A Series of Choices

"Every day is a series of choices." I say this almost every day to myself and to others. I used to say, "Every day is a choice," but I realized that isn't correct. That sounds like you wake up, you make one choice, and you're done for the day. As though that one choice will be all you have to make for the entire day, and you will be set. Those of you who are more spiritual than I might argue that if I awakened and said, "Today, I choose to live a life that is completely led by God" then my choice-making would be complete. I argue, however, that even in that, I will find myself throughout the day having to make choice upon choice upon choice.

Each day we, I, you are faced with a myriad of small choices. Will I get up when the alarm goes off, or will I push the snooze button? Will I call in sick, or will I go to work? Will I eat a healthy breakfast or skip it all together? Will I try to make it to work on the gas in my car, or will I play it safe and fill it up? There are probably thousands of these types of choices that we make every single solitary day of our lives. And these are the easy choices!

Each day we, I, you are faced with much weightier choices as well. Will I interfere in this situation, or will I trust God with these details? Will I harbor bitterness and unforgiveness, or will I freely forgive others? Will I continue to be angry, or will I release myself from the bondage of my anger? Indeed, will I choose bondage or freedom? Because ultimately, that's what my choices will lead me to, either bondage or freedom.

David said it this way in the book of Psalms, "I choose the true road to Somewhere, I post Your road signs at every curve and corner. I grasp and cling to whatever You tell me; God, don't let me down! I'll run the course You lay out for me if You'll just show me how."

He's saying (I think), "God, today I am on a journey to somewhere. Throughout this day, I am going to come to curves and corners, and I am going to have to make a series of choices about which way I go. And making the right choice isn't going to be easy. I'm going to have to grasp and cling to you in order to make the right choice. Don't let me down, God. I will make the right choice. But I can't do it without you."

All that to say, "Every day is a series of choices." Our journey to somewhere can be so long and so hard somedays. The curves seem bigger, the corners seem tighter and more treacherous, and the road seems longer. On those days, especially on those days, I choose to grasp and cling to the One who knows how to get me where I am going.

It is for Freedom

A week or so ago I was living my life like some sort of caged animal. I could see what I wanted, or what I thought I needed, but events and circumstance of my life made me feel trapped. I felt like I was reliving a familiar story again, and again, and again. I was knee-deep in a situation that I could not, nay should not, control and I felt helpless to extricate myself from it.

Then one morning as I was praying, I read this verse from Galatians 5. It says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." A simple verse, yes, and one that I have read many, many times, but on THIS day, the verse seemed complex, weighty, incredibly deep and life altering. So I read it again. . . "It is for freedom that Christ HAS set us free."

Christ HAS set us . . . me . . . free. Not Christ "Will" set me free, but He has set me free. I am already free. Any bondage I choose to live in is of my own choosing. Paul, in Galatians, says we should live freely. He means "choose freedom." And he means for us to choose it every day. Each day we get to choose freedom or bondage. It's a conscious choice and it has life giving results. He says,

"My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness."

And the compulsions of selfishness he lists are horrendous. Galatians 5

All that to say, I have already been set free. Now, the challenge is to live free. It is for freedom that I have been set free.

Better Living

I have decided that life is something we either choose to live or to survive. I think what made me think this today is that I was looking back through my road trip pictures and realized that most everything we enjoyed was simple life stuff. Sure we enjoyed the museums and the beautiful scenery, but mostly we enjoyed one another.

The things we laughed at the most were just normal things. We laughed about getting caught in the rain, and riding on the subway, and discovering that our windows rolled down in the car. We laughed about getting parking tickets and cows in open fields and horse poop. We people watched and laughed at our own stupidity over people watching.

We savored our meals together and enjoyed really simple foods as much as we did rich fattening ones. We were goofy and gave up being critical and laughed 'til our sides hurt over our own shortcomings. A trip to Walmart was a chance to enjoy one another's company. Wrong turns were cause for laughter and getting lost was just another adventure.

I think we're supposed to enjoy life that way. We could have chosen to get mad over ruined shoes and rain storms. We could have gotten angry over wrong turns in the middle of the night and getting lost even with the help of a navigation system.

But instead, we chose joy. We chose laughter. We chose to enjoy one another and our time together.

All that to say, what if we lived every day like that? What if each day, I chose joy? Better living comes with better choices.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Aunts

I just returned from a 5 day road trip with two of my sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law. We gave my mother-in-law the trip as her 75th birthday present/Christmas present. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard, for so long, for so many days in a row. Laughter really is good medicine.

There is no real way to blog about all 5 days and effectively tell the story, so I will try to just give you the highlights.

On our first day, we arrived in Philadelphia and headed toward Harrisburg where we would spend our first night. The only real plans we had (in concrete) for day one was to stop at Trader Joe's and the local wine shop. Right off the bat, Corri started causing trouble, either that or the locals just didn't like redheads, because as we were leaving Trader Joes, an old woman started backing out her car, COMPLETELY ignoring the fact that Deb was already backing out. Corri looked back at the woman (whom I am guessing did not like Corri's look) and the old woman flipped her off! The old woman had to be in her 70's, which made us laugh! Later in the day, when we were in Intercourse, PA, I saw someone flip someone else off, and our Carriage Tour Guide said that just meant "Welcome to Intercourse." We laughed again, and from that point forward, anytime someone was grouchy (or I couldn't get people to smile for a photo) I would just say, "Welcome to Intercourse!" and everyone would laugh.


"WELCOME TO INTERCOURSE!"


On Day two, we had a leisurely breakfast at our hotel (where Sharon made fun of me for how much breakfast I was eating . . . a waffle, some scrambled eggs and bacon . . . not really THAT much food, but whatever!) and headed out to the Hershey factory. Any day that begins with a place called "CHOCOLATE WORLD" is going to be a good day. We had our picture put on the cover of a Hershey bar, and I shared this secret I heard that if you stand on the end of the group being photographed, and put your hand on your hip, it will make you look really thin. When the picture came out, everyone exclaimed how thin I looked and Sharon said, "You should have that blown up b/c that's the best you're gonna look!" More laughter (why does she keep picking on me"!) We had a lot of fun in Hershey, PA and then headed back to Intercourse to find some quilt shops. Corri is not a fan of quilting, so the quilt shops were not the highlight of her trip, but we managed to help her have fun anyway. And we also managed to spend a lot of money on some really beautiful fabrics (WHICH by the way caused us to have to go buy an extra suitcase to get it all home)!



On Day Three, we were scheduled to go to DC to see the Smithsonian but the weather was supposed to be horrible, very very rainy! But we decided to brave the weather, ride the metro from Frederick, MA to DC and check out the National Museum of American History. Deb kept telling us that the neighborhood where she grew up was in the Museum b/c it was the first subdivision in the United States. (This fact, along with the fact that she is related to Jared Ingersoll, Signer of the Constitution, was her claim to fame on the trip). I could not help but point out that my claim to fame was significantly greater than hers, b/c my 5th Great Uncle was also in the museum because he was one of THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES!



Right when we had to leave DC to catch our train, a serious downpour came, and we had to cross Pennsylvania Avenue in the pouring rain! What a sight we must have been! Deb carried one umbrella and Sharon's oxygen, Corri ran in a raincoat with all our purchases stuffed under it, and I carried three purses while holding a broken umbrella over Sharon and I, who was trying to run with a walker in the pouring rain while crossing an INCREDIBLY large street! We laughed so hard when we got across the street. And pretty much instantly it stopped raining.




To top off that day, when we got to the train it was packed, and people were literally shoved up against the walls, doors, seats, one another. It was crazy! The doors even closed on one guy's backpack! At the first stop this massively large man, who was smashed into the back of Corri yelled, "I'm coming out!" and literally shoved his way out of the train. Corri was so mad, I thought she was gonna follow him out and kick his butt. I believe she could have done it!

Day Four was fairly subdued. We went to visit Gettysburg. Deb kept telling us there was a beautiful park there with gorgeous trees and monuments. Every time she described it to someone at the visitor center, no one seemed to know what she was talking about. Finally, we stumbled upon it. Turns out it was a CEMETERY! But it was beautiful (in her defense). Beyond that, unless you count the run in with the local law, and the chair stealing incident, the GPS giving us bad directions, and the midnight run to Walmart to buy extra suitcases, it was a mellow day.


"CAN I HUG MY FRIEND?"

Day Five started a little rough, with Sharon waking up sick. She pulled it together though and we were able to go to Philly for one last day of sightseeing. Before we left the hotel, Corri and I made several trips to the fitness room with our luggage to weigh it all!(Phew, everything under 50 pounds!) Then we went to Historical old Philly, visited Jared Ingersoll's grave (remember, he's why Deb is famous)ate a cheesesteak, and headed to the airport. I had never eaten a cheesesteak before. It was surprisingly very good!

"

All that to say, we had such a great time! I am exhausted, but refreshed, if that makes any sense at all. We have decided that we have to do this every year. I can just picture us all being a bunch of old ladies taking our annual trip to somewhere. It won't matter where because we will be going together.

This One's For You Tina

I remember the first time I "recall" her. It was on the rec field at 220, and she and another super cute girl showed up with fancy "Texas" hair, all kinds of jewelry, and looking ready for a lot of things, but definitely NOT rec! What a funny memory.

Her first remembrance of me is me speaking at a girl's retreat weekend called "Dear Diary" put on by Shauna Maness. I was undressing on stage and talking about all the things I didn't like about my body (which was not at ALL the point of the lesson, but sadly the part she remembers).

So, our first recollections of one another have to do with her being all dressed up, and me getting naked. This does not make for a good start to a relationship. :)

But today is her birthday, and I wanted to honor her in my blog. So here goes.
You are a funny girl. You make me laugh out loud, lots of times. Like the time you came out of the bathroom at Pappacito's and yelled halfway across the restaurant, "Carol, what are you getting?" and then when the WHOLE table made the "talk softer" hand signal, you got all shy again and said, "Oh, was I loud?" And then there was the time we were all playing dominoes and you looked at my dad and said, "Stop beeping me Gordy." I am sure both of these encounters are not funny to anyone reading this, except for the people who were there, but trust me, it was funny.

You are a sensitive girl. You defend everyone and it is endearing. You always say things like, "I'm sure they didn't mean it like that. They have a good heart. They just were raised differently."

You want everyone to be happy. Which is a nice quality . . . just be careful not to be tooooooooo concerned with everyone else's emotional condition! It'll suck the life out of you eventually!

You have a good sense of style. And I am reasonably sure you have never had a bad hair day! And if you did have a bad hair day, you could just put a headband on and another necklace and it would be a good hair day! (I don't actually like this quality about you for the record. Please, just once, could you look bad!)

All that to say, Happy Birthday to you. Oh, and I took your birthday purse. I liked it.

Twenty Five

Something happens to moms when it comes to celebrating the birth of their children. The day for us is so much more than a party, or presents, or cake and ice cream. Birthdays are remembrance celebrations. When my kids were babies, and then toddlers and then teenagers, I always spent at least part of the birthday day, on my own, just thinking about their lives. Today is no different. Each time one of the boys has a birthday, I take some time, on my own, to sit and think about the life they have lived. I relive good times, hard times, funny things, sad things, lessons learned . . . you get the idea.

Here's my birthday memory from last year

Today is Zack's 25th birth. Twenty-five! How is that even possible?!! In honor of his special day, I have made a list of my favorite things about Zack.

1. He feels everything deeply. If he loves something, he really loves it. If he doesn't love it, he REALLY doesn't love it. If he's happy you know it, and if he's mad, you know that too.
2. He is hysterically funny. He has spent a lifetime making us laugh. You only have to look at our family photos to see this quality in him. There is always at least one where he is trying to kiss Jacob or do something else equally as silly.
3. He has his own sense of style, in a lot of things, but especially when it comes to clothing and hair. I secretly want to be like him, but don't have the confidence.
4. He has a sensitive heart when it comes to people who are physically challenged.
5. He cares about people who others would deem unloveable.
6. He's not afraid to take a stand, but he's wise enough to know when to stand and when not to.
7. He loves his family, especially his little brother.
8. He's so talented. He can't take credit for the gift, but he is responsible with the gift he has been given.
9. He loves Jesus and lives a life that Jesus would be proud of, caring for the things that Jesus cares for.
10. He is such a great son. He's been a blessing from the very first breath he breathed in.

All that to say, Happy Birthday Zack. I love you more than candy.

Hooked

I was thinking today about how often we use the word hook in our English language, usually with a very negative connotation. I have NO IDEA why I was thinking this, some stream of consciousness I am sure, that led me to think about being let off the hook, which then led to me thinking about letting myself off the hook, and so on. From there, I just started thinking of all the ways we use the word hook.

If someone is addicted to drugs, we say they are "hooked." In fact, if they are addicted to anything, we say they are hooked. If someone meets a random person for an illicit sexual activity, we say they "hooked up." If someone is gullible and believes something stupid, we say they swallowed it "hook, line and sinker." If we catch someone at something and they don't know that they have been caught, we say they are "on the hook". If someone feels guilty about something, but they are clearly innocent, we say they should be "let off the hook."

I guess not all uses of the word hook are bad. A hook in musical terms is a good thing (I remember that from Masters of the Universe - the movie). I even remember when hooking up just meant that you would meet each other later, ie: "Let's hook up later and grab some coffee." BJ Thomas once sang a song called, "Hooked on a Feeling" and that was a happy song.

All that to say, my mind is obviously a mess if this is what I am blogging about!