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Things Eternal

I had a wonderful, relaxing and fun weekend with a college friend of mine. I met Kim at Ouachita Baptist University during my sophomore year. We got to know each other when she saw me struggling to get into a tiny parking place at the dorm after a tennis class and she parked the car for me. We got to know each other better after that day. Kim is soooooo sooooooo funny. I tell her all the time that she should be a comedian. She is one of those people that everything that comes out of her mouth is funny. She gives me a hard time and I love every minute of it!
Kim is a therapist and my personal, free counselor. She also has taken care of foster children for the past two and half years.
I worked really hard last week to get the house looking nice for Kim and her foster baby to come visit. I worked hard to pick up the toys and get the floor clean and shining. On Thursday night, Emily was upstairs with me in the room Kim was going to sleep in. Emily peed on the floor outside the bathroom. Yes, she is 5 years old. She hates to go to the bathroom. I have even taken her to the Dr about this. I think she just does not want to take the time to go. Soooo, accidents happen. I cleaned up the mess and then we went to make some cookies for Kim, but we ate them all before she arrived. (I know.....the great hostess that I am,) Sarah Kate was helping stir the cookies and then she began peeing on the floor of the kitchen. She is potty training and I had failed to take her to the potty in time.
Sarah Kate had also been eating shredded cheese at the table and half the bag was on the floor. Steve was on the couch and I yelled at him, "I don't know why I even try!!!!!!" I never have anything to show for my work!" I looked around and saw a floor that was a disaster. Emily's room looked like an episode of hoarders. The freshly bathed girls had sticky cookie batter in their hair.
I thought about what my friend, Rachel, had said at lunch Tuesday. She talked about how she was trying to do something eternal with her boys everyday. I loved this thought!
For those of us who know Jesus, THIS is NOT our home, HEAVEN is our home! Am I spending time concentrating on things that REALLY matter? I spend a lot of my time doing things that don't matter a "hill of beans"
One hundred years from now, it will not matter if my floors were clean or my girls had the best clothes or if our house was always in order. I am going to shift my focus on doing things with my girls that will last forever. Do they know how wonderful God is? Do they know how much He loves them? Are we hiding God's Word in our hearts?

Kim has lots of little children that have been in her home in the past couple of years. These children come from terrible family situations. I am so thankful that Kim has these children, even if it is for a short time. Kim shows them God's love. She teaches them about WHO is the most important Man! Many of them have gone to church for the first time while in Kim's care.

Back in 2007, our Sunday School teacher used to say, "livin for heaven in 2007!" I thought this weekend of a new goal for my year...."livin for heaven in 2011!"

Comments

Lauren said…
GREAT GREAT post!!!!! :)
Anonymous said…
Wonderful post Laurie! I feel the same here too. Marc hates when I have a get together here. He knows all to well that I am going to go off on one of my Why Me Lord speeches about the house. I try. I really do. Thanks for the sweet reminder. Enjoy those beautiful girls!
Everday Edwards said…
Awesome post Laurie!

jaimi
Tara G. said…
It's hard sometimes when we wives/moms don't feel appreciated! What wonderful perspective the Lord has given to you! I think our youngest girls are about the same age (2.5?); potty training was a little frustrating because she is so headstrong, but it clicked finally!
Katie Parris said…
I write a blog its called Honey and the Hive. I have followed you blog for a while.You are the most humble person and you seem to have a beautiful spirit.I LOVED this blog.I am struggling w/things in my life and Not giving God enough time.I NEEDED this today. Thank you. You have touched my heart. Its comforting to see a fellow Christian struggle and share about it. God bless you!
GREAT, great post!!!!
Amy said…
Laurie....i have followed you for awhile, too and comment every so often. i love this post, because it is exactly what i have been dealing with lately. i have been so consumed with the task at hand that i neglect the relationships for which i am doing it!
i have been doing the "anointed, transformed, redeemed" bible study (awesome!!) and loved this quote:
"Mothering is not the ultimate goal of being a mom, revealing Christ to the children is."
....His intention is not the task, but that He might be more clearly seen..."
Thanks for sharing your heart today! :)
Sisters said…
I know just what you mean. But don't sell yourself short. All those time when you are playing with your girls, or singing praise songs with them are times that you are giving them things that are eternal!
And I have a daughter who doesn't like to go to the bathroom either. I have no idea why, but it is so very frustrating!!!
Andrea said…
I am laughing at your parking because I just did the very same thing for a friend with parallel parking. I'm from Los Angeles, she's from Houston. Needless to say that Texans never need to know how to parallel because everything is always so spread out. (A bit less so now that we're in Austin)

