Family

A Promise

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Baby Girl,

It is hard to believe that you are already 18. That it has been 18 years since the Lord placed you into our arms and our hearts. It has been the fastest 18 years we have ever experienced, yet also the most beautiful. Because you have been in them. It has always been obvious to us that you have been fearfully and wonderfully made. A beautiful, unique, and precious gift to be treasured. And it is our hope and prayer that you know, and always remember, that we consider you to be one of our greatest blessings.

Someday, we know that the Lord may give you to someone else as their greatest blessing. We know that we may have to forfeit your daily presence and light in our own home. But until that day comes, we want to give you a daily reminder of the love and commitment we have to treasure you for as long as we are given with you. The ring in this box was once a symbol of the love and commitment Dad made to me. A promise ring. 

And now it is a promise to you. 

We promise to love you as Christ loves the church and keep you until such a time as the Lord provides someone else that will take over that role. We commit to pray for you daily, to provide for you to the best of our ability and to invest in your growth in Christ. For as long as we both shall live. 

Baby Girl, you are not only our daughter, you are a daughter of the One True King. Loved, treasured, exalted and esteemed. Remember always that you are a gift to all around you.

Love,

Mom & Dad

Hidden Treasure

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When I was little, my dad bought a full dining room suite of furniture brand new. Solid oak, I can still remember the smell when it was first delivered to our apartment in Massachusetts. Consisting of a table, chairs, and hutch, I now wonder as an adult how exactly they managed to get it up the stairs! I think we had the table a full week before my little sister stabbed her fork into it in a fit of Italian temper and a cover for the top was ordered that would remain in place the rest of my childhood. But the hutch! That’s where the treasures are, right?

Having fallen out of fashion somewhat, perhaps this will not be as relatable to a younger generation so I’ll elaborate. The hutch, or the china cabinet if you’d like, is where all the THINGS were stored. Newly married, Hubby and I bought our first (and turns out only, because who wants to spend money on furniture?!) dining room set. We have since parted ways with our bulky hutch, but I remember loving to have somewhere to display the beautiful, impractical, matching china and somewhere to hide all of the less aesthetically pleasing, practical, pieces.

Yes, I’m going somewhere beyond memory lane here, hold tight. I also remember having a discussion once about the top shelf things in life; the things we strive for and display for all the world to see. And that conversation came flooding back to me this Sunday as I wrestled with some things. Hubby has a new job, with new days and new hours that are making family time a challenge. So in order to carve out more time, we met him at the Mall of America after work on Saturday. It’s been many years since we’ve dined and shopped at that mall and I truly wasn’t prepared for it to be an emotional experience. It’s a mall.

But as we walked out of the parking ramp and into the walkway, the changes in our life started to manifest in tangible ways. Starting with Baby Girl’s service dog. Who I realized had yet to experience an escalator. This was a fun experiment which started with carrying a thirty pound dog up the escalator and ended with waiting for a lull in foot traffic to give her a chance to examine the frightening contraption in her own time before putting her paws at risk a second time. I think we made it almost to the restaurant before I realized that Baby Girl was struggling. I knew this would be a challenge for her. Most don’t know that she had been unable to leave the house without a panic attack for almost the last two years. The dog has been a gift, and one I didn’t know we needed, until it was the thing that would set her free of home. But this was a lot of lights, a lot of sound, a lot of…. people. And it became evident pretty fast that we had pushed the envelope a little too far. We got through dinner, with the help of some medication, and did what we’ve come to do. Persevere. Make the most. Adapt. Find the good. And when we exited the restaurant, we were inundated with “good”. Have you ever taken a moment to appreciate the sheer vastness of THINGS in a mall? It doesn’t have to be the Mall of America to realize this is where all the top shelf things are. And this is where we used to get our things! I remember bringing the kids when they were little and finding the shoes with the swoosh to adorn our pride and the store with every imaginable accessory to cover and distract from any perceived imperfection, the favorite store with the actual sizes of their tiny clothes in the name to feed my vanity and the kiosks with the latest and greatest of “needed” electronics that would promise to fulfill and distract us for seconds…. all the beautiful, shiny, new, “quality”, top shelf things. And I’d like to say that I no longer found them beautiful. I’d like to say that the desire to obtain them and display them was completely gone. Burned like dross in the fire of affliction and refined to holiness that is no longer attracted to, or deceived by, excess. But alas, my flesh still wanted to reach for a few of the top shelf things.

Baby Girl, now medicated and at least able to walk with us, had no desire to enter a store. With her sensory problems, she had no desire for fun clothes or shoes. The mother/daughter shopping I had once so looked forward to will never happen. And it hurt. Oldest Son, not walking with the Lord, but at least walking with his father, was there too. And Mini Hubby brought up the rear. Literally. Often overlooked in the rest of the drama, my stellar parenting was revealed when he tried on shoes to discover the ones he’d been wearing were two and a half sizes too small. And that hurt too.

The mall closed and we left and I was happy to leave. I’d had enough of out of reach top shelf things.

Sunday was another story. Or perhaps, another shelf.

