Just Write (But Hurry.)

Posted on November 8, 2011 by vanderbiltwife

It’s Tuesday and the theme of the last few days has been hurry, hurry. And a definite lack of sleep. David has been teething something awful plus the time change plus we can’t seem to find a happy medium temperature between the radiators and the AC/fan units. I worry the kids are hot. I worry they are cold. I worry.

My tremor is worse than it’s ever been as I try to hold onto the papers and check Scriptures at the same time. So many Scriptures in this Bible study. Most of them right but I don’t want to let any errors pass by. That is my job, after all. I am pretty sure after this one I am done with editing for a few years. My home has gone to the dogs. I can’t sacrifice bad wife bad mom bad housekeeper for a couple hundred bucks.

I frantically fold clothes this morning as I have 312 things to do before noon. But I stop and think and thank. I am thankful for healthy babies with adorable clothes. I thank God that I have a washer and dryer and hangers and for those beautiful kids I prayed for that I can dress. Even if one won’t barely stay still to get dressed and the other dresses herself in such lovely concoctions I claimed that for Halloween she was “a toddler who insists on picking out her own clothes.” Not worth the battles.

There are still those 312 things and yet for a minute I close my eyes, let the tremor stop in my left hand, rest my hands on the black keyboard and just breathe. Because it is a glorious Indian Summer-November, because yesterday we had a blast letting a baby doll fly down the slide, because Libbie has wild curly blonde hair that is perfect, because the leaves on the trees on the mountains are so gloriously magical that I can’t see them without adoring Him and making it a Bible lesson.

And she said, it is good.

{Just Write is hosted by Heather of The Extraordinary Ordinary every week.}
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1000 Gifts Bringing Focus

Posted on April 17, 2011 by vanderbiltwife

After reading Ann’s treatise on giving thanks, I know there is nothing I can do that will help my heart more.

Some days my heart longs a little too much in one way or another. One morning I am so tired I ask Jesus if He could consider just coming back now so I can stop being filled with the ache of sleep-wishing. Other days I long for material things: a laptop, a nanny, a cleaning service, grassfed beef.

I am fickle, I can be reckless, and some days I yell. I worry about breaking the spirit of my precious girl and not knowing how to parent a son.

Giving thanks, it brings focus.

So continuing from Finding Thanks in Bugs, I will be counting my gifts, my thankful moments. A place to come and journal each week and a place to remember.

9. The sweet face of the sleeping baby in the gently rocking swing.

10. A neighbor offering celery so I don’t have to load and unload carseats another time.

11. The spin of the washing machine while I am free to type and think. My great-grandmother didn’t have that same privilege!

12. The taste of perfectly ripe cantaloupe.

13. Watching my curly-haired daughter “get” her first egg hunt on a blustery Saturday morning.

14. Holding her jelly bean up in the air, as instructed.

15. Letting Daddy take over baby duty at 3 a.m. so I could have 4 uninterrupted hours of sleep.

16. Swiping some M and Ms from Libbie’s basket of candy.

17. Joy of a two-year-old with a new rainjacket, bought mostly with credit on Zulily.

18. An imperfect cross of eggshells.

19. Getting home safely during an angry thunderstorm.

20. The house situation possibly coming to a close … at least within the next few months.

21. Making tortillas with an eager helper.

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Grateful

Posted on November 25, 2009 by vanderbiltwife

Give thanks

With a grateful heart

Give thanks

To the Holy One

Give thanks

Because He’s given

Jesus Christ, His Son

For nature and nurture, for family and friends, for food on the table and a house that won’t sell, for a sweet, healthy daughter and employed loving husband, for a job until January and especially for my Lord forever, I give thanks.

Thankfulness around the Blogosphere:

20 Little Gratitude Attitudes / InCourage
Thanksgiving Week / NanaHood
Embracing the Strong Will of My Child / We are THAT Family
I Am Thankful / Jason Boyett
The Ultimate Feast / Kitchen Stewardship
A Month of Giving Thanks / SugarMama Baking Company
Permission to Hope / Bring the Rain

This will also be posted at The Gypsy Road, where you can find me each Thursday.

A Grateful Heart and a Stack of Coats

Posted on November 12, 2009 by vanderbiltwife

Most of the time now, I feel poor.

If I sit back, it feels silly. We have enough money to pay a mortgage and a rent, drive back and forth to Chattanooga, pay a baby-sitter, all of our utilities, for groceries, and for a little fun. We eat out every Sunday after church–that’s built into our budget.

I’ve seen true poverty. In 1999, I took my very first plane trip ever at the age of 17 to the Dominic Republic for a mission trip. There, as a part of World Changers, my group helped construct the second story of a small green church with cinderblocks and cement. We walked through the neighborhood, feeling the desperation. We saw the slums, houses made of tin caked together with mud. I saw a Haitian family of 10 living in a hut with pigs and chickens.

Since then, I’ve been to Thailand, where I saw the aftermath of a terrible tsunami. I saw where five people slept on one bed and had to pee in a hole in the ground. I’ve been to rural China, where there are no lights after dark and I slept on the guest bed–made of logs and bags of rice. I’ve seen hungry children in Nashville who just want to find the safe place their home isn’t.

Considering all these things, feeling poor is almost indulgent.

