The Magical String

I once read a story of a boy that had a magical ball of string.  An old witch gave the boy the string and said to him, "Do not touch it and time will pass normally. But if you wish time to pass more quickly, you have only to pull the thread a little way and an hour will pass like a second. But I warn you, once the thread has been pulled out, it cannot be pushed back in again."

So whenever he didn't wait to wait for something, he would pull a bit of the string and POOF!  time would pass.  He started by sitting in school one day and thought to himself, "Why wait for the day to be over?" He pulled a bit of the string and the day was over!  Then he started pulling the string for larger and larger amounts of time.  Graduating school-Poof!  Done with College-Poof!  Finding a wife-Poof!  Kids-Poof!

Before he knew it, he was at the end of his life and he greatly regretted wasting the string.  He realizes that without the mundane and without the hard times of life, we are just a shell of a person.  He robbed himself of life's richest moments and memories.

I don't have a magical ball of string.  I'm so thankful that I don't!  I would have pulled it far too many times by now.

But sometimes we are "pulling our string"  in other ways.

Can't wait till the weekend.

Won't summer get here?!

When will my baby walk, talk, **insert milestone here**?

Will this day never end!

When will my kids be grown?!

When will I lose this weight??

You get the idea.

My youngest son just turned 18.  Eighteen!!!!  When my kids were 2, 4, and 6 I thought this day would never get here!  I was so focused on the craziness of each day that some days I forgot to enjoy it.  To just sit and read and play.  To soak in every minute!

Time goes way to fast on it's own.  It's not bad to look forward to things in anticipation.  But you never know what God has for you today.  Don't be looking so far into the future that you forget to see what's in front of you.  What opportunities is God placing in front of me right now?  What people are near me now. Don't forget to enjoy the moment.  I look forward to this new chapter in my life!

I will try to not wish away the days.

You can read the full story of the ball of string here.

The toughest job

When you have kids, it often feels like your heart is walking around outside your body.  When they are happy, I am happy.  When they are sad, I am sad.  When they get good news, I feel the joy!  When they are hurt, I hurt too.

How do you handle your very heart outside of your body?  It's so vulnerable and helpless.  It could get squashed at any moment.  It's delicate and fragile.  Yet it's the strongest muscle in your body.

Even though my kids aren't "kids" at all anymore -- I can't believe they are all grown adults!  It still feels like my heart is split in three different directions.

It's weird.  When they are little, your heart is just out there from the get go.  You never knew you could love so much.  They  consume your every waking moment.  You teach and train, love and play.  Yet, they are there beside you.  Your heart is close to you.  

Then as they get older, they start doing their own thing.  I can feel the tug of my heart.  Leaving me. Growing. They are living their lives. They are making decisions and doing things.  Somethings I know.  Somethings I don't want to know.   But my heart!  It's still out there! I can't always "make it better now" with a kiss and a boo boo bear.

My heart has to learn to be ok with things.  My heart has to learn to trust in the One who entrusted them to me.

He has them.  He knows them.  He guides, directs.  I pray and worry and then pray some more.  He has control.  He can hold them, comfort them.

My heart is out there.  In three different places.  My heart is vulnerable.

But it's also multiplied!  I can feel joy 3 times over!  I'm so happy for my kids....ahem.....young adults.

They make my heart happy. Ultimately I trust in the Lord. He holds our hearts.  He keeps me in perfect peace.

Colossians 3:15 

" And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful."

What did you just say to me??

Ok so this getting older thing is tough.   I've never had any problems with my weight.  But now that I'm in my mid 40s it is really getting difficult!   My metabolism is.....dragging.....so.....slow!

I've been on a kick for about 4 months to watch what I eat.  Not dieting necessarily. But getting back to healthy foods.  I've also been making an effort to exercise.  I've been getting on the treadmill 2-3 times a week.  I've been hooping mostly every day.  I'm super trying!  My job has gotten a lot more stationary  & sedentary so I've tried to make up for that by walking at lunch etc.

It's tough but I feel like I've been making a go of it.   I haven't really lost any weight.  But I've maintained. Hopefully built some muscle up in the process.

I haven't felt great about myself.  But I've felt good about getting back in shape.

And then....

I was at a store the other day and I ran into a person (I wouldn't really say a friend-just an acquaintance).  I hadn't seen her in a long time. And we started chit chatting.

And then she says to me, " So when are you expecting?"

REALLY???

My youngest is almost 18 years old!!

Do I look THAT pooched out??

There are some things that you never EVER say to someone!  And this is on the top of the list!!  Why would this even come out of someone's mouth?  Don't they know the rules of human kind and womanhood??

Well, I just stood there and with a sarcastic voice said, "No, I'm just fat."

I didn't know what to say.

Now all this to say... I know I'm not overweight.  Just above what I'm comfortable with for my body.  I know it'll take some time to lose.  Probably a lot longer than it took to gain!

But people!  Let's watch our words with each other!  One little word can make some ones day or completely defeat them.  Her one little sentence set me back so much mentally and emotionally.

Our words have power.  God gave us the ability to encourage one another!  Let's find the good in people and build each other up!

Choose your words wisely!  You never know what others are going through.

Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

P.S.  Children are a blessing! I'd be happy if I was pregnant--completely shocked-- but happy!  I think it's great to have lots of kids.  And this woman was probably excited about pregnancy --as she was expected a grand baby.  But still!  There are some things that you just don't ask people...wait till they tell you!

