..."Are you serious?"  Those are the words my 11 year old daughter uttered with eyes wide open when we told her that we were taking our family to Disneyland for Spring Break.  My five year old son heard what we said, was happy for a split second and then went back to the five year old, ask a million random questions routine.

 

 

Then I began to think about the excitement of Disneyland.  Why is it that I am as excited on the inside as the kids are on the outside?  Disneyland is supposed to be the happiest place on earth. And while that is debatable, I know from experience that it can be a really stress free place to be.  Furthermore, you can feel like you did when you were a kid...and that my friends IS magical and exciting to anticipate!

 

I have learned as I have grown that wishing on a star does NOT always make your dreams come true.  For example, I have never had a grapevine appear growing into my window, my parents have never won the lottery or bought me a puppy, and the boy I was SURE I was in love with never asked me out. All things I wished for on a star.

 

However, the act of wishing on a star brings that same "Disney-esque" magic to your heart.  For a second, albeit fleeting, you feel the genuine hope that your wish might come true.

 

I can't wait to escape reality with my two favorite kids in the world and their Daddy, to a land filled with my childhood memories and theirs.

 

Praising God tonight for the ability to take this trip, and for the memories that are we are destined to make. 

So Much to Say!!!

Where do I start?  So many major events have come and gone and I have not recorded them for posterity...

Easter...
Some say that Christmas is the best holiday in a Christian's life...however, if you have accepted Christ as your rescuer from this world, you know that it is Easter that holds such a dear place in the heart and life of a Christian.  This year was no exception.  As I looked around at the blessing that is my life I was humbled by what the King of Kings decided to do for me.  The realization that He would still have done it if I was the only one He had to save will never cease to put my life into perspective.

May...

The month of May was ridiculously busy.  It was the month of "Grace".  She had Spring soccer, dance recital and ran a 5k with Girls on the Run.  Of course all of this crashed like a wave onto the same week!  Being the mother of one so active is a blessing and also a source of great exhaustion!  But the blessing far outweighs the fatigue!

We are now on the last day of June!  This is such a special and happy month for us as a family.  Father's Day is a wonderful time to recognize the men in our life.  This usually consists of putting some kind of meat on the grill and sitting on the back deck just soaking in the summer and the fellowship of family.   However, this year due to illnesses and a lack of free date abundance, we had to forgo the usual and take off on our free trip to Kalahari.  But I got my Daddy fix in first.  Sunday, Father's day morning I went to Mom and Dad's and fixed Dad an omelette, bacon and toast.  he thouroughly enjoyed it and that was the point!  Our time, food and conversation were the best gift I could give him and myself!  Then it was off to Kalahari!  We had a blast there.  And the one night stay and waterpark passes we won at Gracie's auction made it all possible.  We had the perfect mix of family time as well as time with each kid alone.  Gracie enjoyed father's day evening with Chip at the water park and Max and I strolled through the resort and ended up at the sweet shoppe.  We found a cozy little table for two and ate our candy and chatted.  It was seriously a perfect trip!  Before Father's Day we celebrated the wedding of Niki my friend Krissi's little sister.  It was also a great family evening.   

Then came the birthdays.  I tried to organize getting together with Brad for his birthday on the 22nd, but the Barritt family chose to go to Northridge for their "New Life" service.  This is a service where a lot of people get baptized.  The worship experience is supposed to be awesome.  How can you begrudge a man for wanting to experience that on his birthday?

Ian's birthday was next.  On Friday, June 24th, his actual birthday, I picked him up after work and we went shopping for polo style shirts. Seriously...the boy is 10 now and he wants clothes...where did my baby nephew go?  it was really great to spend time just me and Ian.  Then we headed to our house to hang out with our family before meeting Ian's family at CPK for dinner.  It was a wonderful evening.  The next day was his birthday party at the rec center which was enjoyable as well. 

