Blog Hopper: June - Summer Accessory

(See the Blog Hopper link at the bottom for the next blog in our circle)

We leave for the beach in two weeks. Two weeks!

I'm almost ready...I think. We should have everything moved to the new house finally. We should have enough shirts and bathing suits for the week. We should have everything we need for the annual beach pictures (but maybe not the right color scheme...sorry Amber). We should be prepared and have everything we need. 

As I start to stress a little about moving, end of school, michael graduating, then vacationing, I realize there is one accessory that I have overlooked. It snuck up behind me. It's ready to go on vacation with me. 

It's my cellulite. My thigh biscuits. The terrible thunder thighs that I've had for my whole adult life. 

How could I have overlooked them? When did they expand to include my tummy? Why didn't this bother me until I started really beach preparing? 

Two weeks is not enough time to do a dang thing about it!! You can't even recover from surgery that quick. So, it's going with me. 

And guess who else cares about it? No one. Not another person going on the trip cares about the state of my thighs. 

I have two beautiful sisters going on the trip. Two gorgeous women that love deeply and bring me great joy.

Amber has known me her whole life. She has been with me through thick and thin. (Literally....right there with me pre and post children). She puts up with me and even answers my calls. If anyone has dirt on me, it's her. And I feel pretty certain she doesn't look at my thighs and think....Thank you Jesus for dad's thighs and long waist. ;)

Katie is my sister in law. Katie and I have talked about my thighs. Katie could care less about the thighs that plague me. If she wasn't so polite, she would have already asked me to drop the subject.

I have decided to emprace my accessory with confidence and pride. I am not as fit as I wanted to be. But I get to spend a week on the beach with my people. My family has relocated almost officially and we are surviving. Handsome has been fantastic and level headed. And our love and friendship is solid. God has been so faithful. 

Sometimes your accessories don't matter as much as you think. Your people love you for who you are.  Our Heavenly Father looks at you and takes great delight in you, His beautiful creation. 

Chose to celebrate you for you....thunder thighs and all!!

Joyfully full of it,

Tiff

Beginning this month, I'm participating in a blog circle with some amazing and beautiful women.  Click here and see what Bella has to say this month. 

Nice People

Its the end of an era. The end of sanity. The end of school. The end of elementary school for one of them. The end of life in Tyler.

And I'm overwhelemed today. It's that dumb feeling. Girls understand. I just don't think I can handle one more thing.

Of course, that means God stepped in and showed me kindness in ways I did not expect.

Little Man is so over this moving and unsettled lifestyle we are currently in the the throws of. And I can't blame him. He keeps forgetting things and getting lower than usual grades...and crying, oh the crying. He feels overwhelmed. Useless. DONE.

As the end of the year approaches, so do the projects. He has an extra credit project that he simply forgot about. And we don't have a computer and printer at home so he could not crank it out last night (last minute) for today. We decided to admit defeat and drop this extra credit. We emailed the teacher explaining our situation and that we have decided to take this added stress off our plate.

She replied quickly. She replied with words that encouraged little man. And he got a second wind. It was a beautiful thing to watch. This woman I don't even know, cares for my kid at the time of year when we are all just done.

Thank you sweet teacher for caring when we didn't think you would and for showing my kiddo how to be strong and courageous when you are ready to quit. He saw that she cares. He saw that she believes in him. And he decided to step it up and not be done but to take on the challenge and hold his head high.

I needed someone to be nice to my kid this morning. I needed someone to say, I understand and got your back. I needed someone to have a tri-fold and give it to little man so he could complete his project and feel proud of his accomplishment.

We might just make it the 12 days left of the school year.

I hope you are encouraged by someone just being kind because it's the right thing to do.

Joyfully full of it.

Tiff

Too many toothbrushes

I felt the motivation today. I've been waiting since December. No, not working out. Ha. Good one. 

Packing. Cleaning. Purging. 

Because you know what, we are moving. It's like I haven't known for the last 6 months and today I felt the gravity of moving all of the stuff our life has accumulated and oh my word! 

