Lilley of the field

After a wonderful day, our last 15 minutes ended in mild frustration over silly things as we got ready for bed. We then got a phone call from some good friends who were coming into town and needed a place to stay. Being a "place to crash" is one of our favorite things and yet we didn't know whether we wanted to stay up and wait and be good hosts or go to bed. My body said "bed," my heart said, "stay up and blog." Because in 15 minutes I'd somehow forgotten how the rest of my day went. So onto my day while we await dear friends. (Hello, Funciks!) In typical love-of-Ann-Voskamp style this shall be a list of gifts. Beautifully, my last post was about feeling drained and realizing the sweetness of being thankful and how that affects our perception of everything we do. When we bring the dark caverns of our heart to light, we experience a lightness in and of itself that releases us from all obligations in this world allowing us to freely receive God...

We've been reflecting some lately- Aaron and I. It could be something in the cool weather or more likely, it's that while we're going 90 miles and hour we every once in a while catch a glimpse of something in our review mirror that makes us do a double take and we think about how we would like to pull our vehicle of life over to the side for a moment a pause. It could have been pulling out my paintings for Artful Worship and realizing I hadn't painted in a couple years. It could have been finishing painting our back bedroom and moving back my dusty craft supplies and mildewy suitcases that haven't seen light in a while. It could have been the multiple nights of dirty dishes we've been leaving out when we usually like going to bed with a clean counter. It could have been the weeds in our garden, the dead petunias in the flower pots outside our front door, or the  grass that took Aaron three times as long to mow because it was so tall. It could have been catchin...

We geared up for the Clemson vs. Georgia game this week. Or in reality- tried to sound more enthused when we were asked about the game. Neither of us are huge football fans, but we both went to large southern universities with students and alumni who pray about, get butterflies during, and cry at football games. It's quite the phenomenon. We are a house divided and since we've been together (7 whole years!) this is the first time they've played each other. During our 4 years burning up miles on i-85 traveling to and from our colleges, they never played each other despite our best hopes. And now here they were playing each other and we going to traveling through several states to land in Memphis, TN for a wedding. We didn't mind really, but did wish we could have heard the deafening roar at Death Valley, tailgated with some friends, and enjoyed the liveliness and explosion of excitement in this little town. All week, when asked, I said I would of course be pullin...

The days ebb and flow- particularly in seasons of business. Aaron has often compared my emotions to that graph/ function thing that goes up and down drastically (I, of course, cannot remember the technical name). The day was full. Full of kids running, my brain running, my legs running. Aaron had told me to leave some things for him to do before everyone came over. The minutes ticked and six o'clock rolled around and there was no sign of his return. So, I hoped off the couch to do those things in record timing that I'd left for him plus the things I was going to do anyways. Slice the bread. Sweep the floors. Vacuum the rugs. Run the dogs around. Cook the sauce. Boil the noodles. Make the bed. Write an email. Then they came. And time slowed and I breathed the fresh aroma of Jesus in the form of community. We sang, we prayed, we read the creation story and let old words sear new life on our hearts. The story we've heard a thousand times. And God said... And it was good....

The emails from the public library were coming into my inbox. Four books total on hold for me. As I checked them out of the library that day, feet sore from a long day, heart heavy, I felt a twinge of guilt thinking that I probably wouldn't read all four books in a month. School had just started. What if there were other people that wanted to turn these pages and here they may be collecting dust on my shelves for a month? I brought them all home anyways. My comfy green couch awaited my presence daily after school. I slid into the corner, curled my feet up on the couch with a pillow in my lap and looked at the stack of books trying to decide which one to start with. My mom recommended each one from her book club, but had raved about  The Language of Flowers  by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. That would be a good place to start. I was more than engrossed after the first page. By the time Aaron had come home from work, I had finished a quarter of the book. In the book, the main char...

I'm not really sure what heaven will be like, but it may look like people of all ages- babies, toddlers, moms, dads, college students, grandmas, and more- gathered around singing praise. It may look more like that worship night we just had that seemed more chaotic than normal simply because there were children. Children. The ones whom Jesus said the kingdom belongs to. Heaven may look like the delight on a grandmother's face as she hold her grandchild close to her heart or the student with their arms lifted high or the mom dancing in the corner or the little boy playing the tambourine off beat. It may look like eyes closed in reverent grace or eyes wide in wild embrace. Of a king who loves to hear his children clap there hands, lift their gaze, and worship unhindered. It's good to worship with children. It's good to laugh at being off beat. It's good to look around at your neighbors while you sing. It's good to not take yourself so seriously sometimes. I...

Welcome to my classroom! I am pretty excited about the way it looks! We themed the outside of our door like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It's so colorful! This is the main part of the classroom.... Thanks Aaron for making that new shelf above the sink! So much more counter space! These are fun chairs I got at Target for $20 each... great sensory chairs for my kids. Teacher area.... never clean really. This is the most organized it may be all year. The arrival/ departure station thingy... The new few pictures are of the sensory room... a small room attached to the main one so my kids can have a sensory break and we also double the space as a changing room. All our changing stuff and feeding stuff is sooooooo organized now... finally! Our daily picture schedules. New month/ date pieces.... love Teacherspayteachers.com My students who are non-verbal communicate with these buttons called Big Macs...