I have the same "peeing" issue with my 3 1/2 year old. I usually have to bribe her or threaten her to get her to go. A week ago I came out one morning (that little ninja sneaked out of her room without me hearing her) and she had food all over and had peed on my couch! Gah! THIS IS WHY WE DON"T HAVE NICE THINGS!!! lol

But you're right. None of it matters.

I always try to keep my kids looking perfect (even if I don't) and my husband sometimes has a hard time dressing them. But my sister-in-law said something that stuck with me. Their Dad would get up with the kids on the weekends (like my husband does now) and let their Mom sleep in. She said, our clothes were dirty and didn't match, our hair was a mess, and we ate cake for breakfast. But I will always remember how fun those Saturday mornings were with our Dad and how he just loved us....it made me want to cry. hahaha So now I try not to bug my husband too much about how the girls look if he is taking them out on a Saturday morning. He's a good father, just like his own Dad was. :-)

So happy your friend can be such a blessing and help to those kids. They will remember her forever.
Heather said…
Hi Laurie,

I don't know you personally, but found your blog through Kelly's Korner and read often. My heart was so blessed to read about your friend that is fostering! I actually was wondering if you could pass my email to your friend, Kim. My husband and I are thinking of fostering and would like to speak to someone that is experienced.

Thank you so much!
pamk said…
Have you heard of "Seeds Family Worship"? It is a great way to teach scripture to kids using catchy tunes. There is a great review of it on The Frugal Girl's blog here: http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/reviews/?p=399. You can listen to some tunes and see others on video there. It comes in different levels of difficulty and would be a great way for you to help your girls hide His Word in their hearts!
Lauren said…
We all need reminders of the important things in life ... and somehow the Lord likes to use our kids to do that! Thank you for this post!!
Karen said…
Hi Laurie

Thank you for posting about Emilie's "accidents". I have a 6 year old that constantly wets his pants. We are homeschooling right now so it's not a huge issue except when we go places. Do you discipline her at all? I try not to make an issue of it, but it is quite frustrating!
Any suggestions would be helpful :)
leslie_argirl said…
Great post, Laurie - my eyes are filling up with tears because I needed this so much today! thanks!!! Leslie
Jane said…
I love this!! At first I thought it was such a valuable message for all your blog readers who have children. Then it occured to me that it's a wonderful reminder for ALL of us - we should be reflecting God's love to everyone we encounter each and every day of our lives....being like Mary and less like Martha.And Laurie, don't worry about the potty accidents....I was afraid one of my girls was going to have to pack a supply of Pampers in her backpack when she went to Kindergarten, but somehow she 'got it' well before I reached the panic button ;)
Amber said…
Wonderful thoughts Laurie! However...it made me laugh out loud again & I'm sitting in class reading it.
what an awesome post! I just finished looking at my calendar and thought--how am I EVER going to get anything done? But you know what, if it's not ETERNAL then it just doesn't matter!!!!!!!
Kim said…
Kim is a great Christian lady...and she is funny! Your post is something I need to spend more time thinking about. So often I focus on the things that really don't matter.
merlin said…
Five can seem so old, but when she is a teen you will see that truly at 5 she is just barely past the baby stage. And, thinking about eternal lessons, remember life comes full circle....why do they sell Depends by the crate? because we get tired in our older age of not making it to the bathroom either. Grace at every stage, we all need grace, for others and even for ourselves.
Jill said…
Great post, Laurie!
Stacey said…
What a nice post. Even though my "baby" is nearly grown now I love coming to read your blog because you are so inspiring as a mommy. Keep doing what you are doing...cheese on the floor and all!
Melody said…
This is in reference to a few posts back: outfit of the week. My bailey has a ballerina outfit that she wears EVERY DAY! No, really, EVERY DAY! In fact, yesterday, memaw took her to Kohls to get her a new ballerina outfit b/c hers is so stained because she wears it EVERY DAY (did I mention that)? The only time she will take it off is if she spills something on it or if we have to go somewhere and then she has to wear regular clothes. But, alas, last night, I had to go to Braums for milk and she wanted to come. I'd been at work all day so I let her come with me and guess what? She wore her NEW ballerina outfit. naked legs and a coat, how appropriate!
Candi said…
Great post Laurie. I am a follower from Kelly's blog. I was raised thinking that the house had to be in order all the time then I had children. I work 8 hours a day. I sometimes run myself ragged picking up, cleaning up, putting up. Since my second child has been born, which was 17 mths ago, I have realized that it isn't "fun" to clean up all the time. I want to spend time with my girls and husband. We will NEVER get this time back. I try my best to remember this everyday. Some days are easier than others but I have been so proud of myself for putting housework aside sometimes and sitting in the floor playing with my family.
Jeff and Steph said…
We would totally be friends in real life if we lived anywhere near each other!!!! Aside from our shared passion of LHOP, everytime I read your blog, there is something else we have in common! My almost 6-year-old daughter pees her pants almost every day! I took her to the dr too! We've tried everything I can think to re-train her to go earlier, but have just let it go!! Loved Merlin's comment... grace, grace and more grace!!
LeighAnne said…
Laurie,

