There Are Things I Should Say…

… but I’m finding that I can’t seem to get the words out.  If you know me, that’s saying something in and of itself!

Mostly, I am overwhelmed.  I am overwhelmed at God’s goodness.  For anyone who does not yet know, Phil accepted an associate pastor position, this past weekend, and we are headed “home”.   

Almost 12 years ago, we knelt at an altar with Seth (age 1) and Grace (age 2 weeks) and were sent out from our home church on an incredible journey that has led us many places and allowed us to meet many people.  I don’t regret one moment of it.  On Sunday morning, we knelt at an altar with Seth and Grace (Caleb, Ian, and Miah had already headed to children’s church) and were welcomed in to our new church family, and we are ready to start the next adventure.

For the temporary, foreseeable future, we are even going to be living back “home” at the campgrounds where Phil and I met… were called to ministry… were engaged… bought our first home… and brought our first two babies home from the hospital.  I am really capable of crying (happy tears) like a baby, myself, over this.  I know this, because it just might have happened…

Adequate words…  I just can’t seem to form them, but let me share this.  Grace and I wrote a song, together, this summer.  The lyrics are mine, but she brought it to life with music.  This is about as close as I can get to what I really want to say:

This is Grace:

There is nothing I would rather be than yours

Filled with passion

Speaking only truth

Yet I’ve run scared

So unprepared

And the journey

Sometimes it’s just too much for me

Perplexed I cannot see

It’s easy to get distracted

In the wind, in the rain, in the fire, the storm

And often I’ve over-reacted

This life lived so loudly the whisper you’ve formed

Has been lost - in the noise

I’m getting what I don’t deserve

Your mercy’s clear at every turn

It’s something I could never earn

This is grace

Oh, your grace is amazing

Going back the way I came seems so unclear

But I know you

And I trust in you

I won’t be scared

You are prepared

And the journey

Sometimes it’s just too much for me

But it’s never too much for you

Mystified I cannot see

But you can always see

And you lead me

It’s easy to get distracted

In the wind, in the rain, in the fire, the storm

And often I’ve over-reacted

This life lived so loudly the whisper you’ve formed

Has been lost - in the noise

I’m getting what I don’t deserve

Your mercy’s clear at every turn

It’s something I could never earn

This is grace

Oh, your grace is amazing

© Lisa and Grace Michaels 2013

L.

Trying to Determine...

... the exact moment at which I lost my mind:

 
Quote of the day, by Seth:  "I'm going to have calluses on my lips!"

By the way, Miah is afraid of the trumpet, and even though she insists on playing the piano, all the time, she was really put out when I let Ian have the bongos...

L.

"First Day of School... First Day of School"...

It's 2:45 in the afternoon, and I am completely and totally wiped out!

I slept at weird times all summer long.  I just did.  This did not serve me well when my head hit the pillow around midnight and my alarm went off at 6:00, this morning.  I know, I know.  Supermoms can make it on 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis.  If you recall, I gave that supermom thing up.  I really need nine hours if you want me at my best...

Anyhow... after I dragged myself out of bed at 6:15, it became painfully obvious that if I really want to get everything done that I need to get done before breakfast, I need at least 60-90 more minutes, but two hours would be best.  I have absolutely no illusions that this is going to happen, which means I'm simply not going to get everything done.  It is what it is.  What I did manage to do was take a bath, treat my severely cracked feet, brush my teeth, throw clothes at Ian, and dress the "baby"... uh... preschooler... uh... can that be right... before starting on breakfast.  I took pictures of breakfast.  I heard Grace remark, incredulously, from the other room, "Seriously?  Is Mom taking pictures of our breakfast?"  Yes.  Yes I did.  It was a really good breakfast:

Bacon, Eggs, and Cheese - All rolled up in Crescent Rolls:

 

Raspberry, Strawberry, OJ, and Yogurt Smoothies:

I also took pictures of the children, before I would let them eat breakfast, because at our house, you never know what someone might look like after a meal:

Miah - 3 Year Old Preschool:

Ian - 1st Grade:

This is the picture he wanted to take:

This is the picture I wanted to take...

On second thought, the other one is probably better:

 Caleb - 4th Grade

Except he wants everyone to know

that he does 5th grade math:

 Grace - 7th/8th Grade

Homeschooling is complicated:

Seth - 8th Grade:

And then I thought circle time was worth a couple of shots, as well:

Calendar Time:

Miah putting up the "First Day of School" magnet:

We accomplished a lot of schoolwork today.  Caleb has been to his piano lesson.  Grace is headed that way in a little while.  From what I understand, quite a bit of quizzing took place in the "down time".

Maybe we can go to bed after dinner tonight...

L.

PS  This is a picture of Ian's "Summer Vacation" report.  Undoubtedly, this was my favorite assignment of the day.  Next year I'm making him write his own captions, though:

"Uniforms"...

... are all lined up and ready to go for the first day of school tomorrow:

Can you guess who's a non-conformist...

And who's starting pre-school...

I have to admit that I am slightly concerned about Miah's first year of homeschool pre-school, because she informed me, yesterday, that I can't be her teacher, since I'm a mommy.  Has this child never noticed that her brothers and sister all do their schoolwork at home?  We might be in trouble...

L.

Spa Day...

Grace and I thought we were in need of a spa day before the start of the school year.  Since we needed to creatively occupy Miah during this time, I thought, what better way than throwing her in the bathtub to play with her musical drums.  It never occurred to me that she needed a mani/pedi too.  Well, she took care of that:

Grace's cute toes:

 
Of course, Miah's toenails and fingernails got painted, too.  Purple on top and pink on bottom:

L.

Just In Case You Wondered...

