How extreme extroversion makes me a better mom

WOW. Long time.

Today I had the opportunity to spend time with the most interesting person. This person, like me, is not originally from this state. She, like me, is between 29-32. And she, like me, loves Jesus. Rather than focus on what made us different, I chose to focus what drew us together.

I've been in a funk for about a week now. I must admit, I confess to the natural draw to hyper-hormonal tendencies (especially around certain time frames). But, naturally, I believe this funk was stress induced.

Today I met someone new. I'm not sure if I've shared this with you, but I'm an extreme extrovert. People energize me. I could spend one hour with someone I connect with and feel completely exhilarated following. Why you ask? I'm an extreme extrovert.

Following my brief visit with this new friend, I was able to, with revitalized ears, listen to my child. I was able to view her as a small person, not just my offspring. I found what she had to say genuinely interesting. She's 3 now. I confess that in the day-day routines of life, I find I conveniently spend less and less time doing just that.

I'm thankful God used what He created within my personality, to see and hear my child a little bit better today. Three cheers for extreme extroversion. All hail my Creator and King!

Until next time.

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Thanksgiving

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

It's that time of year. The holidays are fast approaching. Neighbors on our street have put a giant blow up turkey in their yard. Family members of mine are putting up Christmas trees. I hate to join the ever increasingly popular argument, but I'm going to go ahead anyway: Shouldn't we wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas? I imagine those in favor simply can't contain their excitement while the rest of us are saying, "Slow down!".


I feel like Thanksgiving has lost its significance. By association, most people think of it as the day before Black Friday. Thanks to the school district here in South Florida, I have the week off. I'm thankful that I've been given more of an opportunity to reflect than most working moms I know. This year, I'm imagining myself on the Mayflower on a journey to a new land.


Referring to the harvest that day in 1623, William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation wrote:


"And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of Thanksgiving.... By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine God gave them plenty.. for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had... pretty well... so as any general want or famine had not been amongst them to this day. "


Thank you, God, for your blessings of plenty.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in these parts. The sunshine here in Florida is deceiving. You walk outside and it feels like 30 degrees.

I remember growing up in our home in Massachusetts, and being so excited as I ran up my long driveway in anticipation of watching the latest movie on "Countdown To Christmas". This usually consisted of the classic, "A Christmas Story" being played for 24 hours straight on the local TV station. "You'll shoot your eye out!" became a famous line associated with any talk of Christmas movies.

You really knew it was Christmas when your parents had a fresh pine tree in the living room right after Thanksgiving. My mom always gave my dad the messy string of lights to sort out (that is, the ones that still worked). He would last about 5 minutes untangling them before he got frustrated and gave up. Then we'd take a trip to Walmart for a set of new ones. Carefully, we'd unwrap each delicate gold-plated ornament and strategically start decorating our tree.

Then, the anxiously awaited Christmas Day finally arrived. My brothers and I would get up at the crack of dawn and run down our long hallway to the living room to take a peak at all the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree. As a family, we didn't do "Santa", but my parents still felt the need to sneak around in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and plant our presents under our Christmas tree. They knew we liked surprises. We'd catch the local Christmas parade, and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" while playing with our toys as my mom basted the turkey and prepared for Christmas dinner.

To be honest, I can only remember one or two presents I received over the years. Christmas for me is not about getting or giving gifts. It's about God's greatest gift of all - His Son, Jesus Christ. Because of our hope in Him, we can come together as a family and rejoice because we have the most indescribable gratitude for what He has done for us. I love how the Apostle's Creed describes this gift:

I believe in God the Father Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. Suffered under Pontious Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead. He descended into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence, he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

I love this old hymn by Charles Wesley. My favorite part of the Charlie Brown Christmas movie is when all the kids sing,





Hark the Herald angels sing!
Glory to the newborn king!
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.

Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the trimphs of the skies.
With angelic hosts proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Hark the Herald angels sing!
Glory to the newborn king!

Merry Christmas, let's not forget why we celebrate this season.

Bleaching for Beauty

I don't know about you, but on occasion I like to watch the Tyra show. She has interesting topics that seem to be relevant for this secular culture we're in.





Today the topic was "Bleaching for Beauty". A mother of three boys interviewed on the show admittedly bleaches the skin of her three boys all under the age of 8, before they go to school each morning. Her 8 year old says, "being lighter makes me better".





As a Mom, I think the most important thing to instill in your children is how beautiful they are to you, and in the sight of God. When this is at the forefront, there is no room for "if you do this to yourself, then you will be beautiful". It's simple. You're beautiful (and for boys handsome) in the sight of God, your Maker. The Creator of all the universe thinks you are wonderful, marvelous, and worthy of unconditional adoration.





