A week

Every day this week has seemed so very full, and full of such a wide variety each day.  

Monday morning was my eye appointment, which led to daily homework and a follow-up in 6 months. Not what I really have time for. 

Monday noon I had a phone call with an acquaintance walking a similar parenting journey.  RICH conversation and the most theologically astute perspective I have heard. So encouraging! 

Tuesday took the cake ... I had been gifted a head spa, which is so luxurious! I almost had whiplash because immediately afterward I had a phone call scheduled with the school social worker, and I ended up in tears.  

Then I had the blessing of helping a friend! (Second time in a week! Last week it was staying with her 2 year old for 15-20 minutes because Grandma was running late.  This week it was loaning some dress-up costume parts to a different friend who said I "saved the day.") 

Mentoring phone call while driving to my labs (in a town in a different direction). And LM's spring music concert that evening. Talk about exhaustion!

Wednesday I had a sick child home, so my nurse understandably wouldn't come for my infusion, so I had an unexpected open day.  I also had a very disappointing phone call from a medical office. I ended up "rage cleaning" for 3 hours and also doing lots of laundry, and, in the process, getting triple my average number of steps. (!)

Thursday my whole body was sore (oops!). I did all the things so I could look professional at a 2.45 PM meeting at school. (Hair, nails, jewelry, makeup, etc.) 

I rushed from the meeting to Grandpa's to pick up both children who had ridden their respective buses there after school.  And then we went the opposite direction for an appointment in town. 

On the way home (after filling up with $4.15/gallon gas - woohoo!!), I dropped BK off at the high school, and he waited for Jim to arrive a few minutes later, so they could watch the high school play.

Friday I had Zoom prayer meeting for Japan from 6-6.30, and then my infusion from 8-1 (I slept 2.5 hours during it), and the housecleaner was here from 10.30-1.30. In the evening LM and I went to the high school play. 

Scattered in there in all the "free" minutes were what seemed like 50 million texts and emails about all. sorts. of. things. When I look back at my sent emails this week, they are so very random ... and plentiful.  

I am ready for a weekend. :) 

1000 Gifts, Vol. 7, #85

821.  BK started youth group officially on Wednesday night!

822.  the Lord gave us a successful garage sale season!

823.  memories ~ tears flowed as I read a family friend's memories of time together with my parents over the years

824.  memories ~ I have many Chatbooks credits to use quickly, so I can cancel my subscription, so I am going through photos

825.  memories ~ of so many family dinners around my BIL & SIL's table, just like the meal we shared last Sunday evening

826.  memories ~ of a friend's trials, when she wrote a tender note to encourage me

827.  memories ~ of my own youth group years & especially a certain study we did (Barry St. Clair's Following Jesus & Spending Time Alone with God)

828.  memories ~ of summer 2020, when I got out our patriotic decorations

829.  memories ~ of so many school concerts, as we listened to the elementary music concert Tuesday night

830.  Facebook photo memories ~ of a reunion with my Japanese pastor & his wife on this day in 2010.  I learned so much from them!!

Maycember

Maycember is a social media-coined term describing the chaotic, overscheduled nature of May, which mirrors the insanity of December, but without the holiday cheer.

It is no joke! 


Evidence A: my Facebook memories for May 5, 2024:

Our weekend included listening to Faure’s Requiem, watching a youth theater production of The Wizard of Oz, enjoying Paw Patrol Live!, and touring an 1866 Italianate mansion. I’m ready to return to our regularly scheduled nothing. 😊

Evidence B: my blog post of May 4, 2026:

Saturday I dropped BK off to mow Grandpa's yard, LM & I went to a youth theater production of Anne of Green Gables, and I picked BK up at the farm. (How did he get from Grandpa's to the farm? Neither Jim nor I ... nor Grandpa nor his farm relatives ... took him. Let's just say he's resourceful.)

Sunday - church, lunch, Gideon Bibles at a hotel, Baccalaureate, and dinner with extended family. 

How's your Maycember going?!?

The Cutting Room Floor

In April, I purchased a 2026 wall calendar 90% off at Dollar General. 

I cut up Post-it notes (blue for BK & pink for LM) into sticky strips.

I researched two local Bible camps, a local community college's kids' classes, a university's sports camp, a Christian school's sports camps, and a parks & rec brochure for a nearby town. 

I asked friends when their sons are going to Bible camp. 

And then I wrote known summer plans on the calendar ... reunion, swim practice, swim meets, Awana water nights, youth group, & 4th of July.

I wrote possible activities, camps, VBSes, and classes on 21 strips of colorful post it notes and matched them to their date on the calendar. 

Whew!!

By the time the Farmer had an afternoon off from planting & we could look at our summer calendar & make decisions, one desired week of camp was open for waitlists only.  :( 

If you pray, please pray that a certain 12 year old will be able to go!  That camp's theme this summer is: 

Join us as we explore the life-changing encounters with Jesus that left people forever changed. Each day, we will unpack different invitations from Jesus – what it meant then, what it means now, and how it calls us to live as his disciples today. Whether you’re curious about faith, just beginning your journey, or ready to go deeper in your walk with Christ, The Invitation is for you. Jesus is still calling. He’s raising up a new generation to be His hands, His feet, and His voice in a world that desperately needs Him. The question is: are we willing to accept the invitation?

And their theme verse is:

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me 

Most of the post-it strips ended up ripped off the calendar and lying in a messy pile on the kitchen table.  Thus "the cutting room floor." It was good to have options, and I knew it wasn't humanly possible to do all of them.  

We ended up with what we hope & pray is a good map for our summer!  VBS, a week of day camp, one-day therapeutic pony camp, swim team, a youth trip to the Upper Peninsula, possibly an intro to EMT class, and potentially two day "camps" (one hour/day, 5 days/week) of reading camp :) and gymnastics camp.  Yay for entrepreneurs! 

I think I'm going to find a green sticky note and add "Mom's nap" on every square on the calendar. :)

T-13 days to summer vacation

T minus 13 days until summer vacation.  (Last year's post here.) 

How will we fill our time? 

BK now has youth group on Wednesday nights. That is a big change for us, because we have not been in the habit of going to church on Wednesday nights in the summer (because there is no Awana).  But, it's a good change! 

Youth group has a 6-day trip in June which sounds exciting!

LM does not have speech at the university clinic once a week.  I waffled about enrolling her, and when I called the office to see what day & time she has, I learned that the schedule is full and she is not on it, so I must have decided not to. :)  More breathing room. 

She has tutoring twice a week.  And I'm hopeful she can attend a math or reading camp led by a phenomenal tutor nearby.  

We'll try to hit the library program a few times. I'm not sure if we'll do the summer reading program, because it's not set up for an emerging reader... Sigh.

LM is most excited about being registered for one day of a pony day camp! :) 

She would like to attend 1 or 2 weeks of gymnastics camp (one hour a day; 5 days a week) at a local church, if it fits our schedule.

The nice summer daycare she attended at the nearby Christian school is not happening this year. 

And she always looks forward to VBS at two local churches.

Summer swim team for both (barring weather, eight weeks of four mornings a week practice plus eleven evening swim meets). And I'm sure we'll have spontaneous swim dates at a local pool in the next farm town.

What will BK do besides summer swim team? 

Sadly there were not enough boys to field a rec league baseball team...

He is registered for one week of spend-the-night camp and waitlisted for another.

Hopefully working on the farm. 

Mowing 2-3 yards.

I think my summer is planned - taxi driving! :) 

Summer slump? Hmmm... Not sure what we'll do about that ... 

What else do we have planned? 

Family reunion one Saturday evening ("Best night of the year," according to BK), an epic small town 4th of July celebration, trips to WI & TN ~ and possibly another massive road trip?  We shall see.

Day of Rest?

Maycember doesn't stop even on Sundays! 

I thought Saturday was a doozy, but Sunday took the cake!

Jim teaches 3rd grade Sunday School every other month, and May is his month, so we had to leave 15 minutes early.  We arrived at church before 8.45, and left around noon. 

After lunch, Jim & BK left to check the Gideon Bibles in a hotel and replace any that were missing or damaged.  

Shortly after that, LM accompanied me to Baccalaureate.  I was planning to go alone, but she certainly couldn't stay home by herself! She did great, belting out the songs, sitting next to my friend's high school daughter, and going through all the items in her church bag. 

This was the first Baccalaureate I had ever attended in my life!  (Although it's nothing like the Baccalaureate of years ago.  Only 13 seniors -out of 100 or more- attended.) Our ministerial alliance sponsors it, and had enthusiastically invited Moms in Prayer to be a part of the service. Two of us praying moms were able to attend.  

We are overjoyed for the publicity, and hope that more moms will join us! The host pastor described Moms in Prayer and also let the moms know that, even though their child is graduating, they can join a zoom prayer group for their child's college or they can join a young adults' group.  Brochures with a QR code were also available by the refreshment table.

