Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Sigma Alpha Omega



Good Morning Girls,


I just wanted to touch base with you all bright and early before the rush starts!

I wanted to let you know that I have finally responded to all of your comments in the Empty Corners post!

Thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to read, comment and share about "J!"

She is such an inspiration to me and I was so overwhelmed that so many of you wanted to bless her.

If you left your email in the comments, etc. I just sent out a big email to all of you this morning with all of the information. My apologies that it took a few days! We have had a few life changes going on over here!

Thank you so much for being an earthly demonstration of His love!


In other news I just have to share these pictures that a reader sent to me last week and say how impressed I was with this Christian Sorority!  

May I introduce you to Sigma Alpha Omega.....



Brittany Michelle Hughes sent this to me last week! Thank you Brittany!

"We are Sigma Alpha Omega, a Christian Sorority at University of North Carolina at Wilmington and we just rushed 33 new "baby doves" that will begin the process of becoming a sister! We cannot wait to encourage their walk with Christ and to have fun! "

"This is several of our Sigma Alpha Omega Sisters and the "Baby Doves"! Our sorority calls the Sisters "doves" as a reference to Matthew 3:16-17! After the "baby doves" we are 75 strong on our campus!"





"This is our 33 new "baby doves" and the two Sigma Alpha Omega sisters who are the "dove mommies" who take their job very seriously! What a blessing to have 33 women of God excited and encouraged to be a light on campus!"


Can we talk about how incredible this is?  And the name?!!

Sigma Alpha Omega. He is the beginning and the end. 

How I love this!!

I am so excited for these girls!! What a blessing to have this group of women surrounding you and supporting you during your college years and with Christ as the center of it all!  

Aren't they gorgeous?!

Keep using your "glory gifts" for Him girls!

So proud of you all!

Thank you so much Brittany for sharing this with me!



Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Missing My Girl





Just missing my girl today....It's hard once they are grown and although you love watching them fly there are days when you long for them to be little again too.

I love this picture of Macey with Pearl at the pumpkin patch last year.

Just loving on her baby sister.

It is such a picture of how she loves. Big and true and with such purity of heart....

Wish you were here to sit on my lap baby girl.

Missing you something awful.....

Sunday, October 9, 2011

This Time Of Year







It's here!  It is the time of year when I breathe deeper and do my best to relish and revel in every moment of the day.  It's when I normally bake my favorite muffins and buy way too many pumpkins. I am a seasonal girl! It is also when we spend time as a family taking long walks around the park and the lake with strollers and our little, red wagon.

We also love to sip and spill some warm apple cider :)

I cannot get enough of fall. The fragrance alone is enough to send me right over the edge!

Nutmeg anyone?

Freshly ground over a cup of hot coffee or a bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese.

Beyond.

It is also "field day" time with my camera.

I want to remember every. single. thing.

I pray that I don't forget.

I want to remember what their tiny fingers look like trying to hold a pumpkin.

And what the back of their sweet, little heads look like riding in the wagon.

The sound of their voices. Their cries. Their laughter.

The way they interact with each other. The giggles. The tears. The wild and the exhausting.

The tug of war, the disagreements, the lessons of learning to prefer one another...

Fall also brings change....

This week starts some difficult changes for our family.  I am praying for the ability to walk through it all with a special grace and no matter what, I am reminded today to capture it all....

I want to photograph every season of life.

Happy Sunday to you.

May your day be filled with beautiful moments....



Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Empty Corners


This story I am about to offer is shared with full permission by one incredible and brave young woman.




Some people get excited over sports, concerts, a special vacation.

And for others it's a new bag. A new pair of shoes. A pretty lipstick.

And while all of those things are wonderful and of course can make one happy, I happen to get really excited over an empty corner and let's not forget my obsession with newborn babies as well.

But I especially love an empty corner.

It may sound strange to some people.

Most people may not even notice it during their daily commute.

But for whatever reason God made me to notice the details.

Here is an example...

At the beginning of the summer we were driving down a beautiful street with all of the babies in tow and there before my eyes was a beautiful, vibrant, young woman.

She was standing on the corner. The one that was supposed to be empty.

And she was expecting.

She wasn't expecting a bus. Or a taxi. Or a friend to pick her up from work.

She was expecting a baby......... Remember my obsession?

Now there are two things I am not going to put up with in life.

One is a woman standing on a corner that should be empty and two is that same woman standing there expecting her first born gift.

I pretty much had a panic attack and my husband knew what was about to happen.

I had to talk to her. I had to meet her. I had to help in some way.

It was beyond me. It was all Him.


It didn't have anything to do with me. And everything to do with a Daddy who wanted to reach His daughter and pour out love and mercy and goodness and grace and meet every single need she had.


I asked her the most important thing first.

"Are you safe?" She looked at me and smiled and slowly nodded.

But I've lived long enough to know that a simple smile and slow nod don't mean a thing.

She wasn't and I knew it. I could feel it.

And she wouldn't be standing on a corner selling the homeless paper to folks if she was.

I asked her name ....