Because, praise God, our lives do not consist of top shelf things. Or at least they shouldn’t. And that was the reminder it turns out I needed.

Because the bottom shelf things are the useful things. The things hidden behind the cabinet doors are the ones we use and need the most. In our actual hutches, they’re the colanders and small appliances and hand me down kitchen tools or the big puke bowls. The things we don’t display but would miss far more than the matching gravy boat, creamer and butter dish brought out for holidays. The things that make and shape and daily form the ordinary and necessary parts of our lives. The essentials.

Sunday morning found me rummaging in that cabinet. And Pastor Mike shone a light in a back corner. Leukodystrophy is always the elephant in that cabinet of ours. The biggest, bulkiest, ugliest tool. The one we never seem able to put away for long because it’s used the most to do all that refining and shaping and molding us into Christ likeness. But back behind it in the cabinet was fear. It’s not there because it’s used less, but back there because I want it the least. It’s a pain to use. Literally. It’s ugly and heavy and I’d honestly prefer to toss it. In fact, my second greatest desire in heaven (after finally coming face to face with Jesus) is being parted with fear.

But Sunday I sat with Baby Girl’s hand in mine while her little body shook and big, fat, tears ran down both of our faces and Pastor shed light on the fear and we both picked it up and let it do its work. Because, according to him, it’s a useful thing. “Fear is an invitation…to demonstrate who I am and where I am with God. And where my trust really lies.”

And when I pulled that fear out I took a closer look. I’m afraid I’m not enough. Because I know I’m not enough. I can’t make Baby Girl comfortable. I can’t make her independent. I can’t make her life what I wanted it to be. I can’t save Oldest Son. I can’t undo damage done. I can’t even keep track of shoe sizes for the easy one. I fear falling short. I know all of us fall short of the glory of God, but I fear falling short of the finish line. Not running the race well. Not ever hearing those blessed words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

So where does the fear demonstrate I am? In utter and total dependence on my God. The kind of dependence that keeps me on my knees, far out of reach of the top shelf things. The kind of dependence that means I need Him not just for my daily bread, my sustenance, but for every breath I breathe. The kind of dependence that means I’m painfully and blessedly aware that I can’t finish well without Him. The kind of dependence that absolutely requires that I think about and praise Him, moment by moment, for the ways He has blessed us in and through the bottom shelf things.

And so I discovered, the hidden treasure, buried in the back on the bottom shelf, is a very useful tool…. this ugly fear.

Then, Baby Girl and I held hands and cried and prayed some more and I looked up…to find a different kind of hidden treasure. And with that, a sweet reminder to put the fear away once it’s done its work, thank God for His countless blessings and sustaining grace…and laugh.

Honestly, hidden treasure is often the last place one would expect…

Where Are You?

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A few years ago Hubby and I sat in a university hospital waiting for two of our children to go into back to back surgeries. We took turns swapping in and out of their pre-op rooms, while joking with staff that we applied for a BOGO surgery discount but administration wouldn’t go for it. These were the first of six procedures they’d need on their eyes and it was a new area of health challenges for them. 

I still remember sitting in that cold, uncomfortable waiting room for hours just watching the patient ID’s on the TV screen as each child transitioned from room to room. I also remember regretting not following my own advice that morning. Number one rule of waiting room procedures is: no caffeine. First, caffeine and anxiety do not mix. Second, caffeine is a diuretic. So, my hands were shaking, my heart was hammering and my bladder was about to explode. And there is no good time to make a bathroom run when you’re waiting to see how your children are doing. Bodily functions must wait.

So, I decided on distraction. Perhaps a little Isaiah was in order. It’s often my go to when I’m anxious. I opened to Isaiah 6:8

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:

Who should I send?

Who will go for us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.“

I immediately thought of some of my favorite Christians. Both in the Bible and out. Sent by God for incredible Kingdom work. How amazing would it be to be sent like George Mueller; watching the Lord provide for thousands of orphans on a daily basis?! Or, what about Charles Spurgeon? Or C.S. Lewis or….

Then all of a sudden two familiar patient ID’s turned green and were transferred to post op. I grabbed my Bible, my cold coffee and Hubby and we each picked a post operative room. I got the child that likes to wake up slow. So while I listened to the automatic blood pressure machine and the beeping of the heart rate monitor I glanced back to my reading. And Spurgeon’s commentary on it.

“God is seeking a messenger to deliver his message to people. Isaiah did not know the errand; perhaps if he had known it he would not have been so ready to go. Who can tell? But God’s servants are ready for anything, ready for everything, when once the glowing coal has touched their lips.”

And then he describes the glowing coal as this:

“It represents purgation, cleansing, participation in the sacrifice and the putting away of sin. With a blister on his lips, Isaiah sat silent before God.”

My patient started to stir so her nurse did likewise. And as he started to encourage her to take deep breaths and not to rub her eyes I noticed him hesitantly looking at me. And since I also knew from past procedures that this was only the very beginning of her wake up, I struck up a conversation with the hesitant nurse. He mentioned that the staff had been enjoying our family that day. That Hubby and I seemed so content. And he’d noticed my Bible and wondered if I was a Christian. Over the next hour, our troubled young nurse questioned our faith, contentment and obvious playfulness with stressful circumstances. He had access to the kids’ charts, he knew their medical history. He’d seen and served countless families that didn’t respond the way we did. And all I could tell him was that it was by the grace of God. Then we talked about his new bride and their plans for a family and what to look for in a church home. And then it was time to go.

