HEAD TO HEAD

he is 8 (almost nine, he will add if you ask him) and his name is wyatt.  that tube is out and his sweet smile and contagious giggles are back in full effect but that was my view at midnight last night.  his mother is my cousin and one whom i have always looked up to.  a novel could be written about her and the amazing example she sets as a wife, mother, friend but most importantly…a woman of Godly character.  for her, this last week, these last 24 hours…it has probably felt as if the world has stopped turning.

they ran into each other on the playground.  head to head, they met, at the tip of the corner and went down for the count.  both with serious concusions, wyatt and his friend received the medical care that seemed to fix it all and were sent home.  but wyatt wasn’t getting better.  five days after his first trip to the urgent care, he woke up with two black eyes and told his sweet mama, “my head is squishy.  why?”.  back to the hospital and the doctors find a fracture in his skull and blood.  blood that is still bleeding blood.  not in a good place blood.  blood that needs to stop, and soon, or else surgery is required.  all from a run in on the playground.

here’s the cool thing.  wait…scratch that.  here is the coolest thing.  i remember holding wyatt when he was first born and having him come visit me in the hospital when i had my first baby (see above).  such a handsome little guy.  as he grew up, there was a slightly noticeable difference in the shape of his head.  doctors called it “mild malformation”.  much testing was done but nothing really ever came of it.  it seemed as if doctors were a bit baffled by this mild difference and so it was left as that.

turns out, this mild malformation saved his life.  most of us don’t have this extra pocket in our skull that wyatt has.  most of us would have died from a similar injury since our blood would have had no where to go and the pressure on our brains would have been deathly overwhelming.  but he had this pocket.  this mild little space that could hold one pint of blood in it and keep him alive for a period of time long enough to allow doctors to be able to fix it all.  that isn’t mild to me.

for you created my innermost being:

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made:

your works are wonderful, i know that full well.

my frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in a secret place.

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

all the days ordained for me where written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalms 139:13-16

to think that what once baffled the doctors and the family and the testing…to think that mild change was created for a specific purpose…for a specific moment in time.  to bask in the awesomeness of knowing that what seemed to be a problem was really a plan.  what seemed a concern is now a comfort.  how great is our God…

i know i pleaded with my friends on facebook and begged my prayer partners in email, for you all to cover him and his family in prayers.  there are times when prayers are not answered the way that we wish them to be and it is hard to praise God in those moments.  but there are times when we are blessed beyond all measure and our prayer are answered exactly as we poured them out.  this is one of those times.  and i hope this one moment in time will forever be a testimony to others who are going through those moments when it is hard to utter praise.  i hope, wyatt, that this story will be forever on your lips.  that God can take your mild malformation and do intense things with it, not just this week…but always.

thank you all for your prayers.  the peace that was felt could have only been given to us.  thank you.

AMY BALLARD

Amy B Photography

LAST YEAR'S CHALLENGES - WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

I think every one on the planet can point to key moments in their lives where a situation either made them or broke them or sometimes both.  For some it's a death in the family, a birth, a move, a loss of a job, etc.  

There were a few challenges for me in the last year, and looking back, I hope that one day I can say, "Yep, that definitely made me a better person."

Toward the end of the school year I was faced with making a decision to continue teaching at a school I dearly loved or to take a step out of my comfort zone and move to another building, job, etc.  This decision was not entered into lightly.  I started contemplating and researching options in February - even taking a jaunt around the state to see if some of my options were what I really wanted.  I explored many opportunities that I would not have considered before and for that I think I am better.  I learned a lot about myself through interview processes for different positions in different capacities.  But, in the end, I chose to go to another building.  Not because I was unhappy, but because I wanted to be in control of some of the change that would take place over the next year.  It was a challenge to leave a family that I had grown to love like my own family and enter into a building where no one knew a thing about me, how I taught, etc. But, I did it.  Has it been a challenge to learn the new expectations of a new administrator?  Absolutely.  Has it been a challenge to learn a new grade level? You betcha!

As a part of this challenge, I faced one of the largest challenges in my life.  I've dubbed it the 2011 Blog Catastrophe.  As a part of my closure, I wrote about leaving my school and moving to another.  Without going through the painful details, I experienced personal attack like I had never done so before. I became terrified to share my opinion about anything, scared to write on my blog.  I deleted most of my facebook friends because I didn't know who I could trust and who I couldn't. I went through weeks of phone calls to people who were upset with me, lots of tears, not eating, questioning everything I did.  Honestly, I still struggle with some of these things when asked what I think about something now.  This experience shook me to the core and still rattles me.  

But, I learned something in it all.  Beware, this may offend someone, but know that you were warned and I am not singling anyone out.  I learned that it doesn't matter what you say, when you say it, how you say it, what you write - someone out there will be offended.  You can NEVER make everyone happy 100% of the time, and if you spend your time trying to do that the only person who will be UNHAPPY is you.  Talk about huge learning.  

GUEST POST - SHASTA LOOPER

Scripted by Shasta

A WOMAN'S POTENTIAL TO BUILD OR TEAR HER HOME DOWN

The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.  Proverbs 14:1

 This one verse packs a powerful punch!  Have you ever been struck by the potential you hold as a woman to build or to tear down your home?   I hold a picture in my mind’s eye of what a Christ-honoring and loving family looks like.  This picture is painted with strokes of Scripture and years of desire to grow a family who represents Jesus in all aspects of our lives.

 Proverbs 14:1 is  pounding at my heart’s door today.  What am I doing to wisely build or foolishly tear down my own home?  How dreadful to consider I have the potential to tear it down with my own hands!  Am I willing to sit still and consider it?  This is the work of Scripture and the Holy Spirit; to pour light upon any darkness in the corners of my life, and give me the opportunity to clean house!

 Have you considered what your bottom-line desire is for your family?  I encourage you to give it serious thought, then write those values on a piece of paper and tuck it away in your Bible or post it on your wall!  Do you desire a peaceful home, a rich and healthy marriage, children who are growing in wisdom and compassion? Do you desire your husband and children to have softening hearts to the Lord and others?  What are the foundation-values for your family that will keep your home from crumbling?  These are the timeless characteristics which battle against the daily lifestyle you may have created.

Brick by brick sister, we build our house with our words, our touch, our investment of time and money, our actions and reactions to people and daily trials. 

Day by day we hold the ability to tear our house down with our nagging, laziness, impatience, outbursts of anger, or bitterness.  Oooh, this is getting uncomfortable.  Our vanity, strife, sensuality, or waste of family resources can tear down that which we hold dear.  Matthew Henry states the woman who tears down her own house “indulges her ease and appetite”.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about a vain pursuit for a perfect family.  I am talking about a life pursuit of lining our lives up with Jesus. The mortar we use to hold the bricks together is the fear (reverence) of the Lord.  It is He who gives us the insight into our families need. It is His Spirit who causes the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22) to grow within us and spill out into our homes.

Will you exercise the God-given wisdom to build your home today? Celebrate the great building blocks you have already created and make new goals to put an end to any destruction.  Invite the Holy Spirit into your home to shine light on those areas which need renovation.

Dear Jesus, will you search my heart?  Will you show me any hurtful way in me and lead me into the ways which honor You?  You know my heart’s desire to grow a home; a family who loves and serves You.  Please don’t let me get in the way.  I pray You keep my heart searching after You and help me be a wise and Spirit-filled woman You can use to build this house.

BONNIE CHRISTENSEN

WomanGoneWise.Com