Mommas Around the World

I will never forget the day I sat in the living room of a muslim family in the city of Beirut, Lebanon. The woman of the home was dressed casually and not covered in her burqa. Her 8 year old son was sitting at the coffee table in front of the television eating Cocoa Puffs cereal. She sat in her chair and I sat across from her as we sipped tea and she reminisced about flying bullets and hiding her children inside a wall during the war in the 80's. We talked of God, Allah, love, and life.

As I sat there, listening to the call to prayer in the background, listening to this young mom talk of her anti-depressent medication and horrible memories of war, and how much she loved her family...any religious and cultural barriers I walked into her house with vanished in that a-ha moment. I realized, it doesn't matter where you are in the world, a mom is a mom is a mom.

That moment makes me think of all the moms in Haiti right now who are separated from their children, or lost their children, or feeling totally helpless to not be able to feed, bathe, and care for their children. The pain of being totally powerless when it comes to motherhood scenarious and seasons is excruciating. Then to think about the children who lost their momma....

"Lord Jesus, how grieved you must be right now as you move in and amongst the suffering in Haiti. Would you meet the mommas in those places in their heart where love and sorrow mingle deep and give them hope. And for the children , call out mommas for them. Help us to not get desensitized and keep us praying and hoping in your name."

My Steel Magnolias

I really value the friends that God has put on my present life path for such a time as this---letting go and entering into a new stage of life -especially since the segway hasn't been so easy.

A friend who knows how to pray and does so: and wishes to remain anonymous

A friend who inspires me: My daughter, Gabrielle

A friend that comes and works and helps: Donna

A friend that helps me laugh: Mary Jane
A friend who provides perspective, when I need a younger one: Emily
A friend who helps me not take things so serious: Silver
A friend I can call any time of the day -or night: Tami
A friend who listens and doesn't judge: Carole and Mary Jane
A friend who readily shares her lessons learned on a similar path: Becky
A friend who wants to go to lunch and be in a funk together : Jan
A friend who always, always finds the encouraging truth to tell me: Margaret
A friend who understands the ins and outs of warfare as well as healing: Stephanie
Friends who would do life beside us no matter what: The Atchisons and Brandon
My best friend who sees it all and loves me anyway: My husband of 24 years, Guy

Proverbs 17:17 "A friend loves at all times."
II Cor. 1:3-4 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

God, please teach to me to be a faithful and loving friend.

Countdown and pray

in 19 days this young man leaves for just about the furthest point you can travel to from California which is Sydney Australia. Would you pray for him:

• he would find good friends who will keep it real with him in faith and friendship
• he would trust the Lord with all the newness, fears, and seemingly overwhelming decisions and situations he will face
• room mates that will be beneficial for his growth as well as his faith
• he will manage the academic challenges
• he will give himself to mentors, teachers, and personal growth challenges and push through when difficulties arise
• he would come to love the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind.
• he will come to agree with God about God's glory, passions and purposes in his life

Last Sunday was the candle of Peace. This Sunday is the candle of joy. I pray that this month I will display Hope, Peace, Joy, and as next Sunday represents, Love. This is hard. It is a month of serving people intensely. This month I prepare to send my son to another country- a country I have never been to, a country he will live in for a year. Peace, joy, hope, and love?

I have peace that God is leading and will continue to lead.
I have joy in knowing there is a strong possibility my son will launch into the next stage of his growing up life and advance a bit further into manhood.
I have hope that he will fasten himself to Christ in this next season in ways that will carry him throughout the rest of his life
I have love and compassion on him as he moves tenderfooted into the next stage of his life, being carried through with the love of Christ, family and friends who have always believed his perspective on life combined with his gifts of creative and honest expression would serve to advance God's kingdom in some surprising way.

Honestly, somedays I don't feel hope, peace, love and joy and everyone can testify! I am actually biting my nails in between sentences here. I know I will never have peace, joy, hope, and love as a result of my own doing and gumption; But I can have it already in the person of Christ; I just have to get over myself each day in order to agree to get in on it with Jesus!

