The Moberg Family

Category: New Mercies Monday

  • New Mercies Monday: My Mama

    New Mercies Monday: My Mama

    “I don’t think you realize how close you were [to dying]…” my mom’s physician said to her, several times, in the past few weeks. And every time she relayed his words to me this past week, I remembered the not-so-distant memory of the heaviness that weighed on me so many times in the previous weeks because I could feel how close she was.

    It started with excruciating back pain and ended up with two [major] emergency surgeries, multiple [serious] infections and [over] three weeks in the hospital.

    But do you know what it DIDN’T end with?

    Death.

    It didn’t end with death, even though it could have. It didn’t end with death, even though it was close. It ended with LIFE. God was so, so merciful to us.

    I remember getting the news that she was in the hospital (while we were out of the state, nonetheless) and praying that God would take away her pain. But soon after we discovered that the pain was caused by a very serious Staph infection that had severely damaged two of her discs. And then? Then I began to praise God for the pain. Before, I had been asking him to take it away, to relieve her, to calm her body, when that pain was the very thing that saved her life. Oh, how this has had me pondering. How quick I am to pray for others’ pain to be relieved. How quick I am to pray that my pain should be lifted, when perhaps God is using that pain as the very tool to save my life. Maybe not always in a literal sense, but in a spiritual sense…to draw me closer to Him…to teach me His ways…to show me how to depend on Him and Him alone…to save me from the ways I have put my hope in false things without even realizing it. I am too quick to want to remove pain and not quick enough to surrender to God’s hand that sometimes brings pain to save us.

    The last 3+ weeks have been so hard. It was an incredibly (awful) roller coaster of one day receiving good news and the next day receiving the news of a terrible twist in the recovery. One day, while she was in the middle of her second emergency surgery, I just shut my door (“kids, I’ve got to go pray and cry my heart out to God”) and I let the wails go. In reality, I think this second emergency surgery does not typically end in death, but death just felt so near. I don’t even know how else to describe it, but I was gripped with fear of losing my mom. Oh boy, did I cry. Begging God to have mercy on my mom and tears flooding my open bible, He led me to a verse (an entire chapter, really) that has carried me through some of my darkest days over the years.

    “His tender mercies are over all of His works.” Psalm 145:9

    Now, in that moment, I wanted to be led to a verse that promised me he wouldn’t take my mom’s life (I know, never gonna find that in the bible) and I began to protest: “MERCIFUL? TENDERLY merciful??” I wanted to scream. I imagined doctors and nurses frantically prepping my mom for surgery and rushing her into the operating room. “Tender” is not exactly the word I would use to describe what was happening to her. But I couldn’t even get my protest into audible words because God’s peace was so immediately with me (He is near to those who call upon Him! v.18) and I remembered. I remembered that His word is true and He IS merciful, all the time, despite what circumstances look like. He IS merciful in the midst of pain. In fact, the pain IS often THE MERCY. It had been the pain that mercifully saved my mom’s life just days before and although I couldn’t understand how this second surgery could be merciful, I had to have faith that it was. Even if it ended in death. And so I thanked God for being merciful to my mama, even though I couldn’t understand. I prayed that His mercies wouldn’t cease and that He would protect her, take care of her, and spare her life. And you know what? He did all of those things. And it turns out the pain that the led them to discover the perforated intestine which led them to this second emergency surgery was, indeed, His great mercies again. Although we will never know for sure, it seems like the issue was a pre-existing condition that no one knew about. That, in and of itself, also could have killed her if it had gone undetected for much longer.

    His tender mercies are over all of His works. 

    This past week I have been able to talk to my mom several times (!!!) and each time, she testified over and over and over to how God has ordained every single minute of her time in the hospital. How He has provided and taken care of her and seen to every detail of her needs. I am in awe of how the doctors caught various issues–multiple times–that all could have led to death if untreated. So thankful for the amazing physicians that cared for her. So thankful for the spit-fire nurse who washed her hair (Ahhhh the mercy of clean hair!). For every doctor and nurse who so tenderly cared for my mama in the midst of her great suffering and need. So thankful for the dearest friends, family, and church family who covered us all in prayer and love the past few weeks. So thankful for my mom’s sisters, my dear aunts, who responded to emails and updates with contagious hope and joy, who texted me to check in on me in my lowest hour, who loved us all so tenderly. So thankful for the ways that the Lord sustained and protected my dad, who spent hours upon hours tirelessly caring for my mom, loving her well, and commuting back and forth from the Springs to Denver to be with her. How could I miss the shower of tender mercies raining down upon my family? 

    And so, she LIVES. (Hallelujah!) Just a few days ago my mom said “goodbye” to the hospital staff and “hello” to a rehab facility. Although we don’t know how long she will be there, I am learning to rest in the peace of Christ and trust that God’s plans for my mom are far more merciful than my best thoughts and ideas. I am trusting that He will be with her as she re-learns how to walk and do life with a slightly different body. Trusting that although there probably will still be a long, difficult road ahead, that His tender mercies cover that road in the peace of Christ. And, that the Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth. He is so tenderly near.

