He turns 17 today.

That little strawberry blond boy who once refused to nap.

Now, he’d sleep til noon each day if he could. A growth spurt perhaps?

Years ago he spent his days busy at play. Play is a child’s work.

He’d “tinker” and “figure” and invent new things. He could imagine for hours with tools and wood, building something from nothing, my bright, inquisitive son.

Anything even remotely round turned into a “ball” which he’d throw with amazing accuracy with his then-chubby left arm.

From the age of three, he’s had a love affair with baseball.

Playing it. Watching it. Talking about it.

But he never did like books.

A few years into our schooling, we discovered why.

Dyslexia.

A scary word, especially to a homeschool mom.

Many tears. And tutors. And patience. And prayers.

Yet, in the midst of the dis-ability, we discovered his ability.

And most importantly His ability.

“God is not worried.” My friend’s words to me repeatedly rang in my head.

So why should I waste my time fretting?

Because I am a mom. And I do not enjoy seeing my child struggle.

I want to shield him from pain. And heartache. And discouragement.

Yet, in the struggle we’ve seen determination. And progress. And peace.

Pain often gives birth to beautiful things.

It has proved true with other tinkering men who too had this disorder and gift. They have gone on to do great things in this world—Edison and Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell.

Patton and Churchill and Henry Ford.

And my son’s favorite: quarterback and fellow homeschooled athlete Tim Tebow.

Over a decade after discovering the gift, God is still not worried.

And my son— my still figuring and tinkering and batting and throwing son—is a delight to my heart.

Perfect he is not. But our perfect God uses his weaknesses and mistakes in life to teach me many things.

To love, but not to smother.

To guide, but not to push.

To model, but not to manipulate.

To not use his successes as a chance to pat myself on the back.

Nor his failures as a cue to beat myself up.

And to always allow for lots of grace. Grace which he must in turn also grant me for this is the first time I’ve been the mom of a teenage man-child.

A novice I am, still standing in the on-deck circle, not quite ready to send this one sailing just yet.

Yes, he turns 17 today.

And I turn another page in this heart-wrenching, hand-wringing, knee-bending, holy calling known as motherhood.

Father may we mothers place our children always in Your hands. You are God. We are not. Help us be humble about their strengths and grateful for their weaknesses. Take them where they need to go in order to live a life fully surrendered to You. Amen.

I was just thinking last night, as I tucked no one into bed, (Kenna lives in North Carolina, Mitch was at a friend’s and Spence had a football-watching overnight at his Papa’s house since there is no school for him today) how I miss reading books out loud to my kids.

Books at bedtime used to be a big production around here. We didn’t just read. Often we acted out entire plots!

With today being Martin Luther King Jr day and since Black history month is soon to roll in, let me share two favorites I used with my children when they were small to teach them about African-American heroes and history.

Check for them at your local library or order them online if you want to own them.

Here they are, along with their descriptions:

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson

As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation–and even of running away to freedom.

Then she overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad.

In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land–a freedom quilt–that no master will ever suspect.

For ages 5-10.

Click here to buy on Amazon.com.

 

Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter

Winter’s story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper).

A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song’s directions.

Rich paintings interpret the strong story in a clean, primitive style enhanced by bold colors.

The rhythmic compositions have an energetic presence that’s compelling. A fine rendering of history in picture-book format.

For pre-school to grade two. Click here to buy on Amazon.com

Older kids might like any of the dozens of books out about the life of Harriet Tubman, a conductor on the underground railroad.

Happy reading!

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Today I am going to be closing my comments and sending you to my friend Glynnis Whitwer’s Living Clutter-Free challenge.

For those of you who don’t know her, Glynnis is the editor of our P31 Magazine and one cool writer whose latest book, I Used to Be So Organized, I was honored to write the forward to. (And she is such a writing expert that she would have known how to word that last sentence so it didn’t end with a preposition. Ending sentences with a preposition is a big no-no. Sorry Glynnis! )

On Glynnis’ site today, I am giving away a signed copy of my book The Complete Guide to Getting & Staying Organized along with a $10 Target gift card for you to buy some organizational stuff for your home or office.