Psalm 139:12-14 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well".





As parents and ambassadors of Jesus Christ we are to be teaching are children by loving example that they are more precious than rubies in our sight and in God's.





I admit, I own a 7.5 oz Jergen's Natural Glow in the hope that it will make my skin a slightly darker tone. In a similar way, I can understand the desire to want to edit one's skin color. In no way am I basing my self confidence level on the tone of my skin.

If you are reading this, what do you think?

Transitions All Around

Wow, April was my last post. Time flies when you have a little one. She's getting so big. I can't believe she's already 7 months! She started crawling 3 weeks ago. Ronel and I were astounded. She started with a little army (or as we should say in my family -Marine) crawl, and now she's doing an all out two-handed scoot. You should see her go! And when she's motivated enough, she makes a bee line for the desired object. It's hilarious.

Yesterday she went straight for the cat. Cloey is my parent's cat. I named her after Cloey Morgan on General Hospital when I was in high school, haha. She has the sweetest temperament otherwise I wouldn't let her near Madison. My mom was tickling her nose with Cloey's tail and she was hysterical. If we could bottle her laugh and store it for days that are extra discouraging, I think we'd be all set.

Oh, by the way, I'm publishing this post from my parent's house in Chesapeake, VA. Ronel and I have officially left the compound and our first home together in Chicago. Surprisingly, I was more emotional leaving than I thought I would be. I've been so excited for this move since the day we decided to go and I found myself on the plane, sleeping little one in my arms, saying good-bye to Chicago with tears.

I think my wonderful hub put it best in his blog when he said, "we're leaving our old stomping grounds". It's where we met, fell in love, and started our lives together. It's also the birthplace of Madison. You can access his blog @: http://ronelb.blogspot.com/ .

And now we're onto Pembroke Pines, FL. We'll be starting over from scratch. It's a good thing for us. We were getting antsy in the Midwest. Too busy, too academic, too patronizing. We're longing more for simplicity, to be able to really know what it means to "rest". I think being closer to family will be a wonderful change for us.

We met with my parent's prayer partners today and they told us that they've been praying for us since our wedding! What an honor and a blessing. It's amazing how God uses His people as a network for His glory. I know that God has heard and answered their prayers over the course of the last 2 years. He has provided for us at the last minute, exactly what we need more than once. Praise God.

Now to be faithful to Him no matter where we are for His cause...

Safety: A Warning to My Daughter and All Who Read

It feels like a really long time since my last post.

A few months ago a former friend recommended I read this book. We'll call her E. the concept is to identify relationships that are good for you and avoid those that aren't. E had nothing but great things to say about the book. Praising it she said things like, "I'm learning so much about myself through this book. It's a great counseling tool!". I like to think that I am an individual who is not opposed to change, or too prideful to do so. Naively, I borrowed it.

Little did I know that my close former friend would just a few short months later be nothing more than a figment in my memory. I have to say, the book is a great book. I identified parts of my personality that have had "unsafe" tendencies in the past. I learned about past relationships that were unsafe. When I finished, I returned the book to her. I even recommended it to others.

In the future, when a friend recommends a read like this to me, I will head it as a great warning. I should have seen it clearly. Three months after making this recommendation, E and her husband slipped out of our lives (mine and my husband). First, they ignored our phone calls and voice mails. Next came the facebook messages, and finally emails. Eventually they cut all contact whatsoever leaving both myself and my husband going, "What did we do wrong?". We even asked them. They avoided it.

Without jumping up and down and yelling, "I'M UNSAFE! I'M UNSAFE! BEING MY FRIEND WILL HURT YOU!", essentially this is what she did by recommending this book.

To my daughter, be careful who you choose as your companions in this life. Inevitably, everyone will disappoint you one way or another. This is because we are nothing but sinful humans. The only One who will not disappoint you or hurt you ever is your Lord who loves you desperately. Your Dad and I will try our best, but even we will disappoint you at times. We pray that you will carefully watch those you may consider to be your friend, in different situations. Watch how they handle their anger, hurts, and disappointments. Take note of their character, and most importantly ask yourself, "Will this person help strengthen my relationship with Jesus, or bring me away from Him?". Lastly, pray that God would give you wisdom when making your decision. We love you, Mom and Dad.

To anyone else who reads, I hope you found this article helpful. My husband and I are still grieving the loss of our friendships to both E and her husband. I don't know if we'll ever get closure or even a simple decent response to our efforts. But even if we don't, at least we have a concrete example of some unsafe people. No need to worry we'll forget, our pain helps us remember.