Don't Blink

Five years ago right now, I was on my way to the hospital with contractions.

I was sent home of course.  But I went back five hours later.

At 7:47 am, our precious Little was born.  I had no idea how badly we needed that little guy in our family.  I had no idea how much we would love him.  I had no idea how that little baby would fill such a huge void in our lives.  A void we didn't even realize we had.

And then I blinked.

A year went by.  Late nights and early mornings.  Ear infections, colic and teething times what seemed like a million.  Three formulas, two types of diapers and multiple pots of coffee later, we were facing Little's first birthday.  I held him as we opened gifts and sang his birthday song.  I teared up as we served him his cake.

Then I blinked.

Another year gone.  Sitting in front of his Lightening McQueen cake, we snapped pictures to remember the moment.  He was changing.  He was growing up.  He was talking to us like no one's business and declared his love for sports.  He was spoiled rotten.  He was loud and loved by all of us more than we thought we could love.

Then we blinked.

Hard to believe we'd had this little guy for three years.  He could name every NFL team by their team logo.  He liked to dress himself and drink nothing but Sunny D and chocolate milk.  He ate whatever he wanted for lack of energy to fight him, and he spent many mornings snuggled up with me on the couch watching his favorite cartoons.  His birthday brought forth his love of football and Halloween offered many laughs with his horse costume.  We also had our first of many goose eggs, and our first set (of many) stitches.

Then we blinked.

Happy 4th birthday Little.  We celebrated with footballs and helmets.  He declared his dislike for candy corn AFTER I had made candy corn cupcakes for him to share with his classmates.  He had started preschool and was learning to love the Lord with all of his heart from his sweet teacher Mrs. Abel.  "Do your best and save the rest for God who loves you" became one of our favorite sayings.  Patience was not our strong suit and we started to get on the nerves of our older brothers.  We had many injuries at our summer of baseball, and made many new friends. 

Then we blinked.

Here we are at your 5th birthday.  How does this happen?  A baby that none of us knew we needed.  None of us, but God.  Never did I understand the concept of...

You plan, God laughs

until Little.  We drug the highchair out to the curb and smiled.  We sold the baby bed and all the baby clothing we'd ever saved.  We got rid of car seats, diaper bags and toys galore.  All to find out we'd be having one more.  After crying from shock and eventually joy...we thanked the Lord for this blessing in all of our lives.  The Nelson's weren't meant to be a family of four.  I wasn't meant to be a Referee of 2.  We are proudly the Nelson 5 and I am so glad to be the Referee of 3 wonderful boys.  Stinky...loud...crazy boys.  But they are mine and I adore them.

It seems like just yesterday...and then I blinked.  Little got bigger.  My eyes fill with tears when I even think about the times I could hold him in my arms.  Gulp. 

You'll all be happy and a smidge relieved to know I ordered his birthday cake.  No comments necessary on this...ok?

Happy Birthday to my Little.  I love you the most and you'll never know how grateful we are to have you in our lives.  You are so loved.  No matter how big you get, you'll always always always...

be my Little. 

Have a blessed day all! 

Referee of 3

Am I Worth It?

Someone Worth Dying For
Tonight, on my way to class, I heard this song.  I was so moved by it that I wanted to share it with you.  I think so often we don't give ourselves the credit we deserve.  We has humans...we make mistakes...we make poor choices...but we are all worth His love.

Too many times people turn away from the Lord.  They turn away from faith and a relationship with Christ because they feel like they are too far from what He would "want" in a Christian.  And that is so far from the truth.  God wants every single one of us.  He wants not only the people that attend church on a regular basis but also those that can't make time in their schedule for church.  He doesn't just want the people on stage who can sing and preach and worship in front of others.  He wants the ones who stand at the back of the room, unsure of what they are supposed to be doing.  He wants those who've sinned as much as those who work hard not to.

If you are hurting...if you are missing something in your life...now is your chance.  No matter who you are...or where you come from...He wants you.  No matter what your past holds or how many you've hurt along the way...He wants you.  It is never too late.

I know friends who are hurting right now.  Some are hurting from broken marriages and families.  Some are hurting from broken promises.  Some are hurting from loss.  Some are questioning their lives right this very second wondering...how am I going to make it?
In His eyes...we are all worth the sacrifice.  You are someone...worth dying for...to Him.
Have a blessed night!
Referee of 3

I promise...

I promise is such a wonderful thing to hear...if you know the person saying it...means it.  I used to be a terrible "I promise"er.  I would promise trips to the park or ice cream if the boys were good.  And then we'd run out of time completely and they'd be disappointed.   I would promise to call someone back and three days later be apologizing yet again, for not following through. 

That is part of human nature.  I can't say it enough...but we fall short.  We fail on our promises from time to time and it isn't fun to do, admit you have done, or be the one who gets cheated by someone else false promises. 

There is only one who won't fail us on His promises.  In my devotion today, it talked about the promise that God made to Noah after the flood.  He promised 'Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood.' (Genesis, 9:11)  He made a covenant to Noah and to all of His children and creatures and has every intention of keeping that promise.  He then told Noah that the rainbow was a sign of his covenant to us.  I love love love rainbows.  I don't even know why, but there is just a peace about them.  Like God is saying to us...

I am here.

Every rainbow reminds us of God's covenant.  Curiously, astronauts who've seen rainbows from outer space tell us they form a complete circle.  God's promises are equally unbroken and unending.  (Max Lucado, Facing your Giants)

Are your promises unbreakable?  We all have work to do in the 'be more like Him' department.  But this is something we can be conscious of at all times.  When we say 'I promise', we are making a covenant to someone that shouldn't be broken. 

Have a blessed day!
Referee of 3

Encouragement Part II

My Mom was tired of waiting on my next blog post...so she sent me one that she wrote after an encouraging bible study last night at our church. 

She called as I was writing my post this morning to let me know that she had emailed it to me.

It just so happens that our posts were about the very same thing.

Encouragement. 

Coincidence? 

I think not.

Enjoy.  Love you Mom!  Thanks for the help!

Encourage One Another

The Tuesday Night Bible Study is studying Building Better Relationships. Our lesson last night was on “Encouraging Each Other” and focusing on being a positive in an often negative world.

The author told us that a “talker” utters about 12,000 sentences a day, which equals approximately 100,000 words. Now the real question . . . how many of those words are encouraging?? How many are discouraging??

God’s Word clearly instructs us to encourage one another daily (Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness.) The notes in my study Bible simply states “Talk daily about your mutual faith and encourage each other with love and concern.” Wow, encourage each other! There it is again.

In addition, God’s Word tells us to speak only words that build others up (Ephesians 4:29 ²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.) Last point, God’s Word tells us that we will be held responsible for every careless word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37 ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”)

The Bible tells us that the power of life and death is clearly seen in our words (Proverbs 18:21 ²¹ The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.)

His message is very clear. We are to encourage, comfort, help, console; in other words we are his hands, his feet, the carrier of his message to the world. We carry his message to everyone we meet and we are to be the encouragers! What we say reveals what is in our hearts.

Today, I “encourage” each of you to seek out someone who needs a kind word, a helping hand, a loving touch, a listening ear and be the positive in their life. Even just for one day, you can have a huge impact on someone’s life. Set “self” aside and take the time to build someone up today.
The rewards will be felt in your heart and you can’t receive a greater gift!
Oh the power of God’s Word.

Dear Lord,
Your are the God of all encouragement and You live in me. I confess that I am quick to criticize and slow to encourage others. On this day, Lord, let this be a day of bright beginnings for me as I decide to be the encourager You have equipped me to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.

When you know

There is a picture going around facebook right now...maybe you've seen it.  It is of a little boy who has a hand around his neck.  The hand is made up of discouraging words and the picture is almost too much for me to take. 

So many times, we think of children who are hurt by their parents' hand.  We forget that the tongue can be as harsh as the hand sometimes.  Children are in need of constant encouragement and look for it in every situation.  As I am studying to be a teacher, I have seen the effects of encouragement in the lives of children.  Each child that walks through the door has a different story.  Each child comes from a different place.  Each child gets a different reaction to their struggles and successes. 

There are times at our house, when my stress level dictates how I parent the boys.  When we are financially strapped, I tend to snap at anyone that gets in my way.  When I am overwhelmed with our schedule, I tend to be harder on the boys when things don't go the way I expect them to go.  No one is perfect.  No one.  But...we do have a responsibility to uplift and encourage our kids.  So often, encouragement is the after effect of my actions.  When the boys start to fight and it goes too far, I lose my temper.  After the fact, I usually handle things much better...including ways to avoid fighting and encouragement for one another.  But it is always my plan B.  I need help in making encouragement for my children my plan A. 

I don't want my words to choke the boys' happiness in life.  I fear that sometimes, they do more than I know.  And then I see moments like this...

Big and Little...playing in the yard.  Little was getting frustrated with their game of football.  And Big...got down on Little's level to encourage him.  I love the way this looks.  I love the fact that when people get discouraged, we have the opportunity to wrap our words around them instead of choking them with discouragement.  Parents, teachers and coaches have this ability...but don't always use it.  

We also have this opportunity with our friends, family and coworkers in life.  It isn't just about how we handle our children.  It is about how we face all those in our lives.  If we handle situations with encouragement for others, we'll feel better about ourselves and we'll be giving others an opportunity to pass that encouragement on. 

Challenge yourself to encourage ten people today and have a blessed day!

Referee of 3

Praise you in this storm

My devotion this morning was too good not to share.  The prayer at the end said:

Lord, we cannot control the storms of life, but we can control where we look in the storm.  We choose to look to you.  We choose to see you in the middle of our heartbreak and our health crises.  When we are tossed about by the trials and temptations of life, remind us not to be overwhelmed by fear and doubt, but to look for your calming presence, amen.
(Max Lucado, Live Loved)

The devotion for today was all about being in the middle of your storm...whatever that may be...and how you choose to handle it.  We all have storms in life.  But where you look in your storm is key.  I thought the prayer for today was just too perfect.  We don't usually look for Jesus in the middle of our storms.  We look for Him at church and in prayer time.  We feel his presence as we worship, and sometimes in other happy times in our lives.  But we don't usually look to see Jesus as the tears are falling.  Yet...through the blur...there He is.  Crying too.  He calms the raging seas.  He tells us not to fear.  And we are to obey...no matter how hard that might be.  Let go of the fear and allow God to be the calm in your storm.

Finances...
Divorce...
Broken Homes...
Health Issues...
Parenting Troubles...

In the places where you might least expect to see Jesus...He is there. 

Have a blessed day!
Referee of 3

Parent of the Year

Thank you...thank you.  You have no idea how much I appreciate this award.  I have been working long and hard to achieve such a status amongst my peers and it feels just as I thought it would.  I would like to thank my own loving parents for never messing up and always showing me the way.  I would like to thank my husband for always being there to calm me down and to help me realize when I need a break.  And I would like to thank my lovely children...for making it so easy to raise them.

You think I've lost my mind...don't you?

Well...perhaps I have.  Let me just share with you our night.  This is a night that I like to refer to as Groundhog's Day...simply because it happens OVER and OVER and OVER again.  As my sweet children enter my office after school...they are fighting.  As we walk to the van...they are fighting.  As we drive home...they are fighting.  As they walk into the house...they are fighting.

You're stupid. 

No...you are stupid. 

Oh yeah?  Well you are slow.

Whatever.  You're slow.

 

You want to race? 

No. 

Oh...because you are scared?

No...I just know I'll win.   

Alright...ENOUGH!  EVERYONE STOP TALKING RIGHT NOW!  EITHER YOU TREAT ONE ANOTHER WITH RESPECT OR YOU'LL RUN THE ENTIRE BLOCK.

laughter begins.

(I can actually hear my Mother's voice when I say this) OK BOYS...THAT IS FINE.  START RUNNING.

In typical fashion, as I drive around the block to ensure myself that they are in fact serving the very fair and humane punishment I just handed out, I find exactly what I thought I would.  Big took the entire block, but is walking quickly.  Middle ran the whole way, but cheated and took a shortcut.  Typical.

They get home and laughter continues.

BOTH OF YOU...TO THE TABLE.  YOU WILL WRITE ON FRONT AND BACK OF THIS PAPER, I WILL NOT FIGHT WITH MY BROTHER.  IN CURSIVE.

laughter...again.

(And again...I hear my Mother's voice) OH SO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?  GO TO YOUR ROOMS AND DON'T COME OUT UNTIL DINNER! (insert cuss word here)
Oh nice.  Cussing will help.  They'll love that and they can use it against me.

I SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID THAT.  NOW GET TO YOUR ROOMS!
There...that's better.  Now they can't use that against me. 

You see...after 12 years of parenting.  I still don't have this all figured out.  In fact, I rarely know what I am doing.  I am so tired of the fighting, but clearly handling all of this on my own is not working.  So last night, at prayer time, I included the Big Guy.  With the boys...we talked to God about how to respect each other and how to love each other.  In loving one another and treating others as they would want to be treated, their relationship will grow with one another as they grow.  And I think I ended it with...And Lord, please remind them that just because we are parents, does not mean we are perfect.  We fall short and miss our opportunity from time to time, to win the award.  Obviously last night...I was first runner up.  Oh well, maybe next time. 

Have a blessed day!
Referee of 3