Five-Minute Friday: Song

May 16, 2013 by · 56 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Song

From the day we brought her home, I’ve been singing to her.

When she was teeny, teeny-tiny, I would make up songs that rhymed about everything from changing a diaper to her sweet, stuffed puppy that I hoped would become her favorite. I even took one of our favorite books and put it to a song, one that she will often sing to me now.

Always Sometimes I probably sounded like a dork, but I wanted her to know that music is a huge part of our lives from the beginning.

And I wanted her to love it.

By the time she was six months old, she would coo with me as I’d work my way through the rotation of favorites. (Aka: the ones that allowed me to host my own little concerts. ;) ) And by the time she was just over a year old, she’d started to sing little pieces of Jesus Loves Me…and, oh, how my heart turned to a pile of mush.

Around the time she turned two, we were walking hand-in-hand from Target to the car, and I started it.

I’ve got sunshine…

And she finished it…on a cloudy day.

And when it’s cold outside…

I’ve got a girl named Mae. (Yes, I rewrote it slightly. ;) )

I guess you say, who can make me feel this way? Maelie…Maelie!

But perhaps my favorite so far happened on one of those mornings just a few months ago, the kind that started with messes and frustrations and oh-so-many mommy moments that were less than gorgeous. And as I wrestled her into her clothes for the day, she looked up at me.

Gave me her silly, heart-melting, smile.

And she broke into song.

I love you, a bushel and a peck.
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap,
A barrel and a heap, and I’m talking in my sleep
About you.
About who?
About you!

Every single word.

It completely made my day, probably my year.

My Maelie girl…wherever you go in life, always remember music. It’s powerful, it’s beautiful, and you will go far if you always keep a song in your heart.

I know you will.

MaeLookingUp

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, Five Minute Friday, just life, Maelie, music, remembering, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Comfort

May 9, 2013 by · 56 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Comfort

peru2

I remember the first time I left my comfort zone for parts unknown. (Oh my goodness, did I just rhyme? I totally didn’t plan that. AT ALL.) ;)

I was twenty years old and dying to get out of the country…Peru was my destination, the northern Amazon region. For three weeks, several friends and I spent our days teaching Vacation Bible School, singing for different groups of people, hanging out with streetkids…and our nights on a houseboat on the Amazon. All of it was out of my comfort zone, and I

Loved. Every. Single. Second. Of. It.

I was completely smitten with every aspect of the adventures I had there…and realized only when I returned home that I hadn’t really missed my comfort zone.

In fact, I kind of didn’t want to go back to it. True story. ;)

That trip taught me so much about the things He can do with this heart and life when I’m willing to step out and do something new, sometimes-crazy, and almost-always scary.

And it led to some other pretty big steps of faith…marriage, five years in another country, more crazy adventures than I can count, having a daughter, moving “home” to a place when I didn’t know a soul, making a home in that place, beginning the writing journey…the kind where I’m not sure how it ends.

Or if it does. Probably not. (Will we have laptops and Five-Minute Friday in heaven? I’m thinkin’ so…) ;)

Life is full of those steps out that make my heart pound with fear and anticipation…may I always be brave enough to take them, knowing that He is all the comfort I will ever need.

And when I remember that…well, He can do anything.

That’s pretty awesome.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, culture shock, Five Minute Friday, friends, just life, remembering, where I am, writing

Five-Minute Friday: Brave

May 2, 2013 by · 48 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Brave

There’s this part of me that thinks I’m brave.

For one thing, I’ve done a few crazy things in my life…

Swimming in the Amazon with the pirañas.

Moving to another hemisphere.

Learning to surf in most-likely-infested-by-sharks waters.

Vine swinging in the jungle.

 IMG_1283

Yep, that’s totally me. ;)  

I used to thrive on those moments that made me feel spectacular, the ones that were exhilarating, the ones that literally took my breath away.

But bravery? Comes in more forms than adventures that may teeter on the side of foolish.

When I think of bravery…I think of those people who inspire me.

Those sisters who write with abandon and passion and choose to stand on Truth even when lies are screaming all around.

Those dear dreamers who take their stories and lives…the broken but redeemed, cracked but shining,…all completely beautiful, and use them to bring Him glory as they chase with abandon what He’s called them to do.

Those sweet friends who walk in His grace and shine Him each day, no matter what happens.

Those are the ones who are brave. 

