Love Songs: The Collies

Today we're kicking things off with the Collies!  They currently live and serve in South Africa with Samaritan's Feet.  They have one adorable little boy and one on the way--although I hope and pray by the time this posts that baby Collie will have arrived!  You can read more about Caroline by visiting her blog.  

Hero Hubs and I laboured over a love song list. (Ya know, since I'm not in actual labour yet, we've got the time.) 

10. Making Love Out of Nothing at All -- Air Supply It is hard not to laugh at this. Magic. (A little tongue in cheek, but this has to have a place on the list.)

9. Now That We Found Love (What are we Gonna Do...with it?) by Heavy D and the Boyz. We put this song in the soundtrack of the wedding video the Hubs made my sister. It has really felt like love ever since. 

8. All Out of Love by Air Supply They almost cornered the market on love songs, really. It's just too classic not to be included.

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you...

7. Love is Strange -- Mickey and Sylvia (from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack) Thanks to our age difference and my high and naïve hopes for changing the world, the Hubs and I make a great Johnny and Baby. Except we waited until we were married...you know.

Sylvia... Yes Mickey... How do you call your lover boy? [...]

Baybay...ohhh Baybay...my sweet baybay...You're the one!

6. (I've Had) The Time of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (also from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack) Like I just said, we're Johnny and Baby.

5. Paper Weight by Joshua Radin. Someone burned this on a CD for me before Mark and I started dating. We listened to it on our trip around South Africa when we got engaged. Simple lyrics and lovely voices that just complement each other so beautifully. It just feels like love.

Every word you say, I think I could write down.

Don't want to forget, come daylight.

4. Africa by Toto (We walked into our wedding reception to this song. I just loooove the lyrics. 

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.... there's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do. 

I bless the rains down in Africa...gonna take some time to do the things we never have...

3. To Be With You by Mr. Big (This has to be THE number one love song of all time in my book -- it's just not number one in the Hubs.Seriously. It has been my favourite since High School.) 

I'm the one who wants to be with you...deep inside I hope you feeeel it tooo. 

Waited on a line of greens and blues, just to be the next to be with you.

2. Fields of Gold by Sting The imagery of the lyrics in this song is just so stunning. What's not to love?

1. When I Fall in Love as sung by Nat King Cole (actually really special to us -- this was the song we danced to at our wedding. Nat King Cole is a favourite of the Hubs' Dad.)

Thanks Caroline and Mark!  This is a great list! 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's list. . . 

Lerve Songs: A Guest Posting Extravaganza!!!!

This week I'm featuring several of my fellow bloggers and their take on lerve songs.

I asked some married folks (as well as some single folks) to guest post about their favorite AND least favorite love songs.

You're going to LOVE what they have to say! I've been humming the songs they've mentioned for the past week. I'm a firm believer that musical tastes can tell you a lot about a person's personality.

Tomorrow we'll kick things off with the Collies, my favorite South African family! Caroline and I went to ECU together and she and I have reconnected in the past few years via the internet as she has been all over the world with her wonderful husband, Mark, and their TWO cute kids (Caroline just delivered baby no. 2 last week). She is a girl after my own heart and her blog is one of my favorites.

Make sure you head back over here tomorrow to read their post as well as the others who will be gracing me with their presence this week!

Happy Sunday!

A lot of stuff is happening this week!

1. Guest posting on lerve songs--you won't want to miss my guest bloggers this week! I sent a challenge to some friends about their favorite (and least favorite) love songs to wrap up this month of love. You won't want to miss their posts!

2. Exciting debut this TUESDAY. . .more to come!

3. The Avery girls are headed to DC for a few days of history, sightseeing, and adventure with our favorite Delawarians.

It's Coming!

Something new and exciting is coming on March 1st!  I've been busy, busy, busy at work with some lovely ladies in anticipation of this great event.  I can't wait to let you in on the news. . .but here's a sneak peak

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Retrospective Morning

I love a drizzly morning.  My house stays dark and cozy and there's a stillness in the house that even my 3 year old can't touch.

My coffee is my security blanket and I journal and read and reflect on all that is right and wrong in the world this morning.

A doctor's appointment that needs to go well.  Prayers spoken for family members--two in particular. 


A friend's words that cut deeply this past weekend.  And later, an unexpected and gentle prodding to not take it too personally from a respected acquaintance.  


Measuring one's worth.  Why do earthly scales always seem to outweigh heavenly ones?


