To Stir Up...

A few weeks ago, I posted about emotions and being honest with them and not trying to hide them. I promised more posts on that topic, yet here I am, weeks later...still struggling with how to be honest and open.  There are so many thoughts swimming in my head about this, so many emotional struggles that I'm wrestling with at the moment, so many things that I'm still learning, that I've been fighting with what words to say.  So bear with me while we figure this out together...

I talked briefly in that last post about realizing that my emotions are not a curse, not a hindrance, but instead are a gift; something that makes me more like my Creator, not something that pushes me further from Him. That, I think, has been the biggest lesson I've learned on this journey of emotional honesty.

Schafers House Party

We like to have dance parties at our house - a lot - you know, because we're cool like that. I can't think of a day with M&m where we haven't broken into song and busted a move at least once. My life has turned into a musical, just like I always wanted it to...

Tonight was no different - Mason wanted to have a party after dinner, so I turned on our old standby - a Killers concert that we recorded on Palladia a few years ago. We recorded it for Randal and I, but a very young Mason responded to it and busted out some sweet dance moves for his new favorite band, so we've continued to hold onto it and the kids both still enjoy it.

Go ahead, say what you're thinking - "I wish someone would throw a Killers dance party for me!"

When You Least Expect It...

Life is hard. We all know this. We all have our tough times, our hidden hurts. Sometimes, we can look at our pain and at someone else's and say "I could have it much worse" and we find comfort in that.

A lot of times, though, our pain is so great that we don't find solace in those comparisons. Our pain is very real and very close - it consumes us so easily. When our lives don't go the way we wanted them to - when someone hurts us - when we hurt ourselves...it's all too real to ignore, too present to push down.

Our pain is our own and no one else's. And it needs to be felt...needs to be processed...

And it needs to be used.

It MUST have a purpose.

And God has surprised me consistently with how He has used mine for His good.

Marked by our Maker

This is my beautiful girl at her best - relaxed and happy and comfortable. She makes me so very happy and overwhelms me with loveliness.

 

She is beautiful, inside and out. She is a constant reminder to me of God's goodness.

Baseball!

Mason has always liked baseball, but since he watched The Sandlot a couple of weeks ago for the first time, it's been all that he wants to do. He's been constantly asking Randal to play catch with him and has been trying to figure out how to throw better, so we've been working on that.

I took this video to just catch a good father-son moment, but it turned into something much more entertaining about half way through.

Things to learn from this video:

Mason has a delayed reaction to injury.
Randal is fully willing to leave his children for the animals.
Getting a bruise is REALLY exciting.
You MUST have a hat to really play baseball.
Madison is very concerned about me wearing my flip flops.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn0cg6m-o-Y