Happy Mother's Day!

One of my favorite memories of Mother's Day doesn't involve an awesome gift or even a perfect day. In fact I worked harder that one Sunday than any other holiday EVER but the memories and the thought and effort put into trying to please me is one that still warms my heart.

Corey was 4 and Trey was 5 years old and as Don left for church he said to me, "Now Jonna...the boys are downstairs and they are making you breakfast in bed so please just stay here. I don't want you to ruin the suprise they are working on for you." My eyes got wide and Don said, "Don't worry. They aren't cooking anything. They are fine. I have been supervising them." So I laid back on the pillow and waited for this great Mother's Day surprise!

Well finally a few minutes later I hear giggling and noise at the bottom of the stairs. There is much discussion going on and I can hear Trey trying to tell Corey to be careful and to walk up the stairs slower. Corey is saying, "I am Trey. Leave me alone!" Yes brotherly love was occuring. ha. Then I hear a noise and Corey starts crying. Trey runs up the stairs as I am getting out of bed and he tells me, "Mom...get back in bed! We are bringing you breakfast! It is a suprise!" Trey's eyes are full of excitement and I slowly do as he says but am concerned about Corey. Trey says, "Oh he is just being a baby." So after a few more minutes I finally see Trey and Corey walk into my bedroom with a breakfast tray.

They bring it over to me and with giant, sweet smiles sing, "Happy Mother's Day to You" just like the birthday song is sang. It was really sweet and drug on and on and finally ended with a very high note that was hilarious. Then I looked down at my hand crafted breakfast. They had made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some potato chips and some chocolate milk. Unfortunately during the trip up the stairs the chocolate milk had spilled out of the glass and there was just a little bit left. The sandwich was half soggy and had dirt and cat hair on it...apparently it and the chips went down the stairs as well. UGH. It looked so nasty! Trey and Corey both said at once, "Mom! We want you to eat your breakfast! Aren't you excited? It was a surprise!!! We made this just for you!" With much fear and intrepidation I took a bite out of the hairy and dirty sandwich that looked like it came from a scary movie. Oh my it tasted worse than it looked. I think they used half of the container of peanut butter on the sandwich and I don't think the crunch I bit into was peanut butter! Yikes! (I think I my stairs really needed a good vacuuming)

As I managed to smile and quickly swallow that bite of food that morning and acting like it was amazing.... I realized that the sparkle and gleam in my boys eyes were all I needed. I could care less if I got a card or a gift that day. My boys LOVE me and got up early, went out of their way to do something for ME....and that in itself was worth more than anything else I could think of. I gave both of them big hugs and they cuddled with me in bed for a while and thankfully did not make me eat anymore of that dreadful sandwich! ha

Later when I made it to the stairs I noticed a nightmare-ish trail of chocolate milk that started at about 1/2 way up the stairs and had managed to drip all the way down. I could tell that they used about the whole bottle of hershey's syrup to make 8 ounces of chocolate milk for me....the stain was VERY dark and it was on very light carpet. It took me many hours and lots of different chemicals and scrubbing to finally get the carpet looking decent again! OH Happy Mother's Day to me!

No matter how little or how much we are celebrated today; that does not determine our worth or our value as a Mom. And you cannot equate that with how much your children love you either. Every season in life is different and has it's pros and cons as well as it's ups and downs. The problem is that our expectations can sometimes be so very high that we become disappointed in the moment. When my kids were small they made me things with their own hands and were so excited to do things for me. Now that they are older they easily just go buy me things from my "wish list" at my favorite boutique and probably don't think twice about it. People may look at what I got for mother's day and wish that they got it as well. But what they don't realize is that I wish I was getting a smudgy handprint picture or a flower picked lovingly from the neighbor's yard......or breakfast in bed made with little hands that just want to do their best. Now of course...I NEVER want to get a stain on my carpet like that EVER AGAIN. LOL.

Cherish the moments in your life today and don't compare them with others because you will miss the fact that the "disaster" that occured on what was supossed to be your "special day" will in fact be one of your very favorite memories of the love that your children has for you....and that memory is priceless.


Adjust that Crown,

Jonna

Gelotology

The study of laughter and humor and the effects on the body is called Gelotology. (that kind of makes me laugh) Who knew that one belly laugh burns about 3.5 calories! Well if my math is correct I would need to have about 200 good belly laughs to have a really great workout!! Maybe if I work on my laughter more I can finally ditch that gym commitment....hmmmmmmm.

