Grace Grace God's Grace

Okay Okay I know that it has been 17 days since my last post, but let's all say together--crazy! So any grace you would like to give me will be greatly appreciated. I now vow to never look at anyone else's blog and think good grief--hello--could you not blog on a regular basis. Because we don't know what has transpired in their life since their last blog. And to be honest wouldn't that be a good policy to have in life period not just in the land of blog. When we look at someone else's life and think good grief--hello--could you get it together (not that I have ever thought that about anyone hmm hmm but...) any grace we could give would be greatly appreciated I am sure. Any way back to my lack of blogging.

Let me say first, my excuse not to blog began around 3 AM on April the 8th (which by the way was my 43rd birthday). Any who, we woke up to a hail storm--seriously some golf ball size attacking our house--it was the craziest thing. None of the kids woke up--grace. However Carl and I are looking out the front door, out the back windows to make sure we were not being attacked and it really is the weather. We get back into bed and the alarm goes off at 4:30 AM because Carl is headed out of town. At 5:00 AM the loudest KABOOM I have ever heard shook our house. I sat up in bed and said, "Holy cow!" which is funny because I don't know that I have ever said that before, which I suppose is better than alot of other things that I could have said. Carl said, "that blew a transformer somewhere." (Moms of little boys, that is not a toy that changes from a robot to a building, it is a box where electricity runs through and changes to a higher voltage or to a lower voltage whatever the case may be--fyi) And then came round two of the hail storm. Carl left around 5:15 AM kissing me but without telling me happy birthday. I chose to have grace mostly because I was sure that he had left a card for me in our bathroom. Then when I went in the bathroom at 7:05 AM and it wasn't there, however, I chose grace because I was sure that he had left it in my closet. Not there, I chose once again to have grace because I was sure for half a second that surely he had left it in the car--he is cute that way sometimes to leave me notes in the car when he or I one are traveling, but not this time because I then remembered that I had already been in the car to take Andersen to the bus stop and it was not there. Once again I chose to have grace because Carl is so cute and so sweet. And also because after 22 years of birthdays together this is the first that he has forgotten.
Come to find out that KABOOM was actually lightening striking my neighbor's houses. One on either side of us. My neighbor to the left got a HOLE in the roof, flooded their attic, knocked electrical out, phone out, splintered their attic cross beams--a real disaster--they were even on the evening news, it was so bad. And then our neighbors on the right got their electrical outlets burned, microwave, ovens, computers etc totally fried. By God's grace, we were not struck but the impact of whatever messed up our modem and our router. Complete grace because I deserve to be struck and just happened to be smack dab in the middle--literally of God's grace that night. Could have been my birthday present from the Lord--I don't know!
Next excuse for my bloglessness. My nephew got married the following weekend and having procastinated for 5 weeks, I was frantically shopping for a flowergirl dress, and 3 other "wedding outfits" for my kiddos. And then we headed to the wedding...
My nephew who is 23 got married to a precious (and we all know that I do NOT throw that word around lightly!) girl who has an adorable 18 month old son. To be completely honest and transparent, not a parent's ideal for their child but... After setting a wedding date 13 months away, they moved the wedding up to 5 weeks away. I will be a great aunt in November--wow. Again, not a parent's ideal for their son, but...
Can I just tell you my sister and sweet sweet brother-in-law handled this "not ideal" situation with absolute GRACE. I could not have been more proud or impressed with my sister. She not only loved on her daughter-in-law to be through the entire process and planning of the wedding but exhibited grace to them both at every opportunity. Way to long to detail each opportunity, but needless to say I CRIED every time I turned around.
Then my nephew who loves the Lord, has been used by God to be a witness on every championship ball team that he has been a part of, showed ultimate grace to this sweet little boy. After he and Whitney had exchanged their vows, the pastor says, "Blake you have expressed the desire to make a commitment to Peyton as well. So do you Blake, take Peyton to love as your own." Blake, "I do." "Do you promise to raise him in a home where the word of God is taught and lived out." I do. GRACE! Needless to say I didn't even turn around and I was crying! I was so proud.
What an incredibly tough couple of weeks for my sister. I hurt for her and cried for her. But let me tell you the Lord really spoke to me and has forever altered my parenting because of this life event. Not the plan, do you hear me, not the plan. My sister and brother in law are godly godly examples. Have prayed with, for, and over those boys. Raised them in an exceptional Christ centered home. Even though Blake chose to momentarily step outside of God's boundaries, all through out the weekend I could see Blake's heart for the Lord. Even though, yes he messed up you could still see his tenderness toward the things of God. And this is what I feel like the Lord taught me. My goal is not to raise good kids who never mess up, but to raise my kids to have a heart for God, regardless of their mistakes and even through their mistakes to have a heart for Him. And I can tell you that is my goal EveryDay and it will only be by His Grace that will happen. You know what beloved hymn is echoing in my head right now, you got it...Grace grace God's grace, Grace that is greater than all my sins.
Please forgive the never ending blog...could have been longer had I chosen to write about 5th disease, ring worm, Espresso--a ladies event at our church that was the night before we left for the wedding, or driving on 0 miles till empty for 40 miles--you know just EveryDay stuff that took place over the past 17 days.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

