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May 2021 Monthly Muster

May 28, 2021 by Lauren 18 Comments

a blue circle in the middle of sunflowers

Spring gives way to summer as June pushes May to the curb.  At least here in Texas.  I can’t believe another school year came and went.  And it’s been a busy one as folks seek to get back to some semblance of normalcy.  

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On the very first day of the month we invited one of our favorite couples over for game night.  They brought dinner.  We provided Celebrity Throw Down! and Code Names.  The later is one of our current faves.  So fun to play.code names board game

 

A couple of days later, my two yoga classes went live.  I have been leading them over Zoom for months, but now teach a hybrid format – some participants in person and some online.  This is quite a challenge, but one I’m thankful to be figuring out.  If a chair yoga class geared toward seniors sounds interesting to you, click this link to join my live class on Tuesdays at 1pm or choose a pre-recorded class to practice at your convenience!  I am unable to share the hatha mat class.

 

I spent my mother’s day a little stressed over some unfortunate family dynamics, but I got to see my mom.  That makes a lot of things better.  And seeing my dad, grandad and sister makes for a pretty good day, too.  If you think about it, I would love some prayers for a tough situation in my clan.  God knows and I appreciate you talking to Him about it.

 

My husband went out of town for a few days and my 16 year old had 3 AP exams.  That makes for even more stress.  But we survived and persevere.  That same 16 year old got her first vaccine so we are one shot away from the whole family being vaxxed!  Yay!  She gave her last choir performance, had her end of year choir banquet, camped out with some of the youth from church and sailed through her final week of school.

 

For a little light escapism, the hubs and I watched Sesame Street:  50 Years of Sunny Days with my 20 year old daughter.  She very much loves still loves Elmo and the whole gang.  We are in process with Big Shot on Disney+, a nice family show with John Stamos as a hot tempered NCAA basketball coach (aka Bobby Knight) who is banned.  He can only get a coaching gig with a girl’s team at the private high school.  My only advice to the show runners – don’t have Stamos jog anymore.  It’s awkward.

 

Tom Clancy's Without Remorse Movie PosterWe watched Without Remorse on Amazon Prime.  Lots of action and Michael B. Jordan!  I don’t even think Chuck fell asleep once!  That’s saying a lot.  We tried Shrill on Hulu and quit it in a matter of minutes due to language and a scene that I hope I can one day scrub from my mind.  We quickly gave up on Dickinson on Apple+ too.  As a writer, I wanted it to work.  But alas…  We went to an actual theater to see Triumph.  I love just about any overcomer movie and this one about a boy with CP is a heart warmer.  My daughter Allie and I (what?) decided to binge together the very light hearted and silly Baby Daddy.  It’s an old school sitcom and those just seem to be my favorite.

 

I read Maggie’s War by Terrie Todd.  My mom, who likes to read in bed at night, passed it on to me.  She tears paperbacks apart so she can comfortably lay on her side with a section at a time.  Yes, she’s a librarian…tearing books.  And after she finishes, she rubber bands all the dismantled sections together and passes it to me.  Although it this point, I can’t imagine chopping a book up myself, I have to admit I don’t mind reading them this way.  I can throw a small section of a book in my purse and off I go!

 

I checked out When Breath Becomes Air on ebook from the library.  I can’t remember who recommended it to me, but I can’t really recommend it to you.  Paul Kalanithi is a beautiful writer and obviously extremely intelligent, but I’m not sure how someone who says he is a believer can grapple with the meaning of life and death without talking about God or an afterlife.  For this reason it fell very flat for me.

 

The last thing I’ll share, my husband and I took another couple to the drive in movie theater for a simulcast Bon Jovi concert.  In the rain.  So we watched and listened inside our truck – even running the battery down and having to get a jump in the middle of the show.  But some good company and tunes made the evening a win.

 

That’s it for May.  I hope you cruise into June and enjoy the start of your summer.  And as always, I love you, I thank you, and I hope next month treats you well.

 

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

 

Back in January, I shared with you that my word for the year is trust.  Barbara Lee Harper of Stray Thoughts:  A Home for the Stray Thoughts of an Ordinary Christian Woman hit on the #1 thing I struggle to trust God with in this season – my children.  Read Trusting God for Our Children’s Safety for an interesting perspective.

 

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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).

 

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

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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HEATHER HART & VALERIE RIESE – Candidly Christian
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LAUREN SPARKS
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LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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A Pause to Reflect

May 25, 2018 by Lauren 49 Comments

Photo by Jaletta

 

I’m taking a little pause (because a little one is all I have time for) in the midst of this last week of school to look back at where my girls have been and where they are going.