... August did happen around here.  I felt the need to take a little break from blogging in the midst of a lot of stuff, including gearing up for the school year, but I did snap a few pictures.  Here's what our month looked like:

Took Miah to a pediatric dentist and learned that she has multiple calcium deposits but no real front baby tooth...  However, the adult tooth is up there, so she's just going to continue to be the toothless wonder for a few more years.  This is how everyone dresses when going to the dentist.  Right?

I honestly have no idea what happened here.  This can't end well:

Trip to Michigan... Caleb packed his own things... everything he needed, apparently: his Bible, a notebook, a reading light, a lantern, his DS and games, a book of travel/magnetic puzzles, his camera, "Ellie", and a handful of hot wheels cars.  I made sure his clothes and toothbrush were packed elsewhere...

We also got to have our first quiz practice of the season in Howell, since we were out of town.  How fun is that?  Pretty sure there hasn't been a practice in Howell in a long, long time...  

Celebrated 16 years of marriage by replacing broken stuff (blender, deep fryer, TV)... But, ya know, when you're married to the most awesome person ever, it doesn't really matter how you celebrate...

Oh yeah... and he also picked these up:

September... Comin' up...

L.

Silence is Golden...

Wait for it...

It's been a quiet few weeks.  I have pictures.  I have stories.  But I'm not ready to post them just now...

Soon.

L.

Famous Last Words...

For years I have picked on Phil.  This is how it started.  Early in our marriage, we made not one, but two, moves across the country to Idaho… and back.  There are a variety of stories I could share, and they’d all be good, and they’d all be true, but for the purposes of this post, I will share only one…

It was a simpler time in life…  a time where we were young and ready to take on the world.  I can remember on at least one of those trips, I was reading the Anne of Green Gables series for the first time.  And I was sort of caught up in that picture perfect, fictitious world when we drove through Iowa.  In the back of my mind, I could see us building a little house, nestled in the hills along the highway… raising a family there… being very happy.  It was beautiful!  At some point, I must have made mention of this to Phil – not in detail, but something like, “I would like to live in Iowa someday”.  This was met with immediate resistance, because, as it turned out, Phil would never, ever like to live in Iowa… ever.  But every time we drove through Iowa, I loved it.  And nothing changed for him.  He thought I was certifiably crazy…

I can’t begin to tell you how many times in my life I’ve heard someone talk about how they were willing to go anywhere… anywhere… except “that one place”, but that’s exactly where God sent them.  When we landed in Iowa a few years later… and loved it… both of us… we started making silly comments like that, as well. 

Through the years, when we would sense another move coming, we would actually say things, in jest, like, “I never, ever want to go to Jamaica!”  Very funny… I know…  Funnier than you might realize, actually…

And I’m not superstitious or anything like that… and I legitimately don’t think God is sitting somewhere, unattached from our present reality, just hoping to send us somewhere we honestly don’t want to go.  But I started making a concerted effort to not say things like, “I never want to live in Lincoln, Nebraska”.  Oh my goodness… did I just say that out loud?

I’m a different person than I was all those years ago.  The truth is; I have come to terms with the fact that anywhere can be home if you’ll let it be.  And I was ready to go anywhere… almost.   

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, there has always been this one place I would prefer not to go.  I mean, more seriously than Lincoln.  And we had an interview last week.  And I kid you not, 11 minutes down the express way I found myself sitting in the most dangerous city in the United States… several years running… the city in which I will buy my groceries if we go there.  The only words that really came to mind were, “It serves me right”.  When I uttered these words, Phil got quizzical, and I just burst out laughing.  I mean, I was never, ever going there… ever.

It’s probably a little too late in the process, at this point, to start singing, “Please don’t send us to Africa,” or anything like that…

But who knows?  Maybe we have been prepared for such a time as this…

L.

I Think...

I Corinthians 10:13 might be one of the most misused verses in all of Scripture.  Seriously.  I am near the point of pulling my hair out and screaming as people continue to say things such as, “God won’t give me more than I can handle.”  Really?  Let’s think this through on a variety of levels…

First, there are people… people who love God with their whole hearts… people who serve God with their whole lives… who find themselves in legitimately tragic situations that are far more than anyone can handle.  I think that flippantly throwing around clichés is much more hurtful than helpful in these situations, don’t you?

Further, there are people who fit the same category above, who find themselves in really difficult circumstances, or just crappy life moments, that are also more than anyone can handle.  Again… stop with the clichés.

In either of the above cases, it seems that what we are really saying to hurting people is, “God doesn’t really love you that much.  Or, then again, maybe you don’t love God that much, and that’s why your situation is unbearable.  But, he’s got me covered.”  Please… think before you speak.

But that’s not what really got me going on this misinterpretation, tonight, if I’m honest…

It bothers me when people consistently live lives that are clearly, and intentionally, outside of God’s will… that are clearly sinful… and they basically ask God to bless them in that sin and then proclaim that God will not give them more than they can handle.  It bothers me, because they never seem to think about the fact that they really have brought all kinds of trouble and difficulties into their own lives.  I don’t think that we can expect God to come through and clean that up, without our willingness to change, just to make us comfortable and happy…

This is what I Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (NIV).  It’s much less about our comfort and God’s response to our situations and much more about our obedience and our response to God’s goodness.  If you don’t believe me, go ahead and read I Corinthians 10:1-13 and put it into context.  (As a side note, James 1:13 is pretty clear that God is not the tempter, just in case we’ve also lost that perspective.) 

Sometimes life is more than we can handle.  It just is.  But God will provide a way for us to draw near to him and stand up against temptation.  That’s probably not a very popular thing to say… but it’s true…

L.

PS  This is post number 107, making this the most I have ever blogged in one year.  It’s not as much as I wanted to blog, at this point, but I’m pretty happy with the record I have of the first 7+ months of 2013…  More to come…  Thanks for reading!