One thing for sure, life is never boring in the Lopez family! Last night, I left with the 3 girls to go to Emporia, Kansas for Andersen's state gymnastics meet. (Which is funny in and of itself that our state meet is in Kansas since we reside in the state of Oklahoma--hmmm.) We have traveled this route often and make sure we stop at the Gap Outlet that just happens to be on our way--is God good or what. Anyway, we arrive in Emporia a little after midnight. We always stay in the same hotel. So I pull confidently into the hotel ready to hit the sack--all three girls are asleep already. I failed to make a reservation which I normally do, but had a pretty crazy week and forgot to do so. No room in the Inn! Okay we'll go across the street--no vacancy. There was not a hotel room in Emporia. The thought crossed my mind to sleep in the Excursion with the girls--I mean why have a monstrosity of a vehicle if you can't sleep in it every once in a while. Thankfully common sense kicked back in and I called Topeka which is about 50 miles away. No rooms available--what is wrong with these people in Kansas--didn't anyone go to the final four to watch their team--for goodness sake! Okay next town, I called Ottawa. The second hotel I called had two rooms left--Praise the Lord!--we will take one. So I gave the guy my credit card number to reserve my bed. It is now about 12:45 am. I asked the guy, "Okay tell me, what is the best way to get there. I am in Emporia." He said, "Get on I-35 SOUTH to exit 183." Which did not sound right to me having grown up in KC. So I asked two more times, "Are you sure, I get on I-35 south?" "YES."--okay. So about 15 minutes down the road I notice the the mile markers are getting smaller not larger so I called my friend at the front desk. Asked again--yes stay on I-35 south. Thirty minutes down the road I am sure this is not the right direction. So when I called, the guy said, "Hello Denise." "Yes, dear stay on I-35 south just a little further. We will see you in a little bit." (yea right) Okay now there is a McDonald's/Gas station on the turnpike so I tell Andersen I am going to stop and see if we are going the right way--(and get a diet Coke of course). I asked the lady, "How far am I from Ottawa?" Her response, "You are about 135 miles away." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? It is 1:50 AM and I am two hours away from my bed and Andersen competes in 6 and 1/2 hours. So I call my friend in Ottawa--"Oh honey, (did I mention that I am confident that his sexual orientation is not the one that is biblically correct?--I am not judging I am merely making an observation) honey how did I get you going in the wrong direction I am so sorry. I can not believe I did that. I love you (HE IS TELLING ME HE LOVES ME??!!--I am not making this up)" I asked if he could cancel my reservation I would not be staying there. Again the thought of driving back to Emporia and sleeping in my car crossed my mind. And then Andersen said, "Mom I think we should just go home. I don't even care if I compete." "Are you sure sweetie." "Yes, and maybe we can get home and go to the cheer meeting--(YES ANDERSEN MADE CHEER!!)." So we drive to Wichita. I call the Hampton Inn--have you stayed at a Hampton lately? They are on a remodeling campaign and their beds are the most comfy bed I love it) $109.00 for 4 hours of sleep. Even at 2:00 in the morning, I am more frugal than that. Sorry we will go else where. Next hotel--NO ROOM--the desk clerk called another hotel--not so nice $94.00. Sorry for $15 I am headed to the Hampton for my comfy 4 hours of sleep. By now Avery is awake and being witty as ever and making Andersen and I laugh. Back at the Hampton, I being a people person and ever the story teller share my past 2 hour events with the desk clerk. He feels sorry for me and takes $20 dollars off my bill. I am not sure of his sexual orientation. So I park the bus and the girls and I get inside, get in the elevator and I am soooo ready to get into my comfy bed. Andersen sticks the card in the door--the light turns green--it beeps twice--and we are in. Only to find that someone's been sleeping in my very comfy bed! And they left a half eaten apple on the tv. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! So we head back down the elevator. The desk clerk can not believe that someone has not done their job and pleasantly gets us another room. But first he calls the room to make sure no one is in there. So now we get in the elevator--get the giggles in the elevator--gain composure before the doors open and head to our room, get jammies on and get in our very comfy beds. AHHHH--at 2:48 I am well on my way to a good morning's sleep. The alarm on my phone (which is calypso) goes off at 6:00 am. I however choose to snooze 4 times and got up at 6:40 am. At 7:30 am we are back in the bus headed for the Parent Cheer meeting at 11:00. We made it in time for me to pay my first installment of cheerleading fees--lucky me. We also got to see AJ's baseball game--can life get any better??? You can't make stuff like this up!

