Doodle

Doodle is my nickname for my daughter Jessica. Over the years she has had a lot of nicknames. When she was a toddler I called her Jessabug. Her dad calls her Jessiepooh. I call her Doodle or Doodlebug or Jess. She pretends to have outgrown these childhood nicknames but secretly I think she still likes them;) She is growing a little too fast. She's as tall as both of her grandmothers and her feet have now outgrown mine. 

Recently I have had moments of pure amazement when I glimpse a tiny image of who she is becoming. It's incredible to me that her time under our roof is likely more than halfway finished. One of the reasons we decided to homeschool was a realization that there are so many things we want to teach her. Outside of schoolwork. Some of them are practical --I want her to know how to cook and how to clean. How to oversee a home and also how to be a good neighbor. Sounds provincial but when I became a wife these were the things I wish I'd known. Her grandmother is teaching her how to sew and her uncle wants to teach her to play the guitar he got her recently. (She wants to take piano also!) Her dad teaches her about trees and flowers and how to make beautiful things grow. She has learned about rooting plants and also growing them from seed. 

Right now it's summertime so we are enjoying yummy fruits and vegetables from our garden. As we have more than we can eat we either freeze or can the extra. And as you can't freeze cucumbers, last week we canned pickles.

 

Canning is hot, hard work. Or it would have been by myself:) With Jess' help though it ended up being a really fun day. She turned on Pandora and we sang along to her Casting Crowns station. She laughed good-naturedly at me as I tried to wipe sweat from my face while "stirring continually" and holding the spoon and the recipe book. 

And we talked. About little inconsequential things but also about big things. God-sized things. As we waited to hear the "pops" or the sound the lids of the jars make as they seal, I was a little sad. These moments with her are so precious. And I often take them and her for granted. Forgetting they are numbered. Ever rushing forward to the next task on my to-do list. 

Recently I feel God is beginning to prepare me for the time when I will let her go. I know that sounds strange as she is still young. But He keeps reminding me that she is His. We get to keep her for a while but she is on loan from Him. So I try to make each day count. To appreciate her quirky, funny, creative, quiet, beautiful self. To remember Tyson and I are not alone in this but are a part of a community of believers who parent along-side of us. There are things I know I am equipped to teach her; how to be strong in the face of adversity, how to smile through heart-ache, how to live her life on her knees before Him, how to be the most loyal, steadfast friend. And there are other things she needs to know God is still teaching me how to do through Him. How to be gracious. How to have the words I speak be kind. How to be slow to speak slow to anger and quick to listen. How to seek His kingdom first. How to enter through the narrow gate. And so many more! (If I'm not careful this will be a list of all the areas where I know I fall short! Mental note----GRACE not perfection)

For now I need to remember to take each day as it comes. I need to remember to hug my daughter more. I need to thank God every day for her. Not just on the good mother-daughter days;)

 

A Run

I am not a runner. I am however a person who runs. I do not love to run. Truthfully I don't really even like to run. But it is something my husband and I do together. Which is what makes all the difference.

So this week Tyson asked if I want to start running again and I smiled and said sure. Now there is a large gap between my physical fitness level and my husbands. Tyson is a professional fireman who wears something like 70 lbs of gear and has spent time in burning buildings. He also owns a landscaping business and works outside in all temps doing very physical labor. I walk our dogs daily and go at a leisurely pace for maybe a mile at a time. So for him and I run together in the heat I can run behind him for his 1.5 mile warm up or do the cool down with him but the middle 5 mile part in 90 degree weather would be the end of me;)

The beauty in this though is that when we run together he matches my pace. And he says encouraging things to me. And he just laughs when my response is a growl. because we run on main roads he runs ahead of me and I run behind. He sets the pace and I follow. He looks over his shoulder to check on me or to make sure  I'm still breathing. If I need to slow down or am able to speed up then he adjusts accordingly. He also puts himself between me and oncoming traffic. I can watch his feet (when I'm behaving myself;) and tell where there might be rough gravel or glass to avoid.

And even though I don't like running I like to run with Tyson. Cause when we run all I have to think about is my breathing and as he is breathing easily he tends to talk to me. And this gives me something mentally to latch onto so I'm distracted from the sweat running into my eyes and how much I just want to quit. And since I can't carry on a conversation while running, I simply listen. And I learn things. He will share what he is currently studying in the bible or what God is teaching him. Sometimes he talks about what's going on with the fire guys and how God is using him there. He will often share with me the things he is asking God to change in him. Whether its an attitude or an area that needs refining and I listen carefully so I will know how to pray for him better.

When I can't go any further he runs on and I cool down by making my way slowly and sometimes painfully home. But while I walk I talk to Jesus. And I thank Him for this man. For how he loves me and how he leads me.

Back to Blogging

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted a blog! So long in fact that re-reading old posts seemed strange. Like they were written by someone else. . .perhaps a younger Jeanne. My life has changed so much over the past three years I barely know that "easy breezy girl" so this blog was due some changes. Starting with its name:) and address. And appearance. And description. And photo.

So  in addition to blog changes there have been some life changes and lifestyle changes to this easy breezy girl. My family moved from suburbia to rural Virginia three years ago. My husband changed careers and my daughter became a young woman. As for me I'm still here. Living life. Except with a clearer understanding of WHO I am living it for.  

There are so many facets to what that looks like. And it seems to change day by day. Amidst all the changes though, this one thing remains. It is well with my soul. And that it what I feel I must blog about. 