Home in time to make a fruit salad, and find & sign three cards. 

Then off to a family dinner from 5.30-8.  

What will the rest of Maycember be like?! 

Don't Stop Praying

While my favorite music is hymns, there have been numerous instances when I have a heard a song that I don't typically listen to, but the words have ministered to me. The song at the end of this post is one. 

Spending my gap year in Japan with a mission team that had a BIG vision to see God plant a whole presbytery of churches in and around two new towns where Jesus had never been worshiped definitely strengthened my prayer life! I don't remember regular monthly 4-hour concerts of prayer during my gap year, but I do remember a conversation with a friend in college about how amazing it was to pray for four hours, so perhaps we did?

For sure, during the rest of my years in Japan the monthly highlight was 4-hour Concert of Prayer and annual All-Night Prayer. To be sure, those weren't the only times we prayed. We all knew nothing would happen unless God moved, and so based on the mystery of how He works, we prayed.

I had an opportunity once to speak at the weekly Intercessory Prayer Meeting at Penney Farms Retirement Village in Florida, and wow! did those people pray! Most were retired pastors & missionaries, and they knew firsthand what it meant to be dependent on the Lord in prayer. 

Anecdotal stories in books are also powerful.  A friend told me recently that in the first chapter of "Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools," the author recounts that every morning during the summer before his 8th grade year, he walked laps around his school building, holding the school directory and praying. And the next year, 1/3 of his classmates trusted Christ as their Savior. WOW! Why are we not praying more?! and more specifically?! 

Students in a Christian group at a nearby university spent time on the quad last week, asking people if they could pray for them.  The student whom I know asked 20 people ... and not one refused!!  The author of the aforementioned book makes the observation that in our current society, prayer is the touchpoint between a secular yet "spiritually interested" culture and believers.  People still want prayer.

While the foundation for my dependence on prayer was laid during my time in Japan, being involved in Moms in Prayer weekly for the past 6+ years has really emboldened my praying!  I attended a gathering recently of MIP leaders in our county, and as we shared what God is doing, we brainstormed about what else He might do. It was thrilling, and we left with two very specific ~ and BIG ~ requests for our county: a Christian special ed school and a baccalaureate service for the big schools in our county. 

God can do ANYTHING! 

What's your impossible? Your "I need a miracle"

What's got you barely hanging by a single thread?
What looks so hopeless now? What weighs down your heart with doubt?
You beg for a breakthrough, but no sign of breakthrough yet

When you've cried, and you've cried 'til your tears run dry
The answer won't come, and you don't know why
And you wonder if you can bow your head even one more time

Don't stop praying
Don't stop calling on Jesus' name
Keep on pounding on Heaven's door
And let your knees wear out the floor
Don't stop believing
'Cause mountains move with just a little faith
And your Father's heard every single word you're saying
So, don't stop praying

He's close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit
The Alpha and Omega knows how your story ends

When you've cried, and you've cried 'til your tears run dry
The answer won't come, and you don't know why
And you wonder if you can bow your head even one more time
Oh, do it one more time

And don't stop praying
Don't stop calling on Jesus' name
Keep on pounding on Heaven's door
And let your knees wear out the floor
Don't stop believing
'Cause mountains move with just a little faith
And your Father's heard every single word you're saying
So, don't stop praying

Oh-oh
(Don't stop, don't stop praying) oh, don't stop praying
(Don't stop, don't stop praying)
Oh-oh

Don't stop praying for the prodigal
Don't stop praying for the miracle
Hallelujah, hallelujah, and amen
Don't stop praying that addictions end
Don't stop praying for deliverance
Hallelujah, hallelujah, and amen

Oh, don't stop praying for the sickness healed
Don't stop praying for His power revealed
Hallelujah, hallelujah, and amen
No, don't stop praying for the Kingdom come
Don't stop praying that His will be done
Hallelujah, hallelujah, and amen

Don't stop praying
Don't stop calling on Jesus' name
Keep on pounding on Heaven's door
Let your knees wear out the floor
Don't stop believing
'Cause mountains move with just a little faith
And your Father's heard every single word you're sayin'
So, don't stop praying

oh, don't stop praying
(Don't stop, don't stop praying) hey, don't you give up now
No, don't stop praying

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Matthew West / Jeff Pardo

Don't Stop Praying lyrics © Meaux Mercy, All Essential Music, Brenthood Music, My Story Your Glory Music