One of my friends gave me a coat for Libbie yesterday. I sat there, staring at it, thinking about how she would have five coats by Christmas (I know my parents have purchased one for her)–including a boutique one, one from Mini Boden, and two from Gymboree. There are little girls out there Libbie’s age who don’t have one coat.

I am so thankful for the abundance we have been given. I am learning more and more to embrace simplicity and let God plan our lives. And I want to share what we have been given. That’s why we sponsor a child with Compassion. And that’s why I hope you’ll give me some ideas as to where I could donate a few precious little girl’s coats.

Mary is hosting a carnival each Thursday through Thanksgiving on giving thanks. I hope you’ll consider going and reading her post on Compassion today.

It’s My Birthday, and I’ll Top Ten if I Want To

Posted on May 26, 2009 by vanderbiltwife

I’m almost ashamed to confess to y’all how spoiled I am. Out of my “Top Ten Birthday Gifts I Probably Won’t Be Getting,” I’ve received quite a few! I got at least 7 1/2 hours of sleep the last two nights, as my mom and sister took over baby duty until it was time to feed her. My DH got a job. He also got me a Sirius radio–which I really did not expect. Broadway, here I come!! And my in-laws gave me a soundtrack, a Springform pan, and Babette’s Feast.

I AM SO SPOILED.

So, for Top Ten Tuesday, here are ten things for which I am so grateful, spanning all 27 years of my life.

1. Having Christian parents who have raised me as a believer. They have also exhibited a wonderful Christ-honoring marriage and showed me a great example of how to parent.

2. An amazing, godly husband who honors me, adores me, and whom I love ridiculously.

3. The gift of my baby daughter, who has filled my lifelong dream of being a mom and is the sweetest little chunk you’ve ever seen.

4. And, of course, a dear sister and friends whom I love a lot.

5. That God is active and dwelling in me, and He speaks–still! [More on this later this week.]

6. God-given talents that will allow me to work at home while I stay with Libbie (and write this blog, which somehow people find read-worthy!).

7. A very fun blogging community. I’ve been so thankful this year to meet new friends, learn about the blogging business, and get to have feedback on questions from hundreds of people!

8. For church communities that have helped raise me and now will help me raise my own children. We’ve been extremely blessed to have spent the last five years in an amazing, faith-filled congregation.

9. For Netflix. OK, you know I had to have one goofy thing. But how cool is it to be able to watch any movie I want for $14.95 a month! (My current obsession is watching the entire Gilmore Girls series, which I never saw when it was on TV. I’m nearing the end of Season 3!)

10. For a hope and a future.

For more Top Ten Tuesday, hop over to OhAmanda.

Thanksgiving

Posted on October 17, 2008 by vanderbiltwife

Today I am incredibly grateful for:

beautiful cool weather and being able to open the windows to air out the house
amazing lunch with the best ice cream I’ve ever had (and mango flavor to boot) with great company
my baby daughter is still thriving inside and we’ve had zero problems with this pregnancy
a nice, comfy couch on which to rest
Netflix
cuddles with my puppy
a hubby who adores me for some unknown reason
that my mom is coming in five days!
a weekend

What are you grateful for today?

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks

Posted on October 18, 2007 by vanderbiltwife

I have been so incredibly melancholy the last few days it’s almost unbearable. I don’t know what I am in a tizzy about but I haven’t been myself. I thought it might be good to make a list of the things I am thankful for, right now!!

–My dear husband, who puts up with my every whim, bad attitudes, grouchiness, strange relationship with my own body, and takes the bulk of my anger/tears/elation at whatever comes my way. He is always 100% behind me whatever insane thing I want to do and puts up with a tremendous amount. And for some reason, he still seems to like me and thinks I’m great. Please don’t tell him otherwise.

–My job. I guess probably #1 of this week is that I haven’t had much to do at work, which leads to too much time to think. And I haven’t even had my companions to crochet with (as they quilt, cross-stitch, and etc) because one had surgery, one is swamped with work, and one has been to the doctor 18 times this week. So no work + no one to talk to = strangeness. HOWEVER, I love my job. I adore working on Bible studies. I love working with our authors. I enjoy most of the people I work with. In my yearly review I almost broke down crying thinking about wanting to stay home with my kids but having to leave my job to do that!

–My church. It is the only church I’ve ever been in where I really feel like the leadership and members look to what God is doing and tries to keep up! I am constantly amazed at the wonderful people there and their enormous hearts. I know if Mr. V and I ever had some serious problem, financial or health or otherwise, we would have a ton of people waiting to help us deal out of pure godly love. I love my wild GAs, who make me laugh and make me tired.

–I was reminded at lunch today, as one of the women I eat with is in the process of losing her 67 year old mother to lung cancer, that I am very blessed I have all 4 grandparents living still–and married, even! My parents are still married as well, and still seem to love each other a lot, and have been a very good model for me of marriage. After almost 30 years, they still enjoy one another’s company and have fun together.

That is only the tip of the iceberg…I have so little to NOT be thankful for. In fact, Paul told us to give thanks “in everything,” the good and the bad, that is God’s will for us. So today I will make an effort to thank God for the little struggles, for surely they lead to something better.

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” Hebrews 13:15