16th birthday...

today is maxx's 16th birthday. and just like last year, he isn't here. he is in the mountains at cross country camp.

in fact today is the day that he is running straight up a mountain. quite a way to celebrate. i prefer other methods of celebration. sedentary methods. but maxx likes to run up a mountain....

or scuba dive.

or survivalist camp.

or hike the appalachian trail.

or sing.

or play every musical instrument he can get his hands on.

but even though there are a million differences between he and his mom... he still hugs me. it is akin to me hugging a tall skinny and oh so solid tree. but it is still a hug from a teenage son. and i will take it whenever i can get it.

he sings in the shower. really loud. and really well. and sometimes broadway songs. sometimes my favorite broadway songs.

he reads c.s. lewis' screwtape letters aloud with me. and we talk about how amazingly perceptive clive staples lewis' vision was. and is...

he loves to play games. and cards. and is up for ANYthing that looks like fun.

he finally appreciates my cooking. (must be all the running up mountains.)

he is clever.

and funny. his laughter is contagious.

he is so kind that it makes my heart hurt because i know this world a little too well.

he is becoming more and more handsome by the minute, which also makes my heart hurt because i know teenage girls a little too well.

but thankfully for the both of us the grace of God is bigger than this world that i know way too well. 

so maxx, as always that only i advice that i feel fit to give you is advice from the One who knows you best. the One who created you with a joy of adventure and a heart of kindness. the One who make you fleet of foot and strong of conviction. the One who has a good future for you and will guide you lovingly into that future. the One who loves you even more than i love you...

He tells us to run the race set before you with perseverance.  to run it with your sense of humor. and your kind spirit. and your love of adventure. run it while singing a song. run it the way He created you to run it. and you will feel His pleasure....

“If one could run without getting tired,
I don’t think one would often want to do anything else.”

— c.s. lewis

climb every mountain...

on my way home from the birthday beach bash i heard a story on the radio about an experiment they did to show the value of friendship in our lives...

they gave people heavy backpacks and put them at the foot of a hill and asked them on a scale of 1-10 how hard it would be to climb up that mountain. they scored it pretty darn hard to nearly impossible.

then they drove those people to the foot of another hill JUST as steep and tall as the first hill. gave them the equally heavy backpacks and put a friend beside them. then asked them to rate how hard it would be to climb that hill. they rated it less than pretty darn hard and fairly possible.

the scores were even lower if the people had been friends for YEARS. the longer the friendship... the easier the climb seemed. 

and here is the deal. the climb isn’t actually any easier. the hill is still steep. the backpack is still heavy. the sun still beats down on your back. you swear. you curse. you want to stop. but somehow it just seems easier with friends. 

all i know is that before long i will be SPRINTING up hills as long as these people are by my side. 

when friends attack...

i love that picture of rosie’s friend attacking her with a hug. because i have friends like that. that attack me with their love. and the BEST part is that some of them are

coming to town this week! on thursday! which is oh, so

very close to tuesday. which is today.

i throw my own birthday party every year. at the beach.

and it is a whole lotta fun. we scrapbook. we sleep late.

we eat junk food. and we sleep late. we laugh.  and laugh.

and laugh some more. it is so wonderful that it keeps me fueled up until february when we gather and do it all again only in a different locale and some other friends join us also. 

i know that i am VERY LUCKY to get to go on a girls’ weekend (and adam doesn’t know WHY we call it a weekend when CLEARLY it is a bit longer than a weekend) twice a year. i wish everyone could carve out “weekends” to spend with their not so nearest in location but dearest friends. if you don’t do that, i highly recommend it! scheduling it for the same time every year helps. because if we didn’t have it on the schedule, it would never happen. because EVERY weekend is alway so packed, there will never be a “free” weekend to get away unless it is scheduled way ahead of time. and put on your husband’s calendar WAY ahead of time. and remind him of it EVERY weekend for the 22 preceding the “weekend” away. and then thank him profusely during the following 22 weekend.

an update on “natural” hair care. “poo free” is going well (it has been one whole day). i missed the sudsyness of the shampoo BUT my hair really felt clean afterwards and soft. and didn’t smell easter eggy at all. it really feels great today and we will see how it holds up until washing time again in thee days. though i don’t mind washing it a bit more often with just the natural ingredients. and i may have a convert. rosalea wants to try the “poo free” life. 