Smiles for a friend with an unexpected pregnancy.  Prayers for another who is waiting beyond her due date for her child to arrive.  


Bills, bills, bills.  Where do they come from and who let them multiply like rabbits in the middle of the night?

As women, we tend to carry the weight of the world (and our families, and jobs, and church, and housework, and and and. . . )  We walk around with mental to-do lists and tasks, face mountains of laundry, and live by calendars and schedules.

We're crushed because we carry burdens in addition to our own.

We aspire to be the superwomen that surround us, but are often left feeling like we're falling short.

We long for simplicity, but we also want excitement.

We are complex and curious creatures.

And there are several of us who hear you, see you, and are just like you.  

To be continued on March 1st. 

Untitled.

I love to be around creative types.

For whatever reason, I gravitate towards them.  They speak my language, they don't roll their eyes, they don't click the red X button on the screen when they see my blog is yet another daily dose of humanity and retrospectiveness.

My idea of Heaven (besides being blessed with a voice like Lauryn Hill--because I know God has that in mind for me when I get there and get my perfect body), is sitting around all day with steaming cups of coffee and talking about all things create-able.  To be allowed to wallow, absorb, and learn from one another.

It's very whimsical.    

I also tend to become very wary of their opinions and judgements.  The ones that are unexpressed are always the worst.  They are the ones I imagine in my head but never hear in audible form.  I just assume.

And we all know what happens when we assume. . .right?  

I loved my 8th grade english teacher. 

If you're a faithful reader or if you're someone who just stumbled across this today, you need to know a few things about this blog. 

This is my blog.  My blog, my blog, myblogmyblogmyblog.  

And because it's my blog, sometimes it's going to be a light hearted look on life, other times it's sappy and mommyish, and then sometimes it's downright depressing. 

But, isn't life that way?  Cycles of insanity, fun, and sadness?  Tension and release, ebb and flow?  

This is my creative outlet of late.  I mentioned this in an email to a friend yesterday (or perhaps it was the day before?  It all runs together.)  

I blog to let it all out, to wash my soul, to clear my head.  And most of the time I invite you on this journey with me.  There are moments of selecting careful words and trying to protect those around me, but as a general rule, this is my honest to goodness life.  

There are several times I worry before I press "publish post" because what if people don't like it?  What if they think I'm too __________?  What if they stop reading?  What if they judge me?  What if they change their opinion of me?  What if I damage a relationship?

But, 99.9% of the time I publish.  If this is my art, if this is my heart and soul, then I do a disservice to myself and to the craft by holding back.  

So, please note that I really want you to like what I write, I really want you to find something of value in my blog, and I want you to come back.  

But what I want most in all of this is to be transparent.  

So, please know that what you read is me just being me.  

Take it or leave it.   

Where is the good?

This question has been heavy on my heart.

Almost a whisper, but one I've been too afraid to ask out loud.

Where is the good?

When I stood at the deathbed of one of my closest friends, my confidant, my accountability partner.  

Where is the good?

When I sang at memorial services this past year.  

Where is the good?

When the diagnosis was terminal. 

Where is the good?

When the people of the church acted like people. 

Where is the good?

When loved ones moved away. 

Where is the good?

Sometimes I look around and wonder, "Really, God?  Really?  This has to happen, too?"  

WHERE IS THE GOOD?????

And then He reminds me, in His sweetest whisper, 

I Am the Good.  

My Lerve on Love

Today is Valentine's Day and as a special treat to you, I asked my husband to share a story with all of you about real, honest to goodness love:


This past Sunday night at church, I wanted to tell the kids a different idea of love than they are usually presented with. I get tired of love used to express feelings and emotions without any thought of sacrifice, total acceptance, and commitment.  I used this general idea to give the lesson at Sunday Night Kids.

            

I started the lesson by asking the kids how they would recognize a random Christian walking around town. They many answers like “They love Jesus” or “They go to church”, but I wanted something different from them.

            

I told the kids a story from when I was working at Office Depot. The employees that worked with me at the store knew I was a Bible college graduate and a former minister and often asked for my perspective on spiritual issues. It was good to have the conversations with everyone from college students to retired military. One of their biggest complaints was that Christians act like everyone else so there must not be any compelling reason to attend church.

