Yesterday, as I sent my children off to school, I breathed a prayer for my girls.

“Oh God, let them know You are with them all through this day.”

Isabel’s last words in the car right before I dropped her off for school were, “I am nervous. What if I can’t open my locker?”

After school we heard stories from the day.  Each girl shared about their friends and their teachers.

Bedtime rolled around and Grace began having a stress attack.  “Mom, I did not practice my instrument enough.  I have a lesson tomorrow and I feel like I don’t know what I am doing.  I have so much to do for school too.”

I heard her voice quivering just a little bit, I could see she was exhausted from her day and her new adventure as a cross-country runner.

“Grace, it’s ok, just go to sleep. You just need sleep.”

Morning came too soon.  All my girls were tired as they tried to find their way in the new routine.  Milk spilled, a bowl was broken, and we were rushed to get out the door.

15 minutes after dropping my girls off, the first phone call came.  I listened to a stressed middle-school voice say these words,  “Mom, I forgot those papers on the counter.  I need those papers.”

My husband ran out the door to the school to deliver the papers and I breathed a prayer.

“Calm her heart God. Help her know You are there.”

Don’t you just want the best for your kids?  When you see them stressed, when you hear their stories of feeling left out, or when they worry, doesn’t it just get your heart?

Today I was reminded of some mothers I have met recently. I thought about the mother in Peru who questioned herself.  “Did I do the right thing for my son?”

She had a chance early in his life to give him up for adoption but she didn’t.  Now her son is a strong, young man who serves with her at the church.  He is a leader, but they are poor.  His mother wanted to know if she should have given him up for adoption.

“I love him, I want what is best for him.  Maybe I did not provide enough for him.  He could have grown up in America and would have been rich.”

One of the ladies on our trip assured her that indeed she did the right thing.  He is loved, he is cared for and he is an amazing child.  God meant for him to be with her.

I have met mothers who weep for their children.  They yearn for a better life for their children.  They want their children to have enough.  I have heard the gratefulness of a mother who received help for her children through Compassion and her tears came in the way of joy because she knew her kids would be ok.

Today I thought about the numerous mothers with whom I have sat with and witnessed their tears as they told stories of wanting the best for their children.  Moms just like me.

My kids have enough.  They have their stresses, their anxiety, their many concerns, but they have enough.  I can sleep at night knowing my kids are safe, have a full belly and have nice clothes to change in to as they get ready for school.  My kids have so much that we even pay someone to teach our daughter to play the bassoon. Next week I will be going to Guatemala, meeting some kids and meeting their moms.  Sponsoring a child with Compassion allows a child to get what they need and to have enough.  It allows a child to go to bed with a full belly and to wake up and be able to change in to a nice outfit for school.  It allows a child to get the help they need with difficult homework so that child can be successful in school.  It allows that child to make friends in a safe place, and be surrounded by people who bring hope.  Most of all it allows a child to know that God is with them so a mother’s prayer can be answered.

Often, when I think about Compassion, I think about what it does for a child, but today I was reminded what it does for a mom.

I hope you will travel with us next week by reading these blogs.

And of course you can sponsor a child and be that answered prayer to some mom out there!

Here is a picture of my sponsored child, Remya, with her mom.  Amazing women!

I remember feeling this way at the end of the school year.  I was so excited for school to end and the chaos to be gone.  Summer came……we had some calm days.  We took a few vacations but then August rolled around.  My girls started to see signs of fall.  They saw the new clothing hit the mall and the school supplies move from the back of Walmart to the front of Walmart.  It dawned on them their days were numbered and the season was changing.

“Mom, can I have my friend spend the night?”

“Mom, can we go to the mall for the 25^th time to shop for clothes?”

“Mom, can we go to the zoo?  We have not gone to the zoo this summer.”

“Mom, can we make you crazy by watching too much TV and leaving messes around the house?” (OK, they did not really ask me this question).

“OH NO….My school website says I need to read this book. We need to get this book.  It’s an emergency.  I can’t sleep until I have this book. I will not let you alone until we get this book.  Did I say it was an emergency?  This is a full on crisis!”

“Mom, I know that you just spent hours at the mall with me and bought me all my school clothes, but I need an outfit for the first day.”

“Mom, I need a hair cut.”

“Mom, I want to do a sport.  I need a physical.”