And all I could tell him was that it was by the grace of God.

A few days later I was sitting in yet another waiting room. We’d just found out one of the kids had scar tissue forming and needed an additional procedure so we were waiting on more tests. I was reading an update on a local missionary family and found myself in awe of what God was doing with their ministry. Like Isaiah, I sat in that waiting room, with a blister on my lips, having been purged of sin by the blood of Christ and feeling an awful lot like I’d participated in the sacrifice and wanting to cry out to my Lord:

“Here I am! Send me! Send me to big, far off, places! Let me scream from the rooftops who You are and what You’ve done!”

And as I looked around another crowded waiting room, I saw our young nurse round a corner and skid to a halt in recognition. With a hasty wave and a genuine smile, he said, “I’m so glad to see you guys again!” And wheeled his next patient into an adjoining room. And it almost echoed in my ears….

“I did.”

He did. 

He has sent us into the medical world where the wisdom and knowledge of man is highly esteemed while the Truths of God are deemed colloquial at best and foolish at worst. He has sent us to those in the upper echelons of academia, where many simultaneously wonder at our contentment, while scoffing at its source. He has sent us where we sometimes don’t want to be. Out of our comfort zone, into the trials of rare disease. But every once in a while, we get to marvel at where we’ve been sent, because He gives us a tiny glimpse of what He is doing there.

But every once in a while, we get to marvel at where we’ve been sent, because He gives us a tiny glimpse of what He is doing there.

A couple of weeks ago I sat in the back of our church service and looked around at so many of my struggling, faithful, Faith Family and as I prayed for each of their trials I thought…

Beloved, where are you?

The infusion room?

Treatment facility?

Attorney’s office?

Court room?

Food shelf? 

Widowhood?

Singleness? 

Childlessness? 

Single parenthood?

Perhaps, like Esther, you have been sent there for such a time as this.

I can’t always celebrate the places we’re sent. Sometimes it’s really hard, scary and exhausting. But I CAN celebrate that there are people there. People desperate to hear the message God has sent me with. That during this season of Christmas, we are not only celebrating the fact that God sent His one and only Son to be born in a manger, but that He sent Him to live a life we could not live, perfect and free from sin, to die a death we could not die, taking the punishment for the sin of all who would come to trust in Him for salvation. Then, rising again, He gave us everlasting life…with Him. And we can, and will, celebrate being sent there.

Beloved, wherever you are, can you recognize the hand of the One who sent you? And then, like Isaiah, wait on Him to give you the power and strength to do what He has called you to do? 

“To deliver His message to people”, wherever you may be.

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

No End in Sight

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I stepped outside the other day to let the puppy out and smelled it. As Nessie raced around the yard, nose to the ground, finding the perfect place to pee, I lifted mine and made out the musty smell of flowers in last bloom, decaying plants that have offered up their final harvest, the unique blend of weeds that make their appearance during the second week of August and the hot, final push of summer.

And it made me nauseous.

Instantly, I became aware of the cicadas and their call for fall. And it made my heart race and my palms sweat. The sun hung low and heavy in the sky and I realized…it’s the end. The end of long days, flip flops, warm sweaty kids, dirt between toes, skipped lunches, water clogged ears, sun burns and no schedules. But for me, it’s not just the end of summer.

For as long as I can remember, fall has meant the end. As a little, the end of summer meant the end of a visit with my mom. For another year. At its worst, when I was youngest, it was a traumatic forced removal. At its best, when I was older, an unhealthy reinforcement that fall was to be avoided at all costs.

I made some headway while the kids were little. Some new memories of fall. What’s not to love about a toddler picking a pumpkin or going on a hayride? A kindergartener finding their hero’s costume to wear or learning how to make applesauce and apple pie?

Now, the second week of August has become Baby Girl’s first diagnosis day. Which I was convinced would be the end of me. Or at the very least, the end of my sanity. It was neither. However, it did become the end of life as we knew it. And eight years later the very smell in the air has the power to transport my body to that same day, answering the phone. The nausea, the racing heart, the sweaty palms. Sometimes even the blacking of the corners of my eyes and the roaring in my ears. Not to mention the inability to sleep.

But here’s the thing. I know it’s not the end. Not really. It may have been the end of what we knew, but it was the beginning of something better. Something bigger and richer. Though my body might not have gotten the memo, my heart knows there is great joy. Fall means the beginning of a life I didn’t know existed. Where every day is cherished, both good and bad. Where our very definitions of priority and blessing, faithfulness and love, were turned on their heads. Where there is deep, deep gratitude and preciously simple joy. Where we have found a lifelong dependence on the Lord and the joy of watching Him faithfully provide.

It also now means the beginning of a homeschool year. The beginning of learning both about the world around us, and the God surrounding us and within us…together.