So, this minister comes in on a Friday to pick up his church bulletins from the copy center. His copies were printed slightly off-center and a bit crooked. The girl who made the copies had obviously messed up and church bulletins are almost impossible to fix once they are wrong. This minister was going to have to bring his off-centered and crooked bulletins to his congregation on Sunday morning. He was not happy at all. We gave him the copies for free, but his originals were beyond repair. He probably lost $5.00 worth of bulletins that day and some time explaining to his congregation about why they were messed up.

            

The minister got very angry at the college student working at the copy center. He called her incompetent, dumb and many other things. The damage he did to her view of Christianity wasn’t worth $5.00 of bulletins. If some random person was walking by and did not know he was a minister, they probably would not have even thought he attended church. I explained to the kids that everyone has bad days and Christians are no exception, but there is no excuse for how we treat people.

            

I wanted the kids to know that Christians should be visible by our irrational love. I read from 1 John and told them that we can’t truly understand love until we understand that God is love and his love for us was shown through Jesus on the cross.

         

I told the kids that marriage is a big deal and men (because I was speaking) are called to an extremely high standard of love and commitment. Men are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church. We are to sacrifice and give in order to make sure our wives are growing closer in their relationship with God. If necessary we are to die to ourselves in order to make sure our wives experience God’s love.

            

One very perceptive girl asked, “Have you ever seen anyone die for someone else?”

            

I thought for a few seconds and answered. “Yes, but I can’t tell you about it without crying.”

            

Then, without answering, I just started crying and was unable to speak. It took me about 30 seconds to get any kind of voice in my throat.

I told her (voice cracking like I’m going through puberty),

 “I’ve seen people in our church give up their lives and die to other people. I saw Cliff Hollis put his life on hold for 3 years while he cared for Jill, until she passed away. Yeah, I see it all the time . . ."

I really appreciated his thoughts and wanted to share them with all of you.  I hope that we are all known for our irrational and unexplainable love for others, rather than the predictable "love" we share only on February 14th.  

Thank you Christacular for being a man who loves deeply.  xoxxo 

Please Don't See Me

Vulnerable.

That scary place no one wants to be, no one wants to admit exists, that we cover with sparkles and sprinkles to make it pretty.

Vulnerable.

That place where we keep all of our fears, realities, mistakes, pain, bloody messes.

Vulnerable.

The face of someone holding a secret.

The face of someone trying to live up to impossible expectations.

The face of someone trying to be everything else but who he or she really is.

The camouflaged face of someone trying to blend in with everyone else.

Vulnerable.

In the church (the community, not the building or a specific congregation), we are often afraid to be vulnerable.  We will admit to problems like lack of prayer life, not being good with tithing, or being afraid of upcoming procedures and diseases.

But we cover up our most vulnerable and emotional places and refuse to speak them out loud.

Why?  Why do we care so much about what others think of us?

Is it because we live in a society that judges us harshly by our abilities?

Is it because we've been programmed to act a certain way?

Is it because we live in a world of norms and rights and wrongs?

When did we stop accepting people with love, and begin loving them only when they fit into our molds of acceptability?

It hurts my heart to see people so consumed with their attempts to cover up their most vulnerable spots that they cease to exist.

Why do we insist on doing this to others?  Why do we only accept them if they live in our world of perfection and dos and don'ts?

It's wrong.  

I love the people in my world who are the most transparent.  They are the ones who allow their baggage to hang out a little. They are the ones who are unafraid to be real.  

They are the ones who make us feel a little better about ourselves because they are not pretending to be perfection. 

Because none of us are perfect.  Remember?

Romans 3:23

I think back to the times that I was most in awe of people's transparency:  a young unmarried couple expecting a child standing before their church family, a friend admitting to fighting drug addiction, a friend admitting to being homosexual, a friend exposing a secret that could permanently destroy her career, a friend wrestling with past mistakes and a painful divorce.    

When someone comes to us and shares their pain and suffering, do we shun them?  Do we take their vulnerability and shove it in their face?  Do we discourage them from ever being vulnerable again?

Or, do we love them regardless?  Do we admit that we're not perfect people and that perhaps a little mercy and compassion is the best thing we could offer?

I tend to sympathize with the vulnerable.  I find beauty in the soul and the gut wrenchedness that comes with exposure.  My heart beats quickly when people act like people and not like the shells of humanity that surround me on a daily basis.  I embrace that side of humanity.  The artist within me craves the depths of reality.     

Last night, Chris and I watched "Inception."  First, let me suggest watching it about six times to catch everything.  