“Mom, I lost my really expensive calculator. I will need it for Pre-Calculus.  It’s an emergency. I need a new one.”

“Mom, I need to get stuff to decorate my locker.”

“Mom, can I have a big party at Christmas time?”  (huh????)

“Mom, can I drive on the freeway?”

So part of me is excited to get my kids back in school. Really excited.  Oh the quiet and peace it will bring to my home.   My house is always trashed during the summer, and the girls are like little puppy dogs that wrestle around and raise the level of emotional chaos in the home.

But……the other part of me is sad and reminded that my babies are growing up.

Isabel, my baby, starts middle school this week.  Do I have permission to cry when I drop her off?  It reminds me of that feeling of sending her off to kindergarten for the first time and watching her get on that bus with 5^th graders.  Grace, my middle child,  is changing so much.  She has transformed into a little lady. Julia, oh my word, the girl is driving.  She is growing up and maturing and I see glimpses of adulthood popping out in this 15 year old.

Me?  I definitely have more lines around my eyes and more grey underneath my blonde color.

What a journey I am on with these three girls. From the time they were infants to this very day, I am amazed at how they change along the way, and how they process life as they navigate through their days.  I continue to pray they walk with Christ in their hearts and compassion on their lips. Oh how I pray this with all my heart!

So each new season brings a bit a chaos, and each day brings an adventure. Honestly, I don’t think there will ever be a final destination to this thing called motherhood,  so I want to enjoy this journey….this chaos…this rodeo along the way.  I just need to catch my breath every once in awhile.  So with that I say, Woohoo, school is almost here.

Pictures of change

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I have a trip to Guatemala in two weeks with these Compassion Bloggers, and I have a trip in October to Ecuador.  So send those shoes and we will make some happy feet.

www.shoesforkids.me

First, SHOES FOR KIDS

Isabel has been preparing and building a website…(seriously the girl is amazing) for Shoes for Kids.  With blood, sweat and tears, and yes there have been tears, she has been working on her website via I- Web.  Hopefully it will be launched this week.

Second, a RANDOM KIDNEY CONVERSATION

On a funny note, the other night Isabel asked me how much she might be able to get if she sold her kidney.  The conversation went like this.

Isabel: Mom, how much could I sell my kidney for?  I hear you only need one.

Me: Um…I am not sure; I have never sold a kidney.

Grace:  It’s against the law to sell your body parts.  I believe you can only donate them.

Isabel:  Well, I heard that people do this to make money.

Me: Isabel, why would you ever want to sell your kidney?

Isabel: I don’t really know.  I was just wondering how this all works.  I thought it might be a fast way to earn money.  (Then giggles and laughter)

Me: Yeah, I don’t think it’s a very good idea you silly girl!

My curiosity took me the Internet and I did find out that some countries around the world actually allow such things; generally in places that one might not want to go under the knife.  Yes, it is illegal in the United States to sell your kidney, but on the black market apparently they go for quite a bit of money, and there have been people who have tried to sell kidneys via Ebay.  That is weird.

Third, GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY and reports from Colombia

Stephen made it home from Colombia on Friday night and had an amazing trip.  If you love photography, check out Keely’s blog.  She is a fabulous photographer and you can see photos of my man trying to Salsa.  I had to ask my husband today why several Salsa dancers are following us on Twitter.  Humm… A second career?

These are the faces that inspired me to start Shoes for Kids.  I put this slide show together. The song is by our friend Justin McRoberts.  Have a happy weekend!

Love Isabel

My group had gone out to visit a home, and once we had said our goodbyes, we decided to stop into the church project just to check it out while we waited for the other half of our group.

I found out that this project has 320 children registered with Compassion, but the needs in the community were so great that the church provides two meals a day to 600 children.  At that point, I began asking the young Columbian girl, who had been our gracious hostess, some serious questions.

Me: “How do you pay for all of those meals?”

Her: “By faith.”

Me: “This facility is amazing with all the classrooms, the kitchen and feeding area, and the new classrooms you are building.  How have you paid for all of this?”

Her: “By faith.”

Me: “So what do you do here at the project?”

Her: “I am the pastor.”

Me: “What?  Hey translator, can you help me?  I want to know what this young girl does at the project and I think she misunderstood my question.”

Translator: “She is the pastor.”

23-year-old Paula, is the pastor of this remarkable church.  Another girl named Haiti is the project director and is only 24 years old.  These young ladies are changing the world for 600 children!!

