Lucky Me

Our everyday dinnerware is a set of blue and white willow china that belonged to my grandparents. When Don and I moved into our first apartment owning few of the necessities for living on our own, my mom's parents showed up with boxes of dishes that they no longer needed. They remembered that I liked the china set depicting Asian scenes reminiscent of Tiki Tiki Tembo, and I was thrilled to have our own dish set, especially such a special one.

Of course, through the years with young children and daily use, some of the dishes have broken or chipped. At one point when Donny was a toddler, he commented that his bowl was broken, and not wanting him to see it as something to complain about, I replied, "Lucky you!" After repeating this interaction a few times, Donny came to believe that he really was lucky when he got the chipped plate or bowl. In fact, apparently the word "lucky" is exclusively associated in his mind with broken dinnerware, because a few weeks ago, when I said something along the lines of, "I'm so lucky," his response was a confused, "You're not lucky. You don't have the chipped bowl!" And after glorying in his chipped plate on day, he even comforted his brother by pointing out all the cracks inside Hayden's teacup. "See Hayden, you're lucky too!"

When most people think of being lucky, they don't think about dishes. They think about big houses, cars, health, wealth, perfect bodies, perfect spouses and children, and tropical vacations. When things go wrong, we don't say we're lucky. We see the chip on our plate or the crack in our teacup and wonder why we were the unfortunate ones to get an imperfect dish. We see our spouse's bad mood, our children's disobedience, a stack of overwhelming bills, or a rainy day when we wanted sunshine, and we become unhappy. Instead of thanking God for giving us a plate, we carelessly pile things on, around, and under it while sighing over the menacing flaws, or perhaps wondering why we don't just break the whole thing.

Yet we each have so much to be thankful for if we choose to see it. I am blessed - or lucky if you will - to have a hardworking husband who commutes through rain, snow, and traffic jams to provide for our family, who protects and leads us, and who always makes me laugh. I am blessed with three healthy, intelligent, adorable children. We have a comfortable home with three bedrooms, space for entertaining, and locks on the doors. (If you have small children, you can appreciate the luxury of bedroom and bathroom doors that lock!) We have a yard full of trees and flowers and enough wildlife to provide countless hours of nature study. We have cupboards full of food and a reliable minivan to haul the food and children home from the nearby grocery store. We have family and friends and our amazing church family all within a fifteen minute drive. God has given me so much!

It's easy to forget how lucky we are when catalogues full of delightful but unaffordable items fill the mailbox. Or when we wake up to find toys strewn all over the living room and the adorable children inside - yes, inside - the couch cushions, pulling the stuffing out to make room for their mischievous bodies. Toys break, cars break, computers break, washers and dryers break, sometimes all at the same time. In these moments - and lives are made up of moments - it would be easy to complain about the chipped plate of my life. But God doesn't see it that way. No matter what our specifics look like, He commands us to be thankful, giving "thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

So I pray that I will give thanks in all the imperfect circumstances that threaten to shatter my joy. May I rejoice in the life God has given me instead of dwelling on my wishlist of improvements. And next time one of our heirloom dishes crashes to the floor, instead of sinking into despair or anger, may I say along with Donny, "Lucky me!"

But beyond being lucky, God has an amazing way of working things together for His glory. I thought through this blog post last Friday, but when I finally sat down at the computer to type it out, I was too tired to begin. The weekend with its busyness quickly pushed any thoughts of blogging to the back of my mind. Then on Tuesday morning, I had just finished getting dressed when I was startled by a crash. I hurried into the kitchen to find my charming helpers carrying out my instructions to unload the dishwasher, but instead of neatly stacking the breakable dishes on the counter as usual, they had decided to use them as building blocks. Plates, bowls, mugs, and pots were all stacked together on table, counter, and floor. And Hayden was guiltily standing in china dust, apologizing for dropping my plate. I quickly hurried the boys out of the room so that I could sweep up the shards before they stepped on the mess with their bare feet.

But on second glance, there wasn't much to sweep up. A tiny bit of dust, yes, but the plate had not shattered as one might expect. On the floor beside it was simply a chip - a big, perfect chip broken off the edge of the dinner plate - resulting in the second chipped dinner plate of our collection. I used to keep the other one on top of the stack, figuring that if one was to be broken, in our frequent use of it, it would be the plate that was already chipped. Yet for some strange reason, on Tuesday the previously chipped plate was about six plates down in the stack, even though we normally only use a few large plates each days, and the the dishwasher is emptied daily. So now, if you join us for dinner, please excuse our chipped plates...and know that your chances for being the lucky dinner guest have doubled!

I don't believe in coincidence; God is in control of every situation. He knows exactly what we need to be encouraged, convicted, or reminded of His Greatness. And while yes, I forgave Hayden, and no, he won't be unloading the breakable dishes for a long time, I do not see this as an isolated accident. Instead, I see the hand of my Heavenly Father, lovingly handing me another chipped plate to remind me how lucky I really am.