Proverbs 17:22 "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit drieth up the bones."


I don't know about you but dry bones doesn't sound like a good thing! And if a healthy person laughs 100 to 400 times a day then I need to get busy! I need to stop taking things so seriously!!!

Have you ever had that exhausted feeling after a good laugh? You know, the one where your side hurts, your eyes water, you can't catch your breath, your find yourself snorting and your body's totally spent? Well according to some studies a good giggle can do some pretty wonderful things!

Unfortunately -- watching funny movies all day long won't lead to perfect health (in fact, being a couch potato will do more harm than good especially while holding a bag of cheetos), but remembering that laughter has powerful benefits should get you to smiling.  :))

Laughter decreases stress, help us cope with tough situations, it can improve your blood pressure, helps manage pain, amps your social skills, reduces aggression and boosts your immune system! So the Bible definitely knew what it was talking about when it said it was like a medicine! Now of course it doesn't cure all ailments in life BUT it definitely helps a healthy lifetstyle be better. B cells (used to fight infections) and T cells (attacks viruses and manages immune responses) respond positively to laughter! These are just one of the MANY different responses the body has in response to a good LOL!

Now I know that there are inappropriate times to laugh and no one really wants to be laughed at BUT we have got to stop taking our lives so seriously and start seeing things in a lighter way. You have got to find someone that you can be silly and crazy with and just laugh. We all need to learn to laugh at ourselves as well. We can all do some pretty incredibly funny things and lets not have so much pride that we can't just admit that we tripped and fell. It IS funny! Share it and help someone else's immune system! I think I am responsible for some pretty healthy people out there....ha

Adjust that crown!

Jonna

Sketches

If someone were to sketch you without seeing you but by your own description of yourself...what would it look like compared to what others would say about you? This is a very interesting video and hopefully it will make you stop and think before you tell others or think too much about your perceived flaws. Women especially are so hard on themselves (me included) and we seem to mirror what others have told us or focus on one very small insignificant negative and of course make it so much bigger. This video is a must-watch :)) Remember who's kid you are and adjust that crown! --Jonna

Dormancy

Dormancy - a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction; "the volcano erupted after centuries of dormancy", the state of being inactive for a season. I absolutely LOVE tulips and it is amazing to see what they come from. Have you ever seen their bulbs? They are dry, brown, rough and just plain ugly and the process reminds me of the hard shelled chrysalis of a butterfly. In time and in the proper conditions and season, a beautiful flower will emerge. Fortunately though bulbs in their dormant stage are tough and are actually called storehouses, but still they must be handled properly for them to mature and flower as they should. Tulip bulbs are just stored potential and are so very attune to the environment around them. Bulbs have to have a certain amount of cold weather to trigger a bio-chemical process that causes them to bloom. If the weather is unusually warm too soon then the flower may bloom too soon and if it is cold too long then they will not flower until much later. It is so amazing that something so small and insignificant in our own eyes has been made with such ingenuity. In the word there is a scripture that is one of my favorites:

26 Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. 27 "Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? 28 All this time and money wasted on fashion - do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, 29 but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. 30 "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers - most of which are never even seen - don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? 31 What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. 32People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."                                                         Matthew 6:26-34

There are a few lessons here to be learned. First, Like a tulip we cannot look at someone or a situation and think we know what is going on, because there is a dormancy period that we all go through before we bloom and you don't know if they are about to sprout! God is working on all of us and we are all in different seasons of growing and in changing environments. Secondly, Don't get upset at time factors because you want to be flowering and thriving at just the right time in your life. That time frame may not be what we understand or want but we have to trust the one that made us. We have so many factors that can hinder us or enhance us and we want to be in tune to what God's timing is. If we get too anxious we might bloom too soon and not last because the cold season isn't over.  Thirdly, like a beautiful tulip we may be gorgeous and colorful and find the next day we are ugly and rough due to our  circumstances...just know that you need to embrace the dormancy stage of your life. Tulips are just flowering for a few weeks and then go right back to a rest stage to store up energy. There are times to be quiet and still and to not be in the forefront..that is when we are working on the next phase of our lives and for the next step God is going to lead us to. 

Flowers are wonderful creations I believe were made for us to enjoy so don't forget that you were also created to be enjoyed by the CREATOR....the one that thinks you are GORGEOUS no matter what stage of life you are in. 


Adjust that Crown!

Jonna