raising strong girls and the tooth fairy

My daughter, age 7,  lost a tooth this week.  We are not particularly organized nor faithful about the “tooth fairy.”  Yet she is particularly motivated to earn money to buy her own mini ipad… So she promptly washed her tooth off, put it in a baggie and wrote a note.  “Can I have $20, please.”

I chuckled, “You think that the tooth fairy is going to give you twenty dollars… for a little tooth… that you have barely been faithful about brushing…”  I kind of couldn’t believe her note, although the “please” was nice.

How bold and courageous a child’ s request can be.  I was quick to dismiss her demand but then took pause, who am I to squelch the dreams of a child.  While it is not my responsibility to give her everything she wants or asks for,  it is my joy to give her what she needs.  It is also my intention to train her to be a strong young girl, who is full of faith and serves a BIG God.  It is HE who gives us good gifts, not to pacify our selfish desires but to benefit others and advance kingdom work.  It is also He who encourages us to ask in HIS name.

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood we lose our courage, we have heard “NO”  so many times that we don’t bother to ask anymore, dream anymore, or pray BIG anymore.   We learn to be content with the broken way of life, making God small,  living half of what he has planned.

I want to teach her that we serve a BIG God, who does BIG things, who makes a BIG difference.   If I truly believe that, do I live it?   Have I lost the courage to ask for BIG things from God?  Do I ask for only what seems reasonable, or safe or do I  trust the sovereign God to meet our needs and be our provider.

So if you are wondering, no she didn’t receive $20, and she was quite disappointed, but we ended up having a great conversation and a brainstorming session on how to earn some extra cash.  For my not particularly clean child, this could be a win win.

 

Superior

The last two weekends I have spent up in Marquette, MI taking classes for my American Red Cross instructors training.  My goal is to teach all the lifeguarding and first aid classes at camp.  Lifegarding was one of my first jobs when I was 16 and I still love the water today.  Here’s what I learned; 6 hour drive x 4 = totally great experience!  I had this hidden fear of bad weather, driving over the mackinaw bridge, getting lost but every part of the trip just divinely worked out!  I had a great class with four fire fighters,  whom I just came to love for their humor and bravery – I am not sure I could find better stories anywhere else.  This is what they were up to Friday night between classes. Yup, full on water rescue in frozen lake Superior.

The first weekend I made a little retreat and the second a connect with friends.  I could easily fall in love with this little community although they warned me “don’t tell anyone we are up here…”  There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground and blizzard like conditions a few times.   These photos are from my last few days there, beautiful blue sunshine and a bit of exploring, and a taste of spring.  See what I found…. perfect!

foundation for a legacy

 

This past week we celebrated at the annual SpringHill Christmas party.  It is always such a treat to gather all Michigan, Indiana and Daycamp staff and volunteers together and fellowship, something that doesn’t occur often as we are usually the ones serving from several location.  I love this group of people, for the shared vision and commitment to Jesus and kids.

This year our party coordinator/detail extraordinaire Dina, included us on the fun!  All the centerpieces were made by staff/volunteers and were part of a game.  Guess that Christmas Carol…  Mine I  bet will be obvious to you.  I was so excited to put my ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ votives together I was literally the first one to decorate my table, and one of the first ones to the party.   I tried to leave my hands open as to who would join us at our table and prayed that Jesus would bring the right people to the spots.  Well you can imagine my disappointment when after 35+ minutes of mingling not a single person sat at our table!

 

A little crushed and dinner almost ready to begin, two couples discreetly entered in.  Chuck and his wife, one of our creative duo at Site and Enoch and Joan, our Camp founders.  My fears aside, He brought just the right people, I am so thankful.  Even though we were the closest to the buffet line we were the last table called.  I didn’t mind,  I was in awe of the conversation taking place with Chuck and Enoch talking shop about the dining hall renovation.  Of all the conversations I hear around camp about kids, numbers, revenues… these two were talking about details of the building, specifically floor tiles.

Enoch recounted the 8000 tiles he personally laid in the original dining hall and still exist today in the space.  Talk about laying a foundation for a legacy!  I love that such a dynamic and personal leader was willing to get on his hands and knees to serve a place that reaches so many.  What a great example of humility to all who aim to serve.  Being willing to do even the most redundant lowly projects, that get walked on every day, not for recognition because it’s what needs to be done!   Not delegating just doing.  Something both of these men know a lot about.

I don’t think I could have hand-picked two better couples to sit with.  What a delightful evening it turned out to be, plus the girls crushed at family feud!   To pass on the fun, can you pick out some of the carols?

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“And there, in the stable, amongst the chickens and the  donkeys and the cows, in the quiet of the night,  God gave the world his wonderful gift.  The baby that would change the world was born.  His baby son… And they gazed in wonder at God’s Great Gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.  Mary and Joseph named him Jesus, “Emmanuel” – which means “God has come to live with us.”   – Jesus Storybook Bible

a new classroom

The girls headed outdoors for a new class this week…  such perfect weather all sun and cooler temps.  S is thrilled she is finally old enough to do some “real” riding with the older kids.  She spent a chunk of time this week mastering “hugs & kisses” and figure 8’s.  Camp has such a great horse program,  it was good to see so many camp kids out and giving our new staff an opportunity to practice before summer (like you had to twist their arms…)

I am so thankful to have so many awesome riders & wranglers in our life, so that I can just be a supportive mom on the side and keep in my flip flops.  I like horses, especially pictures of them. I just get a little nervous sometimes at their size and will,  perhaps it’s a clash of personalities!  But the girls, they love them,  I am sure these two will be counting down the days until they can sign up for horse camp.  Hope you have a great weekend & fathers day!

abundance

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This weekend I had the privilege of “working” at SpringHill, if you could call playing, rejoicing, praying, talking with ladies, awesome activities, great food, and crafts, “work.”    Glenna Salsberry was our speaker, who spoke boldly from the word,  I enjoyed her immensely.    I had such a great time meeting so many new friends and hearing the stories of your hearts.  Here are a few of my favorite scriptures from the weekend:

This is the one I esteem; he who is contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.  Isaiah 66:2

The Lord was not in the wind.. not in the earthquake… not in the fire… but in a still small voice.  1 Kings 19:11-12

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  1 Samuel 16:7

No one is like you, O Lord;  you are great, and your name is mighty in power.  Jeremiah 10:6

Our fall retreat dates are   October 5-7, 2012, with speaker RoseAnne Coleman and worship lead by Sarah Scharbrough.  I’d love to see you there!