Tuesday, was Mom's birthday.  On that day I found out that she has decided not to take her medications.  So, as of today she is in the hospital because of the repercussions of that decision.  Selfishly, that leaves us with no one to take care of Max and Gracie next week...  It also, puts Dad in an even tougher position than he is already in.  That is stressful on so many levels...

Had an issue at work and we all know that puts stress and pressure on you at work and at home.  You bring that anxiety and stress ball that resides in your stomach, home with you...it's hard to let go of.  But it is also a little hint of a possible change in direction for me.  I will continue to pray and seek God's will on that.  So that is how we round out June.

July starts tomorrow and I am so looking forward to the abundance of blessings that God is waiting to shower on us.  Neil is coming for the fourth of July, Max will be turning three, we have two weddings to attend, and I am starting my women's Bible study here at the house.  I am really looking forward to all of those things. 

I will let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, I wonder how all of this will alter my quilt.

Love, hugs and prayers,

Shaheen

April Showers...

It's early morning...Saturday, April 16th.  It rained all night and this morning the sun is out with all it's rays of hope.  I am reminded of how my life can be full of rain and how God can shine rays of hope into it as well

I am thinking of all the things that we can do today and quite honestly don't want to leave the house!  We have all had colds this winter season and even now the sniffles are coming on again.  Another cold?  Michigan allergies?  Who even knows.  We could go to the community egg hunt in our neighborhood, or the indoor egg hunt at Crossroads.  We also have a fundraiser for CARS, a youth program that our good friends are starting and at 2:30 Ian has his first little league game plus at 6:30 Gracie and I could go to a Party Lite party.  We could do all of it, some of it, or none of it.  And at the moment none sounds the best!  Most f the events are outdoors and I just don't want to aggrevate whatever it is we are trying to get over.  Which leads me to the topic of busy-ness.

March was a busy month.  Gracie participated in her fourth year of Upward basketball.  She was on the Lady Wolverines team which made Mommy very, very happy!  Chip and I coached the team with assistance from Christopher Scharlach.  The Scharlachs have become great friends of ours and this was really a nice time to get to know him better.  It was great for Gracie and Ryles as well, to have their Daddy's coach their team.

Gracie continues to participate in dance and this year she and I signed up for Girls on the Run.  This made for a very busy March.  Maxo tends to tag along to all of her events, and I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like when he is signed up for his own events!

With Upward over, Chip signed the girl up for Soccer.  Of course her practice night is on Monday, which is one of our GOTR nights. 

To top it all off I have been asked to be the secretary of the PTO for next year, and I will be the treasurer on the board at Stone School.  That is a lot of Mommy involvement and I love it.  But I am tired already just thinking about it.

This leads me to my point...

We have a God that loves us.  He has created us with specific purposes in mind.  We fight an enemy that we think with thwart Gods work in obvious ways in our lives.  But he uses good things.  Follow me for a minute.  When our kids are young we teach them that "bad guys" don't always look like bad guys.  We expect them to look sinister like in the movies and that is just not the case.  Sometimes those that we think are our friends are often the ones to lead us down the wrong paths.  After all, if someone you love is pressuring you to do something you are more likely to do it right?  In the same way we are pulled away from giving 100 percent to our best choice when we choose to do 100 "good" things.  We are not making the choice between signing our kids up for soccer or how to smoke a bong 101.  We are choosing between soccer and Girls on the Run.  Both things she likes, both things that are worthy and could help her in life.  BUT!...if we choose five good things for our child to do none of them will help her in life.  Instead she will struggle with school work because she is doing too many "good" things. 

Much like our children we choose too many "good" things for ourselves to do as well.  I think the solution is to pray.  To fervently and genuinely pray that God would make clear to us the things that he would have us to do.  Then when we are obedient, we can give 100 percent to the great things that He has planned for us to do and hopefully impact the lives of others for Christ!

God's plans?  Totally the theme of my quilt!

Where Have I Been?