But, I was interested in the movie's idea of projections.  We expect people to act like projections everyday.  Don't stick out, don't rock the boat, don't act like yourself--just blend in.  We tend to get nervous around people who don't act like they are supposed to.  Who don't follow the rules.  Who don't play nice.  

I'm not talking about being polite, I'm talking about the humanized system of dos and don't we've created in the church.  The hierarchy of sins in which lust is wrong, but it's ok for you to do five over the speed limit.  It's wrong to curse, but it's ok to tell the old lady you love her new blue hairdo.  It's wrong to be addicted to porn, but it's ok to be addicted to cigarettes or food.  

I feel like most of us desire to be around people who just accept who they are.  Those who don't try to convince us to like them, those who don't try so hard to be acceptable, those who aren't obnoxious about their system of life.  We hate those people who are ridiculous and try to overexert themselves to call attention away from what's eating them the most.  

This is a call to love one another.  And that means embracing the whole person, not just selecting qualities like produce--eating what's good and discarding the rest.

We will never be able to love others until we actually start loving others. 

Warts and all.    

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Weekly shout outs:

Are you an emo Valentine's Day hater? Please read Rachel's post before you update your FB status again.

This post/video is not faith based, but an interesting talk on vulnerability and how it affects us.  Megan (Jill's daughter) shares this on her website.  I think this lady makes an interesting point in regards to how we are afraid to be vulnerable.  This led me to a post I will probably post later today.

And this one here on loving everyday, not just Valentine's Day.  Who doesn't love a little "Rent" in their lives once in a while?

Have a great week!

You Know You're in a Van with a Bunch of Loonies When. . . (aka Tour Top 10)

I understand that 99% of my readers will have NO CLUE what this post is all about and I'm ok with that.  I believe in the importance of documenting momentous occasions and events.

1.  Patches the pig dog.   
2.  Did Dave break the guitar string?
3.  Geno's vs. Pat's
4.  What stays in the van, freezes in the van.
5.  Bread in the face=broken nose.
6.  Parking garage terror.
7.  The strange and curious and disgusting things found in guest beds.
8.  Hair pieces and old lady bras.
9.  Guided tour of Gettysburg.  Pennsylvania blew Virginia out of the water.  I'm just sayin'.
10.  Email delight.

Treasure, Week 6: Love

Just tuning in?  You've got some catching up to do!  Why don't you start with week one?

We made it!  We made it!  We made it!  It's Week 6 and it's Valentine's Day weekend!  I hope you've got a hot date with your lerve or at least a special activity set aside for the two of you.  Chris and I will be in two different places this weekend--he'll be at church and I'll be home with Lily (who has doctor confirmed flu--hide yo' kids, hide yo' wives, and hide yo' husbands cause our church is infecting errbody!)  Perhaps we'll get a chance to do something later in the week.  

This week is all about (drumroll please):  love. 

It seems like everywhere you turn, advertisers and stores are begging you to demonstrate your love by buying something red and heart shaped.  While I was in Philadelphia earlier this week, I stopped in the Godiva store.  The chocolate. . . the red. . . the romance. . .the music.  It's intoxicating.  

And then what happens on February 15th?  

It all becomes clearance items and quickly shoved aside for shamrocks and bunnies.  

How quickly we shove people aside. 

Our notions of love are fleeting. 

We are no longer training for endurance. 

A few months back I was in Barnes and Noble with Lily looking for a reading selection for my cousin's wedding.  My sister and I had been given the honor of reading during the ceremony.  My cousin had yet to find something that she liked and time was running out.  I pulled out stacks of old Irish love poems, sonnets by beautiful writers, and poignant messages of marriage.  I poured over the pages in the children's section while Lily played with the train set.  

Nothing felt right.  It all felt too forced, too artificial, too cliche.  

I got up from the tiny picnic table and wandered around the children's section.  I saw poetry by Shel Silverstein and flipped through.  I found classic tales and looked for words that might fit.  

And then, it found me.  

An edition of The Velveteen Rabbit.

Before I made it back to the table I already knew I had found what I was looking for.  As I read the pages of the story I started sobbing right in the middle of the store.  

This was the message of love we all needed to hear. 

I selected the following passage to share at the wedding (you can view the entire reading here):

What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day.  "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

Our entire lives we look for those people who can make us feel alive.  We want to be real.  We want to feel needed.  Our society has romanticized this down to buying chocolates and red items, when all we need is love (love is all we need--sorry, couldn't resist).  