And this year, it marked the beginning of new life for Mini Hubby. An incredible gift of which the timing is not lost on me.

In short, this is a season I haven’t and won’t likely ever choose. I may never run racing for the first pumpkin latte or stock up on the spice candles. I may never decorate for fall and long for hoodies. But, it’s a season my heart is beginning to love as God continues to use it to bind me up and restore that joy within me. And I suspect I’ll have to continue to fight for that as my body catches up with our current circumstances. And, as I was reminded this week, there is still an enemy that would steal my love and gratitude. There is a thief that still, on occasion, sneaks in during the night and tries to rob my peace and silence the profession of my joy to the glory of God.

I’ll keep fighting because though this season continues to be a roller coaster of ends and beginnings for me, I know there is really never an end. Not really. Not for those in Christ. He is all new life and new beginnings for those who put their faith in Him.

There is no end in sight.

Carol’s Song

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Tucked into some trees at the edge of a lake is where I found her. Well, first I found her in the yellow pages. Yes, back when there was an actual paper book and there were no maps, photos of facilities, or reviews to help you make your decision. Nope, my hope was simply that I’d find the “right” place when I really didn’t know What I was looking for.

I can still remember following the instructions for parking and the ramp to the side door. Still smell the warm pine trees, hear the skittering of birds in the trees and tiny critters in the leaves and hear my lone footfalls on the wooden ramp. Still remember my nervousness opening the temperamental door (that needed an extra nudge in the summer and sometimes didn’t close all the way in winter) and finding my way to the waiting room. And sitting on the loveseat, filling out paperwork, getting my first glimpse of Carol.

I would later wonder how someone so small in stature would come to be one of the most powerful humans I know. But at that time, I was comforted by my first impressions. Soft spoken with even softer eyes, I was reasonably certain she was someone I could talk to. You know, just long enough to sort out this anxiety that didn’t make sense.

And over the next few years, she would. Help me sort it, that is. She’d gently walk with me through childhood trauma, help me manage hard parental relationships and start changing generations of unhealthy thoughts and behaviors by teaching me how to parent my own littles and love my husband well. And all the while there was a Song in that room. Most of the time it was a consistent undercurrent, radiating from that small, gentle woman in the rocking chair. But every once in awhile it would peak and reverberate off the walls in a more audible question, or an observation.

Have you ever stopped and prayed when you feel overwhelmed like that?

When I’m thinking about the big questions in life, sometimes I find those answers at church. Have you ever been?

I know when I was a young mom, I really needed relationships with other young moms. It can be isolating spending all your time with young children. Sometimes they’ve got mom groups at the local churches. Have you tried one?

And the Song would tug at my heart and my thoughts until I did go to a church and ask the big questions. And got big answers. And I realized, a carol is a song.

And MY Carol is a Song.

Or rather, possesses and reflects, the Song of Christ. That gentle calm that attracted, comforted, enveloped and walked alongside of me? It was the promised Comforter the whole time. And later, that same Song would be positively fierce in protecting me. Fighting for me. And loving me through some of the darkest, most painful moments of my life. Christ in that tiny woman would make her powerful enough to help lift me bodily out of some of the deepest depths of despair.

I remember reading John 14:16 and believing Jesus when He said that the promised Counselor (or in other translations, Comforter) would be better for me; but sometimes still wondering how it was better for me than if He was still with us bodily and not in Spirit. It was much later when I would realize that it would be through that Counselor, in my counselor, that would testify to the same Spirit within me and bring me comfort that would surpass worldly understanding or expectations. And help me know Jesus in a way I couldn’t have had He not been in me, always.

John 14:16

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor[a] to be with you forever.17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be[b] in you.

And now, the Song is familiar, but no less attractive, no less powerful, and definitely no less comforting. And I still hear it in every conversation with my Carol. The in dwelling Spirit that constantly, sweetly, and faithfully points me to Christ.

Ephesians 3:20

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us

But here’s the crazy thing. I didn’t ask. I didn’t imagine.

I didn’t even KNOW to ask or imagine. I simply dialed a phone number, found in the antiquated yellow pages.

And God still gave me a carol. Wooed me with a Song. And through that Carol, gave me more than I could have asked for or imagined. He gave me a spiritual mother that has often doubled as a physical mother to not only grow and encourage me and my faith, but helped to grow and nurture the faith of my family. He gave me a safe place to learn to trust, so that I could learn to trust my Father. He gave me someone to laugh with, cry with and always point me to Him. He gave me a treasure I will forever thank Him for. Because through my Carol, His Song, He has not only richly and generously blessed me, but He has fostered a legacy of faith in my family. In Hubby and my not so littles.

I can only pray that one day, I might reflect even a fraction of the Christ I’ve seen in her over the years.

That on occasion, those with me might hear an echo of the Song of Carol. For many years to come.

2 Corinthians 2:15-17

15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

You unravel me, with a melody.

You surround me with a song.

Identity Lane

/ bobbiblanchard / Leave a comment

I take a trip every fall and it seems every year it is slightly different. Oh, the smells are the same, the colors of the leaves don’t change and the destination is always a welcome one. But, it’s the road to get there that is always changing.

