Double for your Trouble

This might turn out to be more of a rant than a blog post...but Im ok with that.

Ladies...(gentlemen I am not ignoring you..but there are just more gals)

Each and everyone of us has incredible talents.

 God has given us these talents and blessings to serve Him.   Every time you get into the elevator to get to your office or cube you are working towards a goal.

Every time you empty the dishwasher you are working towards a goal.

When you pick up the phone to call a friend that has been a little too quiet you are working towards a goal.

Every single day when you get up and see your babies out the door you are woking towards a goal.

It is not a goal of financial wealth or of fame.
 It is not a goal that anyone else in this world will ever see.
 It is a simple formula.
 Painfully simple.
It is about doing the right thing.
 It is about serving others and always looking to Christ.  It is about having "ground hog day " over and over again.
Not because you like to clean the kitchen (maybe you do, but not me) but because you are working towards raising children and having a nice home for them and you want to keep your eyes on the prize.

There are times when we are stopped in our tracks by what is happening to us..what someone is saying, or what someone is doing.  Mean, hurtful things that can take our breath right out of us.  Times when we are on our faces.  Times when evil is lurking and threatening our Faith.  Tests....

These tests dont just show up in small manageable doses.  They slam you to the fence with a tidal wave of circumstances.
The magnitude of the reality of our world is cruel and harsh.
How can we fight such opposition?  What power do we have?

Indeed..."What are our defenses?"

What are your defenses?

Where is your shelter?

How do you respond to the attacks?

Again...it is simple.  You do the work.

Every single day...every single moment.....every single night...you show up.
Ya see....I have been counsel to many a close dear friends.  It is a huge blessing to have sisters in Christ.  You raise one another up.  You dry tears.  You make meals.  You dig in.  You pray.

You basically ignore the bad and focus on the good.  Super simple..but soooo hard.

I have the hardest time when it comes to my kids.  I am a mama bear times a million.  I am a fierce protector.  But I can not protect them from themselves.  Two are teenagers.  They are going to make choices...ones that I might not like.  They are going to push....and test.  This makes me sooo scared.  I have prayed so many times for the days of sleepless nights and diapers.  Watching your kids learning to fly is terrifying....and ohhh sooo exhilarating.

You truly will get double for all your trouble.  Keeping your eyes on the prize.  Showing up.  Listening to the teenage stories and drama.  Making the calls.  Taking the meals.  Fighting the good fight.

 Every single day...focusing on Him.

I love IG..Insta Gram!!!

Merry Christmas....................

Do you feel like the Barbie at the end of "Toy Story 3..."are we done yet?  is everybody gone?...Geeze..my cheeks are killing me..."

Is this you??  All the shopping all the running all the visiting...you just need a brake.

From Thanksgiving until today....I have been on full power. The four kids and the parties and the running.

Now I love every second of it....but I forget some of it ya know???  

That is why I love love love IG....

I have taken more pictures of sweet moments this past season and I am so thankful because today I was able to sit back and look at this busy blessed season and  remember....

Merry Christmas....to all !!!!   come and see me at joanniedoors on IG...so much fun...

Smooches!!

Freedom...

There is a great deal to be said of this last election. 

 But whether your guy won or lost doesn't matter for the purpose of this post. 

 What matters is the process that we took part in.  

The process of choosing. 

 On the days, weeks..leading up to the election we all had the right to choose how to show our support for our values and beliefs.

  Some choose to toss their opponent under the bus...but that too is another post.

  

We had the opportunity to exercise the muscles of democracy. 

 We all had the freedom to think for ourselves and act accordingly.

  

 Simple.....freedom.

But we know that freedom came at a great cost.

We took the family to Washington DC over Thanksgiving weekend.

We walked the National Mall and took in all the sights.

This never gets old to me. 

 I remember going to DC as a child and The Lincoln Memorial steps , though an easier climb still leave me breathless. 
 I hope one day when I am very old they still take my breath away.

My kids are older now and much much wiser.  They know how to connect the dots.

  My William is 13 and the memorials hit him hard.  
He cried openly as he experienced the WWII memorial.

My hubby is fiercely God and Country and he too was overwhelmed by the sacrifices.

It was an extraordinary family trip.  One that left me with the question on freedom....

The fact that many people on our planet do not have freedoms that we take for granted.  

The freedom to think and act as we wish.  The freedom to open our minds and our hearts...

My father in love..(law), but I adore him..so love is more fitting...sent this to me and it was heavenly timing....

“The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race” — the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.” commencement speech by David Foster Wallace given in 2005 (complete read is about 15-minutes – it’s one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever read). In it he said…

Did you get all that????

Holy Cow!!!

At times being a mom..a parent seems like "Groundhog day,". The endless discipline.  The hearing your voice repeat the same stuff over and over.  The tasks that are the same and never ending......this isn't sexy...this is important...this takes great effort...this is self sacrifice...and we choose to do it every single day...without pay...without rest..because we choose to.

I know this is a twist on freedom....

But it makes so much sense to me.


 
God has given each of us the opportunity to choose.  We are innately free to do His will.  To serve others and to care for other people in our own lives in our own homes.