I'm starting The 7 Experiment in two weeks at our church. (By Jen Hatmaker). I started ahead of time thinking I would really pray about how to lead/facilitate/be used by God. I thought I would simply slim down the number of shoes and maybe clothes in my closet. I thought I'd find guilt of the excessive stuff and minimize slightly. I thought I had it all figured out. 

I'm figuring out that Jesus really does not care about the number of shoes in my closet. He cares about the time I think about/talk about/shop about these shoes. How is that time forwarding His kingdom? 

It's not that my excess could be directed to those less fortunate. (That's absolutely true and a part of it for sure). It's about how my shoes (or clothes or books or food or phone or toothbrushes or tv) take some ridiculous priority. 

So join us at Fbc South Campus starting Wednesday, March 18th. Let's figure out what to do about it. I'm not looking for guilt. I'm looking for hope and blessing when my idols fall and the one who loves me first is put in His proper place!

Joyfully full of all the stuff!!

Tiff

Cancelled Pity Party

I cried yesterday. I don't cry. But all of the sudden I realized I'm moving, leaving, departing, separating, changing, and following God's new plan for my life. This includes leaving my beautiful friends and my lovely church family. It's painful. It's not cool. But it's necessary in order to stay on this unexpected path God has laid before my family. 

However, I need you to know that it's not about me. It's something that is so easy to forget. And it sounds so vain, but it really just sneaks in and plants itself right in the middle of the mess and before you know it...I'm back to thinking it is about me. But it is not.

We are moving. Changing. *And hopefully growing. 

I feel like we have been faithful to follow where God is leading. Even if we don't want to go. And we have prayed more about this than our first born child. (Sorry, don't be shocked... he showed up at the end of the decade long "Jesus Sabbatical"...) 

Yesterday I was slapped hard. And punched in the gut. Not literally but the feelings equaled any physical punches I could experience. 

It wasn't on purpose - (even if CRAZY was screaming how "unfair" and "mean" it was). 

It was appropriate. 

It was from the church (Gasp). 

And it was the right thing to do. 

No matter how I feel about how it was handled or communicated. It still turns out to be appropriate and what church leadership feels appropriate. Even if I feel it's not "right", if I am going to be a part of a faith community, I MUST respect the leadership and the decisions they prayerfully make. 

I HAVE TO RESPECT THAT AND TRUST IT.

That's my role as a member of the community. To love God so much and trust who he has in authority and trust that they prayerfully consider every decision way more that I do especially when it's not about me. 

Here's what I want to make sure to say... I WILL NOT ALLOW THE ENEMY TO USE MY HURT FEELINGS TO THWART THE WORK GOD HAS LAID BEFORE US. 

I won't. 

He can't use our God-led change to mess up stuff and hurt feelings and make people question the church or its leaders or the awesome plans we have made. I won't allow it. I still have high expectations that He will show up and bless the work done.

IT's not about me. It's about God and the work the beautiful people of our church are doing to tell others about the love and saving power of Jesus Christ. 

Because it is about HIM. Thankfully, it's all about HIM and what he has done for us. 

Whew, I feel better now that it's not about me anymore.

Joyfully full of it.

Tiff

**These pictures are from our Compassion tour. A beautiful gentle reminder that the world is bigger than what I can see and there is real hurt and pain going on in places I could never imagine. And not about me. 😊

For more info on Compassion go to:

Www.compassion.com

Stupid Grown Up Stuff

I didn't go to many funerals going up. I only remember one, Michael Anthony's mom. And I remember I cried like I actually knew her but my grief was the unknown. I didn't how to be sad and how to be in the presence of such sadness and no sob. I also remember a girl named Robin had on a beautiful yellow dress. 

My dad died on October 12, 2011. It wasn't a surprise. He was sick for a long time. He was never the same after his stroke and I feel like I grieved the loss of him before he actually left. Which was just bizarre. (Thank goodness for a good therapist) 

Anyway, my friend lost her mom this week. It wasn't a long battle like we faced but that doesn't make it any easier or harder. I honestly don't know which is better. Our long time with dad was exhausting and painful and drug out forever. But in the end we could see God working and weaving through all the madness that consumed our world for what felt like forever. 

