Carol of Summer

The month was August.

 I "thought" I was having contractions.

 Turns out,

 I was having a few "mild" ones 

that weren't really doing anything. 

I was ten days past my due date and feeling very irritated. 

The Hinge in the Middle

I was thirty years old and living 

in a hotel in Ohio with my husband 

and three children under the age of ten. 

 It was yet another stage of the journey 

and it was an exciting time. 

All of our belongings were 

in our house in Tennessee. 

We had the essentials with us.....

clothing, school books, 

dolls, cars, building blocks.....

and some diapers and onesies and sleepers......

My parents had the bassinet at their house 

two hours away.

Baby number four would soon be making his appearance and 

we could not find a house to rent.......

Finally, we found a house....

but we could not get it until 

AFTER

 my due date.  

Everyone figured that would be fine 

because I always went

 two weeks past my due date.

In the meantime, 

our eleventh wedding anniversary rolled around and my husband surprised me by arranging for us to renew our vows. 

You need to know that God had moved us 

from Tennessee back to Ohio where we had lived for a couple of years 

and our church family became very dear to us. 

 So, the morning of our anniversary, 

I awoke to realize that I could breathe again

 but could barely walk, 

which is a very good sign for an expectant mama. 

I had visions of renewing our vows and then having a new baby for an anniversary present.

Not God's plan.......

nope.......

an entire month went by........

We moved into an empty rental house and 

I cleaned it. 

Mom and Dad brought over the bassinet. 

Our church family loaned us

 beds, chairs, tables, sofa, lamps....

you name it.....

and then,

 at the two week mark past the due date, 

we went to the hospital.

This little guy had some trouble during labor

 and had to be coaxed here.....

but....

when he was born, 

he was holding on to his umbilical cord. 

We wondered if that was why his heart rate dropped so suddenly and stayed there. 

 Then he ended up in another hospital 

under bili-lights.  

Let's just say that 

his entrance into the world 

was not calm and peaceful.

This child learned to speak 

in complete sentences 

at age one. 

And then, 

when we moved from Ohio 

to the far away state of Louisiana, 

he began making friends.  

Once again, we were living in a hotel.....

with four children and another on the way......

once again, we had left our home and were looking for a new one.

This time, Tommy became the star and 

we all got the very best treatment because of him. 

It is not your average two year old who can hold complete conversations with adults.....

but he could. 

I was always a little leary because I never knew what he would say.  

At the end of our extended three month stay at the hotel, 

the staff gave us a going away party and a gift.

Once, shortly after we moved into our house, 

I was in the check-out line in Walmart. 

I heard his little voice say, 

"Are you a boy or a girl?".  

I heard a man's voice say, 

"Excuse me?"  

And yes, Tommy repeated it....

"Are you a boy or a girl?".

 I turned to see a man with a bandana around his forehead an a very long pony tail.  

He did not seem offended and they struck up a conversation. 

Then I heard my son telling the man that he was having a birthday and this man and his wife should come to the party. 

The man chuckled and said,

"When's your birthday?"  

To which Tommy promptly replied, 

"October 19th.  It never changes."

After the man got control of his laughter, 

he asked Tommy how old he was going to be.  

"I'm two, but I'm fixin' to be five."  

Tommy had already picked up the "fixin' to be" of Louisiana. 

He was, in fact, "fixin' to be" three. 

Tommy kept inviting the man and told him 

at one point that he had,

 "just moved here from Ohio and didn't have our new address memorized yet, but my mom can tell you where we live".  

The man told him that he was a truck driver. 

He didn't think he could make it to the party, 

but he had a gift for him anyway....

and handed Tommy a one-dollar bill.

His verbosity did not always go so well

 with all adults.  

Once, in the same Walmart, 

an employee asked Tommy if he was all ready for Santa Claus to come. 

He looked at her and said,

 "Lady, don't you know Santa Claus isn't real?"  

