CAPTION, ANYONE?

Wordless Wednesday

CAPTION, ANYONE???? ;)

What's a Mom to do?

Sunday was our youngest child's birthday...He is 17 years old!

How did this happen?

I have been preparing for this since our first child grew up and left home. Yes, I know children grow up and leave home--I spent the entire year of our daughter's last year in high school--POUTING.

That wasn't pretty!

I've had 10 years to prepare for Sam's exit....and to try to do it a little better!

There are many transitions in life--aren't there? Children come into our family and children leave. I'm clicking my heels together three times as I say this: what we share with them between these events matters most! Yes, there's no place like home! There's no place like home! There's no place like home! It matters that they take a little bit of home with them.

Each day as we awake, we are given another opportunity to bless our children. Another chance to enhance their day and their future. Oh that I could have that awareness in the grogginess of my early a.m. grumpiness! Maybe I would smile a little bit more often as I stumble through the morning rituals.

As we walk through the mundane and the tedious tasks of the day, oh that we could realize how extraordinary our ordinary is! Maybe we would smile a little bit more often as we trudge through the loads of laundry, the endless dirty dishes, and the miles of carpooling.

And, at the end of each day as we say our "Good nights;" lists yet unfinished while new tasks await, does it really matter that my house is spotless ....if I haven't taken the time to leave an imprint of love on my son. Oh that I could have that awareness in the fatigue of each "Good night," maybe he'd smile a little more often!

Tackling the transitions of life create a mixture of emotions. As I sit by my laptop, memories fill my heart to overflowing!




So, as I tackle this last year of his last year at home, I will practice what I have learned from my pouting. :)

I will celebrate the blessing his life has been.

I will cherish the memories.

I will honor the young man he has become by trusting his good character.

I will begin to step out of his life and allow him to step into his life...so he can practice being a young adult while still in the safety net of our home and hearts.

I will pray for him as he continues to grow--in life and in the Lord.

I will rejoice for each day of his life to come and those that have been--for what more can a Mom do than love her son enough to let him go.

Friday's Wrap Up

Friday's Show n Tell....

Is it really Friday already?

What a week it's been! It's a balmy 18 degrees above zero in Minnesota and while I've been tempted to go outside without a jacket and do a little frolicking in the snow, I've been busy learning our a new web technology: Webcasting.

As many of you know, I have been working 24/7 in a new ministry, Setting Boundaries. This new ministry is dedicated to bringing support and encouragement--hope and healing--to parents in pain who love a dysfunctional adult child. In October, I partnered with Allison Bottke, author of the landmark book, Setting Boundaries With Your Adult Children: Six Steps to Hope and Healing for Struggling Parents.

Do you have your copy yet? :)

As part of our new web launch we hosted a webcast (like watching TV on your computer) whereby people could register to spend an hour with Allison Bottke LIVE from the comfort of their own home office...or couch! The registrations came in (thank you God!) and the response to the webcast (last night from 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. CST) was incredible (God IS so good!)

If you are a parent of an adult child whose life is in constant crisis and chaos or if you know someone who is a hurting parent, please visit Setting Boundaries dot.com Learning a new web technology is really amazing...but watching as hurting parents discover SANITY....is simply the best! How I love when God takes our pain and give it HIS divine PURPOSE!

Check out the Online Community Forums....leave a comment of encouragement or post a question of concern. Register to receive our bi-monthly e-zine, SANITY now!, which will feature Allison's syndicated News Column, "Ask Allison About Setting Boundaries."

In fact, YOU, my Partner in Prayer for Our Prodigal friends, will have the FIRST opportunity to post your questions and review Allison's answers to the epidemic issue of enabling--as the "Ask Allison About Setting Boundaries" will debut right here SOON!

WOO-HOO!

It's been a fabulous week! The (artic) sun is shining, the house is quiet, and hope has been renewed!

How has your week been? I'd love to hear your Friday Wrap-up!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Today, I am so thankful that SANITY is making a comeback! I am excited to invite you to watch a FREE webcast with Allison Bottke LIVE as she presents, "Finding SANITY in an insane world." There is still time to register at http://www.settingboundaries.com/live-webcasts/

I am so thankful for each email and response we have received since the launch, on January 12th, of our new website.

I am so thankful to be able to share the message of SANITY with hurting parents around the nation....and globe. Our first SANITY Support Group has been registered....in South Africa!

I am so thankful that God uses our pain for HIS glory and purpose!

I am so thankful that His message of hope and healing is like a soothing balm for our aching hearts.

Have a blessed Thankful Thursday...and don't forget: register to watch our inaugural webcast tonight at 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. CST. I'd be so thankful if you could join us. ;)

And...please leave a comment with your valued feedback! Thanks!


Today's Thankful Thursday is being hosted by Laurel Wreath. Thanks Laurel!

TACKLE IT TUESDAY!



The older I get the more difficult change is! I prefer to think of my resistance as "Comfort in the known" but it really is the "Fear of the unknown."