2-4-6-8 Who Do You Appreciate

Today Andersen had cheer try-outs for Union 8th Grade for next year. We will get an email tomorrow that will let us know if she made it or not. This was Andersen's first year to have to try out. In 6th and 7th grade everyone who wants to cheer--cheers, since there are 5 different football teams per grade so there is a large demand for cheerleaders. Our school district is huge--over 12,000 students! Andersen has 1200 students in her class.
We struggle with the size of our district. Union is the best of the best--teachers--administrators--facilities (our football stadium holds 14,000 and is astro-turf!) But we are seriously praying through what will be best for our kids for the future.

I have ALOT on my plate right now--which is not different than any other week of the year for me, except that the things that are on my plate right now are emotionally heavier than most weeks. Because of the personal nature of what is going on, I am not going to blog about details. But this is what I have dealt with this week--unwed pregnancy of a close family member, unfaithfulness to fiance, 27 year old man killed in a car wreck due to a aneurysm, precious friend diagnosed with brain tumor--(please pray for Julie that God would perform a miracle!), my grandmother has pancreatic cancer and just this week has experienced excruciating pain--(which is probably an indicator that we have very little time left with this Matriarch of our family and wonderful servant of Christ) , and my husband is out of town--not to mention CHEER TRY-OUTS (minute compared to these other things but HUGE to my 13 year-old.)

God has blessed me beyond measure by putting unbelievable precious people in my life--other than family. When I was at a breaking point this week--I called my friend Lana--bawling (which I do NOT normally do) and she just encouraged me--made me laugh--sympathized with me--I could go on and on. Just blessed I am.
Then today I had the honor of being admonished and encouraged by my mentor in the ministry and spiritual father, Dr. Jett. A compassionate and wise man (if you have read my other blogs the husband to my friend Marilyn).

I am completely overwhelmed tonight with appreciation for Lana and Dr. Jett for their friendship, love and encouragement--that I feel like cheering!