I got glared at for that one and had to tell him not to tell people that Santa isn't real, 

especially grown-ups because they will get upset.

Being  a smart little kid was not always easy.  Some grown ups did not take him seriously when he asked about scientific things. 

We left one particular hobby shop without a motor he wanted for an airplane he was building. 

All of theirs were too large and

 they just did not understand what he was explaining to them that he wanted to do. 

But he understood they were laughing at him......

he said he would never go there again.  

We went to the local science museum and 

they had just what he was looking for 

and understood 

what he was wanting to build.

Tommy ended up being the

 "hinge" 

in the middle of seven kids. 

Boys as bookends with two girls in-between.

 With the stretch of years between boys, 

I guess they technically are all "first-born sons" according to the birth order books. 

Uniqueness is definitely a trait of middle kids.

He is not a little kid anymore.....

he is on the edge of adulthood......

the future is full of such bright possibilities. 

God has gifted him with an intellect that is very curious about life. 

He has been gifted musically. 

He has been given favor with man.

As I watch him grow and think and challenge his thinking, 

my prayer is

 that he remain

 grounded in the love of Christ.

 Truly, God has protected him,

 not just in the womb, 

but out of it many times. 

The Lord has an amazing plan for each child 

He creates. 

It is such a privilege to be a witness to a young life unfolding in all of its promise.

                                  

  Happy Birthday, Tommy!

A Lesson of Grace

On a hot summer night twenty-one years ago, 

God gave me a baby girl 

who was much prayed over. 

She was the third blessing added to our family

 and I was beginning to learn about a very real, very personal God who cares about the 

tiniest details of my life.

A Goodly Heritage

Today's quote in my Elisabeth Elliot flip calendar says this: 

"A family is a microcosm of the

Family of God, and the same Law of Love governs both."

today is my birthday

I'd like to try to fulfill Exodus 20:12

Fairest Fourteen

I know a fair maiden with long golden hair.

Sounds like the start of an old Irish ballad, doesn't it?  But, this fair maiden is my sweet daughter whose birthday we celebrated just a, ....ahem, a few weeks ago.  Time is slipping past me very quickly and two more fair ladies have celebrated birthdays in the meantime.  

Twelve and Terrific!

As I told you in my last post, we celebrated an important birthday in our house near the end of June. The smallest and last that I birthed has been a most delightful joy to all of us.  

His birth came just a bit early due to some complications that I'd never experienced before, but all was well, and since he was the smallest in birth weight, he was dubbed "peanut" by me. 

But, not for long.  

Silent Summer

The month of June has come and gone. 

It was jam-packed full of summer activities and a bit of schooling. Baseball and softball reigned supreme and ruled many late evenings. 

Storms and sunshine each had their place. 

Near the very end of June, the youngest of the tribe turned twelve.

It is hard to believe, but it is true. Next summer will put all of my children into their teens and beyond. You know the old adage, "time flies"? Well, there is much truth to that.

Walking the Path ~ 50 Years and Counting......

 It was the dawn of a new decade. 

One that would bring things into existence that were unheard of at the time. 

A decade of unrest, drugs, free love, rock music, riots, turning patriotism into a four-letter word and throwing God out of the public schools. 

But in one small town, the simple things were still the big things - the important things. 

God, family, hard work.

Loving Lainie

She is twelve.    

She is excited to be twelve.   

Twelve means she can ride in the front seat of the car.      

Twelve is almost thirteen.  

Twelve is a milestone.

Twelve is not the number I rest on......it is nine.

Nine and a half to be more exact. 

That's how long I've known her. 

That's when life changed for her and for us. 

She is closer to nine than to twelve and yet I try to balance the chronological age with the age of her understanding....

...it gets more challenging each year.

When I saw her for the first time she was a tiny 2 1/2 year old screaming, head-shaking, under-no-circumstances- do -I- want- anything -to -do -with -these- people scrap of a person with

hair cut too short,

 clothes too small,

 and feverish mosquito bites all over her. 

