Honored Time

I am beginning to understand why families are so worn out at the end of the summer! We have been in a season of GO-GO-GO for weeks, often with just barely enough time to finish a load of laundry between events. Don't get me wrong, they have been awesome events and we marvel at the work God did this summer, but whew! We're tired!

Okay, since our last chat, Jarrod's parents came to visit and the Es enjoyed some (ahem, a ton) of spoiling. We are so thankful for times we can all be together! This trip involved King's beach at Tahoe, many a house project and getting unpacked. *Side-note, these two have earned their gold star parenting badges... they've moved us, A LOT. Thank you!*

Then began the crazy trip back to Florida with an unexpected stay in Denver. God graciously gave us good time with our families there too. And in true Florida fashion, we saw an alligator get captured off my mom's dock! 

E1 getting to do the VBS dance

Then the VBS sprint. Between our church and the mission to McDermitt, I know of 7 new believers in the Lord! Please join me in praying for their fledgling faith to be nurtured and a love for God's Word to develop in their hearts. I had the awesome privilege of teaching preschool at both VBS-es. In all honesty, there were moments where I wasn't sure there was much of a point. the kids were unruly, hyped up on sugar, and some had so little Bible-background that the stories were hard for them to grasp. I could have chosen discouragement, but instead God kindly provided insights. One little boy came to me at church the following Sunday to tell me he "still remembered his verse!". Another grandparent shared that her granddaughter was sharing the Bible stories we learned in class with her non-believing parents at home! Little missionaries! I was reminded that in preschool especially, we plant seeds. We water. It's the Lord who does the growing (1 Cor 3:6-9). Only His Holy Spirit can wake up a sinner's heart, can draw some one to God. What an awesome opportunity to be included in His work!

And now for the confession....
In all the busyness, I have not made time to study Scripture. I chose tasks I thought had to be done (even church tasks), instead of spending quiet time, one on one, with the Lord. I still prayed, I still went to church, I still upheld my responsibilities at home. But it wasn't the same. To be honest, there was very little joy in it all. I cringe saying all this out loud, a pastor's wife should have this one figured out, right? Not me, I face the same temptation to "get busy", to let my time be stolen away by things and tasks and errands. And the sneaky thing is they're all "good" things! Playing with my kids, cleaning the house, grocery shopping. None that I could look at and say, oh if I only stop doing that I will have plenty of time to study the Bible. And yet, I was spiritually starving. What's a girl to do?

So this morning, I sat after the kids finished breakfast and opened my Bible to Psalm 119. I wasn't sure of my day's plan, but I knew I needed time with the Lord. I love the Psalms, especially this one, because they encourage me to view God's Word as beautiful, precious, treasure, and life-giving. They remind me that it is the Lord who sustains me. Most of them being written by David, King of Israel, (probably a super busy guy, especially when he was on the run for his life), they take away my excuse of having too many pressing things to do to spend time reading Scripture. 

Psalm 119:165-168(NIV)

Great peace have those who love your law,

    and nothing can make them stumble.

I wait for your salvation, Lord,

    and I follow your commands.

 

I obey your statutes,

    for I love them greatly.

 

I obey your precepts and your statutes,

                          for all my ways are known to you. 

And you know what, today has gone on. The kids were fed, errands and chores have been done. My heart is different - I've been joyful. My eyes have been opened to opportunities to make teachable moments with the girls. God didn't have to do that. This day could have been just as chaotic and stressful as the days past, but part of me thinks this is a gift from Him for making the decision to honor Him with my time: to show I believe He is worthy by choosing Him over other things. I'm not sure what the weekend will hold, if our family will experience another crisis or have hard decisions to make or if the dishes just don't get done, but I will commit to choosing time in Scripture and allow God to speak into my life that way. 

Be encouraged that yes, we all can easily get busy. And busy with good things at that! But for your heart's sake, choose time with the Lord. Allow Him to fill you with joy and love for Himself and others through Bible study. We need it.

Till next time,

the Reeds

Don't you dress up like this to get the mail?

Summer time = ice cream truck!

Teaching her in true Nevadan fashion

7 beds in 7 days

Hello! Sorry for the long silence.... but here's the story why....

So we are happily settling into life in Reno and work with GHBC. When we came out west, we moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. It worked, but as the momma staying home with the kiddos.... I was praying God would bring us into more space quickly!