Lifelong love

Happiness in marriage is overrated.

Everyone wants their "Happily Ever After", butterflies and fireworks.

That's all great and good.  But it's not sustaining.  Marriage is a lot of work.  It's mucky, and yucky, and difficult at times.  It's a lot of giving of our selves when we just want to sit on the couch and do nothing.

It's trying extra hard to communicate when we really just want to walk out of the room.

It's not getting our way.

It's putting our heart out there to possibly get stomped.

It's trying to figure out a compromise when you don't want to give up anything.

It's waking up every morning and having to do it all over again.

It's putting aside my own desires for someone else.

It's a lot of why did you do that/say that/ act that way?

But it's also....

Seeing the happiness on their face.

Learning about another's true self.

Connecting to another person on a level that you have with no one else.  

Knowing that they will be there because love is a commitment.

Waking up to know that the person beside me knows me fully and still loves me.


Marriage is not all about my happiness.  To quote a song it is "more than a feeling".  Love is a verb.  It is butterflies and fireworks...sometimes.  But it's much deeper than that.

My honey and I have been married almost 25 years.  We are different people than we were back then.  Our love once started out as a tiny little seed planted in the soil of this crazy thing called marriage.  But as we've fed and watered it, pruned and trimmed it, we've seen it blossom into an amazing love.

To quote one of our favorite movies: " Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam... and wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva.."

wuv you sweetie.. thanks for sticking with me

Dinner Time Dilemma

Do you ever feel like you can't get things done?  I know you mammas with little kids do!  I was there once upon a time.  You felt like everything you were doing was being undone right behind you!

Well, I've been out of that stage for a while but I still struggle to get things done in a day.  I'd like to start my day by reading God's Word.  Thankfully this has become a great habit and I rarely struggle with getting this done.  I'd also like to get some form of exercise done in the day, whether it be walking or hooping, just something to get moving!  My job is very stationary now so I need that extra push to get up and move!  I've been so-so about accomplishing this.  The only time I have to do this is in the evening.  Our apartment doesn't have laundry in the apartment so we go downstairs to a community laundry room.  On the days that I do laundry, I can get a good walk in either outside or on the treadmill, while I wait for the laundry to finish.

The thing I struggle with the most, I really always have, is making dinner!  I absolutely hate going to the grocery store.  I hate the whole process.  The making the lists, then shopping, then lugging it all to the car, then lugging it all inside, then putting it all away.  Yuck. And I'm really not too fond of cooking either! :o

I can't get inspired to menu-plan for the week.  Then when I get home from work, I'd rather just eat a bowl of cereal or go out somewhere.

Dinner time is the time of day I'm the least hungry.  My family has never been very scheduled so we've never been in a good habit of sitting down together.  Kids are all grown now and it's just me and Larry, so I don't see the point.  No motivation.

I like to eat healthy, so I know it would be better for us to plan our meals at home.  I've looked at all the web sites that you can put in ingredients and it spits out shopping lists for you.  But it just seems like so much work!

My family doesn't complain about it at all.  They've been great scavengers!  I don't know how you mommas do it that have big households!

Well, no resolutions here.  Just something I've always struggled with.  Anyone else?  If you have any thoughts, comment below!  I'd love to hear how you all handle the dinner dilemma.

Hoop Story

Here's another hoop story.....

We were camping a few weekends ago and I took my hoop (of course!).  As we were enjoying the outdoors I was hooping away.  A couple of kids came over and wanted to try!  I love the looks on people's (and kid's) eyes when they see a **gasp** grown-up hula hooping!  Kids are amazed and want to try.  Adults are usually either really happy or really grouchy.  They really outta try hooping!

Anyway..  I was teaching one of the girls some basic tricks.  And she was loving it!  We had a great time and said our goodbyes and went on our merry way.  That evening there was live music at our camping resort! Whoo hoo!  Hoop time! As I enjoyed the dancing and the music, my little friend from that morning came up to me!  We were camping at the same place!  So of course we hooped together.  I only had one hoop with me so I let her use it while I danced around like I had an invisible hoop in my hand.  We had a wonderful time.  She was getting pretty good too!

Then she had a revelation,  she said to me "Oh, I get it!  You just do what the hoop wants to do!" Exactly! Out of the mouths of babes.

That's why I love hooping.  It gets me out of my comfort zone.  It gets me moving.  It gets me dancing.  It reminds me about love, happiness.  It draws people in.

Love the innocence a hoop brings.  And joy!  Lots of Joy!

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts I'm having right at this moment:

what's for lunch? I'm hungry!

Can't believe I only have one teenager left!  My middle son is 20 now! Where did the time go?

I really liked the movie we saw last night, Mom's Night Out. Laugh out loud funny, and a great message!

Work is quiet today.

I'm thinking too hard about what to write in this blog.

I really should start cooking more at home but I hate going to the grocery store.  I wish someone would just bring me meals every day :)

I wonder what it would be like to live in a little apartment on the canal in Amsterdam.  And how much would it cost??

I love my little home church.  It's true friendships that matter.

i'm hungry

Can't wait to take Larry on a surprise date Friday night

Love my rainbow toe pedicure I got yesterday

Aww man! I didn't hoop yesterday!

Well that's my random thoughts for today.  What's on your mind??