Proud Mama Moment

They had awards day at manBoy's school today. As you can see, he was honored multiple times. The one I was most proud for him is the flame shaped glass trophy presented to one student in each grade for selfless efforts to make the school and community better. He earned this award through his work with our church's special needs ministry, organizing a shoe drive at school, and the MS150 (or MS72) bike ride. I'm so thrilled that he attends a school where service is honored as well as academic achievement. The school requires a minimum of 10 hours of community service to pass to the next grade. There were many certificates given for those who far surpassed the minimum requirements. The learners and facilitators as they are called each have a t-shirt that says (insert name of school here) Gives Back. This is the first year for this school and I'm so pleased that this is the culture that is developing.

We are indeed blessed! I just need to remember that the next time I'm picking up stinky shoes and snack leavings from the living room. He is still, after all, a teenage boy.

Random Acts of Cleaning

I'm off today - took today as a vacation day - not working today. Get the point? manBoy has an opportunity to go off campus for lunch. I want to encourage him to work for the grades that earn this privelege, so I planned to work at home today in order for him to take the car. Then I decided that there was more home work that needed doing than work work, so I took today as a vacation day.

Trouble is the house is dirty. I don't mean messy, I mean dirty - needs scrubbing top to bottom. But... it's my vacation day. Do I really want to come to the end of my vacation day having worn myself out getting the house clean? No.

So here's the plan or the unplan. The goal is not getting the house clean, it is getting the house cleaner. Normally when I clean house, I work in a very systematic way. I.love.systems. I love getting one room all the way clean. But today, I am purposefully not making a plan. I'm simply doing the next thing I see that I want to have done. Note I didn't say that I want to do. I don't want to do any of it, but I do want to have it done. So in the name of it being a vacation day, I'm not making a plan. I'm not setting specific goals or making a list. I'm simply doing what comes next, and at the end of the day anything that is done is more than was done when I got up this morning.

So far today, I have put away a few things in my home office/guest room. I can see the quilt on the guest bed now, so progress has been made. I have swept and mopped the pantry floor and swept most of the kitchen (except the part that is under all the stuff I hauled out of the pantry floor ;-). I'm not sure what I'll do next. At some point all the stuff from the pantry will have to go back in so we can get in and out the back door. But I don't really have a plan for that.

I know I want some time outside and some time with my new devotional book (see previous post). So if I decide to stop and sit a while, that will be fine. It is after all my vacation day. Perhaps I'll pick up a few more items in my office then go have a glass of tea and read my devotion for today. Hope your day is good too.

Balancing Act

I recently received in the mail a signed copy of Bishop Robert Schnase's new book The Balancing Act. It is a devotional, discussion book and it came at just the right time. I was needing new devotional material. It is quite thought provoking and I've only read three days! His first entry talks about balancing versus being balanced. We aren't ever fully balanced, but are always balancing. THAT takes a lot of pressure off.

The third entry focuses on prayer, specifically for pastors. I have recently done some self examination and prioritizing. One of the things I realized I need to be balancing is relationships/people and task accomplishment. I tend to go straight to the task. So, one of my commitments to myself was to be more people oriented in the coming weeks. I will be moving into a leadership role with a new group of people in June, so I have a great opportunity to practice what I've already preached to myself. Bishop Schnase's observations on prayer opened my eyes to one way I can focus on the people before that task - praying for them before the group starts and following.

I'm also going to pray for those who irritate me. It's harder to be irritated with someone if you've prayed for them. So far, so good, but I'm only a few hours into it.

How does prayer influence your own spirituality and your relationships?

Psych!

Tomorrow I have my psychological evaluation required for ordination. This is the second one, because the first one is more than five years old so therefore not valid. There seems to be a flaw in the system here. The evaluation is required before being certified as a candidate for ordination, but it takes more than 5 years to go from certified to ordained. This is not inexpensive.

At any rate, I have to go tomorrow and answer many many questions to determine if I'm psychologically fit for ministry. I'm thinking today is not a good time for me to be having meaning of life, or where's our family headed, or what's the future of the church type ponderings. But somehow, that's where my brain is today - probably because I have this evaluation tomorrow. I'm feeling a need for some outdoor journaling time this afternoon - enjoy nature sights/sounds and pour it all out before tomorrow.

A Delightful Mothers Day

G&T worked hard to make sure Mother's Day was reserved for me (not hosting other family...). I had battled a migraine off and on all week, and fully on for Friday and Saturday. G&T came through with a gift card for a 90 minute massage! I'm scheduled for today - can't wait.

I woke to find a handmade card from manBoy on the kitchen table. It wasn't fancy - but it was big - made from left over display cardboard. What it looked like wasn't important. What is says is. To quote a couple of lines, "You do more for me than I realize, and you mean more to me than you realize...And even though I seem to always be mad at you, deep down I really do love you." Words to be treasured during these years of teenaged angst. Top that Ha**mark!

Fortunately, headache subsided by Sunday. I didn't have any responsibilities at church, was able to go and enjoy the service. One of our members spoke about her experiences as a foster parent including last summer's adoption of the most recent child placed in her home, making this her first official Mother's Day - if you ask me she's been a mom for a long time. Her inspiration to become a foster parent came from one of the restoration passages in Isaiah. I'd never thought of the restorative nature of foster parenting - but now that she mentions it, I've watched it happen in her daughter. I was blessed by her story.

Lunch was at a favorite Mexican restaurant. We had fought the temptation to spend our eating out money on fast food for two weekends so we'd still have some for Mother's Day. It was worth it.

Later in the afternoon, manBoy asked about going to see the new Star Trek movie. G&T and I were interested, so we all went together (rare occasion these days). It is a great movie. We will probably purchase it when it comes out on DVD. Can't wait to see the special features.

All in all, it was a great day!

More Prayers

HulaHeart (see post below) texted me last night saying she and her family are fine, but storms (possibly tornado) have blown down trees and damaged their roof. Prayers of thanksgiving for their safety.

A Great New Blog

My long time friend HulaHeart (she was with us when we got the call about manBoy being born and us being picked to be his parents) has a new blog Searching for the Breeze. She's a wise woman. It will serve you well to stop by and read her posts every now and again.

P.S. My sister is having back surgery today which is also her birthday. Prayers appreciated.

UPDATE: Surgery went well. Now the trick is to come out of anesthesia - not something she does especially well. Thanks for prayers.

MS150 becomes MS72

DogBlogger did such a good job reporting on our boys' escapades, I just stole (borrowed?) her post.

Well, The Alpha and ManBoy were having a pretty good Day 1 on the Bike MS ride, but it was cut short when a storm blew through the area just as they reached the last breakpoint of the day. They had already decided not to camp at the overnight site, which we knew was the right call when camping was officially canceled. And not long after we got home for the evening, about the time the hail started to fall on the next morning's starting line, Day 2 of the ride was canceled.The National MS Society wrote in an email announcing the cancellation, "As we've seen this weekend, our North Texas weather is just like MS: unpredictable." True. In fact, it didn't rain today after all -- though I still think the severity of yesterday's and last night's storms justified the calling-off of the event. (Just as DogBlogger and I were leaving to pick up our riders, the Cowboys had a bit of a problem a couple of suburbs over.) ManBoy is disappointed that he doesn't get to answer the "What'd you do this weekend?" question with "Rode my bike 150 miles," but he had a very good time with the 72, so I'm certain he will find another opportunity.Thanks to everyone who offered support, whether it was as a part of the online cheering section or as a donor. The money raised still goes to fight MS, and that was the real goal. Not all the numbers are final yet, but it looks like our two guys topped $1,600 together!