Non-verbal except for that squawking noise and a few baby babbling words in Russian. 

I wondered what in the world I had gotten myself into. 

 I was soon to find out......

I was an experienced mother of six children.....for sixteen years.......tough cookies, some of them.......but I had never encountered a person who had learned to be a survivor by the age of one......who deciphered her world in bits and pieces....."who knew what she wanted and how to get it" as our interpreter commented......

A child touched by neglect....illness....disabilities....poverty........

one who was picked up and taken from the only world she knew and  put down on the other side of the world into another "orphanage" where nobody did anything the way she was used to or spoke the language she had learned to interpret......

for "orphanage" was what we were to her for a long time, 

I am sure of that.

I remember telling her over and over that I was her Mama.....

but in the orphanage, 

every woman is called Mama.

I had to re-direct and claim my personal possession of her...

"you are MY girl......you stay with ME".....

over and over...."look at Me......look in My eyes".

I remember watching every odd behavior and trying to figure out if it was neglect, fetal alcohol, orphanage behavior,

 or just her personality.

I remember thinking that I was not ready for this assignment.

I was failing.

And then, I found it.  

The newsletter from a ministry that we'd supported. 

They had played a side role, but a large  one in our adoption.

 I had saved it because we had sent money for baby formula. 

There had been no milk for the babies and they had been feeding them sugar water. 

As I read the letter of thanks from the missionary, (a woman I now knew and had visited in her 'flat'- who was a big part of our adoption), she described the children who were helped.  

She listed the locations of the orphanages where the formula, "the best money could buy", had been sent.  Listed among them was one I recognized. 

I had been there.....in that "baby house"....

with the director, a physician, who mixed up her own medicines because they had none....

with the workers who had loved Leanichka......

who were washing all the clothes by hand because their only washing machine was broken.....

who had cried tears of gratitude over the instant oatmeal we left because they had nothing to feed the children for breakfast......

This had been one of the orphanages to receive the baby formula before we'd even known we were adopting. 

 What was the date of the letter?

  Wait.  

When did Lainie get there?  

No way. 

Couldn't be. 

Yes......it was true..........she had just gotten there when that baby formula was delivered.  

Before we thought about adopting and before the amazing series of events that ended with her in our home, we fed her. 

Because there was no milk for babies, we sent money......before she was even there, it was purchased and after she had just gotten there, it was delivered........

He had prepared the way........

the path we were now walking in...

even the path I stumbled in.........

through my questions and my tears, 

He had already been there....

Today she is twelve.

She is no longer a screaming, manipulating little scrap of a girl shaking her head at the speed of her no's.

She is a pretty girl who loves Jesus and loves reading her Bible even though it is a painstaking process to de-code every word of the third grade level translation. 

She works very hard to learn and to remember things. 

She practices words and keeps trying even when her tongue tangles up the speech sounds. 

She wants to be "big" and learn to do "grown-up" things like cooking and knitting.  

She enjoys doing her PT exercises to strengthen weak muscles that are causing her back to curve in scoliosis. 

She loves writing letters and calling her friends on the phone. 

She loves the teasing over the fact that she might have "turkey cake" or that everyone will be too full of Thanksgiving dinner to eat birthday cake. 

She laughs when we tell her that she used to think Thanksgiving was a holiday in honor of her birthday.

We are still walking down that path that He has set before us. 

I, fearful at times and unsure of the outcome, 

and she, trusting, holding my hand and running eagerly ahead. 

 I don't know the time she was born. 

I do not know what she has been through.....

but I know that He was there.....

and is there......

teaching me about what real love is all about. 

 That love is an action and not a feeling. 

That love is of Him. 

Agape.

Today she is twelve.

It is a milestone, indeed.

From the Philippines, With Love........

    

In an earlier post, I promised that I had many more children and their spouses that I could introduce to you. Today gives me an opportunity to do just that. I am still amazed at how God orchestrates the events in our lives in order to bless us.

