Who are these crazy people?!

We had our Fall Festival at church last night. So fun to have a reason to dress up like a little kid again! And best of all, a great opportunity to share the love of Christ!!

Cool God-moment highlight from last night...remember my blog about doing outreach with my book club, motivated by our reading A Whole Lot of Different Like Me? One of the family's we reached out to showed up. Very cool!!

Proud highlight of the night...my 3 oldest kids pitching in, serving where needed, and having fun doing it!

Bitter-sweet moment...My eldest son taking great delight in reminding me that he wouldn't be around for next year's Fall Festival as he would be far, far away at college. (And no, I didn't cry...this time.)

And the funniest moment of my evening...I was walking through the hall and a little kid asked me if I was Little Red Riding Hood. I said yes and that I was looking for Granny. He warned me that it wasn't really Granny but the Big Bad Wolf!

The Kids...

Jen, this is for you. Can you believe how much they have grown since Frisco days? This picture is from D3's 18th birthday just a couple weeks ago.

Increased Value

I will soon get a paycheck for this temporary job of mine, and I am already preparing myself for it.

There is an unbelievable surge of control and emotions that communicate "increased value" when you are handed a paycheck with your name typed out in black ink.

And yet...is it really real, that control and that perceived increased value? Is that "me"?

A few weeks ago I was at the dentist with my son for a routine cleaning and the only magazine that wasn't about cars, animals, or "10 new ways to spark your marriage" (if you get my drift) was a magazine targeting career women. I thought it was my best bet. On about page 5 there was a little article labelled a career-mom's blog.

It went something like this: career-woman becomes unemployed and panics!

The writer lost her job about 4 months previous. One day, her son asked the Dad why he didn't take him to school anymore and it was just mommy who took him, and the dad's reply was because mommy loves you and likes to take you. The kid responded with the saddest comment: No she doesn't, she just doesn't have anything better to do. And the lady signed off her blog with a statement of frustration, she had to figure out a way to "increase her value".

She needed something more... she needed her career to be valuable. Her specific issues weren't about keeping food on the family table or paying the mortgage, but of damaged personal worth.

There are career mom's who have the correct perspective on their true value. I am friends with several of these women and respect the way they strive to meet the challenges in successfully combining family and career as they strive to do it for the glory of God.

And from these past couple of weeks, I have experienced how IT TRULY IS A CHALLENGE!

But I also know that it is very easy to slip into assigning value according to world's standards rather then God's. Funny as this might sound, my occasional job of substitute para-educator has revealed this in me as well.

Money equals value. Career equals value. Title equals value.

{What do you do? I substitute in my kid's school system. Oh, how wonderful!}

{Do you work? I am a para-educator with special needs kids. What a great job!}

And it is a nice job, but is that where I really want to assign my value as a person? Isn't that really just a small facet of the bigger picture of what God has fashioned me to be?

So, in conclusion, this temporary job opportunity has been interesting. I was able to interact with a whole new group of people I otherwise would never have met. I did my job well, made the boss happy, and earned the money I am about to get.

And my value? My aim is for it to rest in centering myself dead center of what God has really called me to be right now in this season of life!

Wife...

Mom...

Ministry/volunteer...

I am available to do what you want, God!

No paycheck, but assuredly increased value in Your eyes.

That First Week...

*I watched how a soft answer really does turn away wrath. The guy I am working for has it down pat. What an excellent reminder for me in my real life being a pastor-wife and full time mom!

*I was really challenged...to be placed outside of my comfort zone, working as a receptionist and doing some computer stuff...it has been about 2 decades since I did this kind of gig and my computer skills are pathetic to say the very least. But I survived!!!

*God has a sense of humor...the first button I pushed on the computer on day 1 and, voila, the whole system froze. Nice!!

*I have been able to experience the strength of the Lord, engage in some personal humility, and enjoy the kindness of strangers (in the form of the office computer guy).

I have just a few more days, and honestly, I am very glad for that. But I am sure there is more to learn so I will keep my eyes open!

Day 3 Thoughts

So here I am getting ready for day 3 of my temporary job, and the song that keeps floating through my head goes something like this:

"God is good, Dr Pepper is great, but people are crazy."

Yes, it is a real song.
Yes, I like country music. Don't you?
No, it doesn't say Dr. Pepper, but I like Dr. Pepper better then beer.

So anyways, I am just wondering why this song is dancing through my brain. Am I the crazy one, or is it everyone else?