11 years ago, Paula’s dad started this church.  At 12 years old, Paula fell in love with ministering to the poor children of her community.  Her father has gone on to start three other churches in the community.  On Sunday’s, all four churches come together at one place for worship and teaching, but the rest of the week, this particular church is Paula’s responsibility.  I don’t know the details of how it all works, and what kind of supervision her dad provides as the lead pastor of all the churches, but what I do know is that Paula and her friends are changing the world!

The mind-blowing thing to me was as I stared at this young girl in shock and some disbelief, I heard in my heart, “Why are you so surprised, your girls are just as capable as Paula?”  It humbled me.

For years, my daughters have had an amazing ministry to poor children in our community at New Life Church/Lord’s Gym in Vancouver, WA.  It is obvious to us that God has gifted them to be able to care for and love very difficult kids.  Some of those kids drive me crazy, but my girls are kid magnets. The tougher the kids, the more my kids are drawn to them.

Our kids have followed Patricia and me to church and supported us in OUR ministry.  We do the music thing on Sunday mornings and they help us carry in our gear, clean up the cables after church, and encourage us in our giftings.  While we are doing our ministry, they go off and do theirs.  They help in the children’s church.  They help with the crafts, they give the kids snacks, they teach the lesson sometimes, and they show love to some tough kids.

Today I started thinking, if I see these giftings in my girls, how do I inspire them to do even greater things for The Kingdom?  We spend so much time thinking about what we want in a church and how we want to minister in a church, but how much weight am I giving to the ministry that my own children have? How can I encourage and support them in THEIR ministry?

I don’t know, I don’t have any answers, but my thinking was seriously challenged today as I saw these amazing young ladies with a huge calling on their life and making a major impact in their communities.  Paula and Haiti inspired me and reminded me of what my girls are capable of.  There are no age limits in the Kingdom of God.

Parenting is like The A -Team

Stephen and I came up with a great strategy for solving a parenting moment recently. Our girls are rather slow at getting their chores done.  Julia, our adorable fifteen year old, is responsible for laundry.  She doesn’t necessarily have to do all the laundry, but she is responsible to “get er done”.  Most often, she delegates and manages the process by involving the entire family (which we are all happy to help).  Over the last few months, she has slowed down on laundry production.  Sometimes, the laundry process can take up to three days, and this was getting to Stephen.  After many talks, I came up with this idea.  Our girls can’t text with their phones during chores. This means once the laundry process has started, Julia cannot text until it is over.  She is allowed to make phone calls, but she cannot text.

This last weekend, we had a record-breaking laundry outcome and all the clothes were clean, folded and delivered to our rooms in less than four hours. Way to go Julia!  A- Team was successful with the mission!

Many times Stephen and I get stuck on a parenting issue.  Sometimes the girls and I will be GOIN’ AT IT IN A HUGE WAY, and Stephen will come in as the innocent bystander, with great wisdom, and help us work through the issues.  But there are times, just like I imagine Mr. T. might react, when Stephen will call me saying he is going crazy with the girl drama, and I will offer a solution. Occasionally, neither of us can come up with a solution, so we ship the kids off to one of their Grandma’s and they will save the day.

Stephen just flew off to Columbia yesterday. After he left, I had a “situation” come up with my kids.  A mission needed to be accomplished but Mr. T was out of town. My emotions flared and I went to a bad place.  Instantly, I wanted to call my husband and dump all my stuff on him, but then something inside me said that would not be fair. I realized at that moment, I needed to let Mr. T. have a break and  I would need to figure it out.   I was able to pull together a discussion (granted it had more emotion without Stephen around), and in the end there were apologies, solution and peace.  Mission Accomplished!

I am grateful that my kids have a fabulous dad.  I am grateful that Stephen and I can work together and respect each other in our parenting efforts. I realize not everyone has this luxury and there are a lot of parents having to solo it. Today, I empathized with you!

I have learned through the years to be grateful for my A -Team. My “parenting” A- Team obviously includes Stephen, but it also includes two grandmas, aunts and uncles, teachers, youth pastors, and a lot of friends.   I need their wisdom, their gifts and their hands-on-skills. Together, we might not always make these young natives happy, but we are raising great kids. I need you people! I realize I have to step up to the plate and make things happen by myself once in awhile, but I believe parenting was meant to be a team sport.   It’s a lot better this way.

GO A-Team!

“So Heaven meets Earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest.” This is one of my favorite lines from the song, “How He Loves” by John Mark McMillan.

I love this line because I can see it and feel it.  You know, the sloppy wet kiss.

For me this describes the very essence of our relationship with God.  We are like that snotty nosed kid that comes up to God with the slobbery, drooling kiss and God simply embraces us in all our mess.  Maybe I like this line because I drool when I sleep and occasionally when I am belly laughing.

Lately, Stephen and I have been reminded just how sloppy the world is.  With friends dealing with cancer, and others dealing with death, my heart has been overwhelmed.  I think of my friend Julia, a mom of four, who has bravely dealt with cancer this year.  I think of Amy, a mom of six, who just discovered she has a rare form of eye cancer and potential threat to her health.  I think of Chad who just lost his younger brother tragically.  These are people in our lives who we care for and love.

This sloppiness of the world gets to my heart, especially when I see how these situations affect my friends.  I have been consumed with these stories and compelled to spend time praying.  I don’t always know how to pray in this sloppy place.  Sometimes I plead with God and sometimes I hope that my prayers can influence the outcome, but I have learned this is not always the case.  So I go back to what Hilda said to us in the slums of Kenya, “Just mention my name to him, he knows me. He knows what I need.”

So today I am mentioning a few names and asking you to pray for my friends too.  I invite you to post the names of anyone you want me to pray for and together we can lift these friends up!

Amy and Brian

Julia

Chad and his family

David

To hear this song by John Mark McMillan, you can go to the here.

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath
The weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
Afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize how beautiful you are
And how great your afflictions for me

Our kids have been active this summer with lots of camps, lots of activities, and lately, lots of fighting.  But the other night my husband pointed out something that has been going on for a couple of weeks.  There has been this negative spirit amongst the girls and they have been in a habit of putting each other down. Sometimes, these putdowns are masked in humor, other times they come out of pride, power and superiority.  It isn’t good!

I can see that this has been going on for a while.  We have been putting bandages on the fights but we haven’t healed the wounds.

We sat down with the girls the other night and had a family discussion. We identified the spirit, and we all committed to working on building each other up.  The cool part of doing this was the girls saw it.  They realized how they have been in this pattern…. and Stephen and I realized we have allowed it.

I think it’s easy to let things like this fester.  It’s easy to ignore sibling rivalry; after all, it’s hard work to change a negative climate within the home.  It’s hard work to change a behavior.

One of the values we have tried to instill in our girls is the value they have to each other.  We have always encouraged them to seek each other’s advice and friendship.  We encourage our girls to support each other in their talents. But this means there must be trust built into the relationship. This is where the parents come in. We need to help our kids learn what it is to be a trustworthy person, especially with emotions. Letting one child cut the other child down creates a fast path to loosing trust within a family.

This is why we have called this negative spirit to the carpet.  We don’t want it anymore.

Be gone you negative spirit, you are not invited to our home!!

About a month ago, our oldest daughter came home from camp and told her sisters that she wanted them to be her best friends.  She said, “I realize that you will be there for me for the rest of my life.”

This is the spirit we want.  I am guessing that the girls will continue to have some battles, but hopefully the battles will be short, and they will continue to see how beautiful and precious their relationships are.

A year ago, our daughters convinced us that if they got a puppy, they would fully take care of it.  Like many parents across the world, we heard these words, “I will clean up the poop, I will feed it, I will brush my dog and of course I will walk it daily.”

We were convinced that our three daughters were telling the truth, so we got Levi.

Over the year, our girls have faithfully cared for this little boy, except for one thing.  They have neglected to brush his hair.  Levi eventually turned into Bob Marley dog and ended up with some serious dreadlocks.

Today, we took him to the groomer, and $50 later, he came home shaved and almost naked because his mats were so bad.  With his head disproportionate to his body now, Levi looks weird.  His tale looks like a furry finger sticking out of his back end and I won’t even mention the under belly.

When I brought him home from the groomer, each family member laughed at him with shock.  Levi’s little heart melted at the shame, and he hid his head beneath his front paw (I admit this is an exaggeration).

So, for all the parents in the world who cave into their children for a pet, please note that this is what happens.  Naked Shaved Dog!

To my girls, please brush your dog!

Before picture

After…….

Disturbing!