    Thank you, Father, for sparing my mom’s life. 

    Mom, I don’t know when we’ll accidentally dress as twins (unless I can find me a butterfly back brace!), be able to take a four-wheeler ride or bake pies together again…but none of those things matter…I am just so thankful to still have you. 

  • New Mercies Monday: the Glory of God

    New Mercies Monday: the Glory of God

    It’s been so long since I’ve taken the time to stop and record the goodness of the Lord through this here bloggy blog. I have so many things to say! So many things running through my mind but very little time to SIT. You’d think a world-wide pandemic that forces us all to stay at home would create gobs of extra time, but it sure hasn’t in this household!! So this week my goal is to make just a little time to sit and record. We are literally in the middle of making history!! I think it’s important to record some of the happenings in our lives and hearts and minds.

    And I’m starting here:

    The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Psalm 19:1-4a

    I have not been able to get this picture out of my head for the past 19 days. Is it not GLORIOUS?

    You know how sometimes you go to take a sunset picture and the photo looks nothing like the sunset itself? This was not one of those times. This is really, truly, exactly what the sunset looked like in real life. No photo shopping. I’m still in utter awe that this is the view I have while standing at my kitchen sink. The Lord surprises me EVERY.SINGLE.DAY with the sunset that He paints in the sky. It’s the same feeling as getting a beautiful, heart-felt note in the mail from a dear friend or receiving a one-of-a-kind, precious drawing from the sticky, paint-covered hands of my child. Unexpected, genuine, filled with love, just for me. And here the God of the universe is handing me a piece of His glory…right there in my sky…and it makes my heart thump hard every time. He is breathtaking, and so is his artwork. Every day those heavens declare. They cannot hold their voice back from all the earth. Every night that sky proclaims. God’s handiwork is unmistakable. Unreproducible. Uncomparable. Unbelievable. For God himself is all of these things. And the sky so loudly reminds us that he is the I AM.

    He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17

    Nothing that is happening is unseen by God. Nothing that is happening in the world is a surprise to him. Nothing that’s happening in our lives is beyond him. So let us, dear friends, worship him as loudly as the skies in the midst of this pandemic. When we feel overwhelmed, stir-crazy, stuck, alone, afraid…let us remember that it was never supposed to be about “us” in the first place. It was always supposed to be about HIM. May we LOOK UP and remember that his glory is painted in the sky for us to see. He lets us see a piece of his glory for his glory. Let us praise his name, for he is worthy! Let us give thanks to him, for he holds all things together! Let us glorify him who does not hide his face from those who seek him! Let us look to him, for he is glorious above all! 

     

    Your turn, my friends…how is God holding you together during this time? Where have you seen his glory here on earth? What new mercies has he brought to you today?

  • New Mercies Monday: Gratitude

    I started this post LAST Monday, and after a particularly challenging week it feels like the perfect day to take a moment to stop, pause, think about how great our God is…and finish this post!!

    The truth is, I fall asleep every night thanking God for so many victories every day…small things that I used to take for granted…but isn’t it true? It’s often only when something is taken away that you even realize it was something you took for granted. There a hundred mundane-to-the-world events that are taking place in my world every day that spur on such a deep sense of gratitude. What’s one example, you ask? Doing the dishes. A year and a half ago that was literally impossible for me. I’m so thankful I can do the dishes!!!

    A year ago, we gathered with these same dear friends on Thanksgiving and the walk we took after dinner felt equivalent to climbing Everest. This year, piece of cake pumpkin pie! Thank you, Lord!!

    So grateful for these friends, for dear Suz whose warm hospitality oozes from every aspect of the day, from the mouth-watering gravy to the beautiful table to the strong embraces; for OJ who keeps us in non-stop laughter; and for their precious children who delight our lives. So thankful for the gifts of these beloved friends who love us deeply, extravagantly and unconditionally, who spur us on, and who share their lives with us.

     

    And the Wallaces!!! Sound the horn! We haven’t seen them in years but they squeezed us into their busy in-town-for-a-short-few-days schedule. Such a joy to see their boys all grown up (sniff, sniff…I have a picture of me holding Nathan as an infant!!!) and to get to visit with them. Today also happens to be Amy’s birthday…so shout out to Amy for turning another year older and STILL looking EXACTLY like she did when I met her…what? TWENTY years ago???!!! Unbelievable. Please share with us your secret to the fount of youth!!

     

    Ooooh and my precious family. Look at these cousins. We are missing Cypher, Andrew and Courtney…but they were in our hearts and their artwork was on the mug all the grandkids made for my mom!! My mom prepared a fantastic Thanksgiving feast, as always, and turned a year older the same day. Have I mentioned how thankful I am to be near my mom? What would I do without her? Without her prayers, without her laugh, without her friendship, without her stuffing and apple pie?? Thank you, Lord, for this dear mother of mine.