These are my thoughts as we sit in the bus. Hubby and I. As passengers pile on and settle into seats I start to people watch, because that’s what I do. People fascinate me. For example, there’s a young woman opposite the aisle of Hubby and she has wasted no time in pulling out her laptop and ear buds and is checking her Apple Watch; no doubt waiting for her next Zoom meeting to start. As she taps her beautifully frivolous, brand name, high heeled shoe, she radiates anxiousness and I notice the carefully manicured nails that almost hide the chewed corners of her fingers. She glances my direction and I smile what I hope is a warm smile and turn away, acutely aware that I’ve been caught staring. Staring at a younger me. Oh, how I remember the dreams of grandeur of the young IT professional. Fresh into a career, enjoying my first financial freedom and all the temporal possessions that come with it. And realizing that it did not offer an ounce of the security and peace I thought it would bring.

While I reminisce about a thinner, more energetic and selfish me, and our bus finally departs the station, Hubby has started up a conversation with a gentleman in front of us. As is typical of any laborer I’ve ever met, he is telling him about one of the office buildings we just passed. How he worked on it years ago, who he was working for and with and where he used to eat lunch. As his work roughened hand grips the seat in front of him and he laughs at his own dad joke I smile. Not because it was funny, but because I love and appreciate things that stay the same.

I’m distracted by a tapping. Because I’m a mother of three, I instantly know the source to be someone under three, whose feet are conveniently located directly behind my backside. Hence the tapping. On my backside. Thankful for padding, I slowly slide down in my seat, turn towards the back of the bus, and peek my head up enough to see pigtails and a tiny face sticky from the lollipop clutched in her chubby right hand. We commence a game of peek-a-boo and mom appears visibly relieved I’m not annoyed by the tapping. She reminds the little with pigtails to keep her feet off the seat and I ask her where she is from. They’re close and new to the area and I inquire as to whether they have found a church home. Because I am a Director of Children’s Ministry and I very much want to tell pigtails about Jesus. Invitation given and my stomach starting to roll from facing backwards I take deep breaths and turn back around to hear the chiming of my cell phone.

I’ve got mail. Emails to be precise. Regarding the newly formed CTX Alliance. Of which I am now co-president. Did I forget to tell you about that? Very exciting stuff. I quickly scan the emails, because, car sickness. There are details on a video that needs to be made and a couple of upcoming meetings. Oops, and a couple of emails I’ll need to respond to for work. Which reminds me to interrupt Hubby’s conversation about his favorite service opportunity, Ruby’s Pantry, and inquire about when we can coordinate a video recording, drivers Ed, our homeschool field trip up north and the kids’ latest lab testing. Now my stomach is upset and my head starts to hurt and Hubby gathers his stuff to get off. We’ll have to coordinate via FaceTime. Here we part ways for a few days as he heads out of town for work.

And here is where I look over and see the younger me and long for the simplicity. Because selfish me is still very much alive and kicking and right now she is sure that the Lord has made a mistake in all He has called her to be. There is a beautiful weight to wife and mother. I feel a rightness and peace in caring for the day to day, practical, educational, emotional and physical needs of my family. But all these other things? Ministry in the church both to children and their families, Mother to children with rare diseases and all the extras that entails, Advocate for the undiagnosed and diagnosed too late…I am not enough. I do not have enough time, enough energy, enough IQ points, enough patience, enough selflessness to be what He has called me to be. He must have made a mistake. Now I’m frantically looking for a way off of this bus. An escape from the weight. But all I see is a road unknown and I’m sure I’m traveling it alone.

September 5, 2021

Then all at once there is a brightness and a warmth and an inaudible Voice. I am all at once alone, yet the least alone I’ve ever been.

“Here is where I called you first.”

And the Truth of the words rush silent through my head.

1 Peter 2:9-10. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

I closed my eyes and bowed my head to the overwhelming beauty of Truth and now I can see it. As clearly as if it was right in front of me. How and who He created me to be.

Psalm 139:13-16 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

There can be no doubt that I am exactly where He means me to be. No mistakes, not if He has ordained every one of my days. But who has He called me to be FIRST, in all its complex simplicity? A chosen daughter of the One True King specially equipped to declare His praises to all whom He places before me. How do I continually forget?

My destination once again reached, I step off the bus into Identity. As a wife, mother, special needs parent, home schooler, family advocate, and ministry leader. But first, and most importantly, as a Child of God. By His grace….that I can do.

Sometimes I’m wrong…

/ bobbiblanchard / 1 Comment

Have I ever told you I never planned to be a Stay-At-Home mom? It wasn’t what I thought my family would need. I thought my future family would need things like reliable vehicles, family vacations and savings accounts. It turns out my family would need a mom that could devote hours a week to paperwork, phone calls and appointments for a couple of medically complex kids so they could get a diagnosis in one year, instead of the average fifteen. They would need a mom that could stay home and research, fight for answers and fight insurance companies until she got them. Thank God, He knew I was wrong about the career and making money thing.

