Glasses and Contacts!

Our baby starts kindergarden this fall. That is all I can say about that right now! However, it brings back memories of our very first kindergarden preparations with Avery. I took him in for his physical, and we found out that Avery had VERY POOR eyesight! This was a shock to me, because he never gave any indication whatsoever that he was struggling with this! The most shocking thing of all is that Avery is pretty much blind in his left eye! I felt like a horrible mother for not knowing this for the first FIVE years of Avery's life! He was such a cutie in his new glasses.
It was a whole new world for him. The day he got his glasses we drove to Nashville for camp meeting. He read EVERY SINGLE mile marker between Jackson and Nashville. He was so excited, because he said he did not realize the signs had numbers on them!! Again, felt like a horrible mama. He wore his glasses 24/7. We would have to go in his room at night and slip them off.


We also had six weeks of patching his right eye in hopes of waking that left eye up! Patching - Is - Not - Fun. Especially with a busier than busy boy!


His favorite patch was his "pirate" patch...


I was so thankful when the patching was over. It did help the left eye a little bit. Thus began the many years of broken glasses, frames bent beyond recognition, weekly trips to the eyedoctor to get re-adjustments, and so on. Speed up time SEVEN years...and we now have CONTACTS...and instead of starting kindergarden, we are starting seventh grade! I am proud of my oldest son. He keeps life exciting, he scares me to death because he never looks before he leaps in any of life's circumstances! I am prayerfully looking forward to the next phase of Avery's life!

In This Home...

In This Home...
WE DO hugs and kisses
please and thank you
fun
together
LOUD...really well
I'm sorrys
LOVE
prayer time
mistakes
Star Wars
real
snack time...often
God first in all things
GOLF and basketball
smiles
grace and mercy
yes sir and yes ma'am
church!
Daddy knows best
make your own bed
silly
patience...at least, we try
family
all things boy

Episode in the Elevator

My sons have terrific abilities to remember many things that I have long forgotten in the midst of trying to remember when book reports are due, dentist appointments are scheduled, and when to pick up my husband’s dry cleaning. Yesterday we were in the doctor’s office elevator and Riley asked me if I remembered the time when he was three and the elevator stalled with us inside. The memory is much funnier, and less scary, now than it was at the time.


We were in Chattanooga visiting a conference for my husband’s job. While at the conference, the decision would be made by the company if we would be moving to Maryville from Jackson within the next couple of months. Considering that I was 7 months pregnant and unsure of where I would be living when my baby was due, my stress level was through the roof. Harley-Davidson was also holding a conference there along with several other large businesses.


Avery, Riley, and I were in one of the many elevators along with 3 of the Harley-Davidson conferencees. I was trying my best to keep Riley and Avery from gawking at the men with looonnngg braided beards and very descriptive tattoos, when suddenly the elevator STOPPED and the doors DID NOT open. One of the very kind tattooed gentlemen told me they would call someone and get it taken care of.


The hotel told us that they would get someone over there as soon as they could. I must admit I was getting a little nervous, and my unborn Landry was choosing that moment to dance on my bladder, so I got a piece of paper out of my purse to fan with along with a few toys for the boys to play with while we waited. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Harley #1 point to my very large 7 month figure. Harley #2, visibly paled, whipped his cell phone out and very nervously told the hotel to hurry up because there was a pregnant lady stuck in the elevator with them. I quickly reassured them that I was fine...but they decided to take matters into their own hands.


Harley #3 physically pulled the elevator doors open with his bulging tattooed arms. Looking back, I am not sure that this was the safest way to go about this, but they did not take time to ask for my opinion. We realized that we were stuck between two floors and we could see the floor that we needed to be on out of the top half of the elevator.


Harley #1, #2, and #3 were REALLY nervous by this time. Before I knew it, Harley #2 had jumped out and up to the floor. Then, Harley #1 and #3 were lifting me (All of me) up and out. Next, Avery and Riley popped up. It all happened in a matter of seconds. I thanked my very kind helpers, and they hurried off as fast as they could. Evidently, the thought of having to deliver a baby scared the wits out of these ‘tougher than nails’ motorcycle men.

