Monday Afternoon Daybook: November 18, 2013

Outside my window:
welcome sunshine after a gloomy Sunday.
I am thinking:
about having so many things jumbled up in my head and being unable to write them down coherently.
I am thankful:
for my friend, Nancy, previously known as Mrs. R., who can talk me through just about anything.  If I'm worried about something really serious, she might send me a text citing Isaiah 26:3 or she might text me lyrics to a Madonna song.  When we have parenting woes she can talk me through both What would Tami Taylor do? and What would Jesus do?  She can advise me on exactly the right color to paint my basement and exactly which sofa to purchase.  She can remind me that even though I'm complaining that my hair smells like bacon after making breakfast, I most certainly am NOT allowed to wash it yet if it's only been one day since my highlight.  If you don't have a friend like that, you should get one of those.  Better yet?  Be one of those.
In the kitchen:
spinach, salmon, almonds, water.  Pre-Thanksgiving vacay food.
I am wearing:
I thought about lying because it's sort of getting a little redundant, but yes, I am in my Gavin Rupp Open running jacket, navy running shorts and running shoes.  It appears this is the Monday uniform.
I am listening to:
Drew sucking on a lollipop while he does his math homework.
I am going:
to quiz a little man on some 3rd Grade geography
I am reading:
Wonder by RJ Palacio which I didn't get a chance to finish reading aloud to the boys once baseball started.  We are about 3/4 of the way through and should be able to finish soon, as basketball season lends itself to all of us being together most nights.  I cannot begin to describe how wonderful is this book.  I can say that it truly is a "wonder" to sit on the floor in my pjs reading to my three loud, wiggly boys and to watch them become magically still and quiet as I read it to them.  My heart fills up so that it just about bursts.
I am hoping:
for good news.  Somewhere, someone?
I am looking forward to:
The Skinner historical tour of Dallas when we go next week.  After all the coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, I'm pretty sure we'll be visiting The Texas School Book Depository as well as our planned trip to the SMU George W. Bush library.  We might also take a little trip to the Perkins Chapel on the SMU campus where Steve and I were married.  I can see the boys' eye rolling already.  It's going to be torture and learning all in one day!  YIPPEE!
I am learning:
that even when I can't write coherent thoughts and my head is all over the place, I still have to write.  (My apologies to those who might be looking for something that makes sense today.)
I am praying:
for the families and friends of both Mathias and Shawn, warriors fighting cancer, who soldier on even when news they each got last week is not what any of us wanted to hear.  Mostly over and over today I am praying for hope for the hopeless, for endurance for the faltering, for strength for the weak and that I will continue to remember that all of those things can only come from the One who will never stop loving us and never stop offering forgiveness and never stop giving a way out.
I am pondering:
the infinite patience and grace that is in a God who listens to me pray for the same darn thing over and over and over again.  I'm so tired of praying it, but oh how thankful I am that He will never tire of hearing me come to Him with it.
A quote for today:
"So I'm holding on to Your words and the promises You've made.  There's not one that You have broken.  There's not one I didn't take." - from the song I've listened to five times today:
On my Ipod:
It's Alright by Third Day.  I know, it seems to always be Third Day, but today is a Third Day kind of day.
A verse for today:
Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall.  But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -Isaiah 40:31
One of my favorite things:
The Make A Wish Foundation and Batkid
A few plans for the week:
a few basketball practices, a tour of Children's National Medical Center in DC with Kyle's Kamp and a trip to Texas to be thankful with and for my people.
A peek into my day: 

 

Daybook idea from http://www.thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/