5 Minute Friday {grateful}

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my right side bar}




Grateful.

GO.

I am grateful for glimmers of grace. For the grace and forgiveness that my kids show me by still wanting hugs and kisses from mommy. 
For the grace bestowed on me by my daughter. I am always humbled by her asking me to carry her to bed, lay down with her and rub her back even after moments of snippy-mommy impatience.
I am grateful for the glimmer of grace in my mother coming over so that I can run errands that are better done sans kids. 
And for the mother-in-law, who calls and offers to watch the kids for the weekend, so that Patrick and I can have some time to ourselves. 
I am grateful for the wedding that we will witness tomorrow and for the grace showered down on our sweet friend who is going make a lovely bride and wife.
Grateful for my husband telling me to go and paint and have fun with good friends. For the grace that comes in laughter and good conversation.


STOP.

What are you grateful for?

5 Minute Friday {welcome}

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in 

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

Welcome . . .


GO:

You're welcome. You are welcome to come in. To come in to my house and stay awhile. You are welcome into my home. Into the mess, into the chaos, into the beautiful life that is lived here. We are not perfect. In fact, we aren't anywhere close. We leave our socks on the floor. We have milk stains on the couch. We fight. We have things we would like to change about our house, about ourselves. But you are welcome to come into our lives and into our home. Because even though we are messy and we struggle, we want to follow Jesus. We want to do what he did. We want to eat, to share life with you, to bless you, to laugh and to live. We want you to stay. Ignore the chaos that is our lives and stay as long as you like. Make yourself at home. Please. And thank you.

STOP.

A Round Table {5 Minute Friday}

The Gypsy Mama's 5 Minute Fridays - Where we throw caution (editing, revising, and worrying) to the wind and just write. Without wondering if it’s just right or not.

For five minutes flat. The rules are easy.

1. Write your heart out for five minutes about the prompt and show us what you’ve got.
2. Tell your readers you’re linking up here and invite them to play along.
3. And most importantly, go visit, read, and encourage the fellow five-minuter who linked up right before you.
   
   

Motherhood should come with . . .

Saige - 2 months

GO.

A round table of other mothers. A group of mothers that you can call on when you need advice. You should have ready a list of numbers to call when your baby's poop turns green, or when you can't remember when you can cut infant finger nails. A number when your baby won't stop crying and you tried all of the S's - (shush, swaddle, swing). A number to call when you're not sure if you're going to make it through the night and you just need an encouraging voice — a voice of one that has gone before you.
Motherhood should come with other friends who are going through the same thing. There are so many things that happen in that first month that no on talks about. It would be helpful to have say, a sister-in-law, who is going through the same thing and who can laugh and cry with you — all in the same moment at times.
It should come with a manual that states, no matter what you try, sometimes your baby is just going to cry. Or that your toddler won't like the way you cut the sandwich, or that just because they like bananas one morning, the next time they'll probably throw it on the floor in disgust. A list of instructions on how to clean up vomit, poop, and tears from your couch cushions because that is of course where everything ends up.
And although many of these things can be googled, having a mother or friends who can share the journey with you, has made motherhood that much sweeter.
STOP.

~cheryl~

The Hard Love {5 Minute Friday}

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing or tweaking.

2. Linked up over at The Gypsy Mama

3. The topic is:

 The Hard Love …

GO

Isn't most love hard? 
Hard to accept.
Hard to give.
It's a choice, a commitment.
To love someone is to choose to love the hard parts of them. The ugly along with the beauty.
When Christ chose the cross, he chose the Hard Love. He chose to separate Himself from His own Father so that we might know His love for us. He chose the wrath of God over His own comfort.
Love is Hard because it is a decision.
But like anything in life, when you love someone through the hard times, it makes life that much more beautiful. 
Hard Love has depth. It has meat on it's bones.
Hard Love is love in its truest form because it didn't back down.
It fought and came out on the other side.
The Love that Christ offers is hard to believe. 
He loved us while we were still sinners. 
He loved us when we hated Him.
He loved us before we loved Him.
I'd say that's pretty hard. 
But thanks be to God for that Hard Love.
The Love that took away the wrath of God on this Good Friday.


STOP


~cheryl~