If you've been married or have been with your significant other for a while, you know that life is rough.  Life is hard, and there are times when you feel like your hair has been rubbed off and your eyes have fallen out.  Your spouse knows that you aren't always as beautiful or as handsome as you were when you were fresh in the relationship and that commitment often includes morning breath, hurtful moments, and doubts. 

But, when you really love someone, you love them regardless.  You walk beside them during the good and bad times, and in turn, you help each other become real.  

The Bible instructs us to love one another as Christ loves us.  1 Corinthians 13 makes it very clear how we are to love one another.  

¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 

²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 

^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

 ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

I hope you will spend some time this week looking at your spouse through the eyes of love.  

In Every Season

I have mentally written and rewritten this post all week as I've been touring with my students.

I shared with the students the morning of their first worship service to remember to worship fully.  This is such a cliche phrase among musicians in the church, but it always rings true.  If you are worshipping fully, then your worship never stops and starts--it is always occurring, always changing, always evolving, always present.

One of the songs on the set list this week has been the Desert Song.  I love this song especially for the lyrics:

All of my life, in every season

You are still God, I have a reason to sing

I have a reason to worship.

I found myself moved to tears every single time I heard these words this week as I watched my students leading worship.  I looked at their faces and thought about their stories. Each of these students has a story to tell--and these aren't the run of the mill stories.  These students have walked through terrible and horrific ordeals and still choose to worship Christ.  These students have lost family members and friends.  These students have pasts that haunt them daily.  These students have dealt with broken relationships, self-doubt, and lack of self-esteem.  These students have had differences with each other.  These students have extreme highs and lows and are trying desperately to figure out this thing called life.  

And they still believe that they have a reason to sing.  

It is a tremendous blessing to be in their presence. 

On Monday evening, the students had an impromptu opportunity to lead worship in a home.  It was glorious to sit in a cozy living room and lift our voices in song together with the families who were housing us for the evening.  As the students were packing up, someone commented that their worship was genuine and that you could see it all over their faces.  

See for yourself:

My dear, dear students.  

Thank you for reminding me daily that I always have a reason to sing. 

I have a reason to worship.  

Death By Laughter

I love to laugh.

However, sometimes my laughter is inappropriate.

I tend to laugh when one shouldn't, resulting in uncontrollable urges to explode in laughter.

This morning I sat with Dave and Kevin at breakfast and nearly lost my bagel because I was laughing so hard I was crying.

I seriously couldn't breathe. 

I adore these moments--when you laugh and laugh and laugh.

It's so good for the soul.

If you haven't checked out this website yet, you need to do yourself a favor and visit.

Especially if you're feeling emo.

This Man

Asked me to marry him 9 years ago today.  

And I was smart enough to say, "Yes!"

I love you, Christacular!  

Community of Complainers

(This post was scheduled before tour and not an indication of poor behavior from my MACU students).

We have an illness.

We have a serious case of me-itis.

We want our way.

We want our way.

WE WANT OUR WAY!!!!!

AND WE WILL STOMP OUR FEET UNTIL WE GET OUR WAY!!!!!

We need to take a step back.

Do we really need to complain?

Do we really need to whine?

Is it really that bad?

No.  It's not.   

Mama A is Afraid You are Going to Lose Your Fingers

Dear Students,

Mama A here, ready to encourage you to do better things and be the best "you" you can be.

I must address a serious issue here.

This will probably tick you off.

But, I really don't care, because I'm Mama A and I've got years and birthing hips to back up my mouth.

If you are a chronic texter/phone checker/status updater/can't breathe when the red light is blinking or the phone dings or vibrates sort of person.  I urge you:

Step away from the cell phone. 

Being attached to your cell phone and detached from the community around you is the same as standing in a room full of people and sticking your fingers in your ears while simultaneously screaming, "LALALALA I can't hear you!"

It's R-U-D-E RUDE!  

Honestly, I know that the cell phone is important to all of us, but if you can't step away from it during church, in the restroom, or during a meal with loved ones you've got a major issue.  

So, here are some times your cell phone should NOT be in use or visible (in case this post isn't clear enough). 

1.  Do not update from the toilet.  Honestly.  So gross. 

2. In a wedding, funeral, or church service.  Seriously?  What are you going to say, "And they just took Uncle Rudy down the aisle. . .and there goes Grandma Gladys"???

TACKY!!!!!!!