Oh, the possibilites...

Today is the beginning of a new "opportunity".

A friend of mine is a receptionist for her family business and is leaving town for 2 weeks of vacation. She needed a backup to answer phones and do light computer work; she asked me to do it, and I agreed. When God offers an opportunity to make enough money to pay for my son's wisdom teeth to be removed next Spring, who am I to say no?! I wasn't looking for it, yet God provided. My temporary 9-5 job starts today.

And this is where I am thinking that the gentle rolling flow of my life is about to be seriously disrupted!

I am fully expecting to be exhausted at the end of each day over these next two weeks. My house will not be in order. Meals will be harder to manage each night. I will miss Bible Study. I won't have much time to blog. My kids will be home from school before I am. Things will fall through the cracks.

I just don't want to drown...or to take any of my family down with me.

But I do believe that God has provided this short-term opportunity for me. And probably not just for the sake of funding the removal of my son's teeth. Who can I encourage? Who can I serve? And what does God want to teach me through the next 2 weeks?

Oh, the possibilities...

18 years ago...

Me holding D3, October 9, 1991:



1993, climbing everything in sight:



1998, the serious look just testifies to how excited he was about those rollerblades:



2000, sledding with Dad on The Big Hill:



2004, Family Camp at Northern Pines:



Freshman Basketball, Spring of 2007:


Summer, 2009, his second mission trip to Brazil:



Senior year, Fall of 2009:



D3 holding me, even while stretching his wings for independence:



Without question, I am blessed and I love that boy! Now where are the tissues...

Rocks Ahead!

Biding My Time is all about waiting on God for new opportunities...and then taking them! It is my personal commitment to not panic...and to not get lazy...but to move within the flow of my life under God's direction and to His glory.

So far in this process I have committed to blogging (obviously). I have stepped out on new outreach volunteer opportunities. I taught several women's Bible studies and then stepped back out of teaching when my time was over. I occasionally substitute as a para-educator for special needs kids. I have even gone so far as to iron my husband's shirts weekly. (Hey, that was a big step for me!) Basically, I have experienced how the stream of my life isn't always a nice gentle flow. Sometimes it's slow, almost to a stop, and sometimes it goes fast. And then there are rapids.

I see some rocks ahead!

I will let you know how it all goes next week.

J is on Kid Patrol!

Our littlest animal in the forest went happily to school today...her first day wearing that bright, red vinyl belt that tells all the watching world that she is on Kid Patrol!

She tried it on for me after school yesterday. She tried it on for Dad when he came home from work. She adjusted it in front of the mirror about 18 times working to get just the right fit over the shoulder and around her waist. And she announced to me with arms upraised and a large grin, "I feel so powerful with this on"!

I just cannot think where she gets her control issues, but kindergartners beware! J is on Kid Patrol!

Some Random Reasons I LOVE my Mom-Job today!

! Yesterday I got to spend precious Alone-Time with my man on his day off...Mondays when he takes it. The kids were at school. It was just us. We went to see Julie and Julia and shock of shocks, he enjoyed the chick flick. My favorite line was her reasoning on why she is bad at housework. It is still making me laugh today.

!! I have time to blog. (: Yes, there are other things I COULD be doing right now (dishes, laundry, gourmet desserts...) but I choose to blog because I can.

!!! I find that I am more prone to laugh at things like this rather then spaz out...



Isn't he pathetic? He just got a serious chewing out by me, you can tell! By the way, it was a roll of t.p.

!!!! I was allowed the opportunity to join other women in Bible Study and prayer this morning.

!!!!! I am about to walk out the door to watch my 10th grade kiddo play the last tennis match of his first season in the sport.

I do believe that I am jealous of my 13 year old daughter. Once upon a time, my 4 siblings and I would fight for the job of mowing our yard back in Oklahoma. It was a favorite chore, and bless my mom's heart, she let us do it and didn't hog it all to herself! Now it is C's job to riding-mow our very own 2 acres. She plugs up her ears, puts on her hoodie ('cause it is Fall around here in the North), and gets to ride around our yard in a peaceful roar, smelling sweet cut grass, and gazing off at this...



Doesn't "our" field next door looks fabulous in the Fall?!

But then, if I was her blissfully bouncing over the crabgrass right now, I would also be inhaling this...



...the dreaded ragweed.

So I sit in here and type away at this blog, just a wee bit jealous of my daughter, but also hoping she enjoys the solitude and satisfaction of mowing as much as I did way back when.