Morning Memories

The start of our daughters 5th grade year 

has stirred up a ton of emotions for me. 

She's double digits now. 

She has only one year of elementary school left.

I'm getting, um, older.

As I was thinking back over my own school years, 

a few things stuck out to me. 

One memory is the drive to school each morning. 

My mom, as far back as I remember, 

did the same thing every day 
on our drive to school. 

Rain or shine. 

Good mood or bad mood. 

Running late or on time. 

Slowly or rushed.

My mom knew the power of her words. 

And she knew the power of The Word. 

Each morning on our drive to school 
my mom spoke this over me.

Sometimes as a prayer. 

Sometimes as a declaration. 

And sometimes as a plea. 

"Lord, give Joy the Helmet of Salvation. 

Place on her the Breastplate of Righteousness. 

Wrap her with the Belt of Truth. 

Shod her with the Sandals of Peace.

Protect her with the Shield of Faith.

Let her boldly carry the Sword of the Spirit."

Some days the in between words changed. 

Some days the prayer was longer. 
Some days shorter. 

But every day I had the Armor of God 
prayed over me. 

I can only attest that part of who I am today 
is because I had a praying mom. 

As Autumn enters into the world of public school, 

I pray she is covered from head to toe. 

From her inmost to her utmost. 

And I pray I will be as determined 
to see my children succeed, 

as my mom was to see me succeed.

To stand, when all else fails, 
and to know they are protected. 
Because they are covered. 

On The Sidelines

I'm used to 2 am texts, counseling over relationships, 
accountability for guarding a heart,  input on a questionable clothing,  
tears when someone has slipped, rejoicing when someone triumphed, 
door step coffees, guilted into ultimate frisbee, and so on and so on. 


And right now none of that is happening. 


Although it may seem like a complaint, it's really not. 
It's just a new journey.

Some days it kind of feels like being on the sidelines. 

Not yet playing in the game. 

Like being a new coach who's just been 
brought in from a whole other team. 

And I've got to watch a few game tapes and go to a couple 

big games in order to know the players well. 

In order to know their strengths. To know their weaknesses. 

To watch their wins. To watch their losses. 

This all takes 

Effort. 

Energy. 

Consistency. 

Determination. 

Grace. 

And Time.

So as bad as I sometimes want to jump feet first, 

it takes sitting on the sidelines for just a little while. 

As we start this new journey we covet your prayers. 

We want to coach to the best of our ability. 

And we have no doubt we will see this team win! 

Absent Much?

End of Homeschool Year.
Celebrating 10th Birthdays.
Student Internship.
Summer Camps.

Oh, yeah.
And packing up our house in Florida.
So we could move to South Carolina.

That's why I've been absent from my blog.

But I'm back.
And I can't wait to take you on our journey with us.
We'll also walk down some Memory Lanes.
It's gonna be fun.
I can almost guarantee it. Almost!