Point The Way

Angel Varney Point The Way The weekend had been a nice and long one with three days full of good times and laughter and void of a schedule.  It was a holiday, the first one of the school year to be exact. Time was spent backyard barbecuing, dipping in the pool and watching fireworks at night. For a while mom even got to sit at the waters edge and chat with friends while the littles...

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Listening

Back where I come from the town is small and the ties run deep. Friendships are made on playgrounds in Kindergarten and often carry through to adulthood. Such is the case with me anyway. I'm sitting here watching my boy play the day away with his buddies and I can't help but wonder what bonds are being made over bike rides and dips in the pool. Some of the little girls that I played hop scotch...

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April

You know that old saying, "Life can change in the blink of an eye?" Yeah, that's turned out to be true. It's a little like balancing a tight rope for me because I've always been sort of carefree and laid back but with every year older that I'm getting comes another realization. Be ye therefore careful. And sometimes even in the midst of being as careful as can be, accidents are going to happen. Thus...

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What To Do When the Scrambler Stops Spinning

The scrambler is always my favorite ride at any theme park. Not much of one for a roller coaster with even as much as one loop, I'm the girl who sticks to the small rides. With two little people following along who are near waist high now, the scrambler is the perfect size for them and all the more fun for me. I've stood in that line of anticipation a few times this summer and with one passing group...

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A School Year Gone By

I walked him into his little classroom, my grip on his hand whitening knuckles for sure. This was big, this Kindergarten thing, and I knew my mother/smother hen nature was fighting letting go as we made the trek inside. It's inevitable when it's school time. What was once a choice was now a command. We made our way in and found his desk and said hi to the pretty little girl sitting beside him....

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The Best and Worst of Me

One of the biggest misconceptions from this social media driven world we live in is that everyone else's life is perfect. It's human nature to want to post cute pictures of our littles, the good things we've done this week and what all we're involved in and put it out there for the world to see. And while there's a fine line there that I think need's to be drawn as far as airing our dirty laundry,...

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Downstairs

Today my house is quiet. The littles are at school and here I sit out on the back deck reflecting on the whirlwind that has been the past five days. Birds are chirping, I can hear the pond ripping and the sun is shining bright. Anyone one would think that's a great day, right? Yes, matter of fact it is. Except that I miss those three little voices. The floor has been mopped and those little feet...

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God's Promise

These sweet kid's of mine, they're always teaching me a thing or two. They say the most profound things when you least expect it and such was the case this past weekend. Sunday evening the littlest and I went to the grocery store. The day had been a mixture of clouds and rain and as we walked out to the car to put the groceries in the vehicle, a big thunderstorm was looming overhead. "Hurry mommy,...

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Grateful

I'm grateful for this park right beside the library here in our quaint little town. And the creek that runs beside it. And the way that the littlest adores her big brother:) I'm grateful for the shock and awe of big bubbles and the preciousness of a five and six year old in their not-so-usual day clothes that I might have had to force on them for church. Or maybe not. Just pitching that out...

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The Unexpected Friend

It was late one Thursday night last fall when I found myself standing in the sporting goods section at Wal-Mart. A lot could be said about just that fact alone because trust me, I am the last person you will find out on most week nights. Especially at Wal-Mart and sporting goods? Oh my. That is just not my niche but duty calls so there was I. The truth is that I was struggling. Not the kind of...

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Redemption

Have you ever had the weight of brokenness settle on your shoulders and stay there for a while? I bet if you've lived longer than a few years you have. And it doesn't sit there like a fluffy comfortable pillow either. It's a hard, heavy, cumbersome sack of a thing and carrying it around is not fun at all. It settled on me Tuesday. Here's the back story- As our first foster experience we were given...

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Mundane Saturday

So when I realized that on Saturday we had nothing to do... Well, I was excited. I might have did the Hallelujah dance. Or maybe not. I'm just pitching that out there. Because besides watching Kentucky play basketball that evening, there was nothing I'd have rather done with our day than stay in our pajamas and chill. We've got another sweet little to love on for a while so resting and getting...

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Expactations

The weather was just beautiful and as a lover of sunshine,  I had our evening all figured out. It involved a lot of being outside. Dad's away on a work trip this week so I would bake the three of us a fine family meal of chicken nuggets and fries because we like to keep it healthy when he's gone.  We would then take said healthy meal out to the front lawn, spread out a picnic blanket...

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Joy Is

Joy is found in the small things of life. Ironic isn't it, since we spend so much of our days in vain pursuit of things that won't really matter in the end. My people and I-we spent last week unplugged and away from the busyness of every day. It was joyful indeed. The laughter in those little voices, the sunshine on their faces and the ice cream dripping from their chins, well it all did...

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Keep Digging

This sweet boy of mine, he is always teaching me a thing or ten. I'm so thankful that The Lord didn't make him an "easy child" because how boring would that have been? On good days he is a delight. On bad days he is stretching me, pulling me out of my comfort zone. I love it that he keeps me humble and in constant conversation with the Savior on my parenting. I don't even pretend to have him...

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The Loving and The Letting Go

You came and stayed for a little while. When you left, a part of my heart went out the door in the other arms that carried you. That's how this process goes, or so I'm learning. The truth is that I've only waded into the shallow end of the pool and still have so much to learn about how to be the best mama I can be to the precious littles being brought to us. Like for instance, how to love and...

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Free to Live

When you take on something, you inevitably give up something else. We're not superwomen. That's not who we're made to be. No matter how much anyone tries to portray that they can do it all-the fact of the matter is that none of us can. We can however,  do all things through Christ who gives us strength. But I tend to think He gives us strength more for the Kingdom work that He needs for...

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A Beautiful REAL Sunday

The Lords day has always been a favorite of mine. Even if, at least for a few times in my life, that might have been just because I considered it a command that mama rest on that day. That might have sounded something like, "Any further requests should be made known to your dad. I am now off duty taking a nap." But that's neither here nor there really because the point is yesterday I found myself...

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When Life As Usual Isn't Good Enough Anymore

For quite some time now we've been good. Life is comfortable, we're in a groove and the kids are well. Who could ask for more right? Well, we are. I was sitting at my desk (otherwise known as the kitchen table) Monday when I got a phone call that would change us forever. Quite some time ago, Tim and I felt the Lord leading us to become foster parents. We went through the classes and the home study....

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A Whole Hand

Today you are five my dear. When we woke up you wanted to make colored pancakes. Because, of course. I knew five years ago that this would be awesome, this sharing life with a little girl. But I had no idea just how awesome it was going to be.  Five years in and we are in full on royal mode at this house. You are our Princess and we adore you.  Right before your fifth birthday...

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