May these four things be in us as we celebrate Christmas with our sweet families...maybe for the first time, maybe for the last time (unbeknownst to us at the time)and maybe for the upteenth time. Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love to you.

Advent

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. The first candle to be lit represents hope. The entire series of circumstances surrounding this event were pregnant with hope; and then on that holy night hope finally gave birth to the messiah in the form of a helpless and vulnerable and dependent baby.

• The hope so long ago that a Messiah was coming.
• The hope the Wise and studious men had in the alignment they saw happening in the sky.
• The hope that Mary must have found when she went to visit her Aunt Elizabeth to find out she believed her strange story about a God given baby growing inside her.
• The hope Joseph found AFTER his visit from the angel.
• Hope came in the form of a tiny baby, Word made flesh, in an empty animal stall. Jesus Christ. Mmm. The stench and the glory all at the same time. Think of it...

Each year at Christmas I choose to start out by thinking about what it would have been like to be Mary. I can't even begin to pretend I understand her situation, even when I have reason to believe I could. Would you have had the faith to believe the angel? Would you have had the courage to face your parents and community? Would you have had the faith to raise the son of God? God chose Mary to have His son. Not me, so I didn't need His grace to carry out that mission. She needed it and He gave it to her.

There are some things He has chosen me to do. He gives me the grace to do what He calls me to do. Am I acting on and aligning myself with the courage His calling requires? Do I believe what He has said or shown me in Scripture? Do I have the courage to stand up for truth to people in my family and community? Have I had the faith and obedience to raise children of God?

I really want to put all my hope in Him. ... for mothering, wife-ing, and home creating, and actually, in all things. Not in my Christmas decorating, entertaining, cooking, planning, but hope in the person of Christ during this season, and hopefully in the next. Hope is not pining away, but a discipline in my mind, will, and emotions. May it be so.

By the way, the candle of Hope is ...blue.

Next Sunday...Peace.

Family Pics

Greyson has finished high school and will be leaving for Hillsong International College in Sydney, Australia in January. Here are senior pics and family pics. Photos by Trever Hoehne. Enjoy!

Halloween

I must say I don't like the holiday. I liked it as a kid, alright, but even then in my little town in Kansas, very ornery things took place. One year they turned a truckload of hay into a bonfire at the mainstreet intersection. Another year, my car was egg-ed just by driving down main street with some friends. There was always a dance at city hall (I was not to dare go near it by orders of the parents) and someone would end up drunk and get into some fight or whatever. My dad was the mayor, and so there were Halloween holidays when I wasn't even allowed to leave the house. He was riding with the patrol cars and didn't want his daughter out on that "evil filled" night. Other Halloweens I dressed up, went to all the relatives' homes and neighbors and filled my sack up with treats.

But here some ___ years later, I dread the day. Yesterday was a very interesting day. At WalMart, there was an organization taking signatures out front for a petition to legalize marijuana. You should have seen the people I saw signing the petition. Pitiful. The next thing was that I'm pretty sure a vampire checked me out at WalMart and they weren't in costume. The next thing I saw was people leaving the grocery store REFUSING the remembrance poppies that our soldiers were passing out. There were as many cars out and shoppers shopping as there are on Christmas Eve.

You ask, "why would you ever go to those stores on that holiday?" Because our church was hosting a festival for families in our community, our school, and our sports program. I had to get some last minute items to do my part.

I know the original holiday All Saints (Hallowed) Eve was for good reason. But just like many other things, our culture has turned it into something more greedy and ugly.

It was heart warming, at our Harvest Festival, to see the children come by our Spiderman decorated trunk in our 1963 Plymouth Fury. I had a ball toss game for them to play before they picked out a treat from my overflowing bowl of goodies. The parents who insist on taking turns, looking me in the eye to say thank you, and then say thank you themselves along with the number of children actually with their parents gives me hope. What started out to be discouraging ended on an encouraging note. The eyes, chubby hands, and bright hope of children is good to be reminded of.