I asked her what she needed. She wouldn't really tell me.

I asked her if she had a place and she gave me that simple smile and a slow nod one more time.

I just wanted to meet a need. Even just one.

I didn't want to interrogate her. I didn't want to question her. I didn't need to know all the details. There wasn't an ounce of judgement in my heart. I just wanted her off of that corner and safe in a place of her own getting herself ready to become a mother.

And so that is how it began......

I came home and tried to figure out how to reach her , how to connect, how to help.

I posted a note on FB telling everyone whom I was connected with that there was

"An opportunity to demonstrate His love standing on the corner" and gave the address.

I bagged up almost all of my maternity clothes and put them in the car to give to her.

I talked with my husband , I begged him to let her live with us. I talked about her and talked about her
to try and figure out what to do.

And then it was like she disappeared.

I would drive by, many times, and she would not be standing there.

Then one afternoon, my friend Vanessa texted me and said "Sibi, she's there today!"

It was the week we were leaving to go on vacation, my husband just so happened to be home and the 12 passenger van we rented needed to be picked up earlier than we actually needed it. By a couple of days.

God is in the details!!!

As soon I received that text I told my husband and we loaded up all five children and wheeled out of the driveway to go and rescue this precious woman. We were going to bring her home with us!

It felt like Christmas to me......

By the time we arrived she was gone.

I just knew she had walked down the street to the grocery store to go the bathroom! (9 times pregnant me just knew this !)

We drove around looking and nothing. Looked through the parking lot, nothing.  And then I spotted her,
sitting on the lawn furniture under the grocery store awning eating a peach.

I left my husband and children in the car and prayed and asked and hoped and begged the Lord to do the talking.

I talked with her and asked her if she remembered me and hugged her. She said "I remember you, you smell so good. You are the lady who gave me all of those beautiful clothes. You smell just like the clothes you gave me."

I was crying. She was crying.

Because I know what it is to just want something that smells good. That smells clean.

Crying because I know what it is to stand on the corner in life and want......

We all do. We've all stood on the corner in one area of our life or another.


We've stood on the corner of unanswered prayers. And the corner of waiting for our marriages to be restored. We've stood on the corner of financial despair and the street of "Is this all my life is ever going to be?"

I've been there. I've stood there. And many times I watched people drive right on by during some of my darkest hours. Like I was part of the scenery. 


I cannot be that person.


The one who doesn't notice. Doesn't see. Doesn't hear. Doesn't feel.

We are all God's children. And we are all called to represent His love to every single soul on this earth.

I said to her, "We came to get you. We want you to live with us. We want to help you. We want to take care of you and your baby."

She was just weeping and sobbing in my arms.

She was so gracious and kind and had such a sweet spirit.

"But why? Why would you want to help me?"

Sometimes life has beat you up so bad, you can't believe anyone even cares, much less wants to help.....

She told me how she had been busy saving her money selling the homeless paper and how just two days prior she had finally found an apartment complex who would work with her and offer her a lease.

Apartment complexes will not rent to someone who is trying to get ahead in life and can pay rent in advance?? They won't rent to someone who doesn't have a current address??

Jesus.

She told me about how the state would not allow her to get food stamps without an address.

Homeless people cannot get food stamps without an address? They are homeless!!!

Jesus.

She told me about the shelter where she had been staying and how cruel they were to her.

"The battered women's shelter? The battered women's shelter is mean to the battered women?"

Jesus.

"They are so mean to us that most women just go back to their abusers"

I. could. not. breathe.

Deep breaths.

Deep breaths


Deep breaths because it was like a holy anger rose up in me. Deep breaths that this woman couldn't get ahead if she tried. Deep breaths because the system doesn't make any sense to me and I don't know if I can fix it but I am going to try even with five babies in tow. Deep breaths because the shelter that should have been her shelter is filled with women who don't know how to help without judging. How to love without hate. Deep breaths because the shelter is not a shelter for the hundreds and thousands of women who are domestic violence victims and who find that the empty corner on a street is a better shelter. Deep breaths because this state that I live in is in the top tier for death to a woman by a DV incident. 

Sweet Jesus.


In that moment I knew I could not repair all the damage, all the injustices. I could not undo all the hurt and all the judgement that had been cast her way. I could not create a reenactment of all the people who had just driven by her day after day.....like she was part of the scenery.

This precious child of God carrying another precious child of God overlooked, rejected and cast down.

I hated it all. I was so angry I didn't know what to do.

But He could do something through me and I was willing. My family was willing.

I told her that God was going to deliver a truckload of blessings to her new place.

I asked her what she needed even though I knew it was anything and everything.....

And it was. She had nothing other than a bed for herself.


Within hours of posting about her need on FB, this is what was delivered to my garage for her.

Delivered to my house from about 10 women.  Did you know that 10 women can change the world?

I happen to have an incredible neighbor who has some really special friends who gathered, bought and delivered almost everything you see here....






I was blown away by the loved poured out for "J" and her unborn daughter. This is not including the large gift cards and money these precious women offered as well.