I was wrong again when we finally got our first diagnosis and I decided to bring Baby Girl shopping for school clothes. At Justice. We don’t normally shop at places like Justice. Because shopping at Justice falls into the same financial category as family vacations. If you don’t have a tween daughter, just take my word for it. But somewhere in my sleep deprived, grieving mind, spending a ludicrous amount of money on Baby Girl seemed like… justice.

So we walked in the door and I said the craziest thing, “What do you like, Baby Girl?”. Two hours later I had agreed to a pile of clothes that not only exceeded our clothing budget (for the year) but also some hard and fast rules I had on 8 year old modesty.

Then there were “the shoes”. Because of Baby Girl’s deteriorating coordination, footwear had been limited to Velcro laces and flat, functional shoes. She did not find flat, functional shoes at Justice. She brought me a pair of the most ridiculous, sequined, flashy, silver platform sneakers… with tie laces.

And I took one look at her hopeful little face, thought of what that doctor had said two weeks before about her being in a wheelchair within ten years… and placed the shoes on the growing “keep” pile. Three years later, we do not believe that first diagnosis is what God has for Baby Girl. And I’m absolutely sure that she didn’t need “the shoes”.

I was recently wrong again. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. I was sure once the kids were all in school, I would be able to go back to working outside the home. We would have things like savings accounts and there would be vehicles we could at least afford to fix. And bless sweet Hubby’s heart and broad shoulders, maybe he wouldn’t have to keep taking all that overtime…

Oh, I knew I wasn’t going back to a career in IT with long hours and longer commutes, but when Mini Hubby started kindergarten this year I was pretty sure a job in the school where Oldest Son was starting High School would be a perfect fit. It almost was.

These last several months my heart grew for kids in tough situations, with big obstacles and even bigger attitudes to overcome. I learned how to better support Oldest Son socially and in academics. And because I had the opportunity to see what he sees of the world on a daily basis (trust me, their world is far bigger, scarier and less restricted than ours was) I know what kind of conversations we need to be having regularly. I also had the chance to work among adults again. I won’t lie, it is far more entertaining than working with myself. I found a whole bunch of new people to love.

There was also puke.

So.

Much.

Puke.

Strep throat.

A few times.

The loss of my mother-in-law.

A surgery for tonsils and adenoids.

Some problems with some crucial labs for Oldest Son and Baby Girl, and finally….

The realization that God was sending me home, again.

Usually when I’m wrong, it feels a lot like… failure.  I’ve made the wrong choice, my plan didn’t work. It can feel like I’m giving up, letting go or making emotional decisions (“the shoes”). Because I can’t see the full picture. My vantage point is far more limited than God’s. But, in hindsight, it is a joy to see how He purposes my missteps. Redeems them all and uses them for my good and His glory.

Right now though? I still can’t see what He’s doing. And that’s hard. So I’m holding tight to a few of these Truths.

And maybe this song. 😉

Twice Saved

/ bobbiblanchard / 12 Comments

I met her twenty years ago, before either of us had met Jesus. Back then she sat in her recliner opposite the matching one her husband occupied, wearing what I would come to recognize as her typical uniform of worn out flannel and faded sweatpants. Hair cropped short and not a stitch of artificial color on it, or her face, she sported twenty year old glasses and a deep, rough, smokers laugh as she told stories of hunting and “mudding” and cleaning fish with her bare teeth. Okay, I made up the last part about her teeth, but she definitely cleaned her own fish, along with anyone else’s. She was “butch” before being butch was cool. She fascinated and scared me in equal measures…and I was dating her son.

Over the next several years, we’d shop together, eat together, smoke together and laugh together. Turned out she wasn’t as scary as she seemed and neither was her son. I married him and gained her.

She liked to tease that she liked me better than him and that there were no refunds, he was mine for good. But she’d prove over and over again that she loved us both the same. She called me her daughter, and he was still her son. She’ll always be my Mom.

We built our home, and our family, right next door to this lady with the men’s size 10 feet. And those feet would regularly make the trek between the houses for awhile. Three grandkids would soften and delight that rough around the edges lady in ways I hadn’t seen coming. They’d light up her face and dull her colorful vocabulary.

Until those work damaged arms screamed loud for pain meds. And the doctors gave them.

And then gave more.

Until that hard working, hard loving, hard living Mom stayed put in that worn out recliner for years. Barely recognizable, she stopped working, stopped loving and stopped living. Sometimes only awake for a few hours a day.

We thought we lost her for good then. That generous lady that sent diaper coupons to distant nieces and nephews starting their own families, dozens of bottles of baby soap and lotion to the ones that were close, paper plates and napkins for every family get together and cards to everyone for every occasion.

Then, just when we were grieving our own personal tragedy…she met Jesus.

Now, when a person taking enough oxycontin to bring down a horse tells you they’ve been talking to Jesus, you don’t take them too serious like. You start believing that this is about to be another personal tragedy. And you start crying out to your own personal Jesus (the One that tends to speak to you through His Word, in your prayer closet, not in the flesh) for some relief.

That’s when it happened. It turned out her Jesus and our Jesus were the same and He told her to dump out her pain medication, that she didn’t need it anymore. So she did.

