Friday, January 6, 2017

I LIIIIIIIIIVE!

Well, howdy! I've had some people message me to check on me...thank you so much. Things have just been so...busy. We had Thanksgiving, and then we got the puppy, and then we had Joshua's Therapeutic Recreation Christmas play, and then we had the Country Christmas with Jim's family, and we had our Christmas here at home with our kids...and then we celebrated the New Year with my side of the family in Texas...and I got a piece of glitter in my eye from a festive hat I wore in a picture, and now I can't wear my contact in my left eye...annnnd it snowed today.

There.

All caught up.

Actually, I have had very little time to myself these past few weeks...which is great, and which I love...but I can't pull out my laptop and write on my computer unless my mind is, like, still...and it has been a lot of things lately, and STILL is not one of them!

And, I try my hardest to have my "quiet time" with God before I have blog-time. I have blogs I love to read, and a stack of books on my nightstand, but I haven't read much of anything in weeks. And that's okay.

But today?

Today I have a minute.

Sure, all of my Christmas decorations are still up, and I have laundry to do...ANNNND I'm trying to cook 3 lbs of FROZEN HARD AS A ROCK ground beef for chili tonight, and the meat won't even fit in my pot, so I'm having to go over to the stove every few minutes, and scrape the meat that is thawing...off the frozen hard rest of it.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has ever done this.

But Jim has taken Joshua to the gym.

And Clark?

Well, don't get me started on that child.

He signed up to be a leader for a D-NOW weekend at a church in the southern most part of the state. Like, it takes 2.5 hours to get there on a good day.

This is not that day.

Because this morning, we got snow.

Granted, we got mayyyyyyyyyybe 1.5 inches, but the entire state of Arkansas shut down.

Thank you for visiting...please come back another day.

I wish I was kidding.

So all of the meteorologists were on TV telling Arkansans to STAY OFF THE ROADS unless you just HAVE to be out on them. I'm thinking they meant for emergency purposes. Or for firefighters, police, etc. Or for someone like our daughter, Holly, who is an RN in the NICU...and she had to go in for work today.

Anyway...where was I?

Oh, yeah. Clark. So I thought he was leaning toward not going to this D-NOW, and I was pretty relieved about that. Jim had just driven home from out-of-town, and he came in and announced, "THE INTERSTATES ARE PERFECTLY CLEAR...it's just the side-roads."

I mean, what was he thinking?

Because, all of a sudden, Clark started getting his stuff together.

Jim and I talked to each other, and we agreed that it was not a good decision for Clark to drive down to this town. Jim told Clark it was not a good decision to drive down to this town. I told Clark that I was very uneasy about it, and did not think it was a wise decision.

Guess what?

He went anyway.

I mean, he will be 21 in a few weeks, BUT STILL.

I walked him out to the car. I was seriously about to cry. I hugged him tight, and said, "BE VERY CAREFUL..." and he said, "don't worry, Mom...I will be." I said, "you interrupted me. BE VERY CAREFUL...bringing all of your stuff back inside from the car, because you're not going."

He laughed, and hugged me tight.

And he left.

And, you know what? I hope that some young teen-aged boy is so affected by Clark's life and testimony...that he sees Something in Clark that he doesn't have in his own life...and that, because of it, a boy will make the most important decision he will ever make in his life: to give his life to Jesus.

I really hope and PRAY that it happens this way.

Even tho, for the rest of my life, I'm going to hear, "oh yeah...well, remember when you didn't want me to drive down to that church in the SNOW, but I did anyway...and that boy gave his life to Jesus?"

Yeah, okay...I'm good with that.

But as long as God gives me the opportunity to mother this child, I'm going to love and care for him to the best of my ability. I'm going to pray for him, and guide him, and probably be a little too cautious when it comes to him. But, in the end, I'm going to let him make the call, and I'm going to support him, even if I'm afraid...and trust God's plan and purpose for Clark.

And I'll be praying like crazy for God to hide Clark under His wings, and keep him as the apple of His eye.

Clark made it there safely.

And, also? Parenting is hard.

"Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings..." Psalm 17:8

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