i will keep you updated on this VERY important issue of my hair... because frankly i never made any chicken broth last week. but i am planning to do that in an upcoming week. last week didn’t give me any days at home and i needed some time actually in the house to make that broth. so that is going on the back burner for now. ha. “back burner”. get it?

that also means that next week’s challenge will come a bit late. perhaps on next tuesday when i return from the birthday weekend...

and if you have NO idea what to get my for my birthday... don’t buy me shampoo.

setting the bar low...

i am going to set the bar LOW for this week’s blogging. i know that tomorrow i will be on a bus to sea world with a bunch o’ 5th graders at 5 a.m. and home around 11 p.m. don’t expect to hear anything from me. but screams of pain. and yawning. not from boredom. from exhaustion. and insanity. 

the 8th grade dance/fundraiser went AMAZINGLY WELL. for having 150 kids and only 2 parents signed up to chaperone. lots of teacher and staff came out and helped. and at 4:00 p.m. the d.j called and was going to cancel. some personal issues. but the principal at raa talked him off the ledge and back onto the gymnasium stage to play the tunes. good. because i don’t think the musical selections from lea’s ipod were going to be a big hit with too many of the middle schoolers. except those who like broadway tunes and christian music. and maybe some rick springfield fans in the crowd. 

the 8th graders had a GREAT time. the dancing and dress was appropriate. i took lots of photos. and no one died. win/win/win/win. 

so to recap the weekend... rosalea recovered from her fever. a soccer game was rained out. we attended 2 steel drum concerts. one choir/mission friends graduation ceremony. a graduation party. and a greene family cookout in honor of adam’s birthday complete with the opening of the crane pool. check this one off because this weekend is in the books. the color coded books.

and now onto another week in may. crazy crazy may. a week that will find me thinking of my friend tracy a lot. this week shows me the power of patiently waiting on the Lord. the power of Trust. the power of forgiveness. of mercy. what grace really means. what marriage really means. and the promises of God that some journeys end. and other journeys begin. one day we will hear the words “welcome Home” and that will be the sweetest Homecoming of all. but sometimes we hear those words in our lifetime. we feel the joy of a earthly homecoming and it is sweet indeed. a foretaste of glory divine.

in honor of tracy and her family here is my song of the day... amazing grace (my chains are gone)

birthday girl...

she was the first person that i ever knew that shared my genetic code...

and most days you would not realize that. 

i love all things pop in music. she loves all things alternative.

i am an early bird. she is a night owl.

i can barely balance a checkbook. she can do the most difficult math problems and ENJOYS solving that problem.

i eat when i am stressed. she doesn’t eat when she is stressed. 

i love to write. she does not like writing. (though she is really good at it).

i thought she would be JUST LIKE ME. i may have even prayed for it. but i am always so glad that romans 8:26 teaches us that “we do not know what we ought to pray for”. because the Sprit always has to do a lot of interceding on my behalf. i tend to keep the Spirit VERY busy in His intercessory gig... and in this case the Lord knew that it would be for my good and hers if she was not like me. yes, very good for both of us. even if is wasn’t always pleasant for me...

i will say that the hardest part of parenting a teenager is noticing that all the things that i endlessly lecture her about are all the things that i myself need a lecture on. it is for my good (even though it irritates me greatly) to realize that all the things that make me the most naggy and unrighteously angry at her are the very things that i am trying to avoid/ignore about myself. seems that when i point one finger at her that i have three pointing back at me. ugh.

things like eating habits... exercise... need for approval... quick to be stressed. seems she is more like me than i originally thought. why is it that all the ways that she is like me are the things that i don’t like about myself? that seems a bit unfair.

of course i read something about that propensity once... somewhere... oh here it was...

Luke 6:42 

How can you say to your brother (or daughter), ‘Brother (or daughter), let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite (or mother named LEA), first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s (or daughter’s) eye.

of course, if i have another piece of the grasshopper pie that i made for her birthday i will forget all about those faults of mine. because there were some ingredients in the pie that 17 years olds really shouldn’t have too much of... or 43 year olds. good thing that i had eva (a presbyterian) to procure those items. 

she is a wonderful 17 year old. and if she has survived 17 years with me as a mother, then she might be able to survive anything...

And thou shalt in thy daughter see,
This picture, once, resembled thee.

{ambrose philips}