    My parents have generously and thoughtfully taken all the daughters/granddaughters to the Nutcracker each year. It is a tradition that we all very much look forward to, but I will say that Selah CANNOT.STOP.TALKING.ABOUT.IT starting from about July! “When’s the Nutcracker?” is a question we hear for months around here! This year Aunt Melanie and the girls flew in for the win and now we are just missing Joanne and Courtney…so…maybe next year!! 🙂 Seriously, could the girls POSSIBLY be any cuter in those matching dresses???? GAH!!!

     

    Your turn. What about you? What are you thankful for? What new mercies has He given you today? I’d love to hear your comments!!

  • New Mercies Monday: Laughter

    New Mercies Monday: Laughter

    “Our God does not intend His people to be shipwrecked. However, we would be shipwrecked and lost if we could not be held fast in the hour of temptation…He bought you at too great a price and values you too much to see you broken to pieces on the rocks. Therefore, He has provided a glorious safeguard for you so that when…the trials of the world attack you, hope may be the anchor of your soul, both sure and steadfast. How much we need this anchor!…If you have been sailing on the great waters of life for any length of time, you must be well aware that if it were not for everlasting truths, which continue to hold you securely, your spirit would quickly have been thrown into everlasting darkness long ago, and the proud waters would have gone over your soul long before this. When the mighty waves rose, it must have seemed to you as if your poor boat had gone down to the bottom of the sea, and if it had not been for the unchanging love and immovable faithfulness of God, your heart would have utterly failed. Nevertheless, here you are today, convoyed by grace, provisioned by mercy, steered by heavenly wisdom, and propelled by the spirit’s power. Thanks to the anchor, or rather to the God who gave it to you, no storm has overwhelmed you. Your ship is under way for the port of glory.” ~Finding Peace in Life’s Storms by Charles Spurgeon

    A timely belated birthday present from Erika! (artwork by Brianna)

    He is good, isn’t He?

    Where would I be without this hope, without this anchor for my soul? I would–most certainly–be drowned at the bottom of the sea…my heart would have utterly failed.

    It is incredible to sit down (when I can!) on these Mondays and just stop to look back and remember. Wow. I just sorted through pictures from the last couple of weeks and in the midst of that little project, the Lord has shown me so much that I don’t think I would have seen had I skipped sitting quietly to blog today.

    In the last two weeks, I have felt a seedling sprout in my heart. In faith, I have been confident that the Lord has been tending to a good work in me over the months and years. The digging and tilling and planting has been happening out of sight to the world and even to me…though I could feel it, I couldn’t understand it or see any visible fruit. But this week a sprout was visible–even to me. He is restoring laughter to my spirit and joy to my soul.

    Last week, thanks to the prompting and encouragement from my Step instructor, I sat down to read Habakkuk, a book I haven’t read in too long. She had been encouraging me the night before, quoting verses from Habakkuk and as she was speaking I was finishing the book in my head: “Though there is no fruit on the fig tree and no cattle in the stalls…YET I will rejoice in the Lord…” So I sat down the next day to read through all of it and was so deeply encouraged by Habakkuk’s wrestles…isn’t it amazing when you encounter the very things you have said to God in the book that He wrote for us?? I am not alone.

    Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls– Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. (Hab 3:17-19)

    Then earlier this week, I got this text message from my dear, sweet friend Shaunna. She wrote, “When I pray for you, I always pray that God would fill you with joy, peace, and comfort. But today I also pray that you will enjoy a deep belly laugh and smile from ear to ear…”

    I smiled, and immediately realized that she had put to words exactly what I could feel God doing in me…restoring joy and laughter. And there was my friend, hand-in-hand with our mighty God, praying it into existence. Who is blessed with friends like this who walk with you in grief while believing God to meet you with joy?? Thank you, Lord…

    Two days later, Elliott had just stepped out into the backyard to play when he came bounding back inside squealing and screeching and shouting, “MOM!!! MOMMM!!!!! MOMMMMMM!!!! COME LOOK!!! OUR FLOWERS ARE SPROUTING!!!!”

    To be honest, I didn’t believe him. We had JUST looked in our flower boxes the day before, and I had JUST explained to our friends who were over that day that I have a black thumb and although I tried SO HARD to grow these perennials for Elliott so they would attract butterflies for him, that I had utterly failed. But I ran outside with him to look and, sure enough…we had four little sprouts!!

    Here’s one!!

    Look at how the Lord weaves every detail of our lives into profound lessons for us. A sprout.

    And a sprout of laughter.

    It can be difficult to accurately portray reality: I never want to embellish or dramatize what’s happening in my heart and our home, and I also want to keep each blog post a blog post, and not a novel (I know, too late!). So I don’t mean to portray that there has been NO joy or laughter in our home, because that’s not true…there has been. Every day we laugh together as a family and my kids laugh together ALL THE TIME, but it has been hard for me to push aside my grief and just let the laughter roll out of my belly like I know it can. It’s been really hard, especially in the day-to-day mundane tasks. If I can distract myself enough to forget, I can find joy and laugh easily. But to find joy when I remember the grief and the loss and the pain? That’s much more difficult. But, it’s sprouting. I am seeing myself laugh WITH the kids all day long instead of just watching them laugh and trying to remember what it feels like to be that carefree. I am finding true joy in the Lord, in the anchor of my soul, in the midst of the grief and the trials and the dreams that feel crushed. And little by little, it’s rolling out of my belly and up through my mouth like a thunderous ball of laughter.

