Welcome back, self.

I have been gone a very, very, very long time from this blog. I have been growing people, losing weight, designing homeschool curriculum and living my mission and my dream. Sorry if anyone missed me. I have become "Mamma" to many new faces, thus I have a new identity. I am thinking about changing the layout of this blog all together. What's your opinion? Anyone still out there?

Jules

Photo by Reuben Paine "Hay fight"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Love

by Julie Paine

Our Love started in the heart of God
He knit us together, in our mother’s wombs
Our sweet mothers roamed the Earth,
Going to pre-natals at the same time,
In different states

My mom hated her doctor
He made her eat practically nothing
Salads
And natural breast feeding was never even discussed

Blake’s mom had a kinder experience
And she never considered NOT feeding her son
The way God intended

We grew up in the 70s
We discovered who we were in the 80s
We fell in love in the 90s
We married in my hometown church

We have lived in seven different homes
We have gone to ten different churches
Helped to start one of them
We were even on staff

With every home we have lived in
Excluding our first and our most recent
We have welcomed a new child into the world
7-2 = 5 children

We have been in love for over 15 years
We have been soul mates for just under 15 years
We have been parents for just under 14 years
We had no time alone before a little one showed up

Truly

But no regrets
We love our children with our lives
We home school them, we cherish them
We count them as our treasures above all treasures

Our love has grown
It has ebbed and flowed
It has accelerated and run out of gas
Occasionally

Our love has recreated us
Our intentions
Our dreams and desires
Our view of ourselves

We no longer live for just us
Or for our parents
Our peer groups
Our country

We live for one another
For our God
For our children
For our community as a whole

We have been institutionalized
We have been legalized
We have been galvanized
We have become super sized

I am just discovering
The soul of our marriage
I am learning how to make deposits
I am learning when to make withdrawals

Always building
Building this love
This masterpiece we were born to build

This is our love
This is our life
This is only the table of contents
So to speak.....

Children, if I've told once, I've told you a thousand times, You may not put the chicken in the pirate ship!

Blake's beautiful personalizing of the Lord's Prayer

My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
HaShem*, Supernal God. Transcendent, revealed, known-yet altogether different.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
May my very being resonate clearly with You and from that flow freely in my speech, thoughts and actions. May the mundane activities of daily life become heavenly experiences. Moments that flow into other moments all incarnate with Christ in me.

Give us this day our daily bread
My very existence depends on Your desire to sustain me. With every event that transpires today may I have presence of mind body and spirit. Grant me the ongoing desire to know You and be known by You.

and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
As I falter in my efforts and fall short of Your will, be gracious with me. I beg for Your continued mercy and hope that I might show that kind of mercy to others. I expect that others will disappoint and even offend me. Help me to respond to them in a way consistent with Your grace. My identity is in You, not in the responses of others. My being is in You. I am not what I do for a living. I am not what I drive or wear. I am not my accomplishments. I am me and that is ok. That is enough. Grant me clarity, give me focus.

lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
As the deceiver and manipulator goes about his business, protect me and those I love from his exploits. If we get off the path, lead us back to You.

for You are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
You are Ultimate Reality. You are the King of my life. In You resides all power. I bow before You and live to see Your glory manifest and Your name restored to its rightful place of honor. Blessed be Your name Hashem, God of the universe.

*Hashem is Hebrew for “The Name”

Blake put up our photo wall!

This just looks amazing, Blake! Thank you for spending literally hours figuring out the math and hanging this wall of family photos! It makes our whole living room come to life.

Mission statement

My mom is on the road again, which means I feel a need to keep her in touch with the happenings at Paine Central. So, hopefully, this will mean more blogging for poor, Poor White (neglected) Oprah.

It is interesting reading the heading for this blog and comparing it with some recent work I have done with defining my "mission statement". They are pretty similar in a lot of ways.

Here is what I have for my new mission statement:

My mission is to connect with the hearts of others and bring to light their true identity, walking with them as their burden is lifted.

connect=embrace
bring to light=illuminate
walking with them=burden bearer

It is so wonderful to have a simple mission statement that I can use as a measuring stick to decide if the activities that consume my time help me to accomplish my mission or keep me from it. It is a prioritizer. A mother of 5 needs a prioritizer.

When do I feel absolutely on top of the world?

* When my house if filled with people.

* When I connect with someone and they open up to me their greatest joys or hurts

* When my children love on me.

* When my husband is kind to me.

* When I am in a corporate worship time and God is EVERYWHERE!

* When I know that someone is blessed by something I personally did or said.

* When I can see my hopes for myself and others realized.

* When I can make someone laugh.

* When someone takes the time to call me, stop by, cross a room to talk to me, or remember the details of my life.

* When I drink an El Parisio Sunset Margaretta.

* When I come home to a clean house.

* When a bride or mom cries at the photos I took.

* When I see amazing art, hear amazing musicians, watch amazing athletes perform, when I notice beauty in the abilities of others.