Remember the rental van they needed us to take a couple of days early? Free of charge of course.

God had a bigger plan in mind.





Can you imagine waking up one day and having absolutely nothing for yourself. Nothing for your unborn child and hardly a dime to your name?

And then waking up the very next day and God all by Himself decided to send a 12 passenger van to your brand new apartment full of every single thing that you and your sweet baby would need and more.

I was awestruck. The details blew me away.

Awestruck at how the bedding one friend bought was the exact color scheme she wanted.

Overwhelmed at the swing someone gave was the swing she had looked at for months in the store.

Beside myself that the crib and changing table that someone gave matched the highchair someone else gave and was exactly what she really, really wanted.

I'm talking down to the diaper bag.

Every, single thing she needed was provided and was exactly what she wanted or even better than what she had hoped for.

God all by Himself....

Took a homeless pregnant woman standing on the corner and gave her a place of her own and filled it with every single thing she needed and more....supernaturally.

























The one detail that I really could not believe and that just blessed me more than I could ever put into words here was the phone call between us while we were driving to deliver everything to her.

I was excited. She was excited. I could hardly wait. She could hardly believe it.....and then she said this...

"Sibi, thank you for giving me the best birthday I've ever had in my life."

Tears....

You mean that God orchestrated Heaven and Earth to give this daughter of His an outpouring of earthly demonstration to show JUST HOW MUCH He loves her and He chose, out of 365 days in the year, to align every, single thing to happen on the anniversary of the day she was born?



God all by Himself.







You know I had to stop and get a cake.  :)


Turns out that God loves empty corners even more than I do.


I share this story today to give God every ounce of glory and to thank those who so selflessly gave to help this incredible young woman. Also I wanted to share in hopes that maybe someone reading would be stirred to action the next time that prompting comes when we see a homeless man, woman or child.

That prompting that rises up within us is Him.

Prompting us to stop. To offer. To give. To sow and to demonstrate His love.

We do not know the width or the depth of the stories standing there.

It's not always what we think it is. Things are not always the way they seem.....

And there may be the chance to change the world because we saw a child of God instead of a "situation" standing there.

Thank you to my incredible husband who moved and packed and delivered furniture and things over the course of two days with second degree burns on his hands, and never once complained.

Never once.

You have His heart honey. You teach me by example...

Thank you to my beautiful gift of a girlfriend Vanessa who has been His hands and feet in my own life more times than I can count. Who got the word out and orchestrated and organized with her amazing friends and for that I am truly grateful. Thank you to Benning, Jordan, Janie, Lena, Donna, Ashley, Julie, Shirley and Melissa.

Thank you from the depths of my soul. You all inspire me. You are world changers.....

May He bless you all one hundred fold for your extraordinary kindness.






For "J"....

You are an incredible, amazing, beautiful woman who has yet to even tap into the gifts, talents, purpose and tremendous call that is on your life.

You are also His pearl.......you just haven't discovered it yet.  But I see it.

I see in you what you cannot see for yourself.....

The best is yet to come my friend.




Monday, October 3, 2011

Like Honey



                                                                            Google Image




Good Morning!


I wanted to share all of the wonderful scriptures you all left in the comments last week here in one post!


So encouraging!


Thank you again for listing some of your favorites and for your kind words....


Like honey to my soul....






Jenny at Hoffman's Hideaway


Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 




Becca at LIFE IS BUT A DREAM


But with that being said, one of my favorite vereses is Psalm 56:8...

You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.







WORK IN PROGRESS at HOPE SET HIGH


Hosea 2:14-15 Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (meaning trouble) a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth...






LIZZIE FITZ at MY LIST BECOMES HIS LIST


My favorite verse that has gotten me through on more than one crisis...
The Lord is close to the broken hearted and heals those who are crushed in spirit.







AMY at HAVEN SPACE


Isaiah 40.11... and will gently lead those that have their young. Praying for supernatural strength as you look to the source of all grace this week.






KTG


Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.






HOOTS MAMA


Isaiah 61:3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor





DIANE TAYLOR


Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
Lamentations 3:21-24









NEALIE from Big And Biggest


For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11








LORI from A Time For Everything


"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens ~ He has made everything beautiful in it's time" ~
Eccl 3:1-11









Kim from Three Peanuts


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.









BETH from Where Ya'll Meets Fixin To


2 Corinthians 12:9
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Joshua 1:9
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.









And a big thank you to each one of you who took the time to leave the kindest and most encouraging comments ever.......your words mean so much to me!


A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is!


~ Proverbs 15:33






Katie at Tale Of A Grits






Heather at Grace 303






Paige at Simple Thoughts






Marla at Kinda Sorta






Just Ask Beth






Gwyn at The Pink Tractor






The Mrs. at One Fabulous Mom






Michele






Laura






Tiffany




JT and Angie at Our Treasure Our Heart






It's Raining Pearls






Many thanks to each and everyone of you again! I hope you will find some encouragement here today within this post full of scriptures and sweet comments!




Happy Monday!