And He did. We were blessed to be able to purchase a home! So once again (we're pretty much pros at packing by this point) we loaded everything up with tons of help from friends from church and headed home. Fortunately for us, but perhaps unfortunately for them, Jarrod's parents were out for a visit while we were moving. I am so thankful for their help!

We were able to spend a night in our new place, and the kiddos loved it. There is a closet that reaches under the stairs and the girls have claimed that as their fort. When you can't find them, chances are they are creating a princess castle or playing house in there. I love their imaginations!

Then came the next three whirlwind days.

Through some unexpected circumstances, we decided to take a trip back to Florida to spend time with my family. First flight, smooth, no problems what so ever. Then we waited in Denver. And we waited, and we waited. Long story short, we had two days to see what we could see in Denver. Our first hotel accommodations were quite the experience! We should have known based on the sign when we drove up, "otel". It's just become the family running joke for when something is missing or not quite right. So we stayed in a different hotel for our second night. After a face-plant to the metal edge of a chair in the airport for E2 and a long day of travel, we finally made it to Florida. After a quick night in Jacksonville, we made it down to see my family (see? 7 beds in 7 days!) . Thank you every one for your prayers as we have walked through all this.

As we are preparing to head back west, please pray for our families. Please pray for our church family as we prepare for vacation Bible school next week.  Promise I will update with pictures when we get back "home"! *I love getting to say that and putting down roots!*

-the Reeds

Humbled, and many thank-yous

Immensely grateful, humbled, encouraged........

Just a few words to describe the events of the past week. Since we last wrote, the outpouring of love and encouragement has amazed us. How kind of the Lord to provide us with such affirmation above and beyond what we asked! Thank you for your kind words. 

Some events.....
Jarrod had his ordination council on February 24th. The room was filled with men and women of ugliest ties, I mean, there's not even a competition. Pics to come when we get unpacked and can find them again :)

great faith: former and current pastors, friends, family. Thank you to all who were able to make it and to those who prayed for him. On a white board near the end of the table were some very daunting questions. I asked Jarrod later if he was worried about any of them; he confessed to not recognizing at least two names! Luckily, those never made it to the discussion table :)  Many words of encouragement and charges were given to Jarrod and we were blessed by a great time of prayer for our family. As a token, the Chets staff wanted to make sure Jarrod was entirely prepared for ministry... equiped with the world's

After the council, we had the blessing of being presented and commissioned by Chet's Creek Church. How humbling! We thoroughly enjoyed getting to celebrate this time with our church family and long time friends who were able to come join. Perhaps the best moment of that day was going to Jarrod's parent's lifegroup. They asked us to come share our story and then prayed for us. I felt like the cowardly lion from "The Wizard of Oz" who finally found his courage! All the fears that circle through my mind regarding life out west were trumped by a sincere and calming peace that this road is exactly where we need to go, I was reassured that He is faithful to carry us. Prayer partners, knowing you are supporting us gives us great joy and courage!

E1 was able to (early) celebrate her 4th birthday! She had a wonderful time bouncing with friends and eating cake. Please continue to pray for her heart; daily she tells us she doesn't want to leave her friends here. We are thankful children are resilient and are trusting the Lord to provide a special friends for her once we arrive in Reno, but it is still so hard to see her brokenhearted. She is such a joy to us and we see a love to people growing in her.



We allowed ourselves to celebrate Sunday, then it was a race to the finish as we packed up everything left in our home and prepared to send it ahead of us. Our last big items sold, praise the Lord!, and the trailer arrived. After 6.5 years and 5 moves, we might finally have this packing thing down. Multitudes of muscle turned out to help Jarrod load the truck (THANK YOU!) and it's now well on it's way to our new home.

Now we are trying to fit in as many meals and times with friends and family as we can before we go. Please lift up these conversations, that they would be encouraging and leaving nothing left unsaid. Continue to pray for our families, that the Lord would give them joy in sending us to do His work in place of the sadness of change and felt loss.

I'll leave you with these verses that have greatly impacted me this week.... Colossians 3:15-17
 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do,whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Beginning of a New Chapter

*Time warp... again. Sorry about that! Getting one on one time with the computer is harder than I thought with three little people! But this is letter is important enough to require a VeggieTales morning*

Dear family and friends,

We pray 2016 has been full of wonderful adventures and seeing the Lord’s hand at work for you so far. It surely has for us! We wanted to send you a letter sharing some of what has been going on and ask for your prayers.

