My Father's Daughter

 I have been naming my years. I don't think I ever shared that before.  I didn't know that others do this until I saw this post a couple years ago. Instead of resolutions I found myself giving a name to what was coming. I've been reluctant to say these names out loud until now, I'm not really sure why. I've mentioned before how putting words to things and ideas is how something becomes real to me. Writing untangles my mess of thoughts. Keeps things linear. So giving a year a word to weigh it down, to make it real, just kind of happened.  I think I was half way through the year the first time I realized it had a theme. I don't remember how long ago, and there were many years where I had no words, it was just babies and no sleep and just surviving. But the first year I remember naming was named Help. I was desperate for an ear, an arm, an understanding smile. A place to fit. I needed a friend, another mama? Someone to see I was drowning. This th

Five minute Friday about who my mama is. We write for five minutes, with a prompt, because we love the words and we love the community. What mama did.. Go She loved. She worked. She poured God into every crevice of our lives that she possibly could. My mama. That mama of 6. She watched her middle daughter go through chemo and depression. She gave me all she had. She became a nurse and did the job of a mama and a dad. She persevered. And that's saying something. Because the 6 of us? We weren't easy. We were downright unruly. She made mistakes. She taught us all how to cling to God. How to give thanks. She taught us that life is tough but God is tougher. She is still teaching me how to loosen my grip and just let God work. She told me that I just need to do the next right thing. Not be overwhelmed in fixing all the mess but just do the next thing. That's all. My mama with her 6 kids her 2 daughters-in-law and her 2 sons- in-law, her 16 grandchildren a

Thinking on this Super Bowl Commercial About How God Made a Farmer    and then this post on Mothers.    These made me think of how, really, women were the very last thing God created. That's a powerful concept. Before there could be a mother or a family, a society or community there needed to be a woman. So often we {women?} can feel put upon or burdened by all that is expected of us. But what if, maybe we feel saddled because this life and this world has told us things should be dufferent than they are. What if all this weight is because we don't know who we are, if we aren't living up to all we are expected to be? All we are created to be. God looked over all His creation, creation He deemed good, and decided one last finishing touch was needed. So God made a woman. Actually, what He made was a wife. He saw that man He made needed someone: so God made a woman. He knew this man would need a friend: so God made a w