Inspiring.

And I’m so thankful for them. For each of you.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, friends, remembering, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Jump

April 18, 2013 by · 46 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Jump

I watch her jump Every. Single. Day.

It’s one of her favorite things.

Whether she’s jumping from a chair, jumping on the bed (which she’s technically forbidden to do but still does…) or simply jumping to the next place she’s planning to go, the girl lives to jump.

And there are times I have to ask her, in all of her two year-old non-understanding, to stop, simply for my sanity.

But the truth is, I think it’s adorable…the way she finds so much pleasure in the simple. The way jumping down each back step brings a smile to her face…and, well, it makes me smile, too. Really big.

I get so caught up in the busy of life…things that occupy way too much time, and I forget that sometimes, joy can be found in the simplest of things.

A few days ago we were taking a little walk down the sidewalk in our neighborhood.

She looked at me. Mommy, jump?

I obliged.

We jumped down the sidewalk.

And it was the best part of my day.

You know, I might just spend tomorrow holding her hand…and we’ll jump through our day together.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, being mommy, Five Minute Friday, just life, Maelie, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Here

April 11, 2013 by · 45 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Here

I’m sitting here on the couch. Deep, I know. ;)

It’s that moment of the day that I’ve been looking forward to…a time when I can just hash it all out without (well, almost always without) using the delete key or proofreading or questioning.

Just a time to process five minutes of here and what’s going on in life now.

Honestly, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the past few months and the ways that time has felt so up and down, so full of circle-spinning.

So many questions…and, just, wondering.

And the thing He continues to remind me of is the present…of the fact that the blessings, the joys, the sorrows, the ups and downs, the millions of things that make up the past…they all add up to this. The here.

And, I love it.

Despite the fact that in the last month I’ve wept over past loss.

Or the fact that I struggled through days of parenting and prayed with everything in me that I wasn’t screwing it all up.

Or even that, in the pursuit of a dream, there are days when it feels so close, and other days when I feel like I’ve been body slammed fifty miles backwards.

And He reminds me…Here.

Now.

Live.

Just as it is, just as it comes.

Take what you’ve learned…and live it, along with the blessings all around.

That is here.

And I am blessed.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, just life, where I am, writing

Five-Minute Friday: Broken

March 28, 2013 by · 40 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Broken

It’s been a broken week.

The kind that started with Sunday tears and wondering and wishing that life made sense in a week that is supposed to be beautiful and the perfect reflection of the sacrifice my Jesus made for me.

And then I think about how broken He became for me. His body was literally broken.

He was broken to fix me, fix this heart, give me hope and peace in a world that offers no such things.

And, yet, I will still catch myself looking at the world, trying to use it to fix whatever seems to be wrong at the moment.

My greatest need is Him…and though there are days and even weeks or longer that seem to be a mess of broken, I must always remember that because I have him…

I am redeemed.

Made new.

Forgiven.

Healed.

Hopeful.

I am anything but broken.

And as I reflect on a day full of unimaginable pain and sacrifice, I am so very thankful that he was wounded and broken, he died and rose again…

So that I might live.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: barefoot, blessings, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Remember

March 21, 2013 by · 46 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Remember

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Remember.

It’s a day I hold in my heart forever.

That early-Monday-afternoon in mid-June, 2010.

They placed her…all tiny, swaddled-up, seven-pounds, twelve-ounces of her into my new mama arms, and I vowed I would never forget that moment.

I stroked her dark hair and remember thinking that with all the heartburn I’d had during my pregnancy that it didn’t surprise me to see she wasn’t bald. :)

And I just looked at her. For what seemed like hours. Memorized her face. Promised to never, ever forget a single detail.

And now we walk the days together…my tiny girl grew and is growing, changed and is changing, crawled then walked and now runs everywhere, it seems.

She is beautiful…more every day.

She is everything and so much more than I ever dreamed in a daughter.

And I want to freeze time in our days, but of course, time doesn’t freeze. It defies my hopes and marches on, seemingly picking up the pace with each passing day.

Still, we mark moments. Photograph them. Write them down. Try so hard to remember everything. Knowing that one day all too soon, my little girl with messy pigtails and a song in her heart will be out making her own memories, marking up the world, singing even more loudly, loving like she does.

And we’ll be so glad we took the time to remember these moments.

My Maelie-girl…I am so proud to be your mommy.

HotChocolate06

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, Five Minute Friday, Maelie, remembering, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Rest

March 15, 2013 by · 8 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Rest

For about a year, early in our marriage, I worked at a coffee shop that was close to our house.

I loved it…really, that kind of job is geared toward someone like me. Chatting, coffee, people…yep, it was fun.

Even the early mornings were enjoyable enough, though they required me to get up at 4:30 a.m. :)

When Friday night would hit, though, all of those pre-sunrise mornings would catch up with me, and my body would literally crash.

And early.

It wasn’t uncommon for me to be completely out before 8 pm.

One of the stories my hubby loves to tell from that year was from a certain week. Nothing in particular stands out from that week, but for whatever reason, my body was so tired, I fell asleep around 7 pm on Friday night.

And while that’s not earth-shattering, the time I got up the next day is.

One. in. the. afternoon.

He jokes about how much he got done while I was, literally, sleeping the day away…not only did he go grocery shopping (bless him to the moon and back for that one!), but he went to Menards, bought an invisible fence for our dog, and installed the entire thing before I was out of bed.

:)

I’m not going to make excuses for myself.

Clearly my body needed that rest, and when it finally got it…in the form of 18 hours?

I couldn’t believe the difference.

I felt so much more awake…alive…able to actually function.

And it’s the same way with resting in our Father.

Sometimes we go and go and go…trying to do everything in our own strength, forgetting that we have the strength of someone else.

We don’t have to do it on our own.

And when we finally slow down for that rest…for that encouragement…for His presence…it’s only then that we can continue on and feel alive again.

I am so guilty of pushing forward on my own, trying to get through my days in my own, human strength.

God, I need you. So much.

Help me to find my rest, always, in You.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: coffee, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, remembering, Tobin, what I'm learning, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Home

March 8, 2013 by · 8 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Home

Home.

The word has taken on such a different meaning for me in the past, almost-three, years.

I used to think it was a place…this two-story, blue beauty on the corner of Wisconsin and Charles, nestled into what I think is possibly the best neighborhood in the world.

Surrounded by neighbors who have become friends and friends who have become family, this place is our home.

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I smile every time I remember the moment…the time we walked through the door for the first time. We just looked at each other, and we knew. This was it.

Home.

And we have been blessed to plant our roots deep and give our daughter a place to call home…and give ourselves that place, too.

But as I look at our lives…though young, we’ve seen a lot. We’ve experienced the temporary of home and the unknown of the journey…and though it’s always nice to have a place, it isn’t a building that makes a home.

It’s people and love…those that surround us each day and love us despite the ugly and imperfect, those who choose to be part of our lives and hearts.

They are what makes a home.

Oh, I love my blue house, number 127.

But my home is just that because of the love I’ve been blessed with.

Almost by accident last fall, I stumbled onto a quote, one now painted (well, it was a rub-on if we’re being technical ;) ) on our living room wall.

Life takes you to unexpected places; Love brings you home.

Always. And we are home. It’s good.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, family, Five Minute Friday, friends, just life, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Ordinary

March 1, 2013 by · 15 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Ordinary

When I was younger, I wished for blond hair and blue eyes.

And other than those few months of scorching, Iowa summer each year, when the combination of sun and chlorine would turn my locks a sandy-gold color, this brunette always kept wishing.

Well, there was that time in college when I bleached my hair so white I ruined it and had to cut it all off… ;)

But, back to the life of a brunette. One with brown eyes, too.

I spent so much of my childhood feeling like that plain, ordinary girl…the one who blended in with everyone else. The one who never stood out. (Well, for a good reason, at least.)

Much of life is the same, probably for most of us.

We stare at what we see reflected in the mirror and wish for something more…something to make us stand out, something to make us special, something to tell the world, I’m worth seeing.

Anything at all to release us from the stickiness that the label of ordinary brands those of us who let it define a piece of who we are.

And then He reminds me, as He always does…just when I’m getting to that point of discontentment and wishing.

You are Mine.

I love you, just as you are.

Enough that I bought you for a price.

None of those scream ordinary at all.

In fact, I‘m pretty sure they’re extraordinary.

I dye my hair every four weeks now. (Special thanks to my daddy-o for the awesome genes in making me gray in my mid-30′s. :) )

My color of choice?

Deep, dark brown. :)

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, hair, just life, remembering, where I am
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