    “…and she laughs at the time to come…” (Prov 31:25)

    Lord, let it be. Grow your joy in my heart and in our home.

    Here are some glimpses of the laughter sprouting in our home in the last couple of weeks…

    New friends, all trying to pile into the clown car together!
    Trader Joe’s. Need I say more? These kids LOVE having their own mini carts. If it looks like they’re racing, it’s because they are ;).
    Peanut Butter nose. This girl can’t eat without getting food all over her face, and it always gives every one of us a little chuckle. I’ve never seen a more adorable freckled peanut butter nose!!
    She also can’t eat without somehow turning her food into a joke, a letter of the alphabet, a vehicle, and animal, or a body part. This might drive another mom crazy, but it makes me laugh every time!! She’s always forcing me to STOP and really take joy in life. Here, her cucumbers were, of course…eyebrows. 🙂
    We introduced Elliott to our new pet, the Penny Horse!!!

    My mighty girl, who never ceases to amaze me with her bravery. Look at how chill she looks up there!! Just sittin’ on top of the playground like it ain’t no thang!!! Ha!!

    Speaking of bravery…my kids did not get the “animal bravery” gene. We have tried to work so hard with them…thankfully, the McCabes have cats and so the kids get to practice being strong and courageous against these fierce incredibly sweet and cuddly felines every time we go over there. However, all progress may have been lost in that arena when Selah was bit by someone else’s cat a couple months ago. Sigh.

    So then, my dear friend Julie was in town!!! Her parents live in Guam about an hour and a half away, so I invited her to spend the night over here. She accepted and asked if she could bring her dog. Yes! It was the perfect way to expose our kids to animals, as Lincoln is a super sweet and well-behaved dog. Julie taught them how to play “hide-and-seek” with her, and they just giggled uncontrollably throughout the entire game. They each hid two treats for Lincoln around our living room and then Lincoln had to find them. The kids thought it was hilarious. Julie also very patiently taught them about Lincoln and let them pet her while in Julie’s arms. AND…they each wanted to take a turn walking her! Now THAT’S progress!!

    Look at those brave kids and that adorable dog!!

    And, I got to spend time with my sweet friend!

    We asked Brian to take a picture of us, and this is what we got at first 🙂

     

    This big man took the longest bike ride he has yet with his daddy to a surprise location: Culver’s! For some yummy custard!
    The kids and I baked this (INCREDIBLE) banana bread last week. I have yet to be successful in teaching the kids to crack eggs without getting them EV.ER.Y.WHERE, but they still beg me to let them crack them. So I consented that day, and Elliott’s egg literally ended up ALL OVER HIM. We all laughed so hard…even Elliott, which is a big deal for my normally hates-to-be-dirty-and-wet son 🙂
    Will selfies with the kids EVER get old???!!! I don’t think it’s possible!!
    This one sure thinks it’s funny!!!!

     

    Thank you, Lord, for another week, for sprouts of joy, and for your new mercies. 

  • New Mercies Monday: Another Year

    New Mercies Monday: Another Year

    I’ll come clean–I was going to skip blogging this week.

    Yes, I had a birthday, but, well…I honestly just didn’t have too much to say about it this year. (I know, I know…which is surprising for this normally long-winded girl…)

    Until there I was at the gym right before the fitness class started, chatting with my Zumba friends, and one of them mentioned that she wouldn’t be there Thursday night because she had a funeral to go to. Apparently her daughter’s friend had just finished his first year of college and he and a bunch of his friends were celebrating…by jumping off a bridge into a river. Well, her daughter’s friend drowned.

    We all said our “I’m so sorry’s” and then the music began to play. Normally, my Zumba hour is my “let’s-pretend-I’m-on-a-professional-dance-team-and-actually-good-at-it” hour, but not tonight. I couldn’t follow along with my usual carefree-ness. I couldn’t stop thinking about that young man whose life was over when it had barely begun, and about his parents who were obviously sitting somewhere, completely devastated. Did he know the Lord?

    And then my mind wandered to me…and to all of the incredibly stupid, stupid, stupid things I did back in the day, all in the name of “fun” or “celebration”…and how any of those things could have ended the way this man’s life did.

    He has been so merciful to me. 

    He gave me another year. He has given me so many years. Thankfully my stupidity level has significantly decreased since a.) I surrendered my life to the Lord at 18 and b.) since I have gained a tiny bit of wisdom over the years (I found an ENORMOUS gray hair on my birthday…proof of my crown of wisdom, right?!!) but all those years of just being unwise…of feeling invisible…of thinking nothing could harm me…He was there. He kept me. He guarded me and protected me. Every.Single.Time I hear a story of how someone’s mistakes early on are wreaking havoc in their lives today, I hit my knees in my heart as I listen. Because that could have been me. No, that SHOULD have been me, save for the grace of God. 