I really needed to hear this today. I am 26 weeks pregnant with my first baby and my husband and I are trying to get everything ready for Brodie's arrival. I started cleaning out closests this weekend and I am not finished yet and my house is in shambles. It helps to keep it all in perspective! Thanks so much for sharing your heart.
LeighAnne said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leanne Helums said…
That is great way to look at everything in life. Thanks for the thoughts.
I love your heart Laurie! I don't get much time anymore to read your blog or Kelly's blog, because I am so busy enjoying my 15, 13, and 9 year old. Having teens is just awesome and I am loving every minute of it. My kids love the Lord and I am so grateful and never take it for granted. I am so fine now with dirty wood floors that I go two weeks before I sweep them. My house never gets terrible, but I just got so tired of trying to live the perfect life and God spoke clearly to me a few years ago that I needed to put other things above my house, our clothing, etc. I have learned this same lesson you are learning over the years. Our houses and clothing are just temporal and our relationships with our family and our wonderful Father, Lord, and Savior are what is the most significant. All this earthly stuff is going to waste away someday. I can relate and have had wake-up calls all along the way. We have been very blessed materially because my husband is a physician but the house, clothing, furniture, appearance, etc is all going to waste away. Really, at this point I can't wait to scale down someday and get rid of our big house and the cleaning that has to go along with it. Now my kids help me clean and we only do it when it needs to be done. I don't entertain as much with couples these days, but the kids have many of their friends over and I don't stress about the house, because the kids don't care. I do provide lots of food for these teens and they love it. All this material stuff is going to waste away, so keep focusing on your girls. Yes, we do have a responsibility with caring for our kids and our homes, but let the floors get dirty while are spending time loving your kids and those God has placed around you. Take time to just rest for yourself before the Lord and rest as a family. Those times are so precious when you are just together as a family on a Sunday afternoon enjoying each other. It is such a relief to get to that point of just surrendering all the material stuff to God and not having to live a perfect, worldly life anymore. Really, that life just gets exhausting after awhile and the simple life becomes such a wonderful blessing. Blessings to you as you continue to embrace what God has for you and your family.
Renee said…
I LOVE this post. I often feel like I am just spinning my wheels. Often after I have spent a ton of time cleaning my house, I feel that I am the only person who would know that it had been "cleaned" b/c it doesn't look it. I, too, need to focus on what is eternal and spend the time loving on my kids and telling them more about Jesus.

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