Juliana Goes to School!

It doesn't seem quite possible,  but yesterday my baby started school! :(
It only seems like it was a few days ago that I held her in my arms, a helpless baby - but she's not a baby anymore.


Out the door...

For five and a half years, I have spent nearly every waking moment with her - and quite a few un-awake moments, too! I've fed her, dressed her, and along with her dad, we've protected her as well as we could. We couldn't protect her from every boo-boo along the way, but the ones we
couldn't protect her from, we kissed and made better. We've taught her almost everything she knows - from how to crawl and walk, to how to use the big-girl potty, to how to act like a lady (ok, maybe that one hasn't stuck too well, but we're trying!) among many other things.


Across the parking lot...

Yesterday, she set out on a new learning adventure. She'll have many new teachers on this journey, who will teach her many things. She'll have fun times, sad times, frustrating times, and she will feel pride at accomplishing some new thing.

Down the hall, to left...and we've arrived!
I can't protect her from everything any more. There is sure to come a day when she is hurt by one of her classmates, or a teacher who speaks carelessly or harshly...but she is learning. And each little hurt, each little joy, every moment along the way, will help her to grow and to become the woman she will be. 

The little brother wasn't very happy to leave his playmate.


No, I won't always be there to keep the hurts from happening, but I WILL be here to hold her when she hurts. I'll be here to listen when she doesn't understand. I may not always be her best friend - in fact, there'll probably be times when I'm downright unpopular in her eyes, but I will always be her biggest supporter.

Doing the first homework.

And when she needs more than I can give her, I'll be sure to point her the One who will be everything she ever needs. The One who loves her even more than I do, and knows more about her than I will ever know because He made her.



All finished!

And so, I'm sad. It will take a while to adjust to having one of my chicks missing for most of the day, but we'll survive. But this is life,  and it's a new learning experience for her.
So I'll be happy for her.

After I cry for a while.

On Armadillos...and Heaven - Conversations with a 5-year-old

Wow, I never knew so many topics could be covered so thoroughly in a 30 minute drive - until I had a child!

Leaving from the great-grandparents place tonight, we saw an armadillo (2, actually), so I spent the next little bit answering questions like, 'do armadillos have sharp teeth?' and, 'what would happen if you picked up an armadillo?', and, 'do hunters shoot armadillos and eat them?', among many others. At point, she told me she to learn about them and when she went to school she would ask her teacher to teach her about them - then she said, 'Mama, will you be my teacher?' So, after we arrived home, I had to look up armadillos on the internet for her - we had to see pictures, find out where they live, what they eat, etc. After I exhausted all the pertinent facts that Wikipedia had to offer, she informed me, 'let's go somewhere else and look for those things - I want to learn more!'

Then we moved on to heaven, and people dying and going there...'when I see someone that I love and have missed in Heaven, will there still be tears in my eyes?'; I told her that we don't cry anymore in Heaven, but she told me, 'but Mom, when I see someone I've missed, when I run to hug them, I might still have some tears on my face!'. So, then she wanted to know, 'what will God do to us if He sees us with tears?'

I'm sure she thought there might be punishment for doing something that wasn't allowed, after all, there are usually consequences for disobeying - but I got to tell my little girl about a loving God who, though He doesn't allow tears in His Heaven, when He sees tears in our eyes, does not punish us, but instead will reach down and gently wipe them away.

And I got tears in my eyes just thinking about it...I'm glad I have a God like that!

As a mother, there are so many things I can't explain - I don't know if armadillos have sharp teeth, or how Barbara Manatee (on VeggieTales) wears a dress and lipstick, or how a lie grows so big that it will swallow you up (VeggieTales, again), nor do I know why some people get sick and die, or why some people lose arms and legs, if it will be hard for hard to find Mommy and Daddy in Heaven, or why Bubby thinks red is green, why some people hurt kids, or why some kids don't have mommies and daddies (all questions I've been asked recently).

But I do know this: there is a God in Heaven who cares so much about me, that when I'm sad -it makes Him sad; when I hurt, He hurts with me; when I don't have answers to all the questions and the problems I face, He whispers, 'Just Trust Me'; and when I finally reach my permanent home - His home - because He cares so much, He will reach out to me, and with His great big God-hand - the very Hand that flung stars into galaxies, formed oceans and rivers, tree, plants and all those animals that I can't explain, the Hand that created man from just a handful of dust - with that Hand, He will wipe away every tear that has ever fallen from my eyes.

You know, maybe I don't need all the answers to all the questions...that's answer enough.

Just thinkin....... (again)

"If you heart takes mare pleasure in reading novel, watching tv, going to the movies, or talking to friends rather than sitting with God, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever in His presence...if you're not ecstatic about Him now?" -Keith Green
(recently posted by my brother - thanks, Sherwood!)

Kinda makes you think, huh?
Reminds me of a verse -

Psalm 37:4, Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of your heart.
How much time do I spend 'delighting' myself in the Lord?
Do I spend time with Him because He's my best friend and I can't wait to be with Him, or because I have list if things that I 'need' to ask Him for?
It's kind of like someone marrying someone they have never met, or met only once or twice - people don't usually do that, because in general, you don't choose to spend the rest of your life with someone you know nothing about.
So why would I choose to spend eternity with Someone I know nothing about?
Just as we took time to get to know our spouse before we married him or her, we need to spend time with God, get to know Him, before we go to spend forever with Him.
Is it wrong to ask Him for things? No, the Bible says to 'make your requests known'. But do we spend more time asking for things, or just stopping to chat - and taking time to listen?
Besides, I think if we spent more time 'delighting' in God, we might begin to see more of our requests coming to pass.

Just my thoughts - you can take 'em or leave 'em!

A Song For Today

You know how sometimes you find yourself singing a song only to realize that you don't remember all the words? Or does that only happen to me?
Anyway, tonight I was sitting at the piano, just playing for the fun of it -kids in bed, hubby studying, just me and the piano having a little 'quality time', and I began playing an arrangment of a song that I put together several years ago, and haven't played lately. As I played I was singing along with myself in my head, and started to realize that I always sing the first verse, but could never remember the second. So, me, with my 'must research this subject' brain, I decided to go hunt up the words. What I found was a song that, though it was written quite a few years ago, is still very relevant for today; it made me stop and think. I thought I'd share it:

Every day, they pass me by,
I can see it in their eyes;
Empty peole filled with care -
Headed who knows where.
On they go in private pain,
Living fear to fear;
Laughter hides the silent cries
Only Jesus hears.

People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams,
He's the open door
People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
When will we realize
People need the Lord.

We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who's lost?
Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear;
They MUST hear the words of life
Only we can share.

People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams,
He's the open door.
People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
When will we realize
That we must give our lives?
For, people need the Lord
People need the Lord!

(by Greg Nelson & Phill McHugh, (c) 1983)

What have we done to show them the way?