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During the week I am blessed to be able to care for a friends daughter while she works with at-risk women and children as a social worker.  It’s been an especially eye-opening experience regarding the comments I have received from strangers when I (rarely) venture out of the house with a 3 year old, 16 month old, and 5 month old.  From the well-meaning, “You sure have your hands full,” to the not so well-meaning “Aren’t you aware of the issues with population control,” I have become painfully aware of how our society values children.

My favorite response to the, “You sure have your hands full,” comment is to reply with, “Yes, I do.  Full of blessings.”  Most of the time the initiator of the comment just gets a confused look on their face and smiles and walks away.  I also like to say sometimes, “Yes I do.  Isn’t it wonderful!”  I know these responses seem a little “church-y,” but they really are my heart speaking. The Bible makes it very clear that children are a gift from God, yes our culture would lead you to believe otherwise.  In this day when women kill their children in utero so they don’t have to take a semester off of college, or where having more than 2 children makes you “ignorant to the issues of over population,” being seen in public with three small children seems to be an invitation for comment.  Spending your time raising little ones speaks volumes in a culture like ours that values comfort and convenience over all else.

I wouldn’t have it any other way, you know.  The noise, the chaos, the tears, the wrestling, the arguing, and the picky eating are a small price to pay to know that I am reaching lives and raising world changers for Christ.  I don’t take it lightly, this parenting thing.  There are times where I am painfully aware of my short fallings as a mother and it grieves me.  I think one of my most amazing things about raising children is the way it has given me an ever so fuzzy look into the way that God sees me and loves me.  And if for that only, I am so thankful for this short season of my life that God has me in.  While there are days where the crying gets to be more than I can process and the rice has been spilled from the panty for the 4th time, I choose to believe what so many older moms have told me, that these are the “best days of my life.”

And, now, some pictures of Marin, because she’s so stinkin cute!!

Last night I read a blog post about a family whom I feel inadequate to even describe.  This family of 5 has been through, or, I should say, are going through a season of loss, grief, unknown, and trial that words are unable to accurately portray.  In effort to not distract from their story or to trivialize it with my retelling, I ask you to please take a few minutes to read this blog post in their own words….sorry, I don’t know how to insert a hyperlink into this thing, just copy and paste, please.

http://charliessong.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/from-the-eye-of-the-rain-storm/

Do you need a second to compose your thoughts?  I know I did.  I read that blog last night and was just tore up.  I can’t even begin to fathom how it would feel to lose everything on that level.  I mean, every. single. thing. you own.  It’s too much, really.  And than to lose children.  Your own health.  I felt like I was reading a passage from Job.

I lay in bed last night, trying to fall asleep, but I was unable to stop thinking about this family.  One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with as we follow God’s calling on our lives to leave the military and step into the unknown, has been the very real and tangible reality of selling almost everything we own.  I mean, I have cried tears many times as I think about starting over with only a few of the things we have spent the last 10+ years acquiring.  One of the most amazing things about this whole process of going to Kauai has been seeing the way that God has totally changed my heart, our hearts, in regards to materialistic attachment to things.  Than I read that blog post and I was reminded how little I am really giving up.  How much more some people are having to go through as God gives them the scripts to their lives.  I have this “woe is me” mentality sometimes and I feel like nobody really gets how much we are giving up.  In my sin, I want recognition from others for the “sacrifices” we are making as we seek to walk by faith.  Instead of believing God when He says that, “our reward is in Heaven,” or “our light and momentary struggles are not worthy of comparing with what is to come,” I instead spend time wondering why other people just don’t “get” what we are doing.  It’s so lame.  God I need you.

I say all that, because then I read that blog post and I was just completely humbled.  I am so so blessed.  Blessed doesn’t even seem like a big enough word to express how much and in how many ways God has provided for me and my family.  Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with a desire to DO something.  The Zeller Family and their story moved me to tears, but I didn’t want to just read about it, say a prayer for the, cry a bit and then move on.  Suddenly I knew just what to do, and this is why I am writing this post and why I have titled it as I have.

We use facebook for so many things.  Just a quick scroll down my news feed and I can see pictures of my friends kids, my family’s new baby chickens, my girlfriends dinner plans, ect., ect., ect……Not that those things are bad.  Don’t think that’s what I’m saying.  Here’s the thing, though, I have 659 friends on facebook.  My photography page has another 527 followers.  Do all those people care about the fact that my daughter is looking very cute walking around with her new backpack?  Probably not.  We have all lamented from time to time about how facebook is nothing more than a “look at me” fest.  And i’m just as guilty as the next.  What if those 1,000+ people actually read this post and did something.

What if today, though, instead of just reading a blog on facebook about the very real struggles our brother and sister in Christ are going through, what if we actually did something.  What if we gave.  Yep, I’m asking you to give money to someone.  I don’t even know these people.  I have no idea what they’re going through right now.  I can’t bring them a meal or offer to watch their kids or even hold their hands and pray for peace.  What I do know, and what  I can do, though, is help in the one way they have asked and reached out for.  I am asking you, please, be the body.  When you see or hear of a brother or sister in need, don’t just pray and wish them well.  DO something.  Anything.  Give $5.00 if that’s all you can.  You can’t help everyone.  I know that.  Here’s an opportunity to help someone, though.  I would love to see this family’s need ($100,000.00) met with excess and abundance.  I know there are people struggling everywhere.  I know there are people whose struggles make even these ones seem pithy.  I just can’t help but think that God placed this family and their story on my heart to share with you.

If you are unable to give, that’s ok.  It’s more than ok, actually.  Only you know your situation and I would be ignorant to think that I know what you should do.  I’m just asking you to, please, think and pray and consider if you can help these brothers and sisters in the Lord.

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”

1 John 3:17

Here is the link to the website where the Zeller Family is being loved on by the generosity of others: http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/rain-blessings-on-the-zellers/140813

One of the unexpected outcomes of my oldest son being in school during the day is the sweet relationship that my younger two have forged.  When his older brother is home, Banyan tends to ignore Avenlea.  Not in a mean way, but Noa is so much more interesting to him that little sisters usually gets the backseat.  Since Noa is at school from 8-3 every day, Banyan and Avenlea have become so much closer.  They are just over two years apart, and it is fun to see how their interactions differ from the way Noa and Banyan (3.5 years apart) interacted when Banyan was A’s age.

This unseasonably warm weather has been a sweet gift and we have spent the last few days with the front door open.   With the open door comes easy access to the front porch and B and A have been enjoying their outdoor play space very much.  They were taking turns climbing off and on the little rocker when Avenlea decided that she’d rather sit on the stairs (i.e., thy to sneak down the stairs).  Once she realized that Banyan, being exceedingly opportunistic, had seized the rocker, she thwarted her plan to climb down the steps and decided to cry in protest instead.

I love to take pictures of the day-to-day moments like these.  While I think there is so much value in planned photo sessions (it’s pretty much the only way I can get all of us in pictures together), it’s little times like these that I want to remember for the rest of my life.  The way her chubby little fingers look, his skinny toddler legs in undies, her ragtag pigtails, and his shaggy hair are such a part of the fabric of my everyday life that I know i’d forget them if  I didn’t slow down and take the time to capture them.