The month of February has come and gone.  Many things, although ordinary, were very significant for me in February 2011.  Max has grown to be a little boy and is not so much a baby.  Gracie is becoming a person full of opinions, passion for life and (we knew it was coming) attitude.  My relationship with Chip continues to change and grow with God as our nourishment.  My life is blessed.

In February I was reminded of my dear sweet friend John Mraz.  His untimely death on February 12th 1993 still holds a bittersweet cloud over my head.  Although, it has been eighteen years it feels like yesterday.  My memories of him are so vivid and clear.  I can still remember the tone of his voice and hear the music of his laughter.  John is not what the world would call normal.  But to me he was amazing.  John embraced his individuality and didn't apologize for not conforming to society.  He was so happy to be who he was and that joy spilled over into the world around him.  My life is sweeter just for having met him.  But to be someone that he called his friend...that was a blessing that I didn't deserve.

John Joseph Mraz is a very important square in the quilt of my life.  One that I will always look at with such fondness. One that I cannot imagine gazing upon without a smile on my face. 

Still to this day I imagine him in my life.  My children would have adored him.  I am sure I would have adored his children and the lucky woman who would have been honored to be his wife.  But that was not to be. 

I wonder if John ever truly met Jesus.  I wonder if he had a relationship with our saviour.  I would like to believe that he did.  He brought so much happiness to everyone around him; he accepted us unconditionally; he was so peace loving and real.  I know that Jesus loved him so much.  If I can believe that John did finally meet him then I am given the hope of one day seeing John again.  What a fantastic reunion that will be!

John's birthday was Valentines Day.  How very appropriate.  This Valentine's Day I re-evaluated what love means to me.  It is the uninhibited laugh of my two year old son.  Love is the compassion that my daughter has for the world. It is in her voice when she tells me of her plans to build "Grace's place", a place for those who are homeless.  It will have apartments and a restaurant, a daycare for those who are trying to find jobs or working low paying jobs to try to make ends meet.  What eight year old thinks of those things?  It is in my husbands voice when we talk about how to discipline our children or when we speak of the plans we have for our future or theirs.  Love is my parents and all that they do for me unconditionally.  It is our siblings and the blessing of our nieces and nephews. 

But ultimately, love is in the red letters of the Bible.  It is in the love letter that God has written to me.  He shows his love to me in an abundance of ways... one of which was my friend...John Joseph Mraz.

2011

2011!  The new year always brings with it so much hope and promise.  All fresh starts do.  But a few weeks have passed and as we go back to school and work all the plans we made on vacation get pushed into the small amount of spare time that we have.

Amazing how our priorities become a blur and how our days and our time seem to be dictated for us.  Sometimes, we can feel constrained by our work schedule and the chores that must be done in our spare time.   We can't go to sleep when we are tired but before we reach that point, because we have to get up much earlier than our bodies would have us arise due to...oh yeah, those pesky schedules. 

And then I remember...how blessed I really am...
I have a husband and two beautiful children who I adore!
And what do you know...undeservedly they love me back!
I have parents that, despite some health issues, are doing well...well enough to bless me by taking care of Maxo during the day.  How blessed am I that my parents are taking care of my son?
Did I mention that my husband, myself and my children are for the most part healthy?
Then there's the fact that my big sister lives twenty minutes away...essentially, I can see her and my brother in law, my niece and my nephew whenever I want.
Our little sister, lives in North Carolina...but despite that unfortunate distance, we are extremely close.  We don't get to see her and her family as often as I would like, but I talk to her and to my precious niece and nephew as often as possible.
As much as I don't want to get up some days, my husband and I have jobs that allow us to live the lifestyle we are used to.
We have a house that we love, which means a roof over our heads.
We have heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.
We have cars to get us where we need to go.
My children are intelligent and beautiful on the inside.
Have I mentioned my friends?
Why God has chosen to bless me with the friends that I have I will never understand.
They are unconditional...there when I need them...and love me in spite of my plethora of flaws.
But then that brings us full circle and right back to the core truth of everything...