Lessons learned from the long ago elevator experience...
1. Always have toys in the purse for entertaining purposes of small children.
2. Use the restroom BEFORE getting on the elevator when 7 months pregnant.
3. Outward appearences should not dictate my reaction to the soul that is inside.
(In other words, looks can be deceiving.)
4. No matter how tough they are, not matter how great they are at being providers for the home, no matter how many engines they can work on, or tree houses they can build...MEN could never ever handle having a baby!!!!!!!!!

Lord, take me back to the Landmarks!

The newspaper headline read, “Tanks for the Memories.” It went on to tell the story of our water tower, a prominent landmark in our city. The name of our city, Maryville, was painted on its side. My husband read aloud the details to our family. The decision had been made to take it down. The article stated the water tower had not been in use for years and the cost to maintain it could not be justified. This “old way” of delivering water to the city was outdated as there were now more efficient ways to provide the service. The tower itself had become a relic to be looked upon fondly by those who remembered the days when it provided life-giving water to the city. What had once been imperative to the city’s survival was now a rusty, peeling eyesore.

We watched over the next several weeks as they disassembled the large water tower. The bowl at the top slowly came down, piece by piece. The large pieces of steel were lowered to the ground, cut up with a torch, loaded on a truck and hauled away. The skyline of our town would be forever changed. My eight year old son spoke up, “No one is going to know where they are after it is taken down.”

Sadly, my son’s remark gave me pause and caused me to consider a spiritual parallel. Over the years I’ve seen spiritual landmarks suffer the same fate as our city’s water tower. We have watched as many of our spiritual landmarks have been torn down just like the water tower. Modern technique and the church social club mentality have become more important than the things that have formed our foundation as a movement. They have slowly quit using our spiritual landmarks and have found that it is easier to just tear them down. Some ask, “Why keep them on display if we are not going to use them?” The cost of “maintaining” the landmark is thought to be too high. It seems many would rather conform than offend.

Many are no longer taking their children to visit the landmark of HOLINESS. Its story is not told in our churches, therefore a love for it has not been established in the hearts of our children. Because of this, the power of Holiness is becoming a distant memory of a past lifestyle. Their parents and grandparents visited and took snap shots of this spiritual landmark, but it is no longer considered a necessity for today’s generation. A love for Holiness was not developed. In its place is an empty lot with a ‘For Sale” sign where anything can move in.

The landmark of BIBLICAL DOCTRINE is also being replaced. The teachings that were once lovingly studied and taught by our forefathers have been buried in our church archives instead of in the hearts of the saints. Many have built cathedrals of unconditional love and grace in the place where doctrine once stood. The next generation does not realize the soul saving necessity of it.

My husband read the conclusion of the article. The water tower that once proudly welcomed travelers to our city and let them know they were in Maryville, was now being sold for a small price on Ebay. Surely those who once appreciated the life-giving flow of water from the tower could have never imagined the day it would been torn down and sold for scrap. How often has it been decided that the destruction of spiritual landmarks were necessary to draw in a bigger crowd with bigger bank accounts? Unfortunately, our religious culture seems perfectly at ease selling off the spiritual landmarks that have guided our past. However, my salvation and the salvation of my family, is not for sale…at any price.

Destroying spiritual landmarks is not a new thing. Solomon allowed worldly pleasures to replace his God-given landmark of WISDOM. Samson gave up his ANOINTING for the love of this world. Esau traded his BIRTHRIGHT for a bowl of soup. Hophni and Phinius traded their PRIESTHOOD for the riches of this world. The rich young ruler passed on SALVATION to hold on to something that he could not keep. Saul traded his KINGDOM for the jealousy of those to come. Each of these was once a major landmark in their lives, but they were laid aside for what they thought were bigger and better things.

My son’s words continued to come back to me as the weeks of demolition continued. How many of our churches will lose their way because of the spiritual landmarks that are slowly being removed from our spiritual landscape? I am determined to take my children to the landmarks of holiness, doctrine, and righteous living until it is indelibly imprinted on their hearts. I want them to be so in love with them that they will never tear them down, though the years go by. May the foundation be so firm under these landmarks that they will never crumble when it comes time for them to make lifestyle decisions of their own. I pray my children have a sign on the spiritual landmarks of their hearts that reads, “Not For Sale.”