In late January, Jarrod accepted a call to Granite Hills Baptist Church as the associate pastor. As we speak; rather, as I write, we are packing up all we own to move to Reno, Nevada.  If you’re like me, you probably had to read that last line a few times.  The journey God took us on to get to this point has been incredible.  He has graciously shown His ability to carry us through our doubts and fears. As we walked through the interview process, He awakened our hearts for Reno and the people of GHBC. There’s a familiar kindred-heart /family-feel at GHBC and we have a growing love for God’s people there. Reno, however is a spiritually dark place. The national average of people who attend some kind of religious service throughout the week is 40%. The same statistic for Reno is 5% (Gallup poll). We hope to be used by the Lord to help the people in Reno fill their craving for more with the only One who will satisfy. By living a grace-empowered life and pointing others to Jesus, we hope to glorify our Father in heaven. We have seen God at work and He has confirmed over and over that this is our step of faith out of the boat (Matthew 14:28-29). This move gives us the opportunity to see God do what only He can do – give life to those who are dead.  Please pray for us. We are confident He will carry us, but oh how weak the flesh is and how quickly we are tempted to worry!

Some specific requests:

-          Pray for Jarrod’s ordination on February 24^th. We will be presented to and commissioned by Chets Creek Church in Jacksonville, FL on the 28^th.

-          Pray for our physical move out to Reno. We will be shipping all of our stuff and then flying with three small kiddos and a dog. Pray for Eliaya, Elora, Ezra to be comfortable during the flights and for our stuff to get there.

-          Pray for us to get settled quickly and to have a “home base” to help deal with the stress of everything new.

-          Pray for Jarrod and I to continue to be unified. Pray for clear communication and grace with each other as well as with our children.

-          Pray for the E’s, that they stay healthy and adjust quickly to new surroundings. Pray for friends.

-          Pray for our families as we go. We appreciate their support and willingness to serve the Lord with us by sending us out.

-          Pray for Jarrod to step into this new role smoothly. Praise God for the friendship he and Pastor Mark have formed already and pray they collaborate well.

-          Pray for Granite Hills Baptist Church (ghbcreno.org) to be unified in their desire to serve the Lord and the people of Reno.

Thank you for joining us in this adventure! We covet your prayers; we need you to “hold the ropes” as we venture into this spiritually dark place and seek to make much of Jesus. We love you all!

Family Driven Faith

At the encouragement of my hubby, who is all too familiar with my brain's propensity to learn something then quickly "misplace" that info upon the arrival of something new.... here's a few thoughts from a book I recently finished.......

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.

This book was a perfectly timed read for me; it gives Scriptural encouragement for my season in life. Perhaps the biggest take-away was a strong charge to parents that it is our God-given responsibility and task to to disciple our children. This is not a single chat to be had casually one afternoon, an osmosis-effect our children will experience simply because they are around ample Christian books / music / people, nor is it a chore to be handed off to "the trained professionals " (aka church staff). Disciplining our kids is a day-in, day-out, when you wake up, when you eat, when you walk, when you lie down task (see Deuteronomy 6). There isn't a shortcut. This effort must be bathed in prayer, built on Scripture and woven into the very fabric of family life. While this sounds intimidating and beyond my abilities, Baucham shows the same God who charges me with this task also enables me for it. I can pray, I can read and study the Bible, I can discuss big truths and work out the implications for my life because God has given His Spirit to Christians. I can genuinely worship God in front of and with my family.

Pairing with this great encouragement and charge to "bring them up in training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), Baucham brings a glimpse of the current reality showing the vast number, majority even, of kids raised in the church today will no longer be involved in church by the end of their freshman year of college. Why? Baucham writes about the lack of discipleship in the home, the absence of understanding that how we act / what we do is derived from what we believe, and the battle of priorities (our children's spiritual growth vs academics / athletics /etc). He says, when others remark that the limits he places on his children will drive them to 'go wild' when they leave the nest, "The question is not whether our children sin later in life. The question is, do we have a biblical obligation to train them before they leave the home? Is there any biblical validity to the idea that Christian parents should allow their children to experiment with ungodliness? ... We look at the biblical mandate and compare it to societal norms, ... we believe somehow we are depriving our children of experiences that will make them more liked, more respected, more normal. Hence we trade in the biblical standard for a cultural norm that hovers just below mediocrity." The world around me doesn't know what's ultimately best for me / my kids / my family, God does.