My logic tells me that our routines will change, our relationships will change, roles will change, and our assumptions DO change. But my emotions engage and I stay stuck in old, familiar patterns in spite of those changes.

That is, until I saw the video by James Thomas, a Facebook Friend, Christian Life Coach, and brilliant young Christian man. His advise to categorize and describe change in an effort to demystify change....is nothing short of brilliant!

Learning to set healthy boundaries with my adult child has been affected by my resistance to change. Making decisions in the heat of the moment causes most people to take the easiest way out of the pain. As James states, we have more than one option when we make a commitment to change.

1) modify the situation or
2)modify the way we think of the change

And since I am no longer taking responsibility for the choices, behaviors or consequences of my adult child's life......I can modify the situation by modifying the way I think! :)

The SANITY Support Group Network exists to help and encourage parents of dysfunctional adult children to make changes, not in the life of their adult child, but in their own lives. This change requires a huge leap of faith....for it could be categorized as "giving up control" kind of change...which is particularly difficult when the consequences loom large.

James is right....we CAN demystify CHANGE! Thanks James for helping me tackle my fear of change on this Tackle It Tuesday!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

‘Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”’ ~ Mark 10:27 (ESV)

This is the Scripture that Iris chose for this week's Thankful Thursday entitled--Possibilities.

It doesn't get any clearer than that--does it! Her closing words to us this week blessed me, "remember: never give up on a dream – be patient – as you know: All things are possible with God."

Following the web launch this week of Setting Boundaries, I have been livin' that dream! Yes, I have a new understanding of WHY Moses' hair turned white when he stood in the presence of God on that mountaintop...but why would a girl expect any less when she finds herself in the very presence of God's purpose for her life????? :)

This has been a monumental week at Partners In Prayer for Our Prodigals!

• I am so thankful that God matches our passion with His purpose. Friends, I still pinch myself as I find myself in the very presence of God, stunned by His wonderful gift of taking our pain and giving it purpose. Pain without purpose is just pain. Pain with God's purpose....is Glory! As the SANITY Support Group Network Creed states, "....I will begin to understand that it is often through pain that God does some of His best work....."
  
• I am so thankful for the body of Christ. Sisters and brothers in Christ, family, and Cyber friends and friends IRL are at the top of my thankful list each and every day! We are not alone. Karen, thank you for proving that this week as you enthusiastically helped me with the endless techie problems.
  
• I am so thankful for God's plan for each moment of our life. I never saw THIS plan as I attended and graduated from college (finally!). I never saw THIS as I prayed moment by moment for my MIP. I never saw THIS as I began Partners In Prayer for Our Prodigals three years ago. But God KNEW and was preparing my heart and the way for Setting Boundaries! He IS so faithful, no matter our faith.
  
• I am so thankful for YOU--although we may not know one another IRL, God has brought us together on this glorious day (yes, I said glorious--even though the outside temperatures are topping out at -21 degrees, with wind-chill it is -35 degrees!)--where was I: oh yes, GLORIOUS day....for we cannot forget that God "inhabits the praise of His people;" (Psalm 22:3) so girlfriends--as we share in this Thankful Thursday post, we are standing (or sitting ;)) in the very presence of God! THAT my friends, is glorious!
  
• I am so thankful for Iris; and for this possibility in her life. Iris, we are praying for you as you step into God's purpose for your dreams!

Do you have a dream that you feel has been misplaced? Deferred? Dashed?

Make this day the day that you lay them ALL at God's altar of HIS possibilities for your life! He IS faithful, even with our most dreaded pain and our most desired dreams.

"Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right."--1 Pet. 4:19 NASB

"He is faithful that promised" (Heb. 10:23).

"Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens: and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds" (Psa. 36:5).

"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations..."--Psa. 119:90

We can walk in His possibilities! Aren't you thankful for God's faithfulness!

Happy Thankful Thursday!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Dallas girl meets snow!
January 2009










For other WORDLESS WEDNESDAY photos, click here

Don't forget to visit

Thanks! :)

TACKLE IT TUESDAY!

Breaking News!

After months (and months) of hard work and serious prayer.....the new web site for Setting Boundaries (with your adult children) is now LIVE!

This has been a HUGE tackle project....and my partners in this ministry have done a WOO-HOO kinda job!

I'm excited for my blogging friends to visit Setting Boundaries. Please feel free to stay a while...get to know Allison Bottke, sign up for the FREE webcast on January 22, check out our new theatrical scenarios (like the one right under "Partners in Prayer for our Prodigals") and listen to the official Setting Boundaries song by J. Brian Hill, "Draw A Line."

Thank you for sharing in this momentous occasion with me....God is so ALWAYS good!

He has turned "my wailing into dancing" (Psalm 31: 11)--a project only God can tackle!

Please help me spread the word...so many parents are hurting...

Please visit other TACKLE IT TUESDAY posts here.