Sunday, September 29, 2013

Trip to the Beach

My friends were shocked when they heard me tell this story of my trip to the beach last year. Not because of the comical elements but because I admitted that it was only my second time to the beach in my life.

We have lived only about 3 hrs from the beach for over two years now.

In that time, we have only gone to the beach this one time.

Here is the story.


My third child had just been born. My mother and my husband's step son came for a visit. In an attempt to come up with something fun, we decided to go to the beach and back again all in one day.

So we loaded up all the kids and adults and packed towels and all the necessities. Three hours and a bunch of crying/questioning kids later, we arrived at the beach.

The weather was perfect. Warm, but not too warm, with a slight breeze. Sunny sky with just a few clouds. The ocean was warm and the waves were moderate. Sigh. It was beautiful.

Then we realized that the newborn boy was not going in the water. So we took turns going out into the water with the girls, and leaving someone behind to sit with the boy. All was going well thus far.

We were only on the beach for two hours. So we were living it up. The husband and step son were out challenging the waves like men. The little girls were loving the shallows and sand.

In the very middle of that bliss, my newborn baby boy decided to have a bowel movement..... that he had been saving up for over 2 days.

It was an explosion!

He soiled everything. His diapers, clothes, car seat, blanket, etc.

My mother was anxious to help, but was a bit rusty on what to do in a poop explosion. My husband saw the mayhem, and exited the scene quickly. The girls were oblivious to the need.

It was I who attempted to clean the poop and sand out of his newborn cracks and creases. And when it was all cleaned up, I nursed him in the van, to calm him, while we both sweated like pigs.

By the time things were back to calm, it was nearly time to go, and then it struck us.

The only person with a change of clothes was newborn baby boy.

Here we were, all us covered in salt and sand, ready to pile back into the van without even a clean towel to wrap up in.

Ugh. What an oversight. Whoops.

Then, on the way home we suddenly realized we were all ravenous, but in no condition to enter a restaurant. In an act of desperation we pulled through the drive-thru of a Wendy's and had a bite to eat. As much as fast food disgusts me, I think that was the best chicken wrap sandwich I had ever had IN MY LIFE!

By the time we arrived home we were exhausted, but the fun wasn't over. We still had to shower and clean up before bed. The baby girls were bathed first and put to bed, and then the rest of us adults took turns cleaning up and nearly passed out from exhaustion.

That was our trip to the beach. We had a lot of fun.  Learned a lot of things about what not to do when going to the beach, and look forward to doing it again........ someday.


Transition

My first post on the big move to Texas!

You all knew it was coming. I can't be in the midst of tension and turmoil without feeling the need to write about it and the lessons I am learning in it.

Thankfully I have learned a lot of these lessons before, but with every new move, there are additional lessons to learn, and some relearning of old ones.

I found it comforting that when I talk to my mother recently about what I was feeling and doing to cope with the coming transition, she said it sounded an awful lot like what I said and felt right before our move from Kansas City to here.

I say it is comforting because I did that move two years ago, and I survived, but not only survived, I thrived! So if I am doing this again, and experiencing the same sorts of things, then I know I will more than survive this move too!

The Lord is merciful and full of compassion.......toward me and my family.

So what am I going to say. What great wisdom have I gleaned from this move so far. I'm gonna bullet point them for ya!


  • movies are a cope out for me.....not everyone. Just me. Someone said recently, "Katrina you seem to go through phases, you don't watch any movies, and then you start watching them again, and then you are announcing that you aren't watching them again."  It's true, I do go through phases. I cut out movies again whenever I notice I am using them for a coping mechanism. Like now. I was up to watching as many as two movies a day, and watching movies leaves me feeling numb. I am not a good mom when I am numb, and I find it extremely difficult to hear the Lord's voice when I watch a lot of movies. There you have it, it is one of my weaknesses, and therefore I manage it as such, but only for me.

  • it's okay to be sad - this is one lesson I do remember from moving last time, and I have been so grateful for knowing it this time. I know it is okay to be sad, to miss what I am giving up for my obedience to the Lord. It doesn't change the yes in my heart, it just means that I am aware of what I am sacrificing for the adventure. I once asked the Lord why He keeps moving us, why He doesn't let us settle down for long. I heard Him whisper to me, "because I know you will say yes." In that, I understood it to mean that not everyone who loves Him is willing to be moved and shifted for the sake of His plans as easily as we are (and we aren't always that thrilled, but we do say yes and that apparently counts for something). Yet He knows we will say yes, so He uses us in this way, and moves us where He wants us. It was humbling and encouraging, but with it comes the realization that we may live a somewhat nomadic lifestyle, which brings with it some sadness. Again I say, it is okay to be sad.

