Every Day Living

What's so special about this pile of mail on the kitchen table?

Well, it's proof that I have one amazing three year old. She collected the mail today and put it on the table without me even asking her to. We were walking out of the playroom after I changed Jack and she said, "Oh, and Mom, I already got the mail. I put it on the kitchen table, so you don't have to worry about that". *** Our mail is delivered through a little slot in the door, so she didn't go outside by herself.

I am just amazed at this kiddos sweet and helpful personality! She helps me fold and put away laundry every morning, clean up at the end of the day, set the table for dinner, and do other simple chores around the house. And about 99% of the time she is genuinely happy to be helping and willingly chooses to do so. And have I mentioned what a patient, caring big sis this little one is? She is such a blessing to us all! What a fortunate Mama I am!

So even though it is like 110 degrees outside Janie and Jack sent me an email about new fall clothes. And there they were... the cutest little girl layette clothes... and the first of this seasons corduroy overalls... beautiful lavender corduroy overalls with floral print ruffles. Sigh.
I know without a doubt that if Grace were still a baby my mother would have already purchased them for her only granddaughter and they would be in the mail on their way to our house right now. Nana and I share an affinity for corduroy overalls. And baby girl overalls are just about the best kind of overalls there are. I was looking through these pictures of Grace in her overalls and I counted 8 pair. That is a little ridiculous, I realize, but I am pretty sure she wore corduroy overalls every single day that first cold winter in Louisville. They kept her warm while she crawled all over those cold wood floors. They held up super well. And in my opinion it just doesn't get any sweeter or more cuddly than a baby in overalls.
And my favorite two pair came from Janie and Jack. There was the light pink smocked corduroy pair and the lavender floral quilted pair... Oh, and a beautiful French blue corduroy pair with sweet little ribbons on the chest. I have several pair for Jack to wear this year, but they just aren't as sweet when they are brown or red and there are no bows or smocking. You know what I mean... boys clothes are just different.
Anyway, all of this reminiscing over when my sweet girl was a baby and all those sweet little corduroy overalls made me SO homesick for Louisville. More specifically homesick for the winter in Louisville... the winter when my baby girl was a baby girl in Louisville. Homesick for a specific night at church when Grace wore her pink smocked corduroy overalls and she sat and bounced on my lap all through the service and then we drove home in snow flurries. And I ached for those times. I think probably because I know I will never get to relive those days again. They are gone.
Things were not simple. They were not easy. But that is life. And all this thinking on how much I enjoyed that season makes me want to make sure I am enjoying today just as much as I enjoyed those times in Louisville. I hate change and indecision and the unknown. All of those things seem to be looming over each day lately... and there is no definite end date in sight. But this is also a sweet time as well. My girl is at such a wonderful age where everything is new and exciting to her. And we are getting to go to so many new places and do new things that she is having a great time with all the travel if you want to know the truth. Jack is growing so fast and doing new things every day. He is really learning to play. It is an amazing thing to see your kids start to play together. Also, we have been away from family for so long that it is such a wonderful thing to be able to spend extended time with our family... extended time when we have not just driven half-way across the country... extended time when it is not a holiday and we don't have 15 places to go and people to see and things to do each day of our short stay before we have to drive back across the country. What a sweet season this is. A season of spiritual growth. And although not easy, that is a blessing as well.
Because as much as my heart aches for those winter days in my Louisville home, my heart should ache more for my heavenly home. My eternal home with my Father. I can not say that I have this ache as often as I wish I would. But I do know that the Lord is growing me in this season (and each season) and is placing in me a greater love for Him and a greater desire to worship Him eternally. I am surely seeing the disgust of the fallen sinful world we live in each day with new eyes. And I am reminded of the blessing of forgiveness that is given to believer through Grace every time I am reminded of sin. I think of Chip often as I think back on Louisville. He is now with the Lord. And I know that he is glad to be free of sickness and pain and the trials that come from being in a sinful world, but I know that he is most thankful to be worshiping and rejoicing in the Lord with the saints in His presence. Because it is not about keeping yourself from hell. It is not about me. It is about glorifying the Lord.
Revelation 4 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. Bro. Jerry preached through Revelation when we first moved to Milledgeville. It was one of the best sermons that I ever listened to.

Here you go... a picture of Heaven...

The Throne in Heaven

4:1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings [1] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

See, it's not about me. It's about the Lord. I pray that I would continue to enjoy the blessings of this life but that I would also grow in a Love for the Lord and in my desire to be with the Father in my eternal life. I pray that this would be the desire of my children and family as well... because as wonderful as it will be to worship with my spiritual family it will be even better to have my earthly family as a part of that group with as well.

And Jack just said "MAMA!" Like, right now just said it! I think I will go enjoy some time with my baby boy... before he is too big to wear sweet corduroy overalls. :)