be amazed. 2012 may or may not be our last but as we move forward with HIM can be an adventure we, and maybe the world, will never forget!!
Here we go again, Val
(Art work by Luke)
I read Dirk’s latest entry early yesterday morning and was moved by the last few lines of his blog. Then, after time in prayer and in the book of Ephesians God stirred my spirit with the following words. I pray you he HIS heart for you and are encouraged…
I am paying attention. Though I know your next move, I watch with great anticipation. I am enthralled by your beauty and celebrate your journey. As you become more aware of MY awareness of you and all that concerns you, My Presence will fill the voids and valleys of your heart. Your heightened awareness of your wounds will soon take form of unbridled joy at the depth of healing you will experience. I have gone to great lengths to make you mine, not only for your benefit but to my great pleasure You may wonder if anyone cares or if anyone is watching when one glance to the sidelines reveals those you love distracted by their own concerns. MY attention is never interrupted. I see and celebrate you. I call you by name. YOU ARE MINE!
We have had one heck of an interesting soccer season. This year was the first team experience for both Luke and Jaxon, of any kind. Luke was the youngest little guy on a U7 (under seven years old) team. Jaxon was one of the older kiddos on his U8 team.
We really liked most of the parents we met, played with, and played against. Most of them were similar to us — supportive, balanced, encouraging. A few fell on either end of the sports spectrum, from obsessive to space-cadet — it was pretty easy to tell which kiddos came from these parents.
Lukey had a great coach, and won most of his games. Jaxon’s coach was, frankly, terrible; not surprisingly, he lost all but one game.
As the season began, I didn’t take time to think about how I would parent our budding soccer players. I didn’t think about what to do about a bad coach, or how to encourage them after a loss. Looking back, I was naive about how it would go. I think I expected them to have positive experiences. I expected them to be well-coached and to rapidly improve. I didn’t expect them to win every game, but I did expect them to be competitive and to win a good number of them.
It never once occurred to me that one of them might be one for eight at the end of the season. And it certainly never occurred to me that this abysmal record might be due to coaches.
So it took some weeks for me to recognize the difference between good and bad coaching, and to recognize the vast difference in outcome between a well-coached boy from one who is poorly coached.
At first, I didn’t handle it well. I groused to Valerie about the dumb decisions, rudeness, and inability of the coaches to recognize their need to change and improve. I tried to encourage Jaxon to be respectful, but it wasn’t easy. The games were depressing to watch, knowing all the players should be doing so much better. It was heart-breaking to see their sad little faces after each loss.
At the same time, I was wondering how hard to push the boyz. Do we let them wander about from activity to activity on their whim? Do we push them to dominate a single sport, with year-round training? I finally settled on a compromise: actively push them as hard as they want me to. If they want me to work with them, I’m there. So, after game 7, we practiced together. I drilled them hard, four days in a row, and they absolutely loved every second of it. Result? Coaches and parents commenting on Lukey’s great footwork in game 8, and… drumroll… Jaxon scored his first goal ever!!
I will never forget that moment, The moment when a disappointing season full of frustration was wiped away by one breakaway down the center-left of the field, quick chop over to his right foot, and perfect shot into the lower right corner of the goal. Jaxon sprinting back to mid-field, arms raised, smiling broadly, looking over to see if his dad and mom were paying attention.
We were.
-D.
From the beginning, today had all the makings of a great one. It was a crisp and chilly autumn day full of family fun. Like every Saturday for the past several weeks, it began on the soccer field. Both boys had early morning matches. Jaxon played first, he always plays hard even though he’s been discouraged at his team’s 0-7 record. We have been trying to glean lots of life lessons from the losses. and we were just about running out when the losing streak ended today! We were all overjoyed at this unexpected gift from above! We literally jumped for joy at the end of the match with the end score 1-0. Judging from all the high fives and hugs exchanged you’d think we just won the Super Bowl.
Luke’s team lost but he played his best soccer match yet. Coach Duffy couldn’t make it so Dirk stepped in as head coach and did a great job. Luke shot at the goal 3 times in the first five minutes and dribbled the ball up and down the field with an intensity we haven’t seen in him before on the soccer field. Luke was proud of himself and weaved talk about his soccer performance into every conversation for the rest of the day.
After soccer, Dirk and and Jaxon helped some friends move for a couple hours before we all headed to Setniker’s Pumpkin Patch just a few miles from our trailer. I LOVE our tradition of playing and picking out punkins in the patches around here. It is one of my very favorite times of the year.
Jaxon smiling from on top of the world (AKA a hay bale pyramid)=)
My little punkin in the patch!
SMILE!
Jaxon shooting mini-gourds from a giant sling shot. He was aiming at a tractor and targets of painted giant pumpkin faces on walls of hay bales.
Time to pick out the punkins….
It didn’t take Levi long to find his
Luke pondered a bit
Punkins, punkins everywhere…which one will he choose?
The highlight of the afternoon was a surprise ATV/heavy duty golf cart ride around the property by Joan Setniker. Dirk and I have known the Setniker family since high school, they are always so gracious and we always look forward to catching up with them every year in their amazing patch of punkins!