    “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

    I have been saved not only from physical death, but from spiritual and emotional death. I have been saved from living a life of immorality, I have been saved from the death of anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment and fear. I have been saved from the chains of insecurity and confusion and hopelessness. He saved me. I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. 

    Thank you, Lord, for teaching me to walk in them. Thank you for giving me another year to do so.

    “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

    Cheers to another year of knowing and loving the Lord with all of my heart. And cheers to my dear (local) friends and my precious, precious family!!

    Celebrating with queso and sweet friends!
    Birthday morning snuggles with my favorites…

    These two…they are SO into wrapping presents. Daily I will find a new “present” to open and inside is one (or many) of my possessions. Selah literally gets so excited to watch me open one of these “presents” that she shakes and squeals with delight from her tippy toes on up. Here, Selah wrapped up tons of our crafting stuff. When I opened it and delighted over the array of tape and crayons and markers, she just beamed with pride :). Oh, how I love her!!!! And Elliott made me this puppet out of an old vitamins box! CUTE!!!

     

    And, a birthday date with this man and some lobster-stuffed shrimp. Mmmmm……

    My love.

     

    How about you? If you’re reading this, He’s given YOU another day. Have you seen His mercies? Have you received the free, undeserving gift of salvation? 

    With much love,

    The gray-haired, birthday girl 🙂 

  • New Mercies Monday: Receipts & a Penny Horse

    New Mercies Monday: Receipts & a Penny Horse

    I am constantly trying to see the Lord in all that I do in a day. He teaches us all the time, and I don’t want to miss a lesson from Him. So, so often I understand His character through watching my children and taking note of the way my heart, as their mother, responds to them. Because if I know how to give them good gifts, how much more so does our Heavenly Father? (Matthew 7:11). So I let Him teach ME about Him through parenting.

    One particular morning…”errand morning” to be precise…my little girl had just had it. She had been on the edge all morning, but when we rolled our little Costco cart out of the building and towards the car, the receipt (you know–the one where the kind old man had drawn a portrait of my daughter on the back with a marker, curly hair and all?) was taken captive by the tornado happening in the parking lot. She had had her heart SET on taking that receipt home…cutting it into pieces and gluing it onto construction paper. She had plans. She had dreams. And all of them were blown into oblivion with that huge gust of wind. She totally and completely fell utterly apart. And as I attempted to unload our groceries into the back, all the while clinging to that enormous Costco-sized watermelon with all my might in hopes that it would keep me anchored, my darling daughter had her face plastered against the car window, shouting out suggestions through heaving sobs of how I could “just chase after the receipt.”

    It was literally so windy I was afraid WE were going to blow away, and against my better judgment I attempted to try and explain to her how far away China was and how, at the rate the wind was blowing, her receipt was surely already there.

    “BUT WE CAN JUST GO THERE!!!!” she sobbed.

    “We would have to take a plane, and then our groceries would go bad.”

    “WELL YOU CAN JUST CALL THE POLICE!! PLEASE, MOM!! JUST CALL THE POLICE!!!” she begged.

    How do you gently explain to your crushed 3 year old that her receipt is not important enough to call the police for? Oh my. So she cried hysterically all the way to the place where we pick up our milk. I tried to reason with her and sympathize with her for a few minutes and then I just stopped talking, quieted myself, and let her cry. Because, come on, she was devastated and therefore totally unreasonable. And I get that. It just didn’t feel like a moment to correct her. She was refusing to be comforted by me. How many times have I been too busy pumping my fists and shouting suggestions at God that I have refused to be comforted by Him? That was an insightful question to ask myself.

    We arrived and I unbuckled my red, swollen-faced little girl, grabbed our milk box, and we walked inside. I set the box down and…

    There, stuck to our milk box, WAS A COSTCO RECEIPT. With a curly-haired little girl drawn on the back. I had to blink about 700 times but it really was there. I checked the items and they were items I buy, but not items I had purchased on that particular day. But still…it was a virtually identical Costco receipt. I knelt down, showed Selah the receipt and talked to her of the Lord’s mercies towards her. That there was no way I could have orchestrated that, but God did. That God knows her heart and her desires and He cares about them…because He cares about her. Her receipt may not have been important enough to a police man, but it was important enough to God. So there I was, talking to her, but more than anything I was talking to me, because I desperately need to understand that lesson. That when I am screaming and crying and hysterically shouting at God, and He is silent, that that doesn’t mean He doesn’t have a plan. It’s just not time to find the receipt yet.

    So then we headed to the next grocery store to get the few items we need from there. And Selah decided she MUST sit in the blue car cart. I mean, it was a matter of life and death. I explained to her for the third time that we only needed 3 items and we had to hurry if we were going to get the items, drop our groceries off at home and make it to Elliott’s preschool to pick him up on time (thankfully we didn’t have to take a detour to China anymore!). And she lost it. Sobbing and hysterically crying all the way into King Soopers. She had finally calmed down by the time we got to the cream cheese and we made our way to the check out as I checked the time for the billionth time since setting foot in the store.

    After paying, the teller slipped a penny across the counter. “Would she like to ride the horse?

    “The HORSE?” I asked.

