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May Had No Margin!

May 26, 2023 by Lauren 4 Comments

Busy, busy, busy.  That is the life of every mother of school-aged kids during the month of May.  But having a graduating senior kicks up the activity and brings the down time to zilch.  I kept reminding myself through it all that I shouldn’t complain.  In a week’s time I’ll be wondering if there is ANYTHING on the calendar.  But right now it feels like there is no margin.  And did I mention I have a graduating senior? It may take me awhile to get through this post.  Please send chocolate!

 

I started off the month helping plan a baccalaureate service for our seniors, explained in a previous post.  Then helped feed Allie’s musical theatre class as they practiced for her last theatre show of the year – Musical Revue.  Such a fun show from a talented group of kids.  I was unprepared for the seniors to take the stage and sing “Thank You for the Music” by ABBA to their parents and teachers.  My daughter’s solo line?  “She says I began to sing long before I could talk…” sang while looking at me!  And it’s pretty much true.  I may or may not have gone back and listened to that song again when I needed a good cry.

 

More Activities

 

At Senior Awards night, my girl received a scholarship from our district’s education foundation and an AP Distinguished scholar award.  (Please don’t turn this post into a drinking game with the word “senior”.  I would fear for your health.)  And at the theatre banquet she won the Super Singer superlative and another scholarship!  Along with the distinction of being in the cast of the best show of the year.  So fun!  And the next night she was directing a one act play of Tangled, which was darling.  No coasting toward graduation for this girl.  She is packing in as much as possible before she goes.  No margin!

 

After church on Mother’s Day Allie and I went shopping for gear she needs to work at a summer camp for kids and adults with special needs.  A six week commitment.  Right after graduation.  But I’m okay.  It’s all fine.  I didn’t get what I wanted for Mother’s Day (to veg on the couch after church and have a Gilmore Girls marathon) but I did get to spend some time with her, which is at a premium these days.

 

And More Activities

 

Allie had a banquet for her Peer Assisted Leadership group.  The hubs and I didn’t get to go to that one, but were beaming with pride at the superlative she got:  “Most Likely to Put God First”.  I think some of the kids meant it as a jab.  Little did they know it’s the ultimate compliment.  And the choir booster awarded her another scholarship at the final concert of the year.  So grateful.

 

We all had fun at Allie’s choir banquet.  Even Shelby!  She got to go for the first time and loved the dancing and mashed potatoes!  We were invited to and attended several graduation parties for our daughter’s friends.  Always a fun time to celebrate these great kids.

 

Allie Rose and two of her longtime friends and fellow choir members led worship for their senior baccalaureate.  They did amazing and God was glorified.  Pray with me that anyone there who does not know Jesus received a message and will seek Him.

 

And on Monday my girl left for her summer job at Camp Blessing – one of the special needs camps that her sister attends.  Graduation wasn’t until Thursday.  So she’s missed the last few days of school for training and came back to graduate, went back for 1 day of training and will drive back home for her graduation party tomorrow, after which she will go back to camp for the next 5 weeks.  And camp is 3 hours away.  I’m praying for a drop in gas prices by the end of the week.

 

What’s Keeping Me Distracted

 

On a recommendation Chuck and I started watching the tv show New Amsterdam because (spoiler alert) the main character has the same cancer my husband beat.  There are many good story lines, but many I don’t appreciate and it’s pretty sad.  We also watched the documentary series Waco:  American Apocalypse on Netflix.  The Branch Davidians fascinate me all these years later since I lived about 15 minutes away from their compound and worked with one of David Koresh’s wives.  And on a night we needed a good laugh, Leanne Morgan‘s Netflix special had me howling in a way that would embarrass me with anyone other than my husband.

 

On audio I listened to Beth Moore’s book All My Knotted-Up Life:  A Memoir, Out of the Dark:  My Journey Through the Shadows to Find God’s Joy by Mandisa and Funny How Life Works by comedian Michael Jr.  And I would recommend them in that order.  I actually read on paper The Baxters by Karen Kingsbury.  I used to read all of her books, but now only keep up with this particular fictional family.

 

And now I’ll sign off and finish up preparations for the graduate’s blow out tomorrow.  I love you, I thank you and I hope June treats you well!

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

Stephanie Carter’s post on difficulty in prayer is real, transparent and helpful for anyone who has had similar struggles.  We do battle in prayer – and sometimes it’s with ourselves!  Thanks, Stephanie.

 

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

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Up Up and Away, April

April 28, 2023 by Lauren 14 Comments

Time…slow…down.  As I am writing this, we just got home from eating lunch after church.  My daughter Allie helped lead worship this morning and I am painfully aware that the number of these opportunities is dwindling.  She graduates in one month and two days.  Not that I’m counting.  But I do know that in a couple of days, April is up up and away and we’re moving toward May.  In the mean time, we are relishing every last!

