Deer in the driveway...
Meredith's Post-Braces Portrait
E. in the treehouse!
we found a treehouse in the woods...
Cathleen and Meredith going on a hike...
exploring the woods..
by CathleenLately I have had many days where it has been hard to for me to have the strength to love E. fully. He can be so stubborn. He throws tantrums and won’t talk to us when we try to see what was wrong. We try to explain things to him and he gives us the “look” that tells us he is done listening to us. Every now and then we get a glimpse that something we have done or said has impacted him, and we get so excited over the littlest things. However, shortly after our glimpse something will happen and we question whether what we thought we saw was real.
As I write about this, the parallel between God and me becomes so obvious that I often treat God in the same way. How often am I too stubborn to listen to God? How often do I throw grown up tantrums when things don’t go my way and refuse to see the error in my reactions? How often does God reach out to me and I give Him a look that tells Him to back off because "I can do things my way!"?
Our emotions often feel like they are on a roller coaster but the one constant is God and His reminder to us that "His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23)."
We had an awesome long weekend in Boerne, Texas (the Hill Country) a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time all six of us had been together since Florida. We were apprehensive about how it would go with E. because we were remembering the Stressfulness of Florida. It turned out to be an amazing weekend. We had a lot of intentional time with all of the kids which was very needed. We had the kids go off by themselves and read Psalms 139 and write down what God was telling them. They realized some amazing insights: how incredibly often God thinks of them (Psalm 139: 17,18); that God knew them before they were born and planned exactly who they would be (vs. 14); and that God’s hand lies upon them and knows everything that happens to them (vs. 5).
We also read 1 Thess 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” We wrote everyone’s name on a piece of paper and everyone wrote encouraging words down for that person that we later each got to read. Here are some of my favorite things they wrote: Josh wrote to Paul, “My dad is so courageous and strong. I hope that I am like him someday. When I am a dad I will do what my dad did. He was a good daddy and I am glad he is around.” Marian wrote to Meredith, “You are my inspiration and my big sis. I love you.” Paul wrote to Josh, “You have a compassionate heart and a warrior spirit, a love for God, and a great smile. Put on the helmet of truth…”
It was so amazing to get away from the distractions life can bring and see what life will be like with six of us. There are so many times we feel out of our league in dealing with E. We don’t know what to say or how to feel. We inevitably go back to our original purpose in James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from becoming polluted by the world."
In fact, it isn’t our purpose at all, it is Gods! We know that God will give us what we need to fulfill His purpose.