God.
God loves me more than I deserve.
He blesses me more than I deserve.
He died for me which I DEFINITELY don't deserve.
And this blog entry is just purely and simply my outward show of gratitude to Him.
I hope that everyone that reads it feels the same.
And if you don't...maybe because you don't know Him, let me introduce you sometime.
I can guarantee that if you are willing He will become the best friend you will ever have.
I know He's mine!

Perpetuating Christmas...without resolutions!

I've stated before that Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I think it starts with Thanksgiving and ends with the ringing in of the New Year.  That span of time is saturated with get togethers, time with family and friends, and peaceful time away from work.  I feel special every time I open a card and see that someone has thought of our family.  I smile when I see pictures of friends and family, especially the babies and children.   My heart overflows with gratitude when I read words that remind me of the first and greatest gift, Jesus Christ.  My heart swells when I hear songs like, "Mary Did You Know" and "Joseph's Lulaby".  (If you don't know these songs google them and listen or at the very least look up the lyrics.)  Going to my daughters school for her Christmas party, seeing my niece Tricia as a mouse in the Nutcracker, recieving beautiful Christmas crayon drawings from my five year old niece Morgan, having Christmas camp with my niece and nephew and my kids (wishing my NC niece and nephew were with us), my girlfriends tea, our couples party, the annual family party that my cousin and his family came to this year, all of these things warm my heart and make me adore the holidays!  All of these things leave their essence, the fragrance of happiness in my home.

Now that they are over, I have to find ways to perpetuate Christmas.  I need to perpetuate the selflessness that God portrayed when He sent His son as a baby to save us.  I have to perpetuate the love that He showed that I feel so much at this time of year.  How can I do that?

Today my friend sent me tickets to a Wings game.  Yeah, seriously...no joke!  Four tickets for me and my family to enjoy a game.  Are you kidding me?  That is not a cheap gift.  That is not something you just drop cash for and give to someone.  It was a selfless gift.  It was a thoughtful gift, because he knows how much Chip and I love the Red Wings.  He knows that we are on a tight budget and can't go to games, and he knew it would make us happy.  Truthfully, he is far away right now and I would love to have the gift of time with him.  My husband and kids adore him as much as I do.  But I am truly grateful for what he has given us.

I can't give lavish gifts like that one or the 50 dollar gift card to Olive Garden bestowed upon us by another wonderful person.  But I can definitely find ways to be selfless this year.  I can take on God's command to love one another and let those around me know that they matter.  If we listen and pay attention God sends us people, situations and His word to let us know that we matter to Him.  The least we can do is help Him with His work by encouraging, supporting and genuinely loving those around us.  I want to be better at that this year.  Resolution? No...just trying to be better.  Just trying harder to represent Him well. 

God bless you in the New Year.  Can't wait to see what God has in store for 2011.  If you know me you will know that 2011 is a special year ...

The Blessing of Friendship

Tonight was another night of Christmas joy for us.  I think the time leading up to Christmas is just as joyous as the holiday itself...

Chip and I had some good friends over for a couples party tonight.  As is normal for our lives lately nothing really went as planned.  As is also normal for us lately, God showed us that His plans are perfect!  This party was originally scheduled for yesterday, but we had a snow day around here and people's plans changed and so the party date changed.

Some who were able to come on Monday were not able to come tonight...but we had my sister and brother in law, our friends Scott and Maggie, and Eileen and Jim over.  Food and fellowship are always a blessing and sharing them with people you actually like being around is just a perfect evening. 

Talking and laughing with these folks is such a testament to God creating us to be relational.  These people are willing to do life with us on whatever level and we care a lot about them.

Friendships are the flowers on the quilt of my life.  If  you are my friend thank you for listening to God and loving me.  I don't deserve you and am so very grateful for you!