expectations

do you remember laboring through dickens' great expectations in
the ninth grade?  honestly, the title threw me off.   after all, i had
heard great things about the author and had pretty big expectations.
i was terribly disappointed.  i think  i enjoyed laboring through my
childrens' births more.

"barkis is willing," is one of my favorite lines, but few know to
what i am referring when i quote it.   i sympathized with him, as
we both had such great expectations.  i can't remember if clara ever
married him, but it would make me feel better to know that one of
us had a happy moment in the story.

google image

on the other hand, i was completely mesmerized by a tale of two
cities.   was it my low expectations or a fine book that brought
me such pleasure?  since "occupy wall street" has taken over so
many of our city parks, i have wondered if guillotines will be
added to the venue.  the guillotine was a huge character in the
tale, but i digress.

back to expectations:    if i expect my husband to "clean" the
kitchen after dinner, i will certainly be disappointed, as  there
will be a sinkful of dishes and crumbs all over the counters.  have
you noticed that "sinkful"and "sinful" are practically the same
word?

if, however,  i do not expect my husband to clean the kitchen, i
will be happily surprised to enjoy his company pattering along
while i clean.  he will bring me dishes from the table and put them
in the sink, saving me many steps.

not expecting,
lea

"for i have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."
philippians 4:11

out, out, #@^%! spot!

dear emily,

you are much too young to have to deal with this minor irritation,
but i am plagued by a few pesky brown spots on my cheeks.  it
is my own fault, of course, for basking in the sun as a foolish
young sun worshipper.

i can assure you that all the commercials extolling their miraculous
potions are fictitious.  they don't work.  in the past, i have resorted
to camouflage, which doesn't really work either.  sigh.

then it dawned on me that the spots were located exactly where i
would like to have sculpted cheekbones.  so i applied brown
shading on top of the spots just under my cheekbones and voila'!

hee hee!

even though my spots are here to stay, they serve a purpose by
reminding me of the blemishes on my heart.   i try to hide those,
too, but it's far better to expose them.  "Lord,  i said a terrible
thing today . . . "

love,
lea

"though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow."  isaiah 1:18

who are you, really?

when i refer to my blog friends, my kids roll their eyes and say,
"mom, those are not your real friends,"  as if they were imaginary
like the ones my daughter hailey used to have (sarah and ashley.)
i understand that they are not real to them like the friends who
come in and out of my house and have been seen by my children.

sometimes i make the mistake of trying to explain, "no, they are
real.  see this one sent me a gift."

"mom, are you saying she's your friend because she gave you a
present?"  then i just give up.  but i began to wonder, "what if
none of you are who you pretend to be?"

what if, instead of a frumpy middle aged woman, i am really an
NBA star worried about not having a basketball season?

i do not play for the lakers.

love,
lea

"i no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know
his master's business.  instead, i have called you friends . . . "
john 15:15

how do you teach your children to be thankful?

dear emily,

it was such a thrill to have your five beautiful children this
weekend!  they are kind, respectful, thankful, affectionate,
and joyful.  you are such a loving mommy and have given us the
gift of loving your little ones.

how have you taught your children to be thankful when they have
so much?  their tummies are full of nutritious food, their bodies are
clothed with warm garments, and their hearts are fed with faith,
hope, and love.

most moms admonish their little ones to say, "thank you", which is
a great start,  but there is something more we can do that does not
require a bit of coaching.  it's easy as pie, tastes just as yummy, and
you are already good at it.

we can be grateful and express it to the fullest.  when little max
sees his mommy say "thank you" to the grocery clerk, bankteller,
and milkman (yes, i have a milkman!), little max will pick up the
habit, too.

on the other hand, if little max sees mommy complaining all day
about the terrible service she gets everywhere she goes, he will
pick up that habit even more quickly.  they do what we do more
than what we tell them to do.

i am thankful that my friend meg sent me this cute little zombie
she knit by hand.  she is so creative, and i'm always begging her
to make more of these ornery things . . . wait, he's about to knock
the lid off of my coffee pot!

love,
lea

ps.  "thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"  2 cor. 9:15

tricking halloween

even though i love scary movies, i've never been a fan of
halloween.  one of the many inconsistencies in my life.  my kids
love to dress up and enjoy the holiday to the fullest now that they
are grown up and make their own decisions.

does that make me sad?  not really.  it would break my heart if
they chose to turn their backs on the Lord, not if they want to
have some silly fun.   i've been invited to a party myself and
plan to not wear any make-up.  that should scare everybody!

i will rebel by playing Christmas music all day on halloween.
this year i even have some norwegian Christmas cookies made
by my favorite norwegian, sonja.   look how adorably she
painted the can in which she sent them!

see janette and sonja's unhappy faces?  their beloved UT lost to my
oklahoma  sooners.   janette posed in an OU jersey, but sonja opted
to make me cookies.  both were women of their word and made me
very happy!

yum!!!!!

love,
lea

ps.  "let your 'yes' be 'yes', and your 'no' be 'no.'"  matthew 5:37

to dress or not to dress

dear emily,

my son isaac returned from visiting his grandfather in the
hospital with a funny story.  we need all the laughs we can get,
and i bet you do, too.

isaac was wearing a lovely checked, buttoned down, and tucked
in shirt, straight from church.   his grandmother did not think he
was dressed up enough, however.   she has been putting on hose,
high heels and a beautiful suit every sunday for eight weeks . . .
then marching up to the ICU to sit with her beloved husband.

she said, "my mother always taught me that you must dress up
for church, because even if you don't go to church, people will
see you and think you did . . . and that will make them feel bad."

hee hee!

love,
lea

"therefore i tell you, do not worry about your life, . . . what you
will wear.  is not life more important then food, and the body
more important than clothes?"  matthew 6:25

and now a word from our sponsor

dear emily,

a year ago my friend patricia shared a definition for being offended:
the bright light hurts.  another friend and i were then talking about
how much angrier we get when our loved ones have been treated
harshly than when we are treated that way.

we're taking up an offense on their behalf, shining a bright light on
behavior we find reprehensible.  and you know who that hurts?  us.

when i was a little girl, my grandmother used to love her 'stories'
which were really soap operas.    i thought they were silly, but
occasionally i would get drawn in when a pretty lady would shout
at a handsome man for something i didn't understand.  right then at
the most interesting part, the program would transition to a boring
commercial, and a voice would say, "and now a word from our
sponsor."

sometimes my family has felt like that soap opera, pretty woman
yelling at handsome man.  :)  when i was terribly discouraged,
then i would hear a word from my Sponsor, "He who began a
good work in you, will carry it on to completion until the day of
Christ Jesus."  philippians 1:6

love,
lea

ps.  this is an edited post from a couple of years ago.