This beautiful, joyful, crazy life I am blessed to live and the people God has placed in my life to share it with me. My husband Tyson. Our daughter Jessica. I will start with them. What it's like to be a fire fighter's wife. The cool thing we do called home-school. The natural things we do like grow our own food and try to eat clean, the way we feel called to parent. . . The challenges we face as we live in the world without being transformed by the world. Eventually I may share a little about the conversations Jess and I have had recently about how to answer kindly to criticisms about our faith or beliefs especially when they come from people close to us.

For certain I hope to share what God is teaching me. Through His word and through His church. So far this year it's all about my words being kind:) not only the words I speak to others but the words I speak to myself. I am still learning how to be a Godly wife. I pursue it everyday. It's been 13 years and I'm still marveling at this amazing mystery and seeking to measure how I function as a bride against God's word. Humbled daily by the knowledge that my marriage exists to glorify God in a beautiful portrait of Christ's love for His bride the church. 


Yikes, tangent coming on. Note to self: don't try to fit it all in one post!


So for now its enough just to say hello. And if you are reading this, thanks for taking a few minutes to see what we are up to.

These are a few of my favorite things. . .

1. Screened in porches
2. Porches with swings (for the sake of therarpy!)
3. Hard wood floors
4. Wood burning fire-places
5. The smell of vanilla or lavender
6. A great cup of coffee
7. A book that feels like a friend
8. A good friend and a glass of wine
9. Modern day pen pals ;)
10. Laughter
11. Tyson Schoch
12. Family
13. Avonlea
14. Elizabeth Bennett
15. Hadassah

In the process of buying a house and thinking of my "must haves" some of these fit the bill and some are just because I need them so much in my life. I trust you, reader, to distinguish!

not a resolution exactly. . .

More a Realization than a Resolution

So it is January. Christmas has passed and New Years also and I find myself thinking about what I have to look forward to now that the holidays have gone by.

I was sitting in church this morning, preparing myself to take communion when it hit me that the past really is past and not only is it a new year but it also the beginning (or a continuation really) of the work God is doing in me and in my life. This sounds so elementary but it still astounds me. How much time I spend dwelling on past mistakes instead of looking to the present and the amazing things going on in my life and in my family. The blessings He continually pours out for us.

Communion seems to be a big theme in my life right now (note previous blog post) and as I was holding onto the elements this morning and really just talking to God, I focused on the truth of the bread being broken as His body was so that mine would not have to be. And the juice being poured out as His blood was so that mine could be made pure. I kept thinking of how when I take communion I bring Him into me again so that I can release my sin because of what He has done for me. This idea of taking Him in and letting Him wash sin out and of being renewed in Him was really on my mind/heart as I walked out of church today.

So, in short, that is what I look forward to this year. Growing in Him and leaning on Him and knowing Him more. Continuing to become the child He sees me as. The wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, employee He wants me to be. There is more hope and joy and love in me for those parts of who I am in Him than I believed possible.

Truly. . .”I have been blessed, and I feel like I’ve found my way. To be here with the ones who love me, to love them so much it hurts. . .I am so blessed”

communion

I recently tried to explain to a Moslem friend of mine who was visiting my church what communion is for Christians. I had a hard time putting into words what this represents to followers of Christ. I have no words to describe what it means to me personally. Then last night I was reading The Dead Don’t Dance for probably the tenth time and found the perfect words for it. Though they are not mine (they belong to Charles Martin) I thought I would share them. (This is a scene from the book that takes place in church. The person speaking is the pastor)

“Before you strut up here, remember what waits. You all face a choice. You can rise from your seat, follow the person in front of you, stroll down the aisle, critique somebody else’s Sunday best which they happened to wear on a Wednesday night, think about how hungry you are or where, when and what you are going to eat when you leave here, and then kneel, nod, nip and sip, and return to your seat, having thought the bread stale and the wine cheap . . .OR you can slide from your seat, limp to the rail, reach down, grab these splintery timbers, fall, rest your baggage against it, extend your hands, take tenderly, place the body on your tongue, taste the grit, swallow, and feel the hunger build in your stomach. Then you can grasp the cup, tremble, sip violently, feel the burn, taste the acrid smell, feel the splinters pierce your elbows, lean more heavily, and then look upon this cross.”

“You can reach up and place your trembling hands on callused, blood soaked feet, let the red, slippery liquid run down your fingers, underneath your watchband, and come to rest in the crack of your elbow. You can lean your forehead against His shin, notice the crude and rusted nail, the shake and strain in His arms and legs, stick your hand in the hole of His side, notice the dried blood on His face, the thorns poking through the skin, smell the vinegar, feel the raw skin on His back and hear the gurgle drowning out His breathing.

“Lastly, you can raise your head and feel the breath of God. And in that instant, if you so choose, you can see your own reflections. With all your zits, warts, blemishes, and scars. And there, amongst the scar tissue, are your demons. People, that space between your pew and this altar, between the red velvet cushions and these splintery timbers. Whether it’s twenty feet or a million miles, it’s not a question of distance. It’s one of position.”

Charles Martin is one of my favorite authors. If you enjoy reading and wish to be convicted and inspired, check him out.

bloggers block?

hmmm. . .i appear to be suffering from a bit of blogger's block currently! promise to post a real blog entry asap but in the meantime, please comment on current blogs as this will help me to determine which topics are most fun to read about. . .from your end of things!