     Sometimes it just boggles my mind, as it did the Psalmist's when he wrote, 

"What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4) 

For whatever reason, the Creator of the universe is interested in us.

 Isn't that amazing?

   

     I am, by nature, a homebody. 

I have no plans for adventure. 

I grew up in a very small town and planned to live there my entire life. 

God had other plans. 

My husband was offered a job in another state and that move began a series of other job offers and other moves around the country. 

I eventually got used to moving and was surprised when we ended up in Louisiana and it seemed that God had stopped moving us. 

We passed the "mile marker" of two years and we were not moving anywhere else. 

In fact, we lived in the same house for twelve years. 

A record! 

     There were several things that I didn't care for in Louisiana.....

the heat, for one. 

I can't tolerate it.  

The mosquitos seem to be a state crop.......

and pine pollen!  

Oh my.......if you have allergies, 

you do not want to discover that your 2 1/2 acre wooded lot at the bottom of a dead-end street that has PINE in the name of it will cause you to close up your house and not want to leave it from February til June. 

That was a major disappointment.  

My body still overreacts to allergens even though I'm 800 miles away.  

Back in my home state, my sinuses rebel to simple things like corn pollens that I've experienced my entire life. 

But back to Louisiana......

The people in NW Louisiana are some of the nicest I've met in my moves around the US.  

We have made many lasting friendships there as well as in Arkansas, Texas, Mexico, and Russia, all because of God moving us there. 

     Twenty-six years ago, in the Philippines, a baby girl was born. 

 She played with her cousins and ate fresh mangoes that she picked from the trees. 

She came to live in NW Louisiana when she was eight years old, 

after her mom married a US citizen.  

That was about the same time we moved to TN and began homeschooling.

 Four years later, 

we found ourselves in NW Louisiana.

      After our son graduated high school,

 he decided to go to college at NSU in Natchitoches, LA.  

He began talking about a girl in chemistry class.....he seemed to borrow her notes a lot.  

He joined the Army and went to bootcamp. 

After bootcamp, he decided that she should be his wife.

 She agreed. 

 Our family loved her from the start. 

She was supportive of his choice to join the military. 

She was willing to wait at home while he served two tours in Iraq.  

When I think of all the things that had to happen in order for my son to meet her, I am amazed. 

Obviously, he would not have gone to that university if we lived in another state. 

In fact, he almost went to another school altogether. 

     Whenever you hear someone tell how they met their spouse,

 remember that many, many choices led up to those two people meeting in the first place, 

sometimes many generations in the past.  

I think it is so cool that God works in our lives in such intimate ways. My husband and I have prayed for the spouses of our children from the time they were little. 

It is wonderful to see the answers to those prayers!

 Today is this special lady's birthday. 

Happy Birthday, L!  

I'm so happy to be your mom-in-law, or as some put it, mom-in-love! 

We hope you have a wonderful day!

    

    

photos: tropical flower from the backyard; son and daughter-in-law birthday (c) debbie richardson

Mom of the Century.....well, not exactly........

Today, I have been a mom for a quarter of a century. 

Wow. 

When I mentioned this to my middle son, he said he'd never thought of it like that.

There are so many memories. 

So much laughter and tears. 

So much anxiety and so very many prayers.

God has been faithful. 

He always is. 

There is never a doubt about that.

From the very beginning, when I first knew the desire to be a mother, God began teaching me to trust Him with my children. It is not an easy thing to learn. But step by step, patiently, He showed me that He is big enough to take care of them. That He is big enough to take care of me. He has made sure that there is no doubt as to Who gets credit for how well my children turn out.

My brave soldier son has hit a milestone. 

I am very proud of him. 

I am thankful that God gave me this assignment.

......and remember.......I have six other kids to talk about, not counting the wonderful people who decided to be part of this family of their own free will....

Happy Birthday, Son!