follow through

When I lived in LA and was in my home turf with plenty of friends, I often told people I'd meet....let's have dinner or coffee sometime. It's something a lot of us do casually with the best of intentions, but really we know we may not have the time or interest at all.
Since I have moved to 2 different states and have been that "new" girl looking for friendship, I hung dearly to the words "Let's do lunch". What I found was that so many of us say that and so many of us really don't follow through. I was let down again and again waiting for plans to work out to have a get together and no matter my attempts or patience, I came away from many acquaintances sad and let down again. After all, I was really in need of some friends.
Recently, I met a mom from Jay's basketball team. She seemed so nice and friendly. Once again I heard "let's get the kids together". I really liked her and hoped she really meant it, but I knew better than to get my hopes up. A couple weeks passed and she invited me to lunch. Then I got the phone message that there was a time conflict. Instead, of the easy thing to do - cancelling, we moved our lunch a bit later. Yesterday, I made a new friend over sushi and am overjoyed that she really wanted to get to know me. I was so happy that she did not just talk about possible future plans, but we actually did it!
May this be a reminder to myself when I meet a possible new friend to not just talk about possible plans, but to really make them and follow through!

nabz games

In honor of the olympics, the kids have been enjoying playing our Nabz Games. We do things like a sack race, 3-legged race, bucket ball and whatever I can come up with really. To prevent fighting I had them compete for their personal best time. After all, we have the 5 year old division and 3 year old division. Not only has this been great excersise, but it keeps them busy! The cool part is when I have to leave the games, they continue to play making up thier own creative games. If you have not brought the olympics home to your kids I suggest you do and come up with some wacky creative games to share! :)

patience

I have never liked someone telling me to WAIT! I think I have been bred to be the most impatient person ever. I tend to find myself always rushing and sometimes I don't even need to be. So the obvious thing I am always faced with is waiting. I had to wait until 18 to have a license and car, 21 to have my first boyfriend, 24 to get my dream job, 32 to get out of AZ, 33 to have our first house....the list goes on and on. God must be thinking when will she learn already??? After all, He always answers my prayers in one way or another and it's always been perfectly timed as He has planned. (in the past I have tried to make things happen on my own and have failed miserably everytime - it's not recommended!)

So while I have found myself impatient again about getting back into music ministry I know it's best to wait on Him. It's been years since I have done anything more with music than dust my piano and sing the ABC's. I have such an itch to do music ministry in some aspect, yet it's not time. My season is here in my home with my kids (I need to nurture thier spirits) and with my community in meeting any needs presented.

If, since i'm getting older by the second, and when God wants me to do music ministry He will make a way. So although it's hard to wait, I will embrace this season I'm in. There are lessons to be learned and character to be built in me that I don't want to miss. God open my eyes to see what you have for me right now in this moment. Slow me down and help me to stay present while I look ahead. And thank you God for being patient with me!