Becoming Mama Leisha

Today At the Well they are talking about mentoring in the spirit of Titus 2 and it made me think about a phone call recently from a sweet younger friend....one of who have fondly become known as my "Mama Leisha Girls". Our lives have been busy and we have not had much opportunity to spend time together in the last few years so in a quick catch up call after seeing each other at a function earlier that evening at church we talked briefly. Her life has recently taken a new direction and she is walking out a dream in faith and I was telling her how I am so proud of her and that I get amazed when I look back and she how she has grown. God is doing beautiful things in her and the fruit is a joy to see. She mentioned something about me and my "Mama Leisha" calling - this has been an ongoing grin/smirk/giggle for several years now, the thing about it ........now it really does seem to be more than a grin/smirk/giggle. She has called me Mama Leisha for most of the time we have known each other, but said she always felt that I was too young to be called "Mama" (I told you she was a sweet friend) however, she said that the last few years have changed me as I have walked the path from a full time working Mom to a full time homeschooling Mom - she says I have gained wisdom and grown into the "Mama Mantle" that God has placed on my life. WOW - can I just tell you how that humbled me?? I love and value this young woman of God and consider it an honor that she would see those things in me.....me?!!??

God can use anyone ......and He does, because as I look around my life, there are a few handfuls of young ladies in my life who come to me for advice, counsel, friendship and yes....mentoring. Some want to know more about being a Mom, some about being a wife and others about walking with the Father - none of these things do I feel qualified or worthy to advise them on - but God continues to deliver them to my doorstep so I press forward in obedience and honor to Him regardless of my shortcomings - He is sufficient and He dwells in me - so I am enough in Him. We can always be sure that we are doing what is pleasing and honoring to Him if only we will tunr it over to Him - keep our hands off of it and allow Him to be the Potter - He creates more beautiful works than we could ever even imagine.

I have a sweet friend who comes for coffee each Tuesday morning before she goes to school (sadly that is about to end and we are going to have to find another time), I have another dear and yes, younger friend who phones me on her way to work once or twice a week so we can catch up and I can get my steel toed boots out for her when she needs them - she tells me I am the only one who can get away with that. Then there is my sweet sweet original Mama Leisha girl who lost her precious Mother to breast cancer several years after the Mama Leisha jokes began and who now just this past weekend introduced me to someone as her "Mama Friend" (I am 12 years older). There is my beautiful 2nd Mama Leisha Girl, who touched my heart when she asked me to be a bridesmaid last July- telling me that she could not imagine walking down the aisle without her "Mama Leisha" and Iwas stretched beyond belief and as I spent time with the other 11 beautiful, thin under 30 gals in the bridal party for 2 days - did I mention I was stretched there ;-) !! What started as a joke in a hospital ER because of a confused nurse has grown and become what I really believe is God calling.....I am honored and humbled and blessed beyond words by the love and friendship of these young women who trust me to mentor them and guide them as they encounter life. So as they continue to come into my life, my prayer is that the Lord will continue to grow me up and use me to minister to them and mentor them as he sees fit.

I have come from much brokenness and God is so graciously allowing me to use that brokenness to bless others. A pastor friend of mine once told me when I shared some of my testimony with her that people trust people who walk with a limp. I have found this to be so comforting and so very true. Thank You Father, in you all things do come together for the good of those who love you.

Girls - you know who you are - I love you and thank you for the abundant blessings you give me by allowing me to be a part of your lives and watching you grow and mature in who our Awesome Father has called you to be - thank you for sharing a part of your journey with me !! I can't tell you how much I love you and how grateful I am that God chose to deliver you to my doorstep!!

Learning as I go,

(Mama) Leisha

Frugal Romance

The Principal and I recently celebrated our 4th Anniversary - wow - what a whirlwind 4 years it has been. When we married I was a full-time working Mom preparing my 3 year old to start school the following year. Thank goodness God is so gentle and has such a wonderful sense of humor and timing for, if not for those things we certainly would not be where we are today - it is as always by His Grace Alone that we are who we are and doing what we are doing. I am now a full-time homeschooling Mom learning to care for family and home in ways I had no knowledge of a few short years ago - Thank You Abba Father !!!