  • it's not okay to grumble - sad and complaining are two different things. I am allowed to be sad and that is not sin, but grumbling and complaining are what the Israelites did and that is sin. It means I think I know better than God how things should be handled and it means I don't think He is doing a good enough job. He has had to remind me to keep my attitude adjusted accordingly to guard against this. This is really a life lesson, something we should always be on our guard against, but one that steps up to overdrive when there is the tension of transition and so many unknown elements to yet be ordered. I find I do better in this area when I find my daily time to read the Word. It is like a balm to my bad attitude and gives me food to hope beyond what I can see.

  • don't pull back, finish well - this goes for relationships as well as for ministry. My first instinct is to pull back when I feel tension, dissatisfaction, and pain. Moving is painful. It is hard for me to be in company with my friends, and have a wonderful time, with the full knowledge that my time with these precious ones is limited. It is very painful and therefore I want to avoid it. But some of the best and most worthwhile things in life are very painful/costly and they are usually also some of the most rewarding, like childbirth/labor, exercise/running, fighting a battle for freedom, etc. At the end of this transition I want to be able to look back and have no regrets of how I loved my friends. read more about this here.

  • time with Jesus is essential - more so than in any other season of life, Jesus is so real to me in the midst of transition. Not just in moving, but when I am pregnant, when I am changing seasons, starting new jobs, etc. Time spent with Jesus is so necessary, it becomes as needed as breathing. In 20 minutes of quiet time with Jesus my whole day can shift for the better. Hope is restored and built up through reading the Word. Peace is reestablished though a few silently spoken prayers. Comfort comes with the shedding of a few tears. He is so near to me in this time, and I know how necessary He is to me finishing well, that I make sure to find time. Have I done it perfectly? No, not at all. I have horrible days where I avoid Him all day because I know I am coping out and don't want to hear His loving correction. For the most part though, I have embraced the discipline to seek Him daily, knowing it is the food of this season. What will sustain me as I prepare to move across the country and to do it graciously. :-)

  • fear is a nameless, faceless enemy that is easily dealt with by mere recognition - I am plagued by fears some days. Irrational fears mostly, but even some very logical ones, but fear is never from the Lord. Never! When I find myself fretting, worrying, or feeling anxious, I have but to realize it, call it what it is - fear. Then I rebuke it, invite Holy Spirit to reestablish peace, and then the atmosphere around me shifts so that I begin to feel the peace I have invited. I might battle fear again in the next 20 minutes on a different front, but the process to rid myself is always the same: Identify, rebuke, invite Holy Spirit peace, and for good measure, I sometimes pray in the Spirit until I feel the peace settled more firmly. Still, it is powerful to me to finally know what to deal with fear. I would say over half of my other flaws, weaknesses, and sins are easily conquered when fear is being conquered in my life daily.
So that is a taste of the good fruits that are coming through the tension of this momentary light affliction of preparing to move. I hope you have enjoyed, and I promise there will be more writing on this sort of thing as time dwindles on and the pressure of the move increases.

Be blessed today and fight for you peace!




Starting Over

I'm in transition. If you have read any of my previous blog posts over the last few weeks you already know this.

Today we are going to talk about making new mom friends. A subject I have already discussed, but in which I am going to discuss again. It is something I am longing for when we move, something I am grieving having to do all over again, and something I am praying for supernatural provision for.

To unpack what it is like to start over and try to make new mom friends, I am going to link to another brilliant woman's blog. She pretty much says it all.

Her post is titled: Dating for Moms.

Check it out here.

This is what I am going to be doing very soon. Sound like fun?

I love how she writes about the realities of making new mom friends in the most honest and hilarious fashion. I love reading her stories too. Hope you do as well!


UPDATE to this blog post: 9/29/2013

We have been moved for almost a month now, and I am happy to report that just last week I hung out with a mom at her house. We randomly met at church while I was waiting to talk to another mom I had met the previous week. After talking for a bit, we hit it off, and she gave me her email and invited me over later that week. If you've read the Dating for Moms post, then you realize that I just totally skipped first and second base. Our kids did not even know each other before we went to her house to hang out.

Yet that is how it happened in South Carolina with my wonderful friend Bree. She invited me over knowing next to nothing about me. I could have been a psycho for all she knew. I'm thankful she took such a risk, and glad for this new mom friend's risk too.

New mom's name is Andrea, and she gave up a whole morning of her time to host me and my kids. She even had a brunch fixed and ready for us to eat together. I could cry, the sense of friendship offered was so overwhelming, and we really have a ton in common. It was a memorable first playdate. A second playdate is already planned for later this week, and I have a second mom friend that I am planning to get together with soon too!

So I guess you could say the Lord has provided.....and over/above what I could have expected or hoped for. He is such a good good Father.

PS. Look for more updates on our move to Texas coming soon. Now that my house is set up, I feel like writing about all I've been thru. :-)