So what I want to say is that death and loss is tragic and terrible. It can be the oddest experience of your life. The problem is that is doesn't look the same for anyone. And everyone has an opinion on how well you are "handling it" or how you are handling it "too well". What does that even mean? 

Even my brother and sister faced it differently than I did. They are more private and reserved. I am the opposite. Talking helped me work it out. I think they cried more than i let people think I did. (But I'm super tough and so what do you expect). 

My point is that sad stuff doesn't make sense. Nothing equips us for loss. Whether it's the loss of a parent or a child. The loss of a spouse through divorce or just a really bad break up. It sucks. 

Sometimes being a grown up just sucks. I'm sorry. If I could fix it, I would. So for today, I'm sharing the text I sent my friend today. As I read back through (to make sure I didn't sound like an idiot) I was struck with the thought that this might apply to you for a completely different reason. And if I can take an opportunity to ease some pain that is sucking the life out of you, then I'm on it.

"I love you. Today will be crazy and surreal. It's okay to be tough. It's okay to cry. It's okay to be pissed off. It's okay to find joy today. No one grieves the same. It's different for every single person. And someone will think you aren't doing it right. At some point Hubs will think you may be going crazy. And you might be.... But one day you will realize that you are no longer counting the days... And then you will stop counting the weeks. And then you will blank on the date that you feel like was a "game changer". Tell Hubs when you need a hug or a goofy smile...every time you need it. Let him comfort you in that weird awkward way that men comfort their grieving (crazy) wives. And Every step cling to Jesus. Tell him you are mad, sad, okay, not okay. This week and day was not a surprise to him. And your beautiful mother has great peace that I pray you feel a touch of today."

May you be filled with Joy and Peace today...just because. 

Joyfully Full of It!

Tiff

Reading Obsession

I like to read a lot. Sometimes instead of parenting. (We call it extra homework time). So last week I finished another great book. It was one of those that read quickly and I was drawn to the characters and story line. I like the books that suck you in and make you feel. I like finding minutes in the day to get back to what's happening in the story. 

As I sit this morning catching up on my bible reading that didn't happen because of the above mentioned book....I realized that I should crave God's word more than the books I devour so quickly. The Bible is FULL of stories of love, lust, loss, heartache, redemption, joy, and even dancing. This should be the book I go to when I find and extra minute to read. This is the book my children should see in my hands during extra homework time. (Not my phone where I've been downloading books....like I needed another excuse to have the stupid thing in my hand.) 

I have the next book to read in my phone now. But I'm going to commit to reading God's word first, not after the next chapter of whatever book I'm reading. 

And I'm praying for a burning desire to read God's word, for God to meet me wherever I am and be honored with the time I spend there. 

Because being 3 days behind on a bible reading plan but finished with an entire book is really not one of my goals! 

Joyfully,

Tiff

She won't stop talking

No, not Katelynn. That's not the she you assumed I was talking about. I'm referring to Crazy. The chick in my head.  We've discussed how mean she is but have we talked about her constant talking. (So I don't know where my daughter gets it...)

I've lost the hearing in my left ear. It's temporary (I hope) but it's left me with a constant cricket noise. Put some cotton in your ear for a day and you'll understand.

So here's what I've noticed with the silence. Crazy sings a lot. And she talks. The words she says and the songs she sings are directly related to the words I read and the songs I hear and the tv shows I watch. This morning I woke up and she started singing Kari Jobi's song I am not along. (Check it out on YouTube, it's fantastic) 

It's a beautiful way to wake up. The more time I spend listening and reading this that would honor God, the quieter Crazy's mean side is. 

Silence your Crazy today. Read God's word. Listen to some good soul lifting music. Let's see if the words and songs running around in your brain will uplift you today. And those around you. When Crazy is singing worship songs, it's a lot easier to be nice to my people. 

Does it work for you too?

Joyfully full of it,

Tiff