Making Room for Grace and the Middle Ground: reflections on my social media newsfeed.

My news feed has been full of links to articles this summer. Links to articles telling me how I should feel or think about things. Things like yoga pants and modesty. Things like depression and suicide. Things like silly/fun fundraisers and stem cell research and hashtag activism.

And I want to shake my head and throw up my hands and say "YOU PEOPLE!"

Because there seems to be no room for a middle ground.

Because my position as a Godly woman seems to come down to what kind of pants I wear and either I agree with you or I am an attention-seeking harlot. Because there seems to be no grace for a tired mom whose weight fluctuations are equaled only by her one-year-old’s mood swings and who can't seem to find time to do laundry.

Because there seems to be no respect for the grieving. Or the dead. Or those struggling with unspeakable pain. Or those who misspeak and say something with truth but maybe not love. Because one man couldn’t see past his pain and one man couldn’t see past his pride and both men needed the same thing. Grace.  

Because we are easily irritated by a fad on our news feed and don't bother to look deeper to the story behind it. Because it is easier to point out the negative than look for the positive.  Because sometimes we forget that being "pro-life" is just as much about loving and supporting and seeking healing for the living in whatever broken place we find it as it is protecting the yet to be born. Because judgment is easier than grace.

Because there is a bigger picture we are missing.

And then I read this post. And my heart sings YES!

God didn’t stand back and point out all of our mistakes. He sent his son and got dirty up to his elbows. He surrounded himself with flawed, broken people and loved them. He looked past their superficial needs to the heart of what they needed. Grace.

What if we, what if I took Romans 12:10 to heart.
 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

What if we stopped pointing fingers, stopped rolling our eyes, stopped arguing our side and put that same energy into loving one another?

 

What if, rather than proving we were right, we sought to outdo one another in showing honor? 

What if we took time to sit down and listen to each other's stories? Listening to the whys and lifting each other up in prayer. What if we withheld judgment till we know the whole story. Or maybe withheld judgment all together and simply pointed each other toward grace.

What if we were really daring and shared our own stories: of loss, of pain, of failure, of sin, of questioning. Not to glorify these things, but to take away their power. It is the things that remain unspoken that drive the biggest wedge between us. It is the illusion of perfection and knowing all that answers that keeps others quiet. 

Maybe it's time we take the conversation further than social media and into our homes, across our tables, in real relationships with community and genuine accountability.  What if we stopped vaugebooking and spoke loving truth into each other's lives. 

Yes, this is hard, yes, this is invasive, yes this is wildly uncomfortable.  

But what if we took the chance? 

What would that look like? I would love to hear from you. How do you find the balance between truth and grace. Is there a way to stand up for what you believe in on social media with out coming across as condescending and self righteous? What does real community and accountability look like? 

Transitions

I have been pretty quiet on here for a while. I have been quiet intentionally. We have been in a season of intense transition and I have wanted to take time to think, reflect, pray through, live with these transitions for a bit before sharing about them.

This baby girl just turned one! I am not sure how that happened. It honestly feels like just a few weeks ago we brought her home. She is such a funny talkative little person. She get's into everything, still loves to cuddle, is talking/babbling constantly, and loves "ring-around-the-rosie".

These two girls started school this week. They are so excited to be at the same school and Miss Goose was bouncing off the walls this morning because her sister and the neighbor girl were going to walk her to her classroom today. Goose is in Kindergarten this year and Bear is starting 1st grade. She is so excited to be in the grade her aunt teaches and has said many times she wishes she could go to the school her aunt teaches in. (So do I kiddo, so do I.)

First week of school has brought its expected challenges. They are doing great going to bed and getting up but they both have their own challenges at school so the afternoons/evenings are a bit of a struggle. The joys of having an introvert and an extrovert sharing a bedroom. (So sorry to my sister I shared a room with growing up. I had NO idea how draining that must have been for you!).

Our small group is going through some changes. Good changes that mean we are growing and will allow more people to attend groups. It took a while to get used to the idea mentally. Josh and I originally had been planning on opening up our home to host a group in January but the changes prompted us to move up our time line and offer it this fall. So in a few weeks we will be hosting a group. Thankfully my parents came this past weekend and did a lot of work around the house to help us get ready for that. Still a good bit done, but lots is in the works house wise and in my heart.

It seems like a lot of the reading I have been drawn to have been about home, hospitality, and community. I'm beginning to see a trend and I'm trying to listen to what God is trying to teach me. Hopefully will be more on that in the future.

Forgotten Projects

It rained today. Finally. We have needed a nice summer storm for a while. The sky got dark and the air filled with rolls of thunder. I couldn't bring myself to clean and all I wanted to do was curl up watch Top Chef and listen to the rain. So today I pulled out some long forgotten projects and worked on them for a while.

I worked on my granny square blanket some today and even got a few squares pieced together. I think it's going to be so lovely when it's done. I'm excited for cool weather and the chance to curl up with it in my glider.

I am also finally working on my NoodleHead Super Tote! I think it is going to turn out really well. I'm a little worried it's going to turn out a little brighter than I would like for a back to school bag. But it should still be pretty and serviceable.

What are you all working on this week?

Summer

 

There are lots of things we could be doing. Organizing that could or even should be happening. School supplies to buy. Clothes to sort and organize. Projects to be started, to be finished, to be worked on. Skills to improve. And yet, we are doing non of that these days. We are fully embracing summer and eating tons of ice cream and listening to the front screen door slam a hundred times a day. Switching from open windows, to air conditioning and back. Grapes are being eaten by the pound. Stickers are being collected. Trips are being taken to the farmers market. Pictures are being colored.

All in all it's been pretty quite. I am trying to embrace that rather than constantly rush onto the next thing. I am desperately trying to simply rest and abide in this place and this season.

I'm doing some daydreaming about the basement. We are painting all the wood paneling white. Setting up a long table with two computers. I have a beautiful roll top desk that I am picking up this week some time and I can't wait. I love roll top desks and have wanted one since I was a little girl. I've spent lots of time on pinterest day dreaming about what I want to set up down there.

Bitter Sweet Changes (Becoming a single family home again)

Life is full of changes. Over the past few years I feel like our life has been such a whirlwind of changes one after another. And now, we are faced with yet another one.

For the past 15 months my "baby" brother, his wife, and their baby boy have been living in our basement. This weekend they move into their own place.

As Abi said when she found out "I'll miss them, but it will be nice to get our basement back.

We have learned a lot the past few months. We have learned about hospitality and living in community. We have lived in an environment that daily pushes us consider other outside our immediate family and accommodate other. We have embraced the challenge of living an open life while still respecting healthy boundaries. 

I will desperately miss having some one around on those days when I am so overwhelmed I feel like crying. I remember one day when Tacy was about 3 weeks old Emily came up stairs to find me and all three girls in tears. Even though some one had dropped dinner off I hadn't even been able to eat yet. She promptly sent my two big kids to bed, fixed me a plate of food, and took tacy down stairs so I could eat a meal in peace. I have 15 months of stories like this. Some one there to pitch in, lend an egg when the groceries are low,  or swap babies with when we are both just exhausted with our own.

That being said, I know they are so excited to be in their own place. After so many months of living
 in a cramped basement I am sure they are looking forward to spreading out again, unpacking all their boxes and settling into their own home for the next few years.

I know my girls are looking forward to having their basement back. More room to run, spread out toys, and have dance parties. I will enjoy being able to set my sewing machine up full time and not having to put it on the dinning room table.

As I said, bitter sweet. We will miss them, but I know God is moving us both into a new season and has some exciting things in store for all of us. 

Stay tune for pictures of our basement as we paint and redecorate a little bit.

Notebook Stash

So, I mentioned in my last post that we are already buying school supplies. Honestly I have a soft spot for school/office supplies and there for tend to shop for it year round. The past few weeks though I have truly indulged my obsession and splurged on some fun new notebooks I found on clearance as well as some new highlighters. For a while I put myself on notebook restriction and was trying to fill all my books before a bought more, but eventually I just gave up on that. I have gone to just buying them when I find them for a great price and then when I need one I already have one on hand just waiting.

 All these pretty notebooks were either purchased from a clearance shelf or a $1.00 bin. I have no idea what each of these will hold. Maybe prayers, maybe grocery lists, maybe sketches little girls draw in the back seat of the car. Whatever they are going to hold it's nice to know that they were there, waiting on my bookshelf.

The other new office supply purchase this summer has been Gel-Hilighters. I bought these on a whim at Walmart in the school section. I am pretty sure they were the store brand and there were pretty inexpensive. They claimed that they wouldn't bleed to I bought them to use in books and my Bible but oh my goodness! They have great color, they don't bleed, and I know use them all the time. I use them in my planer, in my journals, in my art journals, in my quite time. They really are a perfect tool and I strongly recommend them.

What are you favorite office supplies? Anything you collect or just can't help but stock up on?

Here and There (a summer instagram recap)

It's been rather quiet in this space here this summer and I am ok with that. We are still here, or rather here and there. The girls especially have been traveling a lot this summer. We have had the chance to spend time with cousins from Ohio and the two big girls spent four days up north hanging out with my mom and sister.

The girls picked black berries and painted pottery and went swimming and all in all made special memories that they will carry with them forever. 

We celebrated Maddie Goose turning Five! I'm not sure how that happened. We have played out side and set off fire works and eaten probably gallons of ice cream.

We have spent hours in the swimming pool and almost as many hours day dreaming about some up coming projects.

We have started shopping for school supplies (yes SCHOOL supplies in July). We have talked about some up coming transitions for our family. It seems like we have moved from one major transition to the next for a few years now. I am interested to see where the next few months take us. We are home now for the rest of the summer and are looking forward to some lazy days and family sleep overs.

Hope your summer has been full of warm days and cool lemonade.