Click here to navigate to her post today which is on responsibilities and priorities and enter the giveaway.

Be sure to catch up on the other posts from this week. My favorite was on technology and how using it affects our brains and ability to focus.

And, if you sign up for her RSS feed in the sidebar, you’ll continue to get the rest of the posts in the series.

I’ll be hanging out on her blog today and through the weekend moderating the comments and answering questions. I hope you’ll join us.

Happy weekend everyone!

NOTE: Tomorrow I will be featured over a my friend Glynnis Whitwer’s Living Clutter-Free Challenge. She’ll be away speaking and I will be manning the comments on her site and offering an organizational giveaway. Come back here tomorrow to join us!

I have known my husband for almost 29 years.

Been married to him for over 25.

I just found out a fact about him recently.

He likes orange marmalade.

Todd had never mentioned it before. He’d been eating plenty of my homemade freezer jams for decades: strawberry, spiced peach, strawberry-banana, raspberry, even strawberry-rhubarb some years.

Never once did he reveal his love for the peel-laden, citrus-y delight that is orange marmalade. But one day, the subject of this jam came up and he mentioned how much he enjoys it.

So for Christmas this year, in his stocking he got not only a jar of this confection, but a sleeve of white English muffins to go with it—his favorite way to enjoy his beloved-treat.

What little-known treat does your husband or loved one enjoy that they haven’t tasted in years?

Do a little digging. And then?

Go out of your way to surprise them with some.

Next summer, along with mashing berries for my jam, I’ll be trying my hand at home-canned orange marmalade.

It will be a new venture.

I’ll have Smuckers on stand-by.

I just might need to call for back-up.

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Yesterday, I talked about remembering birthdays of those we love.

It doesn’t just have to be a friend’s birthday for us to send or give a little pick-me-up.

Here are a couple of of my favorite ideas: Most are taken from the very first book I wrote with friends Trish Smith & Kelly Hovermale Homespun Gifts From the Heart (now out of print)

~To a far away friend, send a “Thinking of You” card with a hand-written sentiment and a package of Forget-Me-Not flower seeds tucked inside.

~To a nearby friend, kidnap her kids for the day so she can be alone or get some work done–her choice. Or, show up with a few laundry baskets. Kidnap her dirty laundry. Take it home. Wash, dry, fold & return.

~Give a tea cup devotional. Simply purchase a good devotional book like this or this or this.

Next, place on top of it a tea cup and saucer (new or from a resale or antique store). In the cup place a few bags of tea.

Tie it all up with a large square of pretty tulle (netting) and secure with some wide ribbon fastened in a big bow. Slip an antique teaspoon in the knot of the bow.

~ Make a beautiful feet basket. Grab a basket, line it with a fluffy hand towel and place in it items for a pedicure: a pumice stone, foot soak, mint foot lotion, a pedicure foot brush, a few shades of nail polish, and a bottle of clear polish too.

Add in a favorite treat or bag of tea of flavored hot cocoa or maybe a relaxing cd. A few foil-wrapped chocolates wouldn’t hurt either.

Hand-write (or whip up on the computer if you are good at that sort of thing) a tag that says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news”  Romans 10:15

The last time I made one of these, I bought everything at the local dollar store and used a basket from a garage sale. The entire gift cost less than $6.00!

Spread some cheer to a friend real soon. I’d love to hear any other ideas you may have too.

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Note: If you have yet to complete the short survey about my blog’s content and look and about who you, my much-loved readers, are, please click here to do so.

Also, if you missed the No More Excuses webcast last night by Lysa TerKeurst, author of Made to Crave, you can watch it on demand here today.

Today would have been her birthday.

My friend Julie, a homeschooling mom of eight with a contagious smile and a faithful and huge heart, died the night before Christmas Eve in 2003.

I won’t get to send her a card this year.

A real card.

Not the cyber sort.

With a hand-written sentiment, crafted in my very best cursive that would have made Mrs. Love, my fourth grade, cursive-Nazi teacher, beam with pride.

I won’t be able to drive down the long dirt road to her little ranch-style home in the Michigan corn fields to drop off some lavender-scented lotion or an apple pie candle that I grabbed off the clearance rack at the store.

There will be no quick afternoon coffee when we take a break from being with our kids; no cup of steaming java over which I could tell her just how much she means to me and how watching her be a mom makes me a better one.

No today, on Julie’s birthday, instead I will spend time praying for her kids. And remembering her.

I love remembering my friends’ birthdays. The folks up to the Bath & Body works store know me well. I stock up on girly treats and stash them away in my “general store” (a large plastic tote) to be given to a friend on her special day.

It isn’t easy to remember all the birthdays of those I love.

But it is well-worth the extra effort to write them on the calendar each January. Or set a reminder on my phone.

My best friend from college, Kelly, has never once forgotten my birthday in 29 years!

It means so much to me. In an age of email and impersonal, an old-fashioned card or simple gesture stands out in love.

Don’t forget your girlfriends.

Some day, you might note be able to send that card or buy that treat.

I think it is time to pencil in our 2012 calendars, scribbling down the names of those we love and can’t imagine life without.

Will you join me?

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Okay….it is info time.

I have some info for you.

And I need some info from you. Pretty please?

First, the info for you:

~ Don’t forget Glynnis Whitwer’s Living Clutter-Free Challenge that starts today. You can still sign up. I’ll be there too.

In fact, I will be manning the comment thread on this Friday and next Monday.

Join us as Glynnis helps us un-clutter our hearts AND homes. Click here to sign up. It’s free!

~ Second, I have an article running today over at Candace Cameron Bure’s (D.J. from Full House if you don’t recognize the name) online magazine Roomag. It is on…..wouldn’t ya know it?….dejunking your home, ridding it of excess clutter. Are ya starting to think someone is trying to tell you something?

Click here to read the short article and gain a little motivation.

~Next, if you need a little accountability when it comes to Bible study, check out Good Morning Girls with my creative & Jesus-following friend Courtney Joseph.

I joined last session with three friends from three different states. One is a young at-home mother of two babies and a grad student. One is a college professor, author and speaker. The other is a full-time mom of college & high school boys who is active in ministry. All of us love Jesus and each other.

We kept each other on track with our time alone with God each day by sending a quick email once we’d finished. It could include a few paragraphs on what we’d learned. Or, it could just be a sentence or two letting our sisters know we’d spent time with God that day.

And, we also dished out lots of grace on those “it-is-4:43 pm-and-I-am-just-getting-around-to-a-shower-and-have-no-idea-what-is-for-supper-and-I-can’t-find-my-car-keys-and-no-I-did-not-read-my-Bible-yet” days.

You can do your own Bible reading or join along with the handy pre-made study of Ephesians complete with downloadable study guide. Check it out here.

~And, for those who need a kick in the pants with losing weight and getting healthy in 2012, check out my ministry partner and super cool friend Lysa TerKeurst’s free webcast tonight NO MORE EXCUSES!

Lysa is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Made to Crave. You can sign up in the sidebar of her website by clicking here.

Be sure to check out the online study of Made to Crave on her site’s sidebar too. It begins next week.

~ BUT WAIT…..THERE’S MORE!!! Another cool chick, ministry partner and woman who lives her message, Renee Swope is beginning an online study next week too.

It is on her best-selling book A Confident Heart.

Join her on  a journey – a journey of finding out just how much God has for you. A process of uncovering doubts that hold you back and God’s truth that can set you free.

Free to see how significant you are in Christ.

Free to discover and live in your God-given purpose, passion and personality!

Free to say good-bye to guilt-induced doubt and hello to grace-induced confidence!

Click here for details.

~AND FINALLY>>>>>

Could you take 5 minutes or so to complete a blog survey for me? I want to know what you do and do not like about my blog (and blogs in general).

I want to know who you are; what your life is like.

I want to know what topics you’d like to see featured and addressed.

I want to pick your brains about a re-design of my place here in cyber space.

Can you take this short survey now (or write yourself a sticky note or set your phone’s alarm as a reminder to do it later?)

Click here to take the short survey.

Thanks so much.

Have a fabulous day!

Got clutter?

Come on….. we all do!

Here is some of my own after-Christmas clutter as I took down decorations, put away new presents and de-junked the drawers, closets & crevices of our home.

And, after two days of sipping coffee, listening to talk radio and working like a maniac, (only stopping to eat) here is a snapshot of the furnace/storage room in our basement. I pulled everything out of the bins, got rid of what we no longer needed and reorganized the items we still use. (NOTE: Don’t be envious of my plastic totes. One year, about a decade ago, for Christmas, my birthday & Mother’s Day all I asked for was money to buy these useful bins.)

BEST. ORGANIZING. DECISION. EVVVV-ER.

January is the perfect month to do a little clutter-busting.

If you are serious about wanting to get your “stuff” in order too, join my friend and ministry partner Glynnis Whitwer as she leads a 15 day “Living Clutter-Free” challenge that begins on Monday, January 9th.

It is based on her newest book, (the forward to which I was honored to write!) called I Used to Be So Organized.

If you want to check it out, click here. I’ll be joining along too as we encourage each other to bust those piles and de-clutter our homes and minds!

Happy clutter-busting!

Everywhere I turn, I see New Year’s resolutions.

Tweets, Facebook statuses, conversations with people at church or in the Slim-Fast aisle up to the local Wal-Mart.

Everyone is looking ahead.

These past two weeks, my husband and I looked back instead. Looking back, to me in my life now, is more important than forging ahead.

Perhaps it is because my sister-in-law is still battling stage four cancer.

Perhaps it is because this may have been the last time all three of my babies will be able to be together on Christmas Day.

Maybe it is because Todd and I celebrated 25 years of marriage this year and feel we are getting kinda old.

For whatever reason, we looked back.

For our Christmas Eve tradition of having a unique family time centered around the Bible, I had a brainstorm this year.

Eleven years ago we sold our very first tiny little house (984 square feet-all three kids shared one bedroom) to a couple who bought it for their mom. She recently passed away and I knew the house was for sale.

I was able to arrange to take the kids on a “mystery trip” like we did when they were young. Blindfolded, we’d transport them to a secret location that would make the point of our little Bible lesson/devotion that week.

So, on Christmas Eve, when they got out of the car and opened their eyes, they were in the house we lived in when each of them was born.

Here is Kenna with her dad in 1994. They use to sit by the register and eat crackers and butter and watch thunderstorms. (Although this pic looks like peanut butter was on the docket that day)

And here they are the night of our Christmas Eve “looking back” family time, sitting in the same spot. (Excuse the blurriness of the cell phone snapshot)

Our time together was simple that night. While our kids had heard us talk in pieces about our testimonies (how and why we became followers of Christ) we had never told them the entire stories.

So we did.

Simple stories.

One about a “fatherless” girl who met the Father who would never leave or forsake her.

Another about a secretive son who came out into the light and embraced the Sun of Righteousness.

What is your story of when and how you met Jesus?

If you don’t have one, 2012 would be a great time to let Him write your story of redemption. Click here for more information.

Instead of making a whole bunch of new promises for the New Year, maybe it is time to tell the old, old story in a fresh new way to whomever God puts in our path.

Yes, even our own kids.

Always doing it with gentleness and respect.

Until the whole world hears….

Hi friends and Joyous New Year!

Today is the last day of my husband’s vacation. He returns to work tomorrow and classes also resume then for both my 8th grader and my junior who is homeschooled and has classes three days a week.

I’ll be back in the blogging chair then. Got some fabulousness in store for you in 2012.

Until then, click here to read a powferful New Year’s prayer by my friend and Proverbs 31 sister Wendy Blight.

See you later this week!

*photo credit