Seven years ago, my dad took me out to Brother Sebastians for a steak dinner. We had the best time eating lots of food and talking about life. Then we drove around Omaha just for fun, and “practiced” our father/daughter dance for my upcoming wedding. Neither of us are dancers by any means, but we both love instrumental music and song lyrics. “What a Wonderful World” is one of our favorites and the reason we chose that song for the big day.
That evening was memorable. Dad said that he wanted to take me on one more date and have one final dance before I got married. “Next week, I hand you off after 26 years to the man we’ve prayed for even longer than that,” Dad said. I’ll never forget those words. That meant the world to me.
Not sure how I captured this photo, but thankful I did. At a point of high stress in our day, my simple prayer was, “God, please let the boys smile even for a few moments today.” Within a few minutes, they both stopped crying, crawled into my lap, relaxed, and started giggling while looking at the ceiling. God hears the simplest prayers—I asked for smiles, and He gave us smiles and laughter!
It’s Wednesday. A wacky Wednesday—a day you think you have planned, that starts out peaceful, and then quickly turns into unplanned ups and downs. Nothing atypical for a day with toddlers, but little reminders that life is crazy, and God is faithful!
Nebraska storm photo on HWY 30 (credit to Darren White)
It’s a clear, sunny afternoon. The light breeze blowing the daffodils and green leaves on the trees begins to die down, and things become quiet—maybe a little too quiet. Gray clouds begin to form in the distance and you check the weather forecast on your watch. A storm is brewing quickly and you have little time to prepare or plan for safety. The warm air begins to feel chilly on your skin, and you already see faint strikes of lightning in the distance. At this point, you could run home and warn everyone, but they’ve likely gotten the alerts on their devices as well. They know and will respond as they see fit. All the signs are there for a nasty storm, and there’s no escaping this one. Raindrops start to fall, and those billowing gray clouds have quickly turned to monstrous spinners in the sky. The storm could be miles away, but it’s approaching quickly. Thunder shakes the ground as you begin to run home, and before you know it, your vision is blurred by the hail, winds, and darkness. Your cries for help can’t be heard by loved ones because they’re also caught in the storm. You wonder how things turned from calm to chaos so quickly and you pray that your loved ones are safe. The disastrous storm strikes with a vengeance. It destroys the daffodils, the leaves, the trees, and people’s homes for miles. Before you know it, you’re sucked in. Your life flashes like lightning and crashes to the ground like thunder. Blackout.
Reading time is always fun for us, but today was extra special.
I love having two sons. I know very little about being a parent or being a good mom, but God uses these little boys daily as my tiny teachers, reminders, and perspective checkers. Praying, being joyful, and reading God’s Word have been my biggest reminders from them lately.
Enjoying a Christmas blend coffee on New Years Day with all my sugar-free favorite flavorings. Hot drinks and reflection blogging always go together for me.
2021–it was a great year overall, and it went by so quickly! While I reflected on some of the tough realities of this year in my previous post, it was only a fraction of the other pieces of the year, which were wonderful.
