Where does the time go?

Where does the time go? In 3 short weeks Tyrone will be finished with his first academic year at the University of Arkansas. In 4 short weeks Maiesha will be finished with preschool. In 5 short weeks Jeremiah will be finished with first grade. At the end of those 5 weeks we will fly to South Carolina to see friends and family - many for the first time in nearly 2 years. My how our lives have changed in those 2 years.

I am so thankful to have this time to be at home full-time with my family. It was a real stretch when God made it clear that we were moving the Arkansas and that I would be without a job - outside our home that is. It has been a real challenge to be obedient to his call to "just" stay home, but I am so overwhelmed by his faithfulness and provision through this time. I have been recalling my theme verse for this time of transition as I near the end of a full year at home. Nehemiah 6:3 "I am carrying on a good work and cannot come down."

Tyrone left Monday morning for a conference in Indianapolis. He will fly home late tonight and we are all very excited to have him back home. It has been a great week inspite of his physical absence. We have spent some quality time talking on the phone and on Skype so we can all see each other. I get kinda worked up before he travels thinking about having to take care of everything and everyone on my own, but I just take a deep breath and trust God to give me what I need to be the wife and mom my family needs.

Monday night He provided an evening out with a new friend while her husband volunteered, yes it was all his idea, to babysit for our 5 children. What a blessing and awesome treat!

Yesterday was a busy morning and afternoon so once we picked Jeremiah up from school we came straight home to crash. We ate an early dinner and walked to the elementary school at the back of our neighborhood to play until almost bedtime. It was one of those events that I might have pictured in my mind before Lydia was born. I would often sit and daydream about how Jeremiah and Maiesha would handle being big brother and sister to a new baby. I just knew they would be fantastic. I could envision them being sweet and tender toward a baby. I could see them running and playing with a toddler.

Last night Jeremiah and Maiesha were playing on the "tornado" slide (that's what we called it growing up). They kind of wrestle their way down slowly laughing the whole way. Lydia had climbed up to join them. (She has learned quickly how to keep up so she doesn't miss anything.) She sat at the top of the slide watching them and smiling at their silly game. All of a sudden she decided she wanted to get in on the fun. She push off and down the slide she went to join the pile up. The three of them giggled all the way to the bottom and untangled their arms and legs only to run back and do it all over again. About a dozen more times to be exact. Jeremiah and Maiesha were back to the top before Lydia could hardly get her feet on the ground, but they waited for her and wanted her to be part of the action again and again. She would run the 15 feet from the bottom of the slide to the steps. I lifted her up to the second step to help her along. She was heavy breathing laughter the whole way. They would start the slow decent again and Lydia would wedge herself into the pile twisting and turning down the slide over and over. We shared a picture and the story with Tyrone so he didn't miss out completely.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me this time with my children. Thank you for providing for us so that I don't have to work outside our home. Continue to guide Tyrone and I as we raise them so they will see YOU in the way we choose to live our lives. Give them a hunger for you and an inexplainable joy that will remain constant through all of life's ups and downs. Help us to recognize each day our children really belong to you and we are simply asked to be good stewards of them until you call them home one day to be with you. Thank you that Jeremiah and Maiesha have already made the decision to follow you. I pray, in your perfect time, Lydia will make that decision too as soon as she understands that Jesus died to pay the penalty for her sins.  Thank you for the joy of watching these 3 amazing children grow into the people you want them to be.

Thank you for your faithfulness and your unfailing love. In Jesus name, Amen.