Blog Break

Due to the upcoming holidays and the extra events that take place in my home, at other’s homes, and at church, I have decided (with my husband’s counsel) to put a pause on the blogging. Any of you who know me have heard me admit to NOT being a multi-tasker. I will continue in January. I will be e-mailing still, so if you want to send me a line  via e-mail, please do. My e-mail address is laurie.reyes3@verizon.net . Hope to hear from you soon. I’ll still be checking your sites!

Favorite Rainy Day Activity

As I type this favorite rainy day activity, it is absolutely beautiful and sunny outside! I still want to pass it on because if you’re like me, cold or rainy days and little boys make, shall I say, a “sanctifying” combination. My kids love this game. They have been playing it and it’s variations since they were probably two years old. I can’t remember how it started (probably a frazzled mom desperate to help her kids expend some energy). The great thing is that it is more entertaining for me than the kids. Freeze Dance In it’s most basic form, you play music loud…really loud, and the kids dance their little hearts out until I press pause and the music stops. Then they freeze in whatever position they were last in. They try to stay frozen until I turn the song back on. What is fun about this is watching them dance. I laugh my head off while they try to impress me with their latest “moves”. Each kid has a different style: Izzy does some manly karate dance; Joshua does sort of a hip hop/disco combo; Caleb attempts break dancing on the floor; and Maggie does what I call “funky ballet”. I am amazed that they are so uninhibited. They really love when mommy or daddy joins them. It’s not a pretty sight, I assure you, but there is something liberating about just bustin’ a move with the kids. Variation #1 – with pillows Set up a pillow on the floor for each child. When the music stops they have to sit on their pillow as fast as possible. I do not make this a competition with the whole musical chairs approach because the main thing is that they keep moving and get the energy out. (Besides, as I have posted before, competition is a way of life here with the Reyes boys, so I do not need additional contexts for sanctification in my life or theirs!) Variation #2 – solo dance They all sit on pillows and I call a name. That child comes to the middle and does a solo dance until I cut off the music. Variation #3 – body part down At the age the boys are now, this is their favorite way to play freeze dance. When I cut off the music, I shout out a body part, and they have to get that part to the floor as fast as they can. Some examples are: ear! Elbow! Knees! Back! Bum-bum! Head! Chin! I would love to hear what your family’s favorite rainy day activity is. If there isn’t room to leave it in my comment box, please post it on your own blog, and come back and tell us that you posted via comment.

Wise Words from Avonlea

“Mrs. Allan’s face was not the face of the girl-bride whom the minister had brought to Avonlea five years before. It had lost some of its bloom and youthful curves, and there were fine, patient lines about eyes and mouth. A tiny grave in that very cemetery accounted for some of them; and some new ones had come during the recent illness, now happily over, of her little son. But Mrs. Allan’s dimples were as sweet and sudden as ever, her eyes as clear and bright and true; and what her face lacked of girlish beauty was now more than atoned for in added tenderness and strength.”
-L.M. Montgomery pg. 130 Anne of Avonlea

I just read this the other night and it reminded me of another thing I read in a book by Bryan Chappel (I believe it is his book Holiness by Grace) . I don’t know the exact wording but the idea was this: Trials and suffering both harden us and soften us. They harden us to the pleasures and temptations of the world because we realize how life here must be (and anticipate Heaven where there are no more sorrows). They soften us to be compassionate and loving towards others.

Mrs. Allan is not a real woman, but I know women who through adversity have the added beauty of tenderness and strength. I have had no real trial in life so far, but I know eventually I will. May it not just leave me old, ugly, and bitter. But like women I am privileged to watch up close, may it serve to make me more tender and strong. May it harden and soften me.  

Another Really Great Blog

If you haven't been there yet, be sure to visit Bob Kauflin's new blog Worship Matters. The post from this past Monday, November 14, was especially encouraging. I was going to pull a quote from it, but the whole thing was so good, I would have had to commit plagiarism in order to capture the idea.

One of Those Moms

I really wish I had been taught more about the doctrine of indwelling sin before I had kids. Perhaps an awareness of pride in my heart would have kept me from thinking the following: “I’ll never be one of those moms.” Oh how pride goes before the fall, and in my life it has looked a little like this.

1. I became one of those moms when my toddler twins screamed bloody murder at the Target because they couldn’t have the bouncy ball they wanted.


