Take Time to Make Memories

Merry Christmas all! I am honored to have the opportunity to do some blogging with Jenny on her fantastic site. After having the privilege of knowing Jenny for almost twenty years, I was thrilled when she asked me to contribute. I look forward to sharing stories of my faith and learning many of your own as we muddle our way together through this precious gift of motherhood.

 

 

 

It’s 7:00 PM on Friday, December 21^st. Today was supposed to be a day of huge excitement. First there were those who assumed life as we knew it would end today. Of course, as we all know, the world is still turning and each of us is still blessed with the opportunity to continue enjoying life. With that established, it was time to begin our regular morning. I quickly realized though that the rest of our planned excitement was about to drastically change. Instead of getting dressed to head to my daughter’s school for her class holiday party, I was taking her temperature and trying to figure out the best way to get the supplies, food, and crafts to the school with a daughter running a temperature of 102 and looking thoroughly miserable.  Needless to say, my definition of excitement changed greatly.

By lunchtime it was official. My precious little one tested positive for both flu and strep. It was not the way we intended to begin celebrating Christmas.

Now, I’m sitting here with her head in my lap trying to figure out how to rearrange all of our plans. You see, like most Moms, I am the ultimate manager. I am the one who organizes everything for our family – the schedules, the gifts, the travel arrangements, the food, and every other thing imaginable. My planning schedule just got turned upside down.

As Moms, we work hard to ensure the holidays are as perfect for our families as possible. Yes, we know the importance of togetherness instead of things, and of flexibility instead of perfection. In fact, many of us encourage those ideas every year at the exact same time we are stressing over making Christmas cookies, wrapping presents, or putting in appearances at family get togethers. You see, we can focus so hard on doing the right thing for our families for Christmas that we forget to do the important thing.

Somewhere along the way, we forget the significance of making memories and it’s those memories that will carry our children into the future. They won’t always remember what they received for Christmas, whose Christmas present was wrapped the best, or which cookie had the most beautiful design. Instead, they will remember the year the turkey didn’t cook and Spam was served in its place. They will remember the year the cat climbed up the Christmas tree. They will remember the year the nametags were not filled out on the presents and they played the game ‘match the gift to the person.’

My daughter will not get a chance to sing her solo on Christmas Eve. She will not get to travel and visit with her cousins nor will she be able to wear her new Christmas dress. Instead, because of the strep and the flu, many of our standard family traditions we have built a lifetime making with her will fall to the wayside. So, Mom is throwing out the plan book. Instead, we are going to have a quiet Christmas of three and spend our time making those unplanned memories she will never forget.

Moms, in these last few days before Christmas, I encourage you to take a little pause and see if you can find some time to create the little memories with your family in addition to enjoying the beloved family traditions. Don’t stress when they occur; instead, enjoy them. They will be remembered!

Stones of Remembrance

"When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 'Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.'


So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, 'Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan.  Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you.  In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.'”  Joshua 4:1-7


I have loved this passage for a long time.  I love it when I can use something practical and concrete to teach a purpose to my kids.  As you now know, we have been renovating a fixer-upper house all summer.  One of the things we added to the house is a fireplace.  I told my husband, if this suburban girl is moving out to the country in Indiana, then, we must have a back-up source of heat for the winter!  Well, our back-up source of heat has become more than I imagined.  It has become a centerpiece of God's promises for our home.  What an amazing blessing!


We went back and forth on what the fireplace would look like and the placement.  We ended up putting it right in the middle of our home and covered it in stone.  We were blessed to have a guy named, Joe, working on the fireplace.  He is definitely a believer and he came up with a fun idea for the stone.  He told us when he was ready to put the stone on, our family could all come over and each pick out and put on a piece of the stone!  He also said we could write our names on it.  I was, of course, so very excited!  Another idea to include the whole family as we renovate our home.


So, we all came down one day and each kid picked out a stone, wrote their name on the inside and placed the stone on the fireplace.  This was already great, but when I saw Joe had picked out all cornerstones for us to place, I was impressed.  It immediately reminded me of several verses in the Bible that talk about the "cornerstone" who is Christ.  


"So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it  will never be stricken with panic.'"  Isaiah 28:16


"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."  Psalm 118:22-23

"Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone.’  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:11-12

In a previous post, I wrote about "off-roading with God."  This whole moving experience has been an "off-roading" experience.  Some people put their house on the market, quickly sell it and buy another one.  No big deal, less than 6 months average.  Well, from the time we put our house on the market to the time we will actually move into our new house, it will have been a very bumpy 18 months!  However, God has been faithful the entire process.  We have trusted in His guidance, followed Him in the planning, and seen Him do amazing things as a result.

AND...Now we have this beautiful stone fireplace right in the center of our home to remind us of God's promises and faithfulness.  Our very own "stones of remembrance."  When our kids ask us questions about God's promises as they grow, we can point to the fireplace and remember all He has done to bring us here.  What a beautiful blessing!  :)

John and I shared one stone to represent our oneness in Christ as a married couple.