Though E1 is only 2 years old, this book really impressed upon me the need to have a family game plan for her (and E2's) spiritual development. We need to be a family that is worshiping together at home and at church. I need to take every opportunity, even now, to talk about God with her and to share the beautiful truths of the Gospel. We need to guard our home from the ever-growing, constantly-changing, never-enough to-do list of what the world says every child needs in order to become a godly man/woman and go to the Creator for wisdom and guidance on how to fulfill this HUGE and AWESOME task of raising a family of faith.

You Know You're on Vacation When....

You know you're on vacation when....

- your child's request to stay in pj's and a tutu all day doesn't even phase you. Sure, why not? No one knows
who we are here anyway :)

- You learn at least one new way to play dominos

- You remember what it's like to enjoy a fiction book, or any book for that matter, because some one kindly took your kids out for the afternoon.

- You remember how good those middle-of-a-book-naps are. Ahhh....... bliss!

- You go to Walmart (cause you forgot to pack a toothbrush)

- The day isn't based on time, but rather what the next meal is

pinterest success!

- You eat some really good meals!

- Staying up till midnight talking with friends isn't a fluke you regret later because of all you have to do the next day, but much enjoyed time

Nick and Kristen, soooo enjoyed time with them!

- You go to Walmart (cause some one else forgot something or has a vacation-induced-craving)

- The little things that bother you at home don't seem to matter as much

- You understand why people in the south like wrap-around porches as you watch your two year old happily run her 35th lap after dinner

- You take a walk, just for fun

- You go to Walmart (hey, in a small town this place is hoppin'!)

E1, E2 and cousin Anna playing so sweet!

- The video camera battery needs to be recharged twice in one week because you are taking time to make memories of little girls singing to "Frozen", cousins snoring on the couch and the squirrel working so hard to reach that bird feeder

Emma loved the bunnies

no denying the family ties there!

Lord, thank you for this girl!!

As you can tell, we just got back from a great vacation. 2,000 miles in the car with little ones is an adventure, but the chance to be with family, see friends and let our family have a break from the daily grind.... so worth it. Now we're back, refueled and refreshed, ready for the next adventure (though I haven't had the heart to tell E1 she can't continue to wear pj top and a tutu as her daily attire......)

till the next edition,
- the Reeds

Things I Want to Remember...

During this season my day gets started before I can fully open my eyes, errands are scheduled down to the minute to finish before nap-time meltdowns, I am learning more Disney songs to sing in the car than I thought my brain could ever hold, a favorite morning routine is snuggling on the couch, I have developed a new appreciation for Dr. Seuss books because they are easily memorizable, and $2 for bubbles is the best toy investment I could make...

These are memories I want to keep:

- E1 is fascinated by bugs. She'll ask "momma, this nice bug or mean bug?" Nice ones she'll stoop down to inspect and push along out of the road and into the grass. Mean ones (ones that bite), she frantically waves her arms in the air while running away.

- She got a bug bite on her leg. We talked about it all the time, "momma, leg itchy!". Now every itch, be it on her leg, arm, belly or nose.... it's a bug bite. When I tried to tell her it was just at itch, "no momma, bug bite and a itch".

- Potty training, while it results in a little more laundry (what's a few more shorts anyway?), yields tons of interesting conversations. I didn't think the "birds and the bees" talks would start this young! I keep rehearsing a line from the show 7th Heaven, 'if we talk about it all the time, it'll be less awkward'. Not to that point yet.... but hopefully before puberty strikes :)

- E2 was once nicknamed crinkles because of her love with all toys that crunched and crinkled. We're reconsidering that perhaps we should have chosen 'the lazy susan'; this girls gets on her belly and spins spins spins! She'll go after toys, but mostly she chases E1. E1 is starting to catch on and will try to stay out of sight. It's a workout for both!

- E1 is in a twin bed and loves it. There is a side rail that goes part of the way to prevent any middle-of-the-night-roll-offs, but she is convinced that in order to get out of bed, I must be in the room. (Totally not a bad thing!) Each morning and after nap I will hear "MOMMA!!! I WAKE!!!!!! TIME GET UP?" and as I walk into her room, she'll leaning over the rail waiting for my okay to get out of bed. Sweet girl!

- E2 has learned that going backwards is frustrating when what you want is in front of you. She's working on crawling, but can only go that one direction.... for now.

I love my girls and this season where they are both so young and we spend so much time together. I am not the perfect mom: I miss teachable moments, begrudge reading a book for the 5th time that afternoon, try to will the clock forward to 8pm when it's only 5. But I want this time to matter. I know it's fleeting. I know my job is to cling to the cross and raise these girls to be young women equipped to love the Lord with their whole hearts and live their lives in line with that love. What a blessing that we get to have fun along the way!