2. I became one of those moms when I just couldn’t keep up with the runny noses in February.


3. I became one of those moms when my kids did eventually begin eating pop tarts for breakfast, and frozen chicken nuggets for dinner.


4. I became one of those moms when after asking my son if he had changed his shirt today, he responded with, “no, this is only the second day I wore this one and it doesn’t have anything on it.” And I was okay with that.


5. I became one of those moms when during my third trimester of pregnancy with Maggie I yelled to my boys, “If you make me get up off of this sofa, you are really going to be sorry!!!!” and then five minutes later, “I really mean it this time!” and then five minutes later “I am telling you boys – you are really going to regret it if you don’t obey mommy!” and then five minutes later “wait till your father gets home!”


6. I became one of those moms when I was excited to be alone at Wal Mart on a Friday night.


7. I became one of those moms when I owned at least seven pairs of pajama pants that aren’t worn just for pajamas.


8. I became one of those moms when at 3pm I realized I hadn’t brushed my teeth yet.


9. I became one of those moms when I was on a date with my husband and the “let down reflex” resulted in two wet spots in not so discreet places.


10. I became one of those moms when I bribed my kids with lollipops every time I took them to the mall.

Are you one of those moms? If so, you’re in good company. If you aren’t one of those moms, take my advice and never look at a runny nosed, screaming toddler who has blue sticky lollipop mouth at the mall and think to yourself, “I’ll never…”

Favorite Birthday Ever

Today is my birthday. I have enjoyed 35 years of incredible grace and mercy on my life! I can honestly say that my life has been better than I could have imagined. All I can say is thank You, God that you have not treated me as my sins deserved, but instead, have poured out grace upon grace; kindness on kindness. I am overwhelmed as I consider how goodness and mercy have followed me all of the days of my life.

Wise Words About Providence

"God works in mysterious ways. He raised Moses in a palace to serve in a desert. He raised Joseph in a desert to serve in a palace." - Ravi Zaccharias

Favorite Piper Teaching

Well, it's not my favorite, but it is one of my favorites. I could never choose just one. As much as I listen to Piper online, this is one teaching I keep going back to over and over again. Go here and find teaching number 173. Let Love Be Genuine Enjoy!

Just Thought I'd Ask

Jason and I were having a discussion the other night and I thought I’d invite the blogosphere in on the question:

“What would you tell yourself if you could go back in time ten years or so? (whatever your previous season of life was)”

“What would you tell yourself if you could speak to you as an elderly person?”

Wise Words About Humility

“Humility in Scripture does not mean pretending to be worthless and refusing positions of responsibility, but knowing and keeping the place God has appointed for one.  Being humble is a matter of accepting God’s arrangement, whether it means the high exposure of leadership, or the obscurity of being a servant.” –The Reformation Study Bible pg. 1519 in “The Humble Obedience of Christ”

I know that the place God has called me to is my home. It is indeed primarily a role of obscure servant-hood. I don’t think I ever connected my obedience to God through His calling me as a helper to my husband, a lover of my children, and a worker in my home as an expression of humility. Conversely, I have never associated my lack of keeping the place God has called me to a source of pride. Laziness…yes. Selfishness…yes. But pride?

One manifestation of pride is me seeking to elevate my will above God’s will. This happens primarily in the so-called minutia of life. It is expressed in things like napping when I have laundry to do. It’s in wasting money on fast food when my husband told me we need to stick to the budget. It’s in threatening and repeating myself to my kids rather than lovingly bringing biblical correction. It’s in skipping Math today because I would rather go to Target.

What is the solution to my pitiful pride? How do I joyfully get on the path of humility right here and now in the minutia of life? One way is to consider the ultimate example: Jesus.

“In His humiliation, He left behind the eternal glory that was His, taking on a perfect and complete human nature: body, soul, spirit. Through His incarnation He lived a life of poverty and suffering. He was rejected by His nation, finally to die the shameful death of a common criminal.” –RSB pg. 1519 “The Humble Obedience of Christ”

Jesus humbled Himself to become a man, live a perfect life – completely conformed to the will of the Father, and then die on a cross suffering the wrath that my sins deserve. And now, because of His humility, I can have grace to conform to the will of the Father as well. Even now, when I get up from the computer and commence the day’s activities, I want to keep the Savior’s example before me.

It’s time to make the beds!