3.  At the dinner table.  Pay attention to those sitting with you rather than those in cyberspace. 

4.  When you are around old people.  They don't get it and they don't appreciate it.  It's beyond rude and it makes you look unintelligent.  

5.  When you are around new people.  They feel very uncomfortable and don't appreciate having to wait for you to finish your discussion with non-present people.  So inconsiderate.  

6.  Driving.  Obviously a bad life decision. 

I get that you need to stalk people check on everyone's updates and statuses, but really, there are times and places. 

And if I see you using your cellular device during those times and locations I may be inclined to break your knuckles. 

Or I'll send you a text to say, "PUT YOUR PHONE UP IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!!!!"

Love and smooches, 

Mama A. 

Treasure, Week 5.5: Prayer

You might want to start from the beginning. Or at least last week. 

Today I am traveling with my students.  We are heading north for a week long tour of churches in Maryland and Pennsylvania with a pit stop in Delaware.  I look forward to traveling with this group of students and I look forward to meeting with the churches.

As I shared earlier in the week, I was feeling rather low in regards to leaving my family for a week.  By Thursday morning I was a nervous wreck.  I had to head back over to school for a special dinner honoring our graduates and was dreading spending yet another night away from home right before leaving for the week.  I was sitting on the couch and sobbing with Lily in my lap.  I was missing my family already and I knew this was going to be one tough week with a full day's worth of packing and preparations in front of me.  I didn't want to go, I didn't want to pack, I didn't want to miss out on one minute of family time.  I was praying but couldn't stop feeling so out of control.

I was one pitiful mess.  

Once Chris was out of the shower and ready to head for work, I went to our room and I cried on his shoulder.  He was so kind and supportive and reminded me that this was the only part of my job that I "hated" and it actually had nothing to do with the job itself, just the separation from my family.  He reminded me that I love what I do and this was the one trade off for working three days a week, getting my summers off, and being able to do what I love.

Lily came into the room and asked why I was crying.  Chris explained that I was just going to miss being with her while I was away.  

I asked Chris to pray for me. 

Out loud.    

And in a huddled party of three, my husband, my love and my rock, prayed a sweet prayer over us.  I felt the warmth from him and from Above.  It took the burden off of my shoulders as my husband carried my load for a little while.

So, while I know I will miss being at home this coming week, I know that I am covered in prayers.  I know that I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

And I know my spouse has been and will be praying for me.  

We'll complete this series next Saturday morning (when I'm back at home!)  I have been so encouraged to hear from so many of you and your stories since we started this series!  

Thank you for your comments and support!  See you next week!

Darts.

I love my job. 


I get paid to love on college students, talk about worship music, and discuss methods.  


I get to travel and visit places. 


I get to talk to the future leaders of the church and have a small glimpse into their worlds. 


I laugh with them (a LOT). 


I cry with them. 


I listen to them. 


I celebrate with them. 

However, there is a cost to my job.  There will always be a cost. 

I travel quite a bit for work.  It's expensive to be on the road 12 hours a week. 


And, the worst part, I really hate being away from my family when I travel.  


It's hard to explain to my children that I have to be gone for a week to be with other people's children.  


It breaks my heart to be away from them.  


And that's something only a parent can really understand.  


It's hard to leave.  And I know Chris will take excellent care of them, and I know they won't miss me too much after the first day, and I know it's good for all of us to be away from each other once in a while. 

But, it is really hard. 

It's probably the worst part of my job.  


I also get a terrible case of the "what ifs" when I'm preparing to leave.  Anxiety is high and it seems like I can never really shake it until I'm back at home at the end of the week.  


I know that once I get on the road things are fine, I enjoy myself, and it ends up being a great experience.  I know I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything and they are some of my favorite times.  All I have to say is "Russelville" or "Waco" to my students and they instantly get it. 

But, when you are facing a big experience, darts start flying. 

And the enemy is not going to use some pansy, flimsy Nerf darts. 

Nope, he's coming for blood.  

And he aims directly for your exposed and weak spots. 

So, if you're the praying sort, please pray for all of us as we prepare to travel.  Pray that we will have a safe trip, that our personalities won't clash, that drama will stay away, and that we will do our jobs to the very best of our abilities.  Pray for focus, stamina, and determination.  Pray for our desires not to be about us or our glory or personal recognition.


And until then I will continue to keep these words in my heart:

Psalm 121: 7-8 

God guards you from every evil, 

      he guards your very life. 

   He guards you when you leave and when you return, 

      he guards you now, he guards you always.