In light of the changes that we have made in our day to day circumstances, many other changes have followed both out of need and desire. One of the things that I try to do as much as I possibly can is continue to "earn" an income at home by being a good steward of the provision with which we are blessed. There are so many ways that I have learned to make money go further (future post perhaps?) and some of them I wouldn't change now even if there was an endless supply of money. The Principal earns a good living and I feel it is my responsibility to put the deserved value on his hard work by not spending it carelessly....SO....with that in mind I approached our anniversary with the best of intentions and rather than focus on what could I buy him I focused on what could Igive him. Take these ideas and use them as you wish - it is my prayer that they inspire you to romantic genius!!This year I found myself thinking back to so many moments of our trip to Jamaica where we were married barefoot on the beach and so decided to go with the "Jamaica" theme for showing my sweetheart how much he means to me on this anniversary. The Principal wakes the roosters in the morning so I knew he would be up before me - after he was sleeping sweetly the night before I snuck into our bathroom where I had all the "props" stashed and set the scene for the morning. I gathered together a thank you card that had a wedding picture on the beach, a conch shell with a great story (for another time), a bathing suit wrap and hat I wore, sand and shells from the beach where we were married and our wedding rings. I set it all up in our bathroom by draping the wrap over the counter top and making a display of sorts - this was what he would be greeted with at he started the day - it was a huge hit by the way - he loved it and it set the tone for a wonderful day of romance. We made arrangements for Wonder Boy for the day and after getting him situated, we hit the road to do what we love and do best....letterbox and adventure!! We drove to a town a few hours away where there were several letterboxes that we had not yet found and enjoyed the day hiking and exploring - it was a crisp sunny day and we we had the best time. We decided to fore go the pricey restaurant meal instead deciding on a wonderful gourmet pizza at home while we relaxed by the fire. I made the best pizza I have ever made with authentic Italian type dough purchased from the deli counter at Whole Foods Market, topped with prosciutto and fresh basil and thinly sliced Roma tomatoes - it was divine - and only a fraction of what a dinner out would have cost! After dinner we exchanged small gifts and just hung out and talked in the comfort of our living room, in our comfy clothes without interruption from wait staff or child - it was heavenly.

This is the card I made for The Principal (I now make all the cards I give to both The Principal and Wonder Boy because well....they love them and I have issues with Hallmark (yet another post) and it's hard to find cards made by anyone else.

By the way - as an aside - Wonder Boy was so taken by all my plans he worked one up of his own - the morning of our anniversary he presented a gift to The Principal and I that he had put together himself. It was a beautifully wrapped ;-) journal with 2 pens - one red and one blue(so we could each have our own color to use) for us to write love notes to each other in, with a note from Wonder Boy written on the inside cover wishing us Happy Anniversary - how's that for homeschooling ? Not too mention precious!! Just to let you know - we keep it on the dresser in our closet and I usually read a note/leave a note when I am putting socks and t-shirts away.....it has turned out to be such a sweet sweet gift.

Let me share one last thing with you....the box. I bought this beautiful wooden box on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off several years ago now and filled it with 365 notes of love, thoughts, memories and thank yous to give The Principal for Christmas. I have since filled it for different occasions when it is empty - The Principal takes a note our randomly each morning before leaving for work and keeps it in his pocket to glance at throughout the day. I re-stocked the box for our anniversary - it had been sitting empty a while - I feel like a better wife when the box is filled ;-) I keep an excel file on my laptop and add things as they come to mind so that when the box needs filling I have something to print off, trim and fold. The Principal tells me this is easily one of the best gifts he has ever received. Different colored paper makes me happy......

I hope a peek into our romance will give you some inspiration to look outside the "norm" and return to the joy of gift giving with creativity inspired by love - really and truly you will save some money, but more importantly you will be beautifully packaging up the real gift that we all want .....love.....I don't think it gets any more priceless than that !

Learning as I go,

Leisha

I can't believe I made butter !!!

It's getting scary at my house.....I am spending more and more time in the kitchen and becoming braver in my "I can make that myself" thinking. As a direct result of this ever growing "Kitchen Power" ......I made butter !! Real butter from real milk - how cool is that ? The Principal just smiles and shakes his head at my culinary adventures - but I know he secretly digs it! He told me a while back that he never would have thought he would marry a "root hugger" but now that he now finds himself married to one and loving it. He is a "root hugger" too - he just needs a little more coaxing than I did. Wonder Boy is right there with us asking what can be recycled and continually coming up with incredibly complex and random ways to re-purpose items that have reached the end of their intended life.

As a family we are learning and growing in our desire to become more self sufficient and live a more sustainable lifestyle - what we have fondly come to call our "root hugger" ways ;-) I am defintely the ring leader in many areas but I am not alone. Stay tuned, I have vegetable rennet in the fridge for cheesemaking and I'm not afraid to use it......oh and then there is the rain barrel adventure - it's raining now and we are loving it - but more on that later ;-)

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Wonder Boy & Planet Earth

Wonder Boy entered the poster competition for the annual science fair at our homeschool covering last month and I am just now getting around to blogging about it - everyone in unison "Bad Mommy".

I received a phone call a few days before the deadline from a woman at church who works with Wonder Boy in the children's ministry and whose family belongs to the same homeschool covering as we do - she was calling to encourage Wonder Boy to get a poster entry ready in time for the contest. She said she had felt a leading from the Lord to make the call. The theme for this year's posters was "Our Wonderful Universe". The older kids 4th - 12th grade do real bonafide science projects - K through 3rd grade are encouraged to participate by building a poster. Wonder Boy chose to do his poster about Planet Earth.