Mission accomplished! Levi helped his dad wheel five lucky punkins to the truck, bringing an end to our great afternoon in the patch! We’ll be back!
I had no idea when I woke up this morning how sweet this day would be. In times like this I marvel at how overly good the Lord is to me. I treasure these sweet and simple days of soccer matches and punkin patches. Thank you Lord. I love you, too!
Happy Autumn! – Valerie
I have been energized by God’s presence this morning. He has stirred my heart with His Word and spoken clearly by His Spirit. I share the following words because even as He spoke them I knew they were not only for me. I pray you hear his heart for you and are encouraged. SHINE!
Psalm 46:10/ Numbers 6:24-26
I the Lord, bless you and protect you. I smile on you and am gracious to you. I show you my favor and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) The question in not whether or not I look upon you and bless you in this way, but if you will live in the reality of my blessing, promises and Presence. You must understand that the gift of my Presence is not for a few but for every man, woman, boy and girl upon the earth. What you have received, freely give away. You are blessed to bless. Embrace the role I have given you as a messenger of hope. When you live in the reality of My blessing, you are truly alive and exude my heart and hope to the world around you.
You were created to absorb the light of my Presence and SHINE! Be still in my Presence, then be active in it. You have my blessing, protection, smile, graciousness, favor and peace. Now Live. Love. Give. SHINE.
Focus your attention and live in response to, the light of who I AM, and you will, with little of your own effort SHINE light into dark corners of the earth.
In ME you live, move and have your being. In ME you are truly alive. In Me you are the ‘you’ I designed and dreamt you to be. In ME…you are truly you. SHINE!
Capping off our study of ancient Egypt. The boys used hundreds of sugar cubes to construct their own little pyramids.
I was thrilled and a little surprized by how much they enjoyed the project.
Building with sugar cubes has become a daily request. Their favorite thing lately is dissolving two cubes of sugar in hot tea and drinking it WHILE constructing sweet tiny sky scapers and villages -multi-tasking at it’s finest, folks!
Forget the Legos pass me the sugar!
Oh what fun! Val
This morning the boys and I packed our rain boots and jackets then headed out for a spontaneous day trip to the beach (one of the perks of homeschooling).
We planned on wind and rain on this fall day but were welcomed unexpectedly by calm and sunshine. We trompsed around on the sand WITHOUT our windbreakers. Thanks Lord!
With these guys, there is always much to explore. We visited with fishermen and watched as crabbers pulled their pots from the bay.
I love Jaxon’s adventurous spirit!
Lukey enjoys life and delights in simple things most people are too busy to notice.
Treasure!
Everyone knows that a day at the Oregon coast is not complete without a bowl of chowder at Moe’s. We gawked at sea birds and spotted a swimming seal from our window seat.
One more adventure. One more treasured day with my favorite little men. I am one blessed mama!
You thrill me Lord, with all you have done for me! (Psalm 92:4)
Wow! It is been a while since we last checked in. As “on the go” as life was on the road, the past month parked in this little RV Park just outside our hometown (Salem. Oregon) has been even more so.
We are living in our fifth wheel and will probably do so until we are able to discern and take a tangible step toward the next season of our lives. Really, the last several weeks have been working to establish our home in this transitional period here in our trailer. Arranging our daily home school schedule, soccer practices and play dates, reconnecting with family and friends in addition to helping with wedding preparations for Dirk’s brother Mark and new bride Robyn have been the focus of the past month.
Though travel in the fifth wheel has come to a stop (at least for the moment) the adventure certainly continues. The Lord and I have wrestled our way through more than a few matters of my heart, resulting in a deep and unexpected fulfillment.
My initial instinct upon our return was to reconnect in ministry in someway. We have always been involved in leadership and serving in one way or another in our home church and assumed we would find a place to plug in right away. However, the Lord has made it clear to me that, for this season of life, the majority of my time, energy, passion, gifting are to be invested within the confines of this 300 sq. ft trailer. I am to pour myself first into Dirk and the little boys and then in writing.
I marvel at the depth of fulfillment and joy discovered in such a small space. In some ways the confines of my life seem small; small children, small campground, small trailer, but in embracing the “smallness” I am finding peace and profound sense of purpose. These little men of God, entrusted for this short time into my care, are growing fast in body, mind and in Spirit. I am treasuring the moments and enjoy so much learning with and from them.
Remember that Sunday school song about a fountain flowing deep and wide? I am finding the depth of God’s Spirit flowing especially “deep” in this “not-so-wide” season of life.
Where is there anyone as mighty as you. O Lord? YOU ARE ENTIRELY FAITHFUL. Psalm 89:8
Below, I’ve included a few snapshots from the past few week….
Love, Valerie
Clothes shopping for Uncle Mark’s wedding – so handsome!
Luke lost his first two teeth in one day. The tooth fairy left two dollars under his pillow folded as paper airplanes, clever clever tooth fairy!
I introduced the boys to my favorite Tai food restaurant in town. I was surprized how much they loved it! I ordered us all the”The Princess Delight” which includes rice, chicken, veggies smothered in peanut sauce -Yum! Luke said that Ellie would love the Princess Delight” because he said, “she is like a princess to me”
Turns out Luke is a great little goalie!
