Mom

Over the past few days I have found myself speaking a lot about my mom. Sherry that is. It can be kind of confusing when I talk about her, because I have a mom now, and I have a mom then. A good friend of mine, Jodi, has told be that she can tell the difference when I talk about my moms, even when I don't say which mom I am talking about. That's something. But it's not the point.
The point is, it seems like I am entering the time of year that is most conducive to reminiscence.

Many of the memories I have of my mom (Sherry) seem to center around this time of year. For instance, Josh, the boys and I carved some pumpkins this year, and I insisted on toasting the seeds "cause mom and I did it and I loved it when I was little!".

Well, turns out, I sort of hate pumpkin seeds. The memory tastes better than the now.

As Jackson gets older and Noah becomes a more active (super active actually) part of our family, I find myself wanting to create the same memories that I have with my mom.
I hope that they grow up thinking that they like pumpkin seeds because what they really like is the special time we shared.
I hope they take their kids to KFC on Sunday after church, because you can't have a Sunday picnic in the park without chicken.
I hope they love fried cheese.
I hope that when they get to heaven, and meet my mom, they'll say, "I know you! You're just like my Mama."
And if I've done my job right, she'll say, "I know you! You're just like my girl."

Because... Who DOESN'T Want Five Pumpkins???

Oh, October.... What an innocuous sounding month... But, I know better. I know you are full of preschool, and home group, and dr. appointments, and meetings, and band practice, and hay rides, and pumpkin patch visits at least five times, and costume buying, and costume wearing, and coat buying and coat leaving-in-the-car-so-what-good-is-it-anyway?, and oh CRAP! last minute rent check mailing, and engagement ring inspecting, and so forth.

October, the gateway to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
October, the orangest month of the year.(Go Beavs??? Nah.)
October, the month in which I buy candy "for the kids" and then eat candy in front of the kids.

No longer, October, will you best me! Surely, I will be in charge of this month! I will buy costumes in the first half of your 31 days! I will not leave my dealings to the last minute, AND I will begin Christmas shopping, and I may even print and address some Christmas cards!!!

Rest assured, October, I will do this! After I have some candy.


There. I got that out.

On a more serious note, I went to a meeting tonight about the CASA program. For any who don't know, (I say like there's more than five people who read this) CASA is Court Appointed Special Advocates. They are the voice of children in the foster care system. At this meeting, I was startled to learn that there are over 1,000 children in the foster care system in Lane County alone, and of those 1,000, only about 300 have a CASA. This is because of the lack of volunteers. The idea of becoming a CASA has been swirling about my brain for a while now, and just the fact that it outlasted all my other harebrained ideas must mean something right? (BTW, I found some GREAT Thomas the Tank Engine fabric at Wal-Mart and almost bought it, until I remembered that I'm NOT taking up sewing. Dang!) Anyway, the application process is fairly lengthy and intensive, so if you want you can pray that I will be accepted and that this will be a good fit for me. And you can pray about becoming a volunteer yourself, after the application and training process it only involves around 10-12 hours a month. Check it out.

And lastly, I just want to take a minute to remember Olivia Ray. Olivia was born shortly after I arrived on the YWAM base in Elm Springs. Her parents were on staff there and I remember seeing some of her first months. She was 10 years old when she was hit and killed by a car on Saturday, and though I haven't kept in touch with her parents, my heart breaks for them and their girls right now. John and Jane raised their daughters to love Jesus, and I hope that knowing Olivia is with Him now brings them some comfort in this time. Please pray for the Ray family if you think of it. Your prayers are heard in Heaven and felt on Earth.