    He looked at me, dumbfounded. “Yes, the HORSE…you know? The penny horse? The penny horse is the only reason people shop here!” We had been to that store dozens of times and not once had anyone mentioned this horse that was apparently the main attraction and certainly had I never been given a penny to ride it! I looked in the direction of his pointing finger to see a brown toy electronic horse, with a “1c” sign hastily scribbled on with spray paint. I will admit, we are not “grocery store ride” people. I have never even glanced twice at one of those things, but I will say that 1 penny wasn’t a bad deal at all! My mind raced with the fact that my little one had been hysterical for the better part of the last hour and that she certainly didn’t “deserve” a ride on the penny horse and that we didn’t have two minutes to waste in this particular moment…when…

    Mercy. I could see God’s mercy. Not getting what we deserve. God seemed to be going out of His way to give my emotionally-unstable little girl new mercies that morning. And I certainly wasn’t going to get in His way. I gave up my agenda and bent down, for the second time that morning, and explained to Selah how the kind man had given her a penny to ride the horse, but how really it was God giving her yet another new mercy. She listened intently as I preached my little sermon and when I asked if she would like to ride the horse, she stared back at me with those big blue eyes, mouth open in wonder, and slowly nodded her head up and down. Because sometimes His mercies come in the shape of recovered Costco receipts and penny horses.

    The Penny Horse.

    Thank you, Lord, for all of our new mercies this week. I refuse to miss seeing YOU and your heart for us in the little moments of life:

    The Moberg version of Saturday morning cartoons…
    “How did the deer cross the road?” “By using the crosswalk, of course!!”
    Spaghetti Squash Chefs!
    Homeschool Space Tinkering Day…we made instruments and learned about Space with Quinn and Kari!
    A preschool Mother’s Day tea with my boy who was the first to let me be a mother full-time. Thank you, Lord, for this little miracle of a man.
    Mother’s Day…with my kids and my Mama in beautiful Colorado!

    And last, but not least. Elliott’s hunger for reading is just exploding. He’s reading so much!! He and Brian read the Bible every night and a couple of weeks ago he just started sounding out the books of the bible. So Brian went through them with him and the rest is history. Check out our little man!!

     

     

     

    Your turn. What new mercies has God given you this week?

  • New Mercies Monday

    New Mercies Monday

    This week, I was blessed with double “Jillian” new mercies!

    My sweet friend Jillian from Tacoma was in town and I was SO blessed to get to grab a quick breakfast with her. Such a treasured friend. We met because she was my student teacher, which seems like EONS ago!!! But I knew we would be friends from the moment I read her application and profile. Definitely a kindred spirit and her friendship has blessed my life. I didn’t even think to snap a pic!! It was such sweet fellowship to see her!!

    And THEN, my OTHER dear Jillian (Jilly-Bean, to be more precise) sent us package!

    First of all, WHO ON EARTH sends a package this beautiful!?!! I’ve never received a package where the box itself is a piece of art!!!

    I’ll tell you who. Jilly Bean. Artist extraordinaire. Seriously–I mean that. She is UNBELIEVABLY talented. Check out her work here!!

    I’ll tell you what’s a new mercy–HAND-ME-DOWNS!!! We are SO blessed to get boy hand-me-downs from Jill’s boys and girl hand-me-downs from Kari’s girls.

    The box was FULL of amazing treasures, including these AWESOME Lightning McQueen slippers for Elliott. Olivia also passed down two sets of jammies for Selah (although they are probably close to the same size at this point since they are just a few months apart!). The kids TORE through the box like it was Christmas day and then immediately stripped their clothing and tried everything on. It was so darling to watch. They were SOOO thankful, just squealing and giggling with delight. So precious.

    Later in the week, Selah and I got a little girl time and she wanted to play Bingo. We were towards the end of a round when she suddenly started dumping game pieces on my board, and then LAUGHING ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICALLY. She did it again and again to the point where I was laughing hysterically at HER laughing so hysterically and then…it happened. She got the hiccups. When she laughs so hard that she gets the hiccups, (which she does a lot) I just absolutely lose it. I think it’s SO RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY. Anyway, I finally grabbed my phone to try and capture the moment. We must have laughed for 10 minutes straight.

    My girl who always has us in stitches.

    And THEN, I was cleaning up our craft room when I found THIS little gem! I am SO thankful that I write things down because I had totally forgotten about this picture despite the fact that I had just written down the caption a few months ago! Selah drew this picture back in February, handed it to me, and explained what it was. I wrote exactly what she said on the back of it:

     

    Come on, now. Who is this girl?? Her imagination!!!!!!!!

    And last, but CERTAINLY not least…

    While I was making dinner, Brian embraced me and said, “Happy Anniversary, my Love.”

    My brain immediately started rattling as it was not computing…what is today…May…May what?…May 2nd…what is May 2nd….AHHHHH….

    “The day you proposed to me!!!”

    I am certain we have forgotten this anniversary many times, but this day we didn’t.