We made the obligatory trip to the library and picked out several good looking books which I fully expected to see in the back seat of my car until they were due to be returned. Wonder Boy has never tackled anything of this magnitude and I really didn't expect him to see it through to completion mainly because, well, he is just so busy from one moment to the next - staying on task just isn't his strong suit - I certainly struggle to keep up with him (if you see me and notice the twitch please don't feel awkward - hugs help).

A few hours after we got home I thought I was seeing things - the books had made their way into our living room and Wonder Boy was on the couch completely engulfed in them. He tore his gaze away long enough to notice me in the room with the confused look on my face and within seconds began launching into facts he had learned about Planet Earth - to say I was impressed was an understatement - I had been in the kitchen making dinner and as it was so quiet in the living room I thought he had fallen asleep and went in to check on him ( all Mommy's know silence can be dangerous!!). He then proceeded to tell me about all the cool and super fantastic ideas he had for building his poster - they were good ideas - even cool and super fantastic.

That night I went in to check on him before I went to bed only to find him still awake in the bed with the book light and all his library books spread around him - when I asked him what on earth he was doing he answered very matter of factly "reading about the impact that humans have on the planet". He had me hooked from this point forward and we lived and breathed "The Poster" & Planet Earth for the next few days. We did online research and made a trips to Walmart & Hobby Lobby to get all our supplies. Wonder Boy worked hard and put an effort unlike anything I had ever seen into his poster. The day of fair arrived and we dropped the poster off at the alloted time to be judged - with the results to be announced that night at the science fair open house.

It was an exciting day, a much anticipated evening and what a thrill when they called out Wonder Boy's name as the overall 1st place prize for the K through 3rd grade posters !!! Sometimes they get it and then sometimes - the library books are in the back seat until the due date.......but we love them either way.

Thanks Mrs. T for listening to the leading and making the call - I cannot tell you how much good it did this mother's heart to see a little boy who so often struggles with the day to day things have such a sweet victory.

He is exactly who God made him to be and I am humbled that God chose me to be his Mom not just on the days like this but all the rest of them too - he truly is my Wonder Boy - Thank You Lord ;-)

I love you son - big love..........always

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Going Black to Go Green

The Principal is the "Green Guy" in our home - he leads our family in our green initiative - and sometimes I think we scare ourselves even with some of the changes we are making/have made. I wanted to share this one with you dear bloggy friends - I found out about this just recently - a way to green up your online time - go Blackle. The idea is searching in the dark ;-) Blackle is a sister site to Google a energy saving search engine - find out more about it here - if we all do a little we can stand together to make big changes - we only have so much to use - what happens to those who come behind us when it's gone? The Lord calls us to be good stewards.....

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Call to Prayer

There's snow on the fields

by Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894

There's snow on the fields,

And cold in the cottage,

While I sit in the chimney nook

Supping hot pottage.

My clothes are soft and warm,

Fold upon fold,

But I'm so sorry for the poor

Out in the cold.

This was our poem today from our Ambleside Curriculum. I have for some time now had a burden to pray for the homeless especially at this time of year when nights are often cold and damp, but today I felt God's leading to share this poem with you and ask you to join me in prayer. We cannot begin to imagine with a warm dry bed to lay in and sleep safely each night, with clean clothes and a clean, warm place to eat and bathe, what the life of a homeless person is really like. I know people who have at one time in their lives been homeless and it is not a life that is chosen by many of them. Most of you I'm sure are well acquainted with the attitude that "they choose" to live the way they do, and in some cases that may well be true. However, in most cases, it is circumstance beyond their ability to control that leads them into this hard and struggle-filled life. It breaks my heart to witness the attitude that many seem to have that the homeless do not have value and are merely "disposable" - there but for the grace of God do we stand my beloved !!

Please I beseech you, in your intimate time with Father God, lift these children of the Most High God to Him and seek His favor, blessings and safety upon them. These "invisible lives" need our prayers.

Matthew 25:34-46:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Pray with me won't you please ?

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Biblical Community for Our Kids

About 2 years ago in my online travels I came across something called the Daily Audio Bible - it turned out to be a podcast produced out of Nashville by a guy who works in the recording business - God had laid it on his heart to read through the bible in a year and share it with whoever came forth to listen. Well over the last several years it has become a thriving community and this year, Brian Hardin has brought his 11 year old daughter China on board and together they are serving up the Daily Audio Bible for Kids. The vision for this is to bring the bible alive to kids in a safe environment where they can share their thoughts, prayer requests and help each other grow in Christ through the online forums set up for kids as well as a toll free number that they can call and their calls can be included in the future podcasts. The podcasts can be download daily through iTunes or you can listen in daily online. We have started listening in the mornings as a great starting point for our school day. Attention spans are not too stressed as the podcasts are short at 10 - 15 minutes, they are well done, professionally produced and the camaraderie between father and daughter is a sweet addition - it's wonderful to hear the pride and mentoring that this dad is imparting into the ministry being birthed out of his 11 year old daughter. China is sweet and does a great job in her own right - Wonder Boy and I are really enjoying these as a great part of our homeschool day and just couldn't keep it to ourselves!!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha