did you notice?

You might have noticed that I seriously dropped the ball on my 60 days of blogging. *sigh* I just couldn't keep up with it everyday. It's truly a large task for a full-time, hard working lady like myself. But I digress.

In my absence, I've had many moments when I wanted to write and had plenty on my mind. However, what's on my mind doesn't always have to come out through my keystrokes. I don't know if anyone wise has said something similar, but I'm pretty sure heeding said advice probably saved my tush a time or two, or at least saved some folks a day of heartache.

Courtesy http://donhall.blogspot.com/

Notes from the past 45 days (give or take) include ...

• I am not a fixer. As much as I try to live my life in a Godly way, I can't make other people live His way.
• I am not perfect. Well ... this one wasn't just realized, but I thought I'd mention it, given the "Godly" reference above. I slip, I ask for forgiveness, and I try again. Aren't you glad for The Cross?
• As hard as I try to be accepted by some, my attempts fail. Miserably. You might ask why I need acceptance. Generally, I don't seek it much. Those days are falling farther into my past, including the recent past ... like just five days ago in the past. It's not like I'm trying to change who I am in order to be accepted, it's that I continually try to explain myself. I'm rather tired of that. It's like talking to a wall and I'm done with it.
• God is good all the time, and I mean all the time. In the tough spots, He is good. In the embarrassing spots, He is good. In those moments where we lack understanding, He is good. God is in everything and everything is in God. Though we might not be friends, God has a plan. When you get old, I anticipate that I'll be caring for you. I may not like it, but for me to love God, I must love people. And that includes you.
• New friends can yield a lot of love. Especially like-minded Christian friends who pray passionately with and for you. Try it sometime.
• My children are growing too quickly physically, but perfectly in God. For example, my son, who will be four in ... wow, three short weeks, caught me by surprise the other day when we had this quick exchange.
  Me: "You're getting so tall! I think you got those long legs from your Daddy."
  Him: "No I didn't!"
  Me: "Well where did you get them from?"
  Him: "God gave them to me."
•  My daughter is me. This realization requires a lot of patience and prayer. And not even an ounce of gratitude for my mother, who wished her on me. Ha! (Thanks mama! You know I wouldn't trade that child for all the world.) And good luck world. She's a firecracker.

So there are my random thoughts for now. Time to throw a hot dog on the grill and enjoy the rest of my Sunday. Y'all go enjoy it, too.

Much Love,

i'm a helicopter mom

There's no more denying it, I'm a helicopter mom.

Courtesy The POWerful Word

I don't think that's true in the way Wikipedia describes it - hovering over all things school related - but it is true with regard to losing control of the welfare of my children.

Annnnddd queue the emails.

Yep, control freak. That's me, when it comes to my kids. To say that I don't trust other people might be a little too harsh of a statement. I think it's really that I would rather be the one responsible for the car accident they may be in. I'd rather be the one cleaning up their puke when they're sick. I'm their mom and being responsible for them is my job.

This itch to manage doesn't overtake me until they're gone overnight out-of-town, such as they are this weekend. I trust their grandparents and know they are perfectly safe, however, if something happens while I'm two and a half hours away, I'm. Gonna. Freak. Out.

So now I've shown you not only that I am a controlling helicopter parent, but also that I am a pessimist who is just waiting for THAT phone call. Whew. It's stressful to be me.

Gettin' Her Groove Back: 7/60

i have a dilemma

This is what stepping out in faith is all about ...

Ever want to do something for others but just don't have all the logistics planned out and every need accounted for? I'm there.

I'm hosting a group of ladies in my home to pack up and pray over Operation Christmas Child boxes. If you're not familiar with OCC, it's an effort by Samaritan's Purse that supplies Christmas gifts and the Good News to children across the globe. Their official mission is, "To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ." Last year 8 million children in 95 countries received these special boxes packaged with love.



So what's the problem? Filling these shoe boxes takes a little bit of money. In each one can be toys, candy, clothes, personal hygiene items, etc. (I am notorious for going overboard.) In addition, each box has a suggested donation of $7 to cover shipping costs. If families are already packaging a couple of boxes with fun goodies for kids ages 2-14, should we then ask them to donate $14 to ship those two boxes? Right now, with money kind of tight, I'm hesitant.

Online raffles are illegal, or else I had a great plan to offer up one of my prized Longaberger baskets or pottery pieces. So what else can I do? Suggestions are invited and welcome through the comment link. If you'd rather keep your correspondence private, email me at jccjhiggins@gmail.com.

Praying for OCC,

conversations with caitlin

Conversations with Caitlin come easiest in the morning. Our drive isn't long enough because I know we could go so much deeper and there's lots more we need to talk about.

This morning, as Caitlin's reading over her God Time devotional, she informs me that she asked her music teacher if the school would be having a Christmas program. Of course, his answer is no, since the school doesn't celebrate Christmas. They'll be having a winter program instead.

My carefree girl. A true lover of Jesus.

This is Caitlin's first year in public school; she attended Christian schools pre-K through second grade. Not celebrating Christmas is unfathomable to her.

I didn't even have time to ask her how she felt about her music teacher's answer before she blurted out, "you know what I'm doing for my birthday? I'm having a gospel Christian birthday with Christian face painting, Jesus fish rings, and gospel Christian music!"

My child is retaliating against her school for not celebrating Christmas. Boo-yah! Too bad we can't afford to invite her entire class and use it as a day of ministry.

I don't know where the "gospel music" mandate came from, because we're not old-school Christians (not knocking those who are, of course); we listen to contemporary Christian music. I think she's thinking of THE Gospels.

Anywho, she went on to say that she would be drawing the face painting options for me to choose from. When I asked her why kids can't just tell me what they want on their face, she said, "because it has to be Christian."

The girl's got her mama's hard-headed leadership skills. When the mind is made up, it's pretty well made up.

I can't help but recognize that kids absorb everything. You never know what sticks with them. I think the genesis of her furor came from a few places:

1) I insist on non-scary pumpkin carving (scary pumpkins nearly scare the pants off Jackson, her little brother). Together, she and I printed out Christian pumpkin carving patterns from http://www.pumpkinglow.com/Patterns4.htm.
2) After our discussion about Santa, the real Christmas is on her mind.
3) She's never heard of a "winter" program. What's THAT supposed to mean to a seven year old?
4) She's used to taking her Bible with her wherever she wants. School is not cool with Bibles. And P.S., she told me this morning that she'd like to take her small New Testament with her anyway, thank you very much.

KATY, BAR THE DOOR!

So what's a mom to do with this?

Smile.

Praise God for His work in this child and pray that He continues to shine through her.

Do what she asks, with respect to her birthday party.

I guess it's on to Oriental Trading for me,

"But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." - Matthew 10:33

no room for santa

Has your child asked you the Santa question? My oldest asked it of me this morning in the car. I wasn't sure how to proceed at first, so I just turned the tables on her instead.

"What is Christmas all about?"

"Jesus," she replied.

"So if Christmas is about Jesus, how does Santa fit in?"

"He doesn't. Santa's not real? I've been thinking he wasn't real since I was seven."


Christmas 2009


(She IS seven.)

"No, honey, Santa's not real."

"You and Daddy don't like to get up early, so I thought that's why Santa might be real."

(She means, when on earth would her sleepy parents possibly get up to put gifts under the tree?)

(Long Pause)

"You and Daddy and Nana and PopPop and Grammie and Pappie will still give me presents because you love me. Wait, did you and Daddy give me my pink bike?"

I'd say she's on to a thing or two, wouldn't you? She knows that JESUS is the reason for the season, and she knows that love sometimes equals gifts. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?