    What a new mercy. We were just laughing through our dating story with some new friends on Saturday night. What a story :). But (almost) 7 years in and I couldn’t be more certain that God’s mercy was on my life and my heart while we were dating to open my eyes. Boy was my little heart guarded and hurt and BOY did it take me some time to realize that there was no other man on the planet that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But God dropped the walls off my heart and confirmed in my heart that Brian was the man. Every day I am thankful for him. Every day I am thankful for God’s mercy in opening our eyes because they were certainly CLOSED to each other for a long time!!!!! 8 years of friendship+6 months of dating+3 months of engagement=new mercies every day. Thank you, Lord, for this man.

    Promised to each other for 7 years!!

    And if you haven’t read our *incredibly* lengthy engagement story, you can click here :).

    YOUR TURN!! What new mercies has God brought to your life this week?!!!

     

     

  • New Mercies Monday: BUTTERFLIES!

    New Mercies Monday: BUTTERFLIES!

    This edition of New Mercies Monday…brought to you on TUESDAY. Because, life.

    Between nursing my very sick husband back to health, snuggling my very emotional 5 year old who just got over being sick, making uber amounts of garlic tea and chicken stock and onion poultices…oh my, my newest mercy yesterday was that we all SURVIVED!

    BUT…I’ve been excited all week to share about our new mercies from last week…so here we go!

    We all needed some new life around these parts so I decided to get us some caterpillars towards the end of March! When I told my friend Courtney about them she was super impressed, asking me if we went out and caught them ourselves…which, we basically did…from Theeee Amazon!! Not the jungle, but the internet site. They’re basically the same thing, right?

    The sweet little buddies arrived and it was so much fun to let the kids open the box and discover what was inside. We observed, journaled, drew pictures, did art crafts, checked out a million books at the library and filled our little brains with all there was to know about our new special friends.

     

    We watched them get bigger and bigger and bigger and were so excited the first day that we saw one hanging in a “J”!
    We did lots of caterpillar crafts…
    …and even found a caterpillar at the park!!….

    …until we came home from preschool on Tuesday and FOUND A BUTTERFLY!!!!!!

    We put some oranges in a bowl for him and sweetened his “flower” with some nectar that we mixed up together.

    The next day, we woke up to ANOTHER butterfly!!! We were all so excited! And then, for the next amazing act…I was staring at one of the Chrysalises because it seemed like it was totally clear when all of a sudden, I saw the butterfly’s head poke out!!! I frantically called for the kids and Brian and raced to get my phone and got back just in time to capture THIS on video!!! (And please excuse my frantic calling to Selah…she was missing the whole thing because she was so intent on explaining to her Daddy what was happening! I didn’t want her to miss it!!! Ha.)

     

    How SPECIAL is that?!!! Oh my goodness, I couldn’t get over it!! It was such a thrilling experience!!

    The fourth butterfly came out later that day and the fifth came out the next morning! Hooray!

    We read a million butterfly books and talked about symmetry and did lots of butterfly activities. One of our books talked about the types of flowers butterflies are attracted to, and Elliott could not get it out of his head and continually asked us if we could, “buy some perennials that butterflies are attracted to and plant them!!!” If you know me, you know I certainly don’t have a green thumb, but we figured it out and finally were able to plant the flowers this week once the blizzard passed. We’ll let you know if they actually grow!!! (Aunt Melanie, are you SO proud of us?!!!)

    I found the following project here, and I think they are simply stunning!! I folded a paper in half, drew half a butterfly on one of the sides in pencil for each kid (and for myself!!) and then poured some black paint into one of our half-filled glue bottles. The kids traced my pencil outline and then made whatever designs they wanted on the inside. The folded them in half to imprint the black outlines on the other half and waited for them to dry. Then we filled them in with watercolors!

    This was a good challenge for Elliott…not trying to figure out how to paint the butterfly in symmetrically, but how to not be a PERFECTIONIST about painting him in PERFECTLY symmetrically…
    Selah wasn’t so keen on the whole “symmetrical” thing…as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, she takes artistic license with everything she does! 😉 Isn’t her butterfly beautiful?!
    We also did these fairly quickly with some regular paint. They just painted one side and folded in half to make it symmetrical.

    And you’ve just gotta see the kids’ journals. Oh my, I think they are the most precious things on the planet!

    Selah’s journal. I (obviously) wrote most of her words and I’m pretty sure I drew the two caterpillars in “Js” and the chrysalis on Day 13 for her…all the rest of the artwork is hers!
    And look at this big man’s work!! WOW!! He knocked our socks off. He did most all of the writing himself and ALL of the drawings himself!!
    We had a butterfly snack, which felt a bit like a pinterest fail…how on earth do you get the pretzel wings to stick up in the peanut butter??!! I have no idea. The kids didn’t care…they gobbled them up!!

    And finally, we released them. It was fairly warm out, but a SUPER windy day. They were definitely hesitant to leave their little cage. One finally flew to the top of the cage and then I gentle put my finger under his feet. He crawled on my hand and we got some cute memento photos before he took flight. I finally grabbed a stick and used it to reach in and gently put it under the other butterflies’ feet. Selah was brave enough to hold a stick with a butterfly on it, but Elliott kept his distance ;).

    If you read about Selah’s potty training experience, you know she is very descriptive when it comes to describing her poop. Sunday night after struggling a bit to get a long one out (is this tmi?? Sorry…) I finally heard it splash into the bowl. I said, “Wow, are you alright?” She responded, out of breath, “Yeah. Wow, my poop was like a chrysalis hanging from my bottom!!!!”

    Teachers, can we all agree that this here 3 year old met the learning objectives and understands the life cycle of a butterfly?! Hahahaha!!!!

    So there you have it…such a new mercy for us this week!!!

    And three other bonuses for you:

    Thank you, Safeway, for making our trip to the grocery store as thrilling as a ride at Disneyland!
    Watermelon is finally cheap at Costco!! Hooray!! The kids have been begging for it but we told them we had to wait until it was (more) in season. Can you tell these children have missed it?!! HAHA!!!
    And THIS was the sunset on my way home from the gym one evening…WOW. Thank you, Lord.

     

    And now it’s YOUR turn!! Comment below and tell me about the Lord’s new mercies to YOU this past week! I’d love to hear about them!

     

  • New Mercies Monday

    New Mercies Monday

    When I shut down my facebook account over a year ago now, I made a mental note to blog more often. And well, that didn’t really happen :). My zeal for writing and recording in this virtual scrapbook here has somewhat windled down to birthdays and holidays. Most of that, quite honestly, is that I’m so tired in my spirit. It’s been an incredibly weary-ing few years in many aspects and when I look in the mirror, all I see is tired. 

    Virtually every night before bed, Selah asks if we can sing, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” It is the song that I listened to on repeat in the weeks and months leading up to her birth and the song I played over and over while in labor with her. It’s the song that steadies my fears. He is faithful. Always. Every day.

     …Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers And sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. … Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. [Lam 3:19-25, 32]

    The beginning part of the chapter is much of how I have felt these last few years, but…BUT. I recall to mind, constantly, that His mercies are new every morning. Selah reminds me daily. (Of course she does–that is what her name means!) I am so thankful for her reminder to make me stop and think about how great God is and to meditate upon his mercies. Last night I asked her to tell me what had blessed her about the day and she rattled off a list several minutes long of all the things she was thankful for. She finished, smiled, looked at me, and returned the question: “What are YOU thankful for, Mommy?” My heart is abundantly blessed by who she is.

    And so…this little series is born. New Mercies Monday. Rather than devoting the start of my week to simply meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry, I want to devote them to Selah-ing. To stopping, to pausing my to-do list, and to meditating on the new mercies that God has poured out to us in the previous week. Because, He is worthy to praised. I am so grateful throughout the week for the ways the Lord has lavished us, but sometimes, you just gotta testify! Can I get an amen?!

    Monday: An afternoon in Denver with Elizabeth and her darling crew. Elizabeth, my gentle-spirited, wise, like-minded friend. So thankful she is in my life.

    Popcorn and play time!

    Tuesday: Sometimes I see so much of myself in my kids, and it tickles me to my core. This particular day, I saw me in my dear Selah when she asked me to tape the broken arm back onto this (ancient) Playmobile man. (Have you read the Gecko story? Well, if not…take a peek. I re-read it today and was majorly encouraged!)

    All taped up and all better!

    Wednesday: “A day at the zoo with Kari and Quinn is like a milkshake to your soul.” (Have you read that verse in Proverbs? It’s true.) So ridiculously blessed that we get to do life together, even if we do live 30 minutes apart.

    The zoo was epic. We hugged a (fake) giraffe, fed and pet (real) giraffes, fed the birds, pet a pony, climbed a (fake) elephant, watched a (real) elephant take a bath, rode the carousel, played at the playground, watched the lion cubs frolic and wrestle…all with the wonderful company of our dear friends!

    And so of course we ended the day with milkshakes!

    Thursday: Lull in the week=Let’s try a new pizza place! Have you tried it? MOD pizza? I guess it started in Seattle. It was fun! And had very yummy pizza :).

    Pizza Pizza!!

    Friday: My parents had us over for dinner (which is always a bonus!) along with another family and I made a new friend!

    Saturday: Blizzard! Family snow day.

    Sunday: So encouraged by the Word of God and the parsing of Scripture with other believers at church, who challenge all of us to live according to what it says.

     Want a bonus?

    These are from the previous week but I just couldn’t help but add them here after sorting through the pics on my phone…

    **The kids BEG to help me in the kitchen preparing meals. A couple of months ago I taught Elliott how to slice up some zucchini for dinner and Selah has been pleading with me to let her try. That day was the day. She was in heaven…just look at that face!! So thankful for children who are eager to serve and help.

    I snapped this photo and then set my phone down quickly so I could helicopter her cutting!! (Yes, I just made “helicopter” a verb all right!!)

    **I just adore this picture…it cracks me up!!!

    A hot chocolate date with the kids!

    Well there you have it! God’s new mercies on us this past week. This may take on a different form and may not be every week…who knows!

    How about YOU? What mercies were new to you this past week? Will you join me in testifying??