Because Jesus can reach you even in a drug induced fog and when He tells you to do something….you do it.

Twenty years of narcotic use fell away like as many chains, gone as quickly as those pills skittered and slid to the bottom of the garbage can. And those doctors that gave them to her? Kept her for three days to witness a miracle by the Great Physician. No withdrawal, no pain. Until they finally said they had no reason to keep her and no medical explanation for what just took place.

Her miracle wasn’t without some consequences though. Twenty years of increased doses did some damage to both brain and body but for the next two years she learned to live and love hard again and we enjoyed every minute of learning to live with, and love her, back.

She played BINGO, returned to competitive shooting, watched middle school orchestra concerts and elementary school programs. She went to movies, the town fair (complete with kiddie rides), filled grandkids full of junk food and ice cream, and even learned how to use a debit card. She laughed, and played, and even though she might not have had the capacity to read and study the Bible, I absolutely believe she knew and trusted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

In fact, she’d tell you He saved her twice.

Today, my greedy, selfish, heart is a little disappointed it doesn’t appear that He’s going to save her a third.

I’m grieving the pending loss of our Mom and Grammy from this world while trying to remember to be grateful for the gift she was. Trying to thank Him for giving her back to us once, long enough to soak up her silly personality and sweet generosity at a time we desperately needed both.

Praising a loving Savior powerful enough to save us from both the grave, and the chains that bind us here.

Rejoicing in the knowledge that no matter what, we will meet again, in heaven.

Seasons

/ bobbiblanchard / 2 Comments

I stepped outside last week and smelled it. That “fall is coming” smell. Even though it was 80° and humid I could still make out the crisp, wet, smell of decay in the slight breeze. This makes some people excited. They start posting on Facebook about sweatshirts and bonfires and pumpkin flavored everything. Usually paired with pictures of pretty leaves. Other people, like Hubby and Mini Hubby look forward to the first frost with eager anticipation to put an end to their allergy induced misery. I am not either of these people.

I hate fall. I know, some of you probably just cringed and gripped your pumpkin latte a little tighter. Bear with me. I’ve really tried to like fall. I have! I’ve tried to embrace the changing leaves but in the Midwest, this is a VERY short window. I’ve baked a gazillion apple pies. I even tried buying some mums. But alas, to me, fall is simply change.

You may remember that I am not a fan of change. Nope. Predictability, sameness and boring. That’s me. So, I do not look forward to daylight that ends at 4 in the afternoon. I don’t look forward to adding twenty minutes to my morning bundling children, heating up the van and looking for the dreaded missing glove. I don’t enjoy the look of bare trees and dead plants. I want sunshine and color.

I like summer. No bulky coats and flip flops every day. I like long days outside in the fresh air, fresh fruits and veggies at every roadside stand, late mornings and later nights. With my kids.

Ahhh… here is part of my hang up this year. I am especially distraught this fall because my last baby is leaving the house for kindergarten. Mini Hubby has been looking forward to it for months. His backpack has been packed, hanging on it’s hook, for a month. His lunch box has been put on the counter at least once a week in preparation. He’s very excited to be heading to school like the big kids. His momma is not.

Seasons.

It’s been fifteen years for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed this season. And, like summer, I don’t want it to end. I don’t want fall. I don’t want my babies to go to school. What I want, is for them to be little forever. I love snuggling babies, sitting in a rocking chair all day and folding tiny socks. I love chasing toddlers with chubby feet, sticky hands and belly laughs. I love playdates and coffee dates. I love baking and cooking family favorites and volunteering in classrooms and on field trips. I love being able to serve my family and my church family in as many ways as my schedule allows. I also kind of like yoga pants and ponytails and worshipping barefoot in my kitchen.

But I’m done with these things. You see, I’ve got a job. Now, don’t freak out, my stay at home mommas, I am certainly not implying you don’t have a job. Remember, I think it’s the best job. But, I’m starting an actual paying job. And it’s a good one, I think. I will be working in the special education department of our High School. So, really, I’ll be even closer to Oldest Son and right across the street from Mini Hubby. Technically, closer to them than I’d be if I was at home. This job has many good things about it. The type of work (really, I’m so excited to meet these kids!), the same schedule as my babies, and maybe the added bonus of keeping close to them during some really tough years. Not to mention a second paycheck for when a car breaks down. It’s going to be good.

Really.

As soon as I get past this grieving over ending seasons.

There are a few things I need to work out. Like, how does one serve God faithfully in a secular position?

I’ve kind of enjoyed singing and dancing and reading and praying through my hard days. How do I do that now? I feel like that might turn some heads at the High School.

Why is it that the first child out the door clings to your leg in tears and the last one practically runs out on his own?

How do I serve my family well when so much of my time will be poured into other people?

How can I possibly love this next season as much as I’ve loved this last one? Will I ever?

This is the part that has had me crying at the drop of a hat this last week. Well, that and probably some hormones and a decided lack of chocolate due to this elimination diet I’ve been on over a month. But those are different blogs altogether.