 

April Fools Day had me working a casino party for the senior adults at the REC center where I work and Allie attending (along with gobs of other teen girls) a Taylor Swift concert.  And now we shall move on to more wholesome endeavors (said in my best SNL church lady voice)!  Also in the first week both of Allie’s school choirs won Sweepstakes at UIL!

 

Our Easter Sunday was lovely.  Allie wanted to attend the sunrise service.  I was less motivated to get up for that, but we went to the 8am to make room in the more crowded services for guests.  Allie stayed and worshipped with us for that one too.  Then we drove the hour and a half to my parents’ church to surprise them and worship there with them.  We picked up lunch for us all and then my sisters and their families joined us there in the afternoon.

 

I got to have lunch with one of my dearest friends, her adult daughter and her daughter’s precious daughter mid-month.  Such a wonderful visit and a joy to hold that sweet baby.  I hope we get to do it again very soon.  Two days later I got to lunch with my sister and one of our friends from high school/ college.  An embarrassment of riches for me to get so much family and friend time in one week!  In between I finally got to graduate out of my adult braces and attended a celebration of life for a dear man we were in life group with for years.

 

More April Antics

 

I got to treat my girl to pedicures and nails in preparation for her senior prom.  Taking pictures of her and her friends was so fun.  And in my obviously biased opinion, Allie wore one of the most beautiful gowns I’ve ever seen.  And it perfectly suited her personality.  She had a ball at the ball and then brought a group of friends over to watch a movie.  Rowdy bunch!

 

Our Shelby started physical therapy for the first time since her spinal surgery in January and is working hard.  We are so pleased that she appears to be in a lot less pain and is starting to move a little faster and more freely.  Prayers are being answered as she is better able to enjoy her friends and navigate her environment.

 

When the Baylor Alumni come to town, Chuck, Shelby and I get to go to Top Golf with our friends!  I am just as bad at golf as I thought I would be, but we had a really fun night nonetheless.  Sometimes laughing at how bad you are is even more fun than being good at something.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself.  Besides, I got to take a pic with the president of the university and won a door prize!

 

The next day I drove back to my mom’s to attended a ladies’ luncheon at her church.  A speaker from Mama Bear Apologetics knocked my socks off.  And no, this has nothing to do with Baylor and everything to do with strategies for teaching your children and grandchildren how to defend their faith.  Check out their website, resources and books at the link above.  You won’t be sorry.

 

I’ve kept busy this last week working (including a 70’s themed Member Appreciation), attending choir board meeting, baccalaureate planning, and staying with my sister in the hospital following surgery.  And tonight, we will soak in every minute of Allie’s last high school Jazz Show.   To top it all off, this Sunday is Senior Sunday, where all the graduating seniors are recognized.  Lord, help me!

 

Entertainment

 

To distract and entertain ourselves, Chuck, Shelby and I went to the theater to see Air:  A Story of Greatness.  We enjoyed this story of how the Air Jordan basketball shoe came to be, but I could have done without about 200 F-bombs.  I always think true stories are the best stories and aside from the language, this one delivered.   At home we watched the mini-series Daisy Jones and the Six on Amazon Prime after hearing several positive reviews.  I will give it the same thumbs down for language and there is a LOT of drug use.  But it’s telling the story of a rock band in the 70’s (some say loosely based on Stevie Nicks).  And it’s a cautionary tale.  With a couple of surprises if you haven’t read the book.  I am currently obsessed with a the soundtrack.

 

I listened to Bono’s memoir Surrender:  40 Songs, One Story.  It is really long so you may not want to attempt it if you aren’t a U2 super fan.  I am only a casual fan of the music, but I’m rather fascinated by the man.  Probably because I can’t quite figure out a man who quotes scripture on one page and curses on the next.  He is social activist and devoted follower of Jesus.  He’s rock and roll and small group bible study.  This book did nothing to help me figure him out, but it was interesting in some places and way too wordy in others.  If you decide to tackle it, choose the audio.  You get his voice as well as snippets of all the songs as he talks about them.  But be forewarned, it’s over 20 hours long.

 

Since I was in a memoir mood, I checked out Waxing On:  The Karate Kid and Me by Ralph Macchio.  If you are child of the ’80s, this is a fun, easy read.  And I completed The 4:8 Principle:  The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life by Tommy Newberry, which I wrote about here.

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up.

 

Heather Hart of Candidly Christian has crawled into my brain with her post When Things Go Wrong.  The last few years have called me to trust on the Lord more than I ever knew I would need to or could.  And this post is an encouragement for such a time as these.

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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  • May Had No Margin!
  • Joy – Let’s Break it Down
  • What Are the Rumble Strips in Your Life?
  • First Friday Prayers: Words for the Graduates
  • Up Up and Away, April

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