 

Shelby graduates in just 6 short days.  I wrote all about that and the festivities surrounding it here.  There’s something else that happened this week that I have’t talked about much, and is probably just as important to her future – if not more.  My husband and I went to court on Monday to secure guardianship of her.  Those of you in the special needs universe are probably somewhat acquainted with this process, but my friends with “typical” children usually have little idea what this is and why it’s even necessary.  Shelby turns 18 in July.  At that point in a person’s life, they should be able to see doctors, sign documents and make all manner of decisions without the hovering presence of a parent.  But not Shelby.  At developmentally 2 or 3 years of age, she remains fully dependent on her dad and me.  We felt it was necessary to, in essence, sue her to take her rights away.  We hired a lawyer, paid for a lawyer to represent her against us, endured home visits, filed extensive paperwork and gathered support for this case in order to protect her.  We were told that even with Shelby’s very limited capabilities, this ruling would not be a slam dunk.  The court, justifiably, doesn’t take away people’s rights lightly.  Without an official guardianship ruling, the chances are that any doctor, therapist or organization that currently knows us and works with her would continue to treat/help her.  But it might not be so easy once we have to transition to new “for adult” doctors for her or have to sign any legal documents pertaining to her care.  We personally didn’t want to leave anything about her well-being up to chance.

 

So we went to court.  In front of a scary, but fair judge in pursuit of official documents that would give us the right to make her decisions and sign for her.  It was granted smoothly and quickly.  God is so faithful.  After it was all over, our lawyer told us that she represented clients in a very similar situation just a week before and the hearing had lasted 4 hours.  And after that 4 hours, the judge simply took the case under advisement.  I’m glad the attorney waited to share that bit of intel.  I’m not sure how I would have handled being put through that ringer and going home with no real answers.  I’m so grateful our case was clean and straight forward – or as much so  as it could have been.  We got just what we needed.  And I waited until we got out of the courtroom, spoke with our attorney, rode the elevator down stairs and got all the way out of the building onto the street before bursting into tears.  And the tears flowed for 30 minutes.  We did the right thing, but it wasn’t an easy thing.  The lump I’m getting in my throat again right now reminds me of the gravity of it all.  I cried for the “grown up” that Shelby will never get to be.  I cried that we, or someday some else, will always make her decisions.  I cried for the college she will never go to, the independence she will never achieve, and the supervision she will always have.  I cried that she will never say “I do” or give birth to a child who would call me “Lolli”.  Of course, I knew ALL of these things before the court officially declared it.  But the hearing brought all of that grief to the surface.  So the healthy thing for me to do was cry.  And let myself cry as long as I needed to.  And then I thanked God for how very good He is – even in the hard things.

 

Allie is wrapping up what was, for me, the hardest year of my life (until 2017 which you can get an overview of here).  I cried through all of 7th grade as I tried to adjust to hormones and big feelings and being part child, part woman.  So many changes.  Allie seems to have fared it much better.  My youngest child is a straight A student with a beautiful singing voice who played 3 sports.  Mood swings aside, she’s pretty awesome, and beautiful to look at I might add.  And yet in this uber competitive environment we live in, she still gets so discouraged and feels like she doesn’t measure up.  My heart breaks to hear her express these insecurities.  But out of all the things she does well, there are two things this year that make me prouder than them all.  1.  Two of the coaches at her volleyball club have gone out of the way to tell me more than once that Allie has the best attitude and is so much fun to coach because if it.  That may seem like little consolation to her as friends with more private lessons or natural ability are afforded opportunities she is not.  She may not be the star, but a positive, encouraging attitude will take her much farther than her jump serve.  2.  As much as she loves her friends, her faith means even more.  She has chosen to be very involved in Students Standing Strong – a bible study club that meets before school – even though none of her friends wanted to go.  And she chose to be a part of a mission team preparing to go to Honduras this summer – even though none of her church friends were going.  I’m not sure I was mature enough at her age to go against the crowd.  And in both situations, she has formed new friendships with older kids not a part of her same grade circle.  Her willingness to put Jesus first makes her amazeballs in my book.  And my use of “amazeballs” makes me a dork, but whatevs.

 

That’s what I’ve been thinking about as school winds to a halt.  But it’s time to push “play” again on this momentous week.  We press on to finish the year strong.  Or hobble across the finish line.  Either way, we wrap up in just a few days.  In the words of that great theologian Madea, “Hallelujer”!

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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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