Season in Time

My hands are full these days, and so I have not recorded much lately. But I had time to write a quick note to a friend the other day in response to reading a story that she had posted.

"Ann,
Beautiful.
I give thanks for your family,
.......your quiet witness that teaches me so much. So very much.
It is a privilage to peek in on how grace works in the everyday in your home .
May the Lord bless you and bless each of your children and your children's children. And Opa Voskamp.
Grace to you,
Leslie
P.S.***After a hard week at work, my husband said the other night, "Read me some Ann." I had quite a day myself so I said, "Not tonight. I'm jealous of her right now. How does she homeschool all the children, put up applesauce, bake bread, read literature while the children quietly knit, and pray everytime her watch chimes..and post the most inspiring Holy Experience? I can't even get the laundry folded, etc..." You get the idea. I was half joking and half speaking the truth. He kindly replied,"Her children are older than ours. They can feed and dress themselves. They can go to the bathroom without needing help. This season of motherhood is ....." On he explained.
So I felt a little better.
We read some "Ann" and the Lord spoke to me. He always does when I read your words.
Later that night,as I was putting away the laundry, I remembered outloud, "You know one of her kids is still too little to ride a bicycle." He laughed, pulled me close and carried me to bed.
"You'll feel better in the morning." And I did. But I confess...I wish that I knew and loved the Lord like you do.

Ann wrote back. Good words. Words I needed to hear.

Leslie...

Can I grab you and give you a hug too??!!! :)

Yes. Your husband is entirely right. Caleb (14) folds *all* of our laundry. (I wash, dry, and put away --but I would be LOST without Caleb.)Joshua (12) washes *all* our pots and pans. Every meal.Hope (10) vacuums after every meal. The three youngers (8, 6, 4) clean off the table, dry dishes, take out the compost. When we clean the house, there are four very diligent workers... I don't do any of my work alone, Leslie... well... except the cooking -- for better or worse, that's all me :)

My sister has 4 beautiful little girls, aged 1-6. I remember that season: diapers and potties and no one big enough to tie their shoes or zip up their coat. We talk nearly everyday on the phone --- the season of all littles is challenging and I empathize. I deeply miss it -- and *ache* for it. I whisper for her to revel in it, even when she's so tired she can hardly move. In a blink, it's gone.

Dear Leslie... please know: when I bake bread, it's with a mixer, and one of the children will help me put together all the ingredients.My applesauce came already processed in large pails from the Mennonites for $8 a pail. Our 12 and 14 are homeschooled with Veritas Scholars Academy -- I'm no longer their primary teacher, but focus on the littles. Our children bicker. I yell. We cry. Sometimes I write about these things. I take photos even when my toilets need scrubbing. I will write in the dark, way too late, long after children are in bed, even if there is more laundry to put away. Because seeking glimpses of the God-glory in my daily mess is important for my soul to *see*. My Farmer Husband nudges me to go write because in the words, I see things I miss when I don't slow down and chronicle -- I miss *God*. Please know I'm in the trenches with you... a few years ahead, maybe, but in the trenches too. Days I am tired and discouraged and I blew it again, sinned, missed praying the last two hours, and things rather fizzled. And I look at the photos and see beauty I missed when I was feeling all frazzled, see all the graces jotted down on a journal... on a counter that needs to be cleaned off. :) Here is holy because God is here. Even here. Right now there are pumpkin parts and innards all over my kitchen floor. Best go. But I really needed, even in the midst, to grab you, smile, laugh, and say: "Yep! These are all seasons. And these seasons are all beauty because God is here too. Always." You've married a very fine man.*You* are a blessed woman, Leslie. ~warm smile~

Humbly... lovingly... gratefully....

All's grace...

Ann

All that happens becomes bread to nourish, soap to cleanse, fire to purify, a chisel to carve heavenly features. Everything is a channel of His Grace.

Lord, thank you for this season, for this family to love, for this home to share our lives in, for the encouragement You send...just when I need it.

Sunday Benediction

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,

and give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

Picture : Two trees along the back fence have joined their lives to each other.

Bare Feet

"It's my turn now, isn't it Mom?" Firstborn inquires,

with hope in his voice.

I look his way, semi-smile, knowing that waiting

is a hard lesson. "In a minute."

His eyes.

That look.

I know it all too well.

I've felt it come over my own countenance many times.

And so he takes to the grass nearby.

Knees bent, head down.

I watch.

He bears the disappointment, the coveteous thoughts,

the ache of waiting and hoping.

It takes him a moment (or two), but he finds it- contentment- so that resentment does not ruin his brother's present joy.

Finally, his time has come.

He grabs grass rope with growing hands.

His turn is made better by the wait.

Take your shoes off.

This kind of living requires bare feet.

This is holy ground.

Porch Swing

Porch swing in the morning.

Porch swing in the evening.

For as long as I have known Andy, this has been his pattern.

A few minutes to drink his coffee,

to gather his thoughts,

to look over the farm

and to hold the little ones on his lap.

A couple Days on the Gulf Coast

While Andy handled client matters on the coast, the children and I went exploring. I didn't mind the boys splashing around in their boots at the end of the day...

...because the morning started off like this...

and then the sky immediately grew dark.

Obviously, we were soaked way before we ever made it back to the car. So we went indoors to the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center. http://www.lmdc.org/

The boys practiced crab fishing,

running a grocery business,

loading the docks,

figuring out a wheelchair,

and serving in the dining car of a train.

It's a good thing they practiced working so hard, because the next day I took the children out to Ship Island.

The Captain of our boat put them right to work.

After playing in the sand and water, my little guys were so tired. We made the trek across the island back to the boat with the kind help of some fellow travelers. Sheila and Jim from Alabama- I thank the Lord for you!

Sunday Benediction from Northside Baptist Church

Practice the Presence of Christ.

Ponder the Scriptures.

Pray daily in private.

Serve others in Jesus' name-

withholding no good deed,

spiritual or financial,

from widows, orphans, the poor, the oppressed.

As you live this way, you will find those most needy of God.

You will find yourself and you will be found.

Practicing Generosity

He delights in spending time on his knees, giving it all away.

Fall Garden

The dogs barked as her dusty-grey pickup crept up our slag driveway a little while ago. The boys ran through the living room half-naked to see who was coming. If it's a stranger, they always rush about putting their clothes back on...again. But it's Ms. Lishman, so they run out the door in their button-up shirts and underwear, complete with holsters and hats.

Back hunched over from ninety years of hard work, she cranes her neck so she can examine the tops of my pecan trees. "Just look at all those pecans Dearie!" I show her the bucket full that I've already gathered so far. She grasps her cane and a plastic sack from the front seat, "I brought you some okra."

We sit together at the picnic table behind the house and look at the garden. I point out the red cabbage, the broccoli, the greens, and the squash. There's still plenty of room for kale and carrots, maybe some cauliflower.


Sweet Pea buries her head in my shoulder, and gnaws on her fingers with her gums and four teeth. She's tired and teething. Ms. Lishman tries to comfort her as the boys tell stories of ...

how they worked so hard in the garden.

"Every time you feel in God’s creatures
something pleasing and attractive,
do not let your attention be arrested by them alone,
but, passing them by,
transfer your thought to God and say:
“O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy,
how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy
art thou thyself,
Creator of all!”
— Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain