A Random Sampling

My mind is not together enough for a complete post today. Here are some of the things I've been thinking about:

A. I want to make the most of Evan's last days of preschool and summer. Today we made homemade pizza in circles and triangles for lunch. ("Homemade" is not quite accurate: we assembled store-bought pizza crust, sauce and cheese).

B. Corrie's almost not a baby anymore. She'll be 2 in only a few weeks. She's pushing her boundaries and testing her limits. For example, her new favorite phrase is "No! No, no, no, no, NO WAY!"

C. I need to figure out a way to keep up with friends in far away places. I have one good friend that I call in the afternoons while the kids are napping. We chat at least once a week. (Shout out to Jo!) Then I have a few precious friends that I hardly ever talk to. We've just never had the opportunity to become phone friends because we always lived close by. Some of them are really busy, others just aren't phone people. I'm missing them like crazy.

D. I'm excited for the Super Bowl this Sunday! I grew up rooting for the Saints, and I've rooted for Peyton Manning and the Colts since Tony Dungy started coaching there. I think I'm more for the Colts than the Saints, but it's probably a 60/40 split. (The conversations about Tim Tebow's Super Bowl ad have been interesting, too.)

E. I'm longing for a church home. There are several possibilities here, and I want to be settled somewhere. I miss having a church family - a small group, moms group, kids in Sunday School. I miss serving at church.

I'm sure there are more things rattling around in my head, but five is probably a good enough list for today. Note to self: I should post more about Zumba one of these days. Now I'm off to bed!

A New Voice

I've been attending a MOPS Bible Study at a church nearby. We meet every week to discuss a chapter in The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian. This week's topic was "Learning to Speak Life."

So timely! On Sunday, we had to discipline Evan for rude speech. We talked about how our words can bless God and other people, or hurt them. On the way to preschool Monday morning, Evan said, "Guess what I prayed about last night, Mom."

I said, "I don't know. What did you pray about?"

Evan: "No, Mom. You guess."

Mom: "Ummm... you prayed that Corrie would feel better."

Evan: "No."

Mom: "You prayed for Gamma and Papa."

Evan: "No."

Mom: "I give up. What did you pray for?"

Evan: "I prayed that I would have a new voice."

Later that day, we had some other issues with complaining. At bedtime, Evan said, "I guess that prayer didn't work."

Me: "Oh, honey. Jesus said that whatever is in our heart will show in what we say. Let's pray that he'll change your heart. Sometimes that takes a while."

It's hard to talk about these things, because I still need heart change, too. My words do not always bless others. My heart is messy and too often self-focused. I long for "the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

I need to keep praying this, for my children and for myself.