Fall in All Its Glory

Sing for joy, O heavens,
for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.
Isaiah 44:23

Seasons

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven...
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Autumn is undoubtedly my favorite season. The crisp cool breezes on sunny afternoons, the blazing radiance of maple and birch trees as their leaves explode into shades of red and yellow, the aromas of homemade pies wafting from the oven or cider donuts at the farm store, and the crunch of withered leaves beneath my feet all fill me with delight. Fall is also the time for our annual apple picking excursion (a.k.a. photo shoot). This year we actually went to one orchard with family and visited a different farm the day with friends from church. It was the perfect weekend to start our A-a-Apple homeschool unit, especially since we used our apples for baking and art projects. As always, we had fun picking the apples and eating them, too!






I am afraid it may be a short season this year; this weekend, in mid-October, we had snow! Thankfully none of it stuck to the ground, but we drove to church yesterday with giant, slushy flakes splashing against our windshield. Occasionally it will snow as early as Thanksgiving here in New England, but these flakes were quite out of place when the trees - and lawns - are still decked in colorful leaves.

My faithful readers have surely noticed that the birth of our third child has ushered a new season into my life, a season in which endless hours of composing blog posts are replaced with loads of pink laundry and snippets of comuter time during nursing sessions. I love my blog because besides providing a record of my thoughts and daily experiences, I see it as a ministry, with the purpose of encouraging other young wives, mothers, and homemakers. Of course, my primary ministry has been and will continue to be to care for my husband and children. I decided at the last minute to start kindergarten work with Donny this fall instead of waiting until next year, so besides regular chores and routines, we are now busily engaged in My Father's World kindergarten curriculum. Hayden joins us for most of the activities, and I am amazed at how much he comprehends even though he is not yet three years old!

This fall, the Lord has also given me some new ministry opportunities. Two mornings a week, our school lessons are also shared with another two year old and her baby sister. I am watching our friends' two girls while their mom works as a teacher, and the mornings of five-children-under-five are busy and demanding. This ministry has been more challenging than I anticipated since the baby, who is now eight months old, cries unless I hold her. I have been wearing her on my back in my Ergo baby carrier sometimes and hope that she will grow to like being at our home with the other children. In the meantime, prayers are welcome!

I have also joined my husband in ministering to the teens at our church. Don has always loved teenagers (and they adore him!), and thanks to some changes in church and work schedules, he had the privilege of becoming a youth leader at our church early this summer. In the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to join him for the youth ministry's small group discussions and service projects. While some of the so-called fun activities are not really "my thing" (I never like playing games, even when I was in youth group myself!), I love the opportunity to build relationships with the teens and encourage them in their spiritual walks. Much like having our own children, being a mentor or youth leader is a great responsibility that forces Don and I to deepen our own relationships with God. It is only through our own prayers, study of Scripture, and acts of worship to God that we can set a godly example and gain the wisdom we need to encourage our young friends.

Seasons are always changing. Given this weekend's strange weather, I have no doubt that these sunny autumn afternoons will soon give way to barren branches and cold wintry mornings. I am not sure how long this current season of my life will last, or where blogging will fit in among the other things on my plate. I do know that before I can sit down and compose lengthy blog posts, I must tend to the other responsibilities God has given me. In fact, a smiley, chubby-cheeked responsibility dressed in pink is waking up now and reminding me that God has truly blessed me with a beautiful season.

Oh Happy Tree

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.
Psalm 96:12,13

Lydia's First Quarter

Believe it or not, sweet Lydia is already more than three months old. Sometime around two months postpartum, I lost track of her age in weeks. I know it will be just the blink of an eye before I am baking her first birthday cake!

I have to admit, although life is busy with three small children, Lydia is the easiest three month old I have had. In her newborn days, she cried whenever I put her down, but in recent weeks she has been content to stretch and smile while playing in her baby gym or lying on a blanket. For the most part, she only fusses when she is wet, tired, or hungry...or when I (attempt to) clean the grub out of her stinky neck folds. She is certainly the most smiley baby in our family. Though she has been smiling at random times since birth, her first seemingly responsive smile was delivered at five weeks. Since then, the amount of smile time has increased each day, and she now spends long periods enchanting us with her mirthful grins.

Another wonderful improvement has been in her sleep habits. Even in the early weeks, she typically had a stretch of four or five hours of sleep during the night. Then she fell into a pattern of sleeping from 12 to 6, but her wide-awake and often fussy periods in the late evenings left me quite sleepy. Around two months old, she started sleeping for even longer periods, up to eight hours, and now she typically goes to bed around 10pm, may or may not wake up to nurse in the early morning, and gets up for the day around 7:30. After having two boys who wanted to nurse every two hours around the clock for most of the first year, these full nights of sleep have been an unexpected blessing. Her tendency to sleep in makes it easier to get breakfast on the table or get ready for church on Sunday mornings. She sleeps well in her own bed or mine, on her back or (shh!) on her belly, and is quite likely to wake up full of smiles!

She continues to nurse well, to adapt well to different situations, and to patiently tolerate her brothers' affections. We are so blessed to have such a happy, healthy little girl in our family. Here's how the princess has grown in her first quarter!





Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1 Peter 2:2,3