Train Up A Child....

And you'll learn a lot. For instance....

- Train up a child and you'll come to realize that the more helium inhaled by a voice actor prior to performing, the more your child will memorize. Point in case... E1 has seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse maybe 5 times... yet we know the theme song, the exercises, "oh toodles" and of course the hot dog song. And yes... I said "we"

- Train up a child and you'll learn that you definitely should have bought stock in Tide / Shout and other laundry items.... we use them. A LOT. 

- Train up a child and a small dark closet takes on a whole new life: quick hide-a-way for toys, best hide and seek place, or a much needed quiet oasis for momma when it's been raining for a few days straight (unless you've just played hide and seek, of course, then you'll be quickly found!)

- Train up a child and the clock no longer serves as a means to orient yourself to the position of the sun throughout the day, but to help predict the behavior of your infant and determine whether you really have time to run through Target before she realizes she's hungry.

- Train up a child and mundane tasks like folding laundry become treasure hunts to find the one missing sock statically stuck to some one's shirt. Winner gets an M&M!

- Train up a child and you'll see all your yucky habits modeled right before your eyes. Somehow the good habits don't seem to instantly stick like the bad.......

- Train up a child and once again you'll earnestly thank the Lord for His beautiful creation. Seeing life through Eliaya's eyes makes me a child again. She spent 20 minutes at the park, not running or going down slides, but following ants on their march back to the hill. She wants to know which tree is your favorite. When was the last time you picked a favorite tree outside your window??

- Train up a child and you'll learn just how easy it is to be focused on yourself. And with a lot of prayer and discipline, you'll learn Philippians 2:1-4 (Message)

    "If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."

- Train up a child and you'll love to celebrate the little things in life : finishing veggies at dinner, dinner not ending up on the floor (a frequent cause for cheers in the Reed house), successful potty trip, learning a verse, asking heart questions about love and the Lord, willing and unsolicited hugs (tear-jerker every time!)

- Train up a child and you'll become, with the Lord's help, more aware of how much you need Jesus and all the more thankful for His transforming work in your life.

- Train up a child and you'll learn what it looks like to be quick to forgive. My daughter shows me up often in her ability to give and accept an apology, smile, and move on to restore a relationship. While she may not be able to use the same words to describe what's going on.... I see it. I'm so thankful for the tenderness of E1's big heart!

- Train up a child and you'll go on the wildest, most thrilling, rewarding adventure! 

I hear so often, either outright or in undertones of how people talk, the fear that having and raising a child will be the death of "my life". In a way, yes, that's true. You will have to grow up, consider others before yourself, see to some one else's needs, not be able to go along with every crazy idea that may pop into your head..... But it's SO GOOD. Jesus calls us to serve, to think less of ourselves and more of Him, to put our old way of life to death. And I believe, with my whole heart, that one huge means God uses to accomplish this is children. I write down these memories of time with the girls for many reasons: to share laughs, advice and work out frustrations, but also so that one day, when they're older, I can show them the lessons the Lord taught me through them. I want them to see how God has been intentionally using them to bring glory to Himself from day one. And to tell them how thankful I am for them. 

So Eliaya, Elora... one day when you read this... thank you. I love you both so much and glorify the Father that He saw fit to put you two in Jarrod's and my lives. 

little doll baby! 3months

little house on the prairie! 

sister-morning-paci-love

"What you lookin at?"

E1's 2nd bday. So much fun!

4.5 years, 2 kids.... still having fun!

Required for a 2 Year Old

The talk of our house right now revolves around Sunday. Not church, not celebrating the Gator's win the previous night (I hope!), but a very big day.. Eliaya turns 2! Last year at this time, I was in a pinterest-induced-craze. You know what I'm talking about. It was nuts. And E1 had no idea what was going on. This year, there's a much more subdued craze and I'm not sure who's more excited: me or Eliaya. Any lull in conversation is quickly filled with "yiya party day now?". Word to the wise... when a two year old asks a questions, answer quickly. Silence is their cue to ask again... louder. I asked E1 what she wants to do for her birthday and she told me "balloons... CAKE". Her eyes glossed over, I'm pretty sure her earliest memory if from her 1st bday when we gave her the smash cake, she knew exactly what to do.... she's been in love ever since.


We're (semi)full-force potty training and are thereby keeping M&Ms in business. Ever a Reed, Eliaya absolutely refuses to be in the bathroom without a book. Have no fear... I've already written than one down in her baby book!

One of the best gifts Eliaya has been given is her sister. I can already see the Lord using Elora to grow E1's

ability to sympathize and be compassionate, as well as to begin the lifelong battle vs selfishness. E1 gets frustrated and I can see it on her face... the anger builds up and eventually feels she has to hit something. We have started sitting her down with us to open the Bible and talk about anger, kindness and considering others as more important than ourselves (Phil 2:3). I pray that moments, even now, will serve to soften her heart towards the Lord.

*side note, and a bit of a soapbox*
 We work with Eliaya, and ourselves, to memorize Scripture. I realize this is not a "cool" thing to do right now, but friends it is SO IMPORTANT. Jesus said if we love Him we will obey Him. How can we obey

Elora 3 months

what we don't know? And it's one thing to read the Word and say, "oh yeah, I should do _____ to obey God". But when temptation comes and you're in a situation where it's not easy to obey, how will you know what to do? Memorizing the Word is not a way to upgrade your mansion in heaven, by saying God's truth over and over and over and over it grinds a new pathway in your mind so that when faced with a situation in which you used to not obey the Lord, the roadwork is now set for you to follow the Holy Spirit and do what He says and not follow old patterns. With Easter coming up I've heard a lot of people mention the passage in Romans 10:14-15 in regards to missionaries sharing Jesus with foreign lands. Mommas... this is especially for us: this passage means us to! We have been sent to teach the Word to our children. How will they believe and trust the Lord if we don't show and tell them how? and how can we tell them what we don't know?

whew... okay, back to what a 2 year old needs. I get these "your baby is __ old now" emails that tell me what the girls should be doing / playing with /etc. Those companies must make some serious money off advertising. If you're not careful you'll be convinced you need 5 different toys for each day, no repeats, a foreign language tutor (or educator of some type) by the time they're 2, have organized educational play dates and a prophylactic cycle of antibiotics to ward off the play-group-snuffles. Crazy!! Don't buy the lie (or the product they're selling). Buy minimally, if you discover a need borrow something and see if it truly fills the need. Eliaya is happier playing in the spice drawer, with a playground ball, or chasing the dogs than anything else. My resolution, or at least goal for this week, is to not make things more complicated. Life with 2 under 2 is crazy, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming.

Okay, glancing back over this, I realize my thoughts aren't all that cohesive.... can you tell the Gator's are playing? But stay tuned... pictures from the big party will be coming soon!

Turning 2!

turning 1

5 o'clock Phenomenon

Kids are creatures of habit, and schedule. At least, mine are.

I can near set my watch by the time that Eliaya wakes up, when Elora wants to eat (E1 is less predictable in this due to the fact that she eats all day long), and when 5 pm strikes. It's weird really. We can all be happy, playing on the floor or out for a walk, chasing the dog... venue doesn't seem to matter in the least. Promptly when the clock strikes 5pm, the meltdowns start. Eliaya suddenly drops toys, the tears flow and her loud cry comes out... and whoa... is it loud! Elora, feeling left out of the festivities, decides to join in - declaring she's hungry, famished even, despite the fact she ate less than an hour and a half ago. While feeding E2, E1 tells me repeatedly she has to potty... NOW. It may just be me but I think even the walls of our apartment start creeping closer adding to the resounding cacophony a wonderful echo. The only real variety in this mix is whether the dinner I've started is just beginning or near-burning.

While I sometimes get overwhelmed by the chaos of 5 o'clock and beg the time until 630 when Jarrod gets home to spontaneously disappear, in reality I am thankful for it. I think it's my daily reminder to focus on what's really important and to let my to-do list / desire to be completely  in control  go. My kids need me. They aren't quietly devising a plan while eating lunch of how to wreck my evening. They aren't out to get me. Hey, I don't even think they're trying to destroy everything the touch. They just need me.

I've been going through two books recently, Crazy Busy and Discipleship Essentials. Though they aren't shelved next to each other, they've been working together to help me see that I often associate busyness with importance. I'm also guilty of always looking towards the "next season" of life: easily finding fault with the current one and idolizing the supposed next one. I'm praying God would teach me to be joyful in THIS season. To enjoy THESE moments. To be content now. I hear it all the time, that kids grow up so fast. I know it's true. I want to look back and have memories of playing hide and seek in the living room, running in the parking lot, playing make-up. Not only that, I want these girl's God has entrusted to me to remember Scripture and praying as a family... to not be able to think of a time when we weren't happy and content serving the Lord. Where ever that might be.