Sharing God's love at Publix

I am not one who likes to approach strangers and witness to them. It is just not my personality and I sometimes find it personally intrusive when strangers try to influence me with whatever they believe. Now I am the first person to compliment a stranger, but I just don't bring God into it. Tonight I ended up at Publix after 9:30pm to re-stock our refrigerator. I was walking down an aisle when I saw the thinnest girl I have ever seen in my life. I have been close to others who have battled eating disorders, but this was unlike anything I had ever seen. (It is also possible she had a terminal illness, but she exhibited the behaviors of someone who struggles with food). I love to embellish, but I am not exaggerating. Her tiny pants were falling off of her. They were literally hitting the middle of her bottom and barely on her. It looked like she might have dried vomit on her pant leg. She wore long pants, a tank, and an open 3/4 length shirt. Her bones protruded from her chest and collarbone. Her face was hollow and caved in. She had long dirty blonde hair and big eyes and she was beautiful. But I could tell that she had no idea she was beautiful. I felt so moved. I just can't explain to you how thin she was. I felt like the Lord was telling me to tell her that God loves her. I was semi-relieved when I lost sight of her in the store. I searched for her, knowing I had to tell her God loves her. I didn't want to do it. I went over what to say in my head, and the words just didn't form easily. I couldn't find her, so I gave up. I went to check out. You guessed it... God had a plan and she was right in front of me. I loaded my items on the cart, searching for the right words. All of a sudden, she was finished and walking out of the store. I told the check out clerk to please wait, and I ran after her. "M'am, I don't know why, but I feel like I am supposed to tell you God loves you." She turned to me, obviously moved, and said, "Thank you." So, I continued, "He loves you very, very much. And He is bigger than anything that might be going on in your life. You just need to know that you are very, very loved". At this point, we are both crying. She thanked me, and I touched her arm and let her go. I had been afraid to do it, but I obeyed the Lord's prompting. I turned and walked back to the check out line. As God would have it, one of our pastors was now in line behind me and had walked up while I was talking to the beautiful girl . I burst into tears trying to explain why I had run off after a stranger. He said he thought she was my friend. I can only imagine the remorse I would have felt had I ignored my heart and let her go without sharing those words. It won't change her circumstances, but I know that it was what I was supposed to do. Part of me felt crazy speaking these words to a stranger, but God often calls us out of our comfort zone, and we must obey.

My blog friend, Melissa, shared a story this morning on her blog that I believe helped me follow the Lord's lead today. Sometimes this blog seems so silly, but knowing how her blog encouraged me, I am going to keep writing. Feel free to comment about a time the Lord prompted you to do something you weren't comfortable doing.

A friend's blog

We went to college with Nita & Drew. They married right out of college and have lived a life dedicated to the Lord. They are such a godly couple, and amazing parents to their 4 boys. They are leaders in their church and both are blessed with beautiful voices. Sadly, 9 births and many miles between us have kept us from seeing one another like we would enjoy. We still consider them dear friends. A year ago, Nita and Drew lost their precious youngest son, Brock. Brock was almost 3, and he was so full of LIFE! Her blog is titled, Live Hard, Love Hard, and Run to Jesus because of Brock's wonderful zest for life. He is so very missed. Through their inconceivable sadness and grief, Nita and Drew have blessed others by allowing them to see them grieve. In every post, Nita points the reader back to the Lord. She has not turned her back on Him, even on her most difficult days. Her words will help you as you struggle in your own life and face difficulty or loss. I thought you all might enjoy reading her blog because you, too, will be greatly blessed. You can also rejoice with her as she and Drew have some exciting news!

Toddlers in flight

It is no easy task to fly with a toddler. It is no easy task to do anything with a toddler! I have found that having a child age 17 months until 3 years is one of my toughest times of being a mama. At first they can understand you but can't talk. Then, they can talk back and scream, "NO! I TWO!!", as our 2 year old does. They throw tantrums, but they are also adorably precious. Our niece and my sister-in-law just traveled to see us. Poor A, my sis-in-law, had to use the powder room. Let me just tell you, it is NASTY to take a little peapod into those dirty bathrooms. Gross. Disgusting. A is so smart. She didn't want Miss M to touch ANYTHING (and this was prior to the outbreak of THE HOG FLU WHOOP DE DOO). So, A creatively started a game with Miss M. "M, touch your.... nose..." or "Touch your head and pat it 3 times". M thought this was hilarious! She was fully entertained and happily left the nasty bathroom without touching one single nasty thing. You might want to try this game in other public places too!

Tuesday's Tip

As the end of the school year nears, you are probably running out of ideas for school lunches. I will write another post with creative lunch box ideas, but for today, I will offer Tuesday's Tip! Freeze as much of your child's lunch as possible. This acts as a natural ice pack and allows your children to enjoy colder food. I freeze grapes, strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, pudding, Gogurt, et cetera. Gogurt is always served as a popsicle in our house, but it is perfect for school lunches too! Enjoy!

Excuse me? Did you really say that?

I just returned from taking the big 4 to school and running 2 quick errands before returning home. We made some returns to Lowe's, had some keys made, and ran in Marshalls in search of a picture frame. In Marshalls, I let H walk instead of putting her in a cart. Big mistake. BIG. But I can get over my own mistakes. Yes, she was screaming. Yes, she threw herself on the floor. Yes, she ran and hid from me while screaming. It was not pretty. I felt like a helpless mother & grabbed her and held tight as we raced to the checkout counter so I could buy my beachy frame. As I was paying, she was still crying. However, it was not nearly as high pitched and piercing and out of control as it had been earlier. The woman behind me had just walked in the store with a return. I said, "I made the mistake of not putting her in a cart" to the cashier. Woman behind me says, "Oh, all of the babies are unhappy today" as another younger baby whimpered nearby. Then, to baby H she says, "You don't want to go shopping, do you? You want to stay home. You don't like shopping. You need to stay with a babysitter. Have you ever heard of a babysitter?" At this point, I am ready to say something ugly. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I am just not that fast on my feet. No witty response surfaced and I walked out of the store. Excuse me, do you have a right to tell me to pay for a babysitter? Do you want to pay? Or would you rather pay for a Classical education for 3 plus private preschool for one? Babysitters just aren't going to happen so that I can galavant around town! Now we are at home after being gone an hour. H is "where she should be". I can't stand passive aggressive comments from strangers!

Cute Cousins

My sister-in-law and niece are here and we are having so much fun! Just look at how H is totally taken with Cousin M! Precious. You just have no idea how cute it was to see them walk down the driveway holding hands when we first arrived home from the airport. Sweet!

Our Garage

The BEFORE picture of our garage. Wow. We have made some progress!


Everything was out of the garage and in our driveway. It looked like we were moving all over again. I don't know how some of our friends do this as often as they do! WHEW. Of course it has been fun to sell things on Craigslist.


One corner of the garage. Now you can actually get to our hot water heater!

That same corner



We lost a huge playroom from our old house. We have a play area in our new family room and this is where we are storing many of our toys and art supplies!


Progress can be slow and steady. But remember, slow and steady wins the race, right? We are banking on the tortoise's philosophy here at our house. With the constant needs of 5 children, we can't dedicate the time to our garage that we would like to. However, we carved out Saturday to remove every box and unpack what we could and then re-pack and organize the garage. To say that we are exhausted is an understatement! My whole body hurts. With a date night that night & a birthday party & church the next day, our timing may have been a little off!:) However, we are so thankful at all that we accomplished.

Those of you who have not been in our garage may not know that it was floor to ceiling boxes in no specific order. We were (and still are!) missing many things. Of course our books had babies and there are at least 30 boxes of books we didn't know we had, but other than that, we know what is still at large.

We wanted to unpack as many boxes as we could. DH's goal was 15 boxes and I believe we unpacked 25. We had to have the garage put back together by 5pm and we began around 9am. We worked and worked and worked and the children tried to help while Hurricane H took things apart! We unearthed a pine table that my father gave us for crafts in the garage. We found our missing remotes and telephone. We were able to make room for our refrigerator doors to open! We organized the boxes we couldn't unpack so that like items are together. We are so excited! ONe day we'll unpack the rest so that our cars will fit.

For now, we are grateful for the progress and are preparing the Henley Hotel for our GUESTS!!! WOO HOO