bsmiles and sunny days

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bowed down with care God gave His son to win. His erring child He reconciled And pardoned from His sin. Oh love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure the saints' and angels' song. My sweet Moses was eating an apple when he walked into our bedroom and asked how God could also be His own son, Jesus. It was a beautiful moment as Dale explained the trinity, as though it was simple enough for a seven-year-old to get his head around. "It's like that apple you're eating. It is an apple, but it has flesh, skin, and a core. It's three parts of one whole." It's an imperfect analogy, but helpful, nonetheless. Mose was satisfied with that answer. He nodded thoughtfully as he chomped away at his apple. I love that the goodness of God and the truth of His Word ...

In prayer resist the devil, always remembering to be kind to those who are unconsciously his tools at the moment. Isobel Kuhn I don’t know why this hit me so profoundly this morning when I read it aloud, but it did. When I feel there is injustice against me, my knee-jerk reaction is to fight back, ask questions later. The regret comes later, too. Rarely is kindness considered in my response. “Always show love, if you can.” Someone said it to me, and I say it to my people all the time. They wrong each other constantly and look to me for deliberation. Often, it’s difficult to decipher who instigated the fight, and who is telling the truth, but it’s easy to see who is showing love and who is not. We live in an unfair world with a plethora of personalities and devastating life situations. You never know why someone is behaving the way they are, especially when there is injustice aimed at you. I served as a juror for a few days in a terrible trial. Without giving away a lot of d...

Sunday afternoon we spent long hours sitting in the sun, having important discussions about life and the wind and people and God. One of the boys was hitting pitched balls one after the next, and I mentioned that at five years old, he’s a natural athlete. “Watch the boys in a race; you'll see what I mean.” Right away a race was announced, and the littles lined up. Kennedy used chalk to mark the finish line on the road. “Spread them out! They are gonna push each other down,” Tre said, just before the race began. Kennedy quickly drew starting blocks for each one, spread a few feet apart. “On your marks, get set… GO!” They were off in a flash! All three kids ran full-speed ahead. Clinton wove between Mose and Scarlette, tripping over Moses’s shoe. Mose kept running, but Clinton slammed into Scarlette, and both went skidding along the asphalt face-first. Blood and tears stained their hands, faces and knees. It was devastating for both of them. I came in after the race and flew i...

I'm writing a book that I’ve been working on since the first of the year. I have felt hesitant to share it, but today I feel compelled, which is usually a good sign that God is in it. Bless you for being a precious reader of mine. It means so much to me that you keep coming back. Hebrews 4:9 Therefore a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people.  With the endless "corona talks" circulating around here like fruit flies in summer, there has also been a lot of talk about end times, the rapture, the return of Jesus, and the apocalypse, whatever that means. For a few days my littles were saying, “Listen! I think I hear the Donald TRUMPets!” in reference to the trumpet blasts that will usher Jesus’s return to “pick us up”, as Moses explains. (They're a little confused about the whole scenario.) I think it’s pretty incredible to think of it that way. For decades I’ve lived with my hope of His return tucked into a dusty filing cabinet in my mind, trusting it to be true, b...

"Stop waiting for things to go back to normal and start working on a new normal." Oh, yeah... This is my real life, right now, not after coronavirus is cleared up. Not after the weather improves. Not after the little one gets bigger. This is it. I have a responsibility to LIVE right now, not wait it out. It's so bizarre that this has taken me for such a ride! I am a stay-at-homeschool mom. This is my jam! I do "stay home" all of my life!! Why in the world is it wrecking me? Why am I bored for the first time in a zillion forevers? I've never been bored in my entire adult life. I'm not good at a lot of things, but I am really good at staying home. I should be rejoicing in the order to "shelter in place" but instead I'm baking cookies and eating half the cookie dough. I'm having emotional breakdowns that send me spiraling into the closet with a bag of reeses peanut butter cups. I'm playing a game on my iPad until my hand is so c...

Last year at this time, my girl was far far away on an island at the mercy of the United States Marine Corps. As she prepared for her ship date, she became a powerful machine, strong in mind and body. Nothing scared her. She was ready. I was not. I could only be supportive and pray for will of God to be done. One of the most precious lessons I’ve learned as a parent is to loosen my grip on my own expectations and open my hand to the will and purpose of God in my children’s lives.  Before shipping out she would mandatorily spend the night in an assigned hotel, and then we wouldn’t see her again until the next morning at MEPS where we would send her off for the next three months. Before heading to the hotel that afternoon, she was sitting in the kitchen with her dogs; nervous, but emotionally contained. Honestly, we were all fine until Royale, Kennedy’s sweet rescue pit bull, crawled up in her lap and snuggled into her neck. She wouldn’t move. It was as if she knew. We al...

April 4, 2020 My husband set up a "hang-out" on our front porch, 6 feet away, with our friends that we always have the best time with. When he set it up, it was 65 degrees outside. We the day came for them to come hang out there were icicles on the house. I have never been reluctant to have people over for a fun night, it's my favorite, and I love people and I love talking and laughing and playing games. But I felt anxious about having people, two people, husband and wife, so technically one set of germs, in my house. We would be at max capacity, with our 8 present, but again, same germs. It'd be like two people. And with dominos you don't have to sit on top of each other. We have plenty of space to spread out at our huge table. But I still... was hesitant. It's so weird. I feel like I'm going to get in trouble if I talk to someone. We are staying home. I go out to do quick errands, touch only what is absolutely necessary, and get home. But when I se...