Sugar Tails

Putting Down This Thing (My Farewell)

2011-01-12T06:06:00.000-05:00

Just One More Thing (sung by Sara Groves)

There's always just one more thing
There's always another task
There's always "I just have one more small favor to ask"
And everything is urgent and everything is now
I wonder what would really happen if I stopped somehow

I'll be there in a minute
Just a few places to go
You wake up a few years later and your kids are grown
And everything is important
But everything is not
At the end of your life your relationships are all you've got

And love to me is when you put down that one more thing and say
I've got something better to do
And love to me is when you walk out on that one more thing and say
Nothing will come between me and you
Not even one thing

There will never be an end to
The request upon your time
It's your place to stand up and tell the world
You've got to rest awhile. . .

I'm putting down this one more thing called Sugar Tails. I have loved writing here. I've loved getting to "meet" new people. I've loved sharing my writing and finding that it resonates with some of you. I've loved adding images to my words and sharing part of my heart, but . . .

First of all, my heart belongs to God. My writing used to be only for Him. I miss that. I miss pouring my heart though pen solely for His eyes. I miss knowing for sure that it's still about Him first. And yes, I could turn off comments, but . . .

I'd still wonder, I think, if someone was reading. And wonder what they thought. And above all, I want to make sure that my identity is in my Savior and not in others' thoughts of me. Especially since I value your thoughts.

And one more (important and urgent) thing: my precious ones. My sugars. Because they are my something better. And I want nothing to come between them and me.

Let all you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV)

Perhaps, I will have something to share again someday. For now, I need silence here so that this thing doesn't become that one more task, that one more thing. As Ann Voskamp said best, "It’s the words we’re writing on hearts that last forever." I put this down because right now that's love to me, and I love them. And Him. I want to live in love and write forever on their hearts. And to let Him write forever on mine.

For every word of encouragement and kindness you have gifted to me, I am forever blessed. Thank you.

May the blessings return to you, my friends.

I'm linking up one last time to Internet Cafe Devotions, where the Word takes center stage.

My First Gift

2011-01-10T06:05:00.000-05:00

He made me a mom. I remember the doctor's words when she called us into her office to let us know that, no, I was not experiencing the flu. What I had was going to last much longer. I remember her grin and my shock at the unexpected news and the silence in the car as my husband and I processed the idea of a change in the timing our dreams.

The best change ever.

I remember the fierce love I felt so early on, so surprising to me, when I experienced some possible complications and feared the loss of that tiny promise of life. I remember begging God to let everything be okay. I remember the fear and the anticipation of considering being a parent for the first time. I remember the first kicks . . . the first of everything.

And then he arrived. I had never experienced such joy. When we brought him home, we took turns holding him, examining him, memorizing him, admiring him . . . awed that this perfect baby boy was ours to keep. Ours alone.

He taught me the ropes of newborn care -- the shocking realization of what true dependency means. The all-hours feedings, the "right-now" attitude. The realization that the labor of his birth was nothing compared to the new job I alone had now. This thing called motherhood. I didn't think I could do it.

And then he smiled. Four weeks into being on call to a demanding tyrant, he offered a gift, and I was forever hooked. I didn't realize just how many gifts he had offered me before that moment until much later . . . . how many lessons he was teaching me and how many moments I didn't know would never return. And I wish now my memory was better or that I could go back and relive just a day now and again.

And now The Thinker's eleven. Just like that.

He's led me through so many different stages of life, surprising me, frustrating me, challenging me, and captivating me at every turn. Now, he's this compassionate, competitive, intelligent, handsome, and funny boy-turning-man. And I long to hold him tightly as he is, for I'm so much more aware of how quickly time passes, how soon he will no longer be eleven but eighteen and then thirty.

Yet even as I long to hold on, every day I pray that he turns less ours and more His and that he will let his Heavenly Father guide him wherever that will take him.

And wherever that is, he will always, always, carry my heart.

Happy Birthday to my first gift born.

And I count one more time my many gifts #576 - 589:

birthdays to count

grace in parenting

the timing of my first gift

the lessons God teaches through our children

agape love

the privilege of watching children grow

The Thinker has a spiritual birthday too

another reason to gather with family in winter

conversation with my sisters and my brother

Baby Girl's "Happy Birthday to you"

The Stinker's excitement in choosing a gift (and "can't I give both?")

comfort in the hope that each season of life will have its joys . . .

and that moving forward means moving closer

each and every hug from all my Gifts

One Less Orphan

2011-01-05T05:45:00.001-05:00

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

Some of the best people I know have adopted children. They understand the privilege of being adopted into God's family, and they know the call to love and care deeply for others in great need. This family is among the best.

We adore them. Chris and Anne and their boys are great friends and great people and are doing a great thing. We had the privilege of serving with them at one time when Chris was the youth pastor at our church. We've both since moved in different directions (fiddlesticks!) to serve in other places and other ways. Now, they are in the process of living out Christ's call by filling that empty chair of theirs with a precious child in need. As a member of His Body, I want to help them and others like them. I would like to have at least a small part of caring for those in great need, in being part of something eternal. Knowing your heart, I bet you would like a chance to do something as well.

Buy a shirt (just click on those words in pink for more information). One hundred percent of the money goes toward the adoption expenses, which as many of you know, are enormous.

Start the new year with purpose and compassion (and a cool shirt! Grin). Bring their little guy, a sweet child with special needs from China, to their home. Be a part of something God loves.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 1:22

Let there be one less orphan and a chance for one more member of the best family of all. God's.

For more encouragement in the Word, visit Internet Cafe Devotions.

To put your faith into action, consider visiting Graves family blog

(who had no idea I was spreading the word -- I just love surprises)

and support their adoption.

What better way to walk with Him, than to make a habit of giving sacrificially?