All is Vanity!
This weekend was really fun. My parents were here for a quick trip, and Steven had a birthday party at the beach with some of his little buddies from church and the neighborhood. It was extremely windy that afternoon, so we had to leave all of the decorations I had worked so hard on and all of the food and supplies in a big plastic tub on the table! The palm tree on his birthday cake even blew away! Eric said it was Hurricane Steven (and I said, “No, it was Hurricane Thomas!” Ha Ha, that’s for you, Big Daddy!) I told my mom later on the phone, “You know, I think God was just reinforcing what I had listened to this morning from Ecclesiastes . . . ” (By the way, did you know that the Dollar Tree has the bible on cd?! You can only get a few books per cd, but I was getting paper products for the birthday party and saw them! Pretty good deal, I think.) Anyway, I decided to get Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, and I listened to them while I was making a broccoli salad. As I was scurrying around and, admittedly, getting way too stressed out over this little party, I was literally listening to the words of the narrator, “All is vanity, All is vanity!” I think I started chopping up the onions too hard after I heard that because I almost cut off my finger, taking out my resentment against the all-too-relevant words coming from the kitchen cd player. By the time we were eating sandwiches at the party, I think my exact thoughts were, “Okay, Lord. You’re God. I’m not. You just literally blew away all my silly little plans for a cutesy beach birthday party, and I give up. I’ll let go and just have a good time, since all that matters is gratitude for this child – who ultimately belongs to You anyway – and fellowship with his guests.” We played a game on the beach, ate the cake, and had a good time after that. I’ll try to post some pictures if I get some soon from Emily and Jenn; they were kind enough to snap all the shots while I ran around with flying icing and chasing wind-blown plastic forks and the lids to the condiments! Anyhow, I plan on doing a more in-depth study of the book of Ecclesiastes soon and reading Eric’s copy of Joy at the End of the Tether by Douglas Wilson to help me think through some the things I will be reading.
If anyone is wondering, I turned on the word-verification feature for blogger comments recently. I know some people are annoyed by this, but I had to do it. After several months of a spam-free comment history, all of a sudden I started getting 2-3 spam comments every day. I must have commented on the wrong blog or something because they started coming like a Hurricane Thomas!
Have a great week; I am planning to wrap up my reading of “The Mother at Home” soon and post some thoughts.
Happy first birthday to our sweet Steven!
A Bittersweet Day
Yesterday was bittersweet because we had a great family day outside after Eric taught his Bible class, and also because some of our closest friends from church came over before they left to head out West. Brian and Cara and their children have been such good friends to us in the last three years. Brian is in the Air Force, and changes in his job have allowed them to move out to Oregon, which is also a bit closer to their families. We are really happy for them.
Cara approached me soon after Lydia was born and asked if I would want to spend some regular time with her and get to know her and her boys better (she had 3 boys at the time, and now she has a little girl). So for many months I would take Lydia over to her house on Fridays and sit on the living room floor with her and talk about God, family, lifting Jesus up in our home and balancing the relationships God has given us. We read Homemaking together and discussed it as our kids played. I noticed right away that her children each played in different rooms almost the whole time that I would be there for my visits, and her home was so peaceful. The boys actually listened to her; I could see that they genuinely respected their mother, and they were learning what God’s Word taught them about loving each other and loving God by obeying their mom and dad. Cara was a fabulous mentor for me; she taught me by her example of loving, cheerful, firm, God-fearing, Bible-saturated mothering, and of course I know she is not “perfect,” but she is an amazing woman of God who loves and knows His Word — and it shows in her children and how they are learning and loving. Something that I also loved about her was her quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4) and how she worked so diligently to make her home beautiful — not for “beauty’s” sake, but for the glory of God. Her home was not an idol, and she and Brian were always inviting others inside. Every single time I was there I noticed her doing some new little thing to create an atmosphere of warmth, peace, art, color, pleasing aroma, education, and biblical world vision for everyone there. I would like to say that she is the kind of person who “decorates in the colors, simplicity, and beauty of Jesus.”
Debbie from church was supposed to keep their children while Brian and Cara went to the closing of their home yesterday, but she got sick. I’m sad she got sick, but I was so happy that Cara called me as “back-up,” and we got to play with their kids for a while and say “good-bye” one last time! The boys helped Eric in the yard, we picked more ripe blackberries, and we talked about their move to Oregon. They are taking a couple of weeks driving out West and stopping for mini-vacations along the way, so they are really excited.
After they drove away, Lydia decided she wanted to play in the sprinkler with just a diaper on – haha! Then we had a tea party in the backyard, ate “breakfast for dinner,” and had family worship time. We try to do this every night (usually we don’t on Sunday nights because we’re at church), but I mention it because Brian and Cara have been the ones who have inspired us to make this time a regular part of our day with our kids. They have invited us several times to their home, and we have been blown away by how significant this daily 15-30 minute time of singing, reading the Bible, answering questions, and praying together has been to their family . . . and we are already seeing the impact that this time is on our family.
I could go on and on about this wonderful family. There is no doubt our church will hate to see them go, and we will miss them so much. Brian and Cara are such a giving couple, and they were so kind to leave their beautiful dining room table and chairs with us. Every time we sit down to eat there, we will always think of them and pray for them. We thank their family for setting such a wonderful example for us in faith, life, and graciousness to others.
Blackberry Fun
Our blackberry bush in the backyard has finally bloomed! I love blackberries, and Lydia does, too. We like to eat them and get really messy! My good friend Carrie came over for lunch, and her daughter Ansley picked berries with Lydia after we ate. Ansley is a month apart from Lydia in age, and Carrie also has a son named William who is Steven’s age . . . and guess what? Yes, she’s pregnant again, too! haha We promise everyone that we are not trying to copy each other’s lives, but it sure has been neat and funny how our pregnancies have been in sync with each other! I’m sure we will always be close friends, not only because of our kids’ ages and genders, but also because we share a kindred love in Christ. Anyway, we like to spend the “lunchtime meltdown” hour together pretty regularly, so we can visit and let our kids have fun with each other. We were just playing outside when I thought, “Oh! The blackberry bush!” We looked just in time because about 60 % of the berries were really ripe and sweet.
