By The Book....

"You can't get a cup of tea big enough 

or a book long enough to suit me."

 - C.S. Lewis

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

My "White" Entry

-Much Love, E

 Check out more 'white' photos at i heart faces!

When Life Knocks You Down....

...Keep Smiling

I was actually trying to get a cool cartwheel shot this particular day.... This picture is one I snapped 
after this sweet girl had fallen on her diary air....
(it may or may not have happened alot...) {ahem}

 I like it because even though she had just fallen, was probably in some measure of pain, and had failed to complete her cartwheel 'just so' she still had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye....

Rachel, that is the sort of attitude that 
will take you far in life. 

Never.Lose.It

Memorial Box Monday Saturday

{the not so fine print: Memorial Box Monday is a time to remember God's faithfulness 

in our lives. This was started by Linny, visit her blog and read the amazing stories she shares.}

Backed up against the wall with nowhere to go. The weight of the world is crushing me. Suffocating. I don’t know to whom to cry out for help. Don’t know if I even can.

I stumble into and out of church wondering if I’m invisible. I’m in a room full of people and yet I feel so very very alone. Happy smiling people surround me and my heart pleads for a hug, a smile, a kind word even. My throat is dry, and my lips stay shut, arms wrapped around my middle keeping the hurt inside. No one can hear my silent cries for help. No one can see my pain.

I feel uncomfortable in Sunday school and stop going… choosing to hide in the nursery with my baby instead. When my baby is plagued with sickness and I miss a month of Sundays I feel as if no one really cares . The motivation to come back is gone for the first time since I started going as a teenager. We go occasionally at best.

Financially we’re ruined. Month’s without hot water. Limited heat all winter long. When the food stamps run out at the end of the month I struggle to feed my babies and I hope and pray the little ones don’t get sick again because it’s a long drive to the doctor and my gas tank sits on E. {deep breath} Collectors call asking for their money. Some make threats to take away our home and leave us without a place to pillow our heads at night. My husband works non-stop, so much so that he is only home for six days every 6-9 weeks and yet the paychecks are minimal at best.

He doesn’t deserve this.  My kids don’t deserve this.

It’s not fair…

Or is it?

We have our health. We have each other. What more could we ask for? Nothing. We already have far more than we deserve.

Be as it may we’re at the end of our rope. Backed into a corner up against the wall with nowhere to go.

Right were God wants us.

I find myself smack dab in the middle of my own modern day Exodus. The Egyptian army is closing in. The Red Sea stretches out as far as I can see.

Trapped.

 Nowhere to go.

Complete and utter ruin is eminent.

But God…

The water is doing something funny. I can’t explain it but the waves are acting crazy.

A  truck breaks down. 

A nudge from a friend.  

A  phone call.

Can it be? Is there a path forming?

My husband comes home early for Christmas and NEVER goes back.

I stand in awe. 

Dumb shocked.

Mouth agape I watch the water rise. I walk on solid ground again.

I am blessed beyond measure to walk my modern day Red Sea.

I'm not on the other bank just yet, but I stand protected by the wall of God's faithful protection. I look behind me and see how far He has already brought us.

I must remember!

Boiling water for baths on Sunday mornings before church. Bitter tears of loneliness cried into my pillow at night. The pang of solitude in a crowded sanctuary.

God’s been good.

It’s easy to forget but I won’t.

I can’t help but believe God truly allowed this deep pain in my life this past year to open my eyes to the pain in others who surround me daily.

Just some thoughts...

I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon for quite some time.

I'm ready to jump back on.

My house is trashed. {again!}

My sewing/crafting room is non-existent right now which is a problem since I need to start on Christmas presents now or I'll be super sorry I didn't come December.

The sweet newborn in my sidebar turned one year old this week. ( I guess I should update my sidebar...)

I am currently trying to figure out how to balance an almost full time job with homeschooling a first grader and a kindergartner  while entertaining a baby (honestly that last part isn't hard at all thank goodness!)

How do you make the every day mundane that beckons and presses and demands attention but in the great scheme of it all doesn't really matter mesh with an eternity that looms ever closer silently creeping up unsuspected although it matters most? (Do you ever think in run-on sentences? For the record I do alllll the time.)

My butt really hurts. If anyone ever asks you to jump off a cliff into the water, no matter how much fun it sounds please first inquire as to how high the jump is. If its somewhere in the range of 65/70 feet or so my advice is don't jump. Your butt may be sore for a loooong time. (It's non-ya-business how I know this!)

I don't feel like I have two minutes to myself all day long so I'm allowing myself to blog again as my 'me' time to make me get my thoughts out. I figure thoughts out are better than thoughts in at this point, my brain is crowded and its making my head hurt!

I want to take pictures again... I miss it very much. My camera is dusty and that is very very sad.

Anyone have any words of wisdom for me? I sure could use some advice on managing life.