So many questions, so many unknowns, so many feelings. This last week I have almost constantly reminded myself that God Is faithful, He knows exactly where I’m supposed to be, and He’s got me during this season, just as the last. But, if you’ve made a similar transition, if you’ve struggled through a changing season yourself, feel free to leave me some encouraging comments and/or reminders of Truth! I’d appreciate it!

UPDATED: Approximately four hours after publishing this post, I was curled up in my closet. You know, trying to work through some of these questions. I was listening to YouTube when this song came on immediately after praying for peace with our changing seasons. I’ve never even heard this song before. I can’t even make this stuff up if I tried. Listen!

Buying Into Busy

/ bobbiblanchard / Leave a comment

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I pulled into our local big box store’s parking lot and being a creature of habit, pulled into our usual spot. Also as usual, the begging for junk food and toys started hardly before I’d put my beloved minivan in park. This time though, I was distracted by “the smell”. If you were ever a teenager with no money, you know the one. That hot, greasy, mechanical smell that indicates (far more reliably than those lights on the dashboard) something expensive is wrong underneath the hood. If you’re like me, and you smell it while driving, you hope that it’s the guy in front of you. But if it’s still there when you’ve parked, you know you’re in trouble.

I was in trouble.

I sent a quick text to Hubby to break the news. Then, an SOS to Auntie Mamie in case I wasn’t able to go pick up Oldest Son. Whom we had just dropped off at tennis practice. And in that three minute timespan my other two darling offspring decided this was an opportune time to fight over spilled water. It’s almost as if they can smell my nerves fray as strongly as “the smell” coming from the van. I hustle them out of the van, past the Expect More, Pay Less sign, and into the air conditioned entry so they can argue over who is going to clean the germ infested handle of the cart. Really, have they no sense of self preservation at all?!

Considering our property taxes are due the end of the month, Hubby has a bad tooth and no more dental for the year, the dog needs a trip to the vet, and my van has “the smell”, I am now seriously counting on this store to live up to it’s pay less promise. Herding (now wet) cats through the store and trying to remember my grocery list, I’m also texting with Hubby and Auntie Mamie about the van. In light of the impending cost of repairs, I’m mentally crossing off batteries for the Xbox controller as I make plans for Auntie Mamie to follow me home and promise Hubby I will do no further driving. He’ll stop on his way home for parts and we will have to postpone our fishing trip with grandpa.

I’m distracted by the fact that no matter how I rearrange my plan, there is just not enough time, or money, in this day. But still I’m trying to squeeze a few more minutes and a few more dollars for what they’re worth as I squeeze more into my cart. And almost walk, distracted, by a sister. As we talk, I’m reminded of meals I’m getting ingredients to make. And the sweet lady that needs them. I share the request for prayer for that family and possible needs they may have in the future. In those five minutes of conversation, God purposefully drew my gaze from me. And toward Him. Away from my texts, away from my shopping list, away from my undone chores at home, my schedule Tetris, and away from my bank account.

How easy it is to fill my cart, fill my life, with anything but Him! And isn’t that exactly what the enemy would have me do? Fill my every moment, my every thought with something else?

If time is money, where am I spending my time? What am I spending it on?

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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What am I buying with my time?

I look into my cart and I realize I’m too often buying busy. I’m buying distraction. I’m buying into probably the biggest lie of our age. I don’t need more time. I need less “stuff” to fill it.

This road we’re on the last couple of years has taught us so much. When you walk through the fire, God has this way of burning off a lot of the excess. Out of necessity mostly, we’ve purged not only a lot of “stuff” as far as possessions, but a lot of “stuff” that took up our time. The result being we have less “stuff” to take care of, to spend time on. And, we’ve been trying to be very purposeful in stewarding our time as well. Limiting kids’ activities, electronic time for all of us, and saying “no” more often to things so we can invest our time wisely. (The learning to say “no”, even to good things, to say “yes” to better things, always reminds me of Jesus leaving the multitude to pray.) Turns out though, that this learning and adjusting is apparently a continuous process? Sigh.

Finally in the check out lane I pry Mini Hubby’s hands from the totally fascinating toy he has to have but would forget about by the time we got home and get an email from another box store telling me the things I need to get because I “deserve them”. This is when I may have asked Baby Girl to go put back the box of Peanut M&M’s I may have impulsively grabbed to make me feel better about “the smell” on the way home. (You know, because I deserved chocolate.)

I’m much less frazzled on my way home with Auntie Mamie tailing us to make sure we get there and the post tennis, smelly, teenage boy in her vehicle, not mine. The kids get to work unloading groceries and unorganizing my pantry while I talk with a friend about her latest trial and make plans to have coffee and talk in person. I take a break to video tape Mini Hubby’s latest Imaginext superhero adventure so he can watch it when he’s done and then promise to listen to Oldest Son’s latest favorite song after he’s done showering. Lunch and a nap for Mini Hubby leaves me with a little Minecraft time with Baby Girl before spending some time in prayer.

My van is still in need of repair, Hubby’s tooth still hurts, the dog hasn’t gone to the vet, we still have to cancel fishing plans, my chores aren’t done, but somehow I feel like I’ve made the right investments for the day?

Trying not to buy into “busy”. Jesus, help me!

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