Ansley and Lydia tried to reach up high to get the ripe berries on the higher stems.
Lydia thoroughly enjoyed the berries. Ansley wasn’t too sure about them, and Steven threw a complete fit when I told him, “No, no. No more, Steven.” He was spitting them out all over his pants, and I wasn’t going to let them go to waste! Carrie was smart enough to tell William, “You’ll like them when you’re older, buddy.” 
Does Death Ever Scare You?
Do you ever cringe when you think of how you will die? Do you ever worry about someone else seeing you suffer and dying? Do you ever get scared and instantly push away the thought of having everything you’ve ever known here and every breath you’ve ever taken just vanish right before your eyes?
I have.
I think it’s safe to say we all have.
I still think of the death of Papa, Nanny, Brenda, and Danny quite often. Monday morning I found out that one of the sweet Christian ladies who I knew and worked with my mom and sister in SC died in her sleep. Her husband awoke to find her already dead that morning in their bed. I couldn’t help but think of how the night before, they probably kissed goodnight and didn’t make much of it perhaps, and the very next morning she was gone. Sometimes I get scared that “this might be the day” that someone I love or my own body will meet a fatal car accident. I have had nightmares that my husband, kids, and I are going to go to another country to share the good news of Jesus Christ and be murdered in our house in the middle of the night. I have actually woken up before shaking and snuggled in close to my husband as I whisper, “I just dreamed again that we were brutally killed for our faith.” I am not stupid, and I know that even as he tries to comfort me, he must have had a similar thought at one time. It’s going to happen. We may not be killed violently, but one day we will all experience death, just as we all experienced birth. Some of us might die from a sermon we preach or a song we sing, and some of us might die because of something we ingested, and some of us might die because our bodies try to take on the powers of God’s creation and lose.
But the more I know Jesus, the honest truth is the thought of my own death becomes a comforting thought. The more I know Jesus, like I said the other day, the more I smile at the future (Prov. 31). I don’t like to think about how I will die, but the thought of being ushered in to a beautiful, amazing, glorious dwellingplace with my Savior who knows and understands me more than anyone else ever can just fills my soul with an eager hope. If he loves me as His child so much, can I not trust that He will take me out of this dry wasteland in exactly the perfect time and manner that He sees fit? If he loves me as His child so much, can I not trust that He knows I would leave behind dear family members who I love, and He will take care of them?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
Oh, what a grand thought, to be rid of this feeble body and be present with the Lord!
I’m not just rambling I hope. I didn’t just get out of the shower and start babbling about some weird nightmare and talk about death because it’s on my mind. No, blame it on Spurgeon again. He is amazing at pricking my brain and my heart. Here is the devotion I read this morning:
“That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.” — Hebrews 2:14
O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil’s power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer’s death, thou mayst be strengthened for that dread hour. Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home-a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the answer, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old, uponthe Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, “Peace, be still,” and immediately it came to land. Think not that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant on the road. Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? and now it is but a Jacob’s ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting. — C.S. Spurgeon
One last thought: I greatly dislike that saying, “Don’t be so heavenly-minded that you aren’t any earthly gain.” Once when I was in college, that quote was aimed at me from an older brother in Christ who thought I “had my head stuck in the clouds.” Well, can I just say, I don’t think God ever wants us to stop thinking about heaven and eternity with Him. It’s of vital importance. I don’t think we think about heaven enough. It gives us a shock back into the reality that is all around us. It makes us live with purpose again. It gives us hope. Being “heavenly-minded” is the reason I can get up and go play with my daughter now and have hope in my heart that God is all I need for my happiness, and He is going to take care of us.
Follow Me To Mommyland
Okay, so what kind of mom am I if I wear my pants on my head and sing, “John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt” at the top of my lungs and feed my daughter “Pizza Crackers” for an entire lunch meal
? (I was desperate. Has anyone else taken Triscuits, topped them with pizza sauce, cheese, and chopped romaine lettuce – just to make it seem healthy – and microwaved them, all while singing some made-up song, “MMMmmm! You’re going to LOVE these pizza crackers!” ???) Well, maybe you haven’t gotten that bad yet. It’s really not that crazy at my house. It’s just that I’m that kind of mom I guess. I really don’t feed them stuff like that all the time, and I really do try to be Jesus to my kids in all I do. Who says Jesus didn’t like pizza crackers? He was a fish ‘n chips kind of guy, right? So maybe he liked the pizza crackers-type entrees as well. Anyhow, I try. Lydia actually enjoyed her makeshift italian lunch! Maybe you can relate. Take this quick mommy quiz to find out what kind of mom I really am – along the road with all the other crackers to mommyland. Please excuse all the pop-up ads on the quiz site.
Just for fun: “What kind of mommy is Kristi?”
Oh, and I told you that Steven is walking now, right?! He really enjoys it! Lydia was like, “Hey, hey, look at me. I’m walking. No big deal.” Steven is like, “WEEEEEEEEEE! Walking is so much fun!” I think he is similar to me in this area: he learns something new and gets totally excited about it and wants to share it with EVERYONE until someone says, “Hey, calm down, buddy!” He just giggles and lights up as he tumbles over the carpet and through all the toys! We think he will really be walking independently within the next few weeks – just in time for his first birthday! Wow.
Check out this cute video that Eric made yesterday. You will have to let it fully load before playing.
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