Thursday, May 31, 2007

Precious moments (Not the figurines! :)

I had a few sweet moments this afternoon with my daughter, Kari. We were wrapping presents (she for a friend's birthday party, and I for a cousin's baby shower) when we had a great idea. We decided to add some personalized creative elements, so we brought out some fine guage wire and some glass and wooden beads. We then created her friend's name with the wire and embellished it with the beads. Kari loved this and was so excited to see the finished product. We then used the wooden beads (with the letters of the alphabet on them) to create name tags for the presents. They turned out so well, but the real joy was in having a few, quiet, one-on-one moments with Kari. She loves anything having to do with art, so she was so excited that we were working on this together while sitting on my bedroom floor. She started talking about her school day and an event that happened between the girls during lunch. I probably would have missed hearing about that event had we not had those few moments alone together today. I thank God for giving us that time.

With four children, it is very hard to find one-on-one time with each of them. I am also not as conscious of remembering to plan those times as I'd like to be. However, I am grateful that God graciously grants me those times every once in a while. I recognize those moments as the gift that they are; those times are truly precious moments.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Early Morning....Missing

Well, I'm new to the whole blogging thing and find that my post from yesterday is missing. I don't know what happened, but it was my first entry, and I had shared why I even had time to post it. In brief, my daughter, Kari, was up at 5:00 AM with our dog, Lucy, and wanted me to go with her to take Lucy outside. I tried not to wake up too much, and to go right back to sleep, but my mind just starting going, and I couldn't turn it off. Thoughts of: I need to do this....I can't forget to do that.....We need to.....etc.... The list went on and on, and I realized I might as well get up and write it all down because I was so worried that I would forget them that I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I brought my laptop into the living room with me, and jotted down my "To Do" list. After that, I was still wide awake, so I thought I would work on this blog page that I had started a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to finishing. So, that's how it started.

I titled my blog, "Traveling Together," because that's what I believe life is. We are all on this journey called Life, and it's much more enjoyable and possible if we are doing it in relationship with others. I will tell you right now that the biggest thing required to travel on this journey in relationship with others is GRACE! I have seen many opt to travel alone because they didn't want to mess with, or grow in, grace. A part of my personal life mission statement is, "To experience God's grace and extend that grace to others." Sometimes that comes very easily, and sometimes it takes the Holy Spirit working in me for that to be possible, but it is something that I believe in passionately. So, if your grace is in place, let's get going!