27 million.

So, at Passion 2012 many incredible things happened. Which doesn't surprise me anymore. God seems to show up & the willingness & eagerness inside the students present tends to explode with love & mercy & justice & all of the things that God is about.

This year the conference stood for & asked the students to raise money to end modern day slavery.

This sculpture was raised & covered with items touched by people in bondage. The students wrote prayers & Scripture & their words as they prayed for & committed to be aware of these individual, precious people represented by these items.

I love that this sculpture stands for freedom, because that's what Jesus stands for.......& I often wonder if people really know that. I love that the people who took part in the sculpture know that & want the world to know & remember that Jesus cares deeply for these people & calls us to care deeply as well & act on their behalf.

This video was released this week & it's awesome.

Tonight they will begin a 72 day campaign for freedom. And you can read more about it here.

And all 2 of you out there reading this can at least know what this is all about. If you are in Atlanta & see this 130 ft arm reaching towards Heaven, at least now you know a little bit about it. If you don't live in Atlanta.....then maybe now you know a little bit more about some terrible that's going on in our world today.

More slaves in the world today than in any other time in history.

And this blog has served as a record for our family....& this is part of our tapestry now. It has touched us & I want it documented.

And so it is.

And as you go through the day today, remember the people who are trapped right now. We play a part in that & I am learning & agree that boycotting is not the answer. I don't know the answer to make this nightmare go away for these people. But I believe in prayer. And I believe the Lord has heard their cries & has called His people to respond.

dr report

Well.

We loaded up & headed to the eye doctor. He's a great doctor. Called us back from the waiting room himself!! And my 3 in glasses followed behind with the baby constantly looking back, "it's not my turn to get drops, right mom?"

And the big girl jumped in the chair, ready for the challenge ahead of her & so hopeful. & my heart sank as I heard her struggle through the letters.

When I saw how big the letters were that she couldn't read I thought I might cry for her right then.

But he put drops in her eyes to dilate her pupils & we waited. And after he checked her eyes again he said that her vision has changed!!!

When he got the right prescription on her she read through those letters all the way to the bottom - missing one. She mistook an "F" for a "P"! Easy mistake.

The patch is working :).

She only has to wear it for 2 hours a day rather than 4 & she was so excited!!!

We are thrilled & thankful to see the Lord restoring her vision.

He's a redemptive God. A God of restoration. & we will hold tight to Him regardless.

Thank you for your prayers!

her eyes.

My baby....well, my big girl.....goes to the dr this week to learn about how her eye is doing.

She's been a trooper.

She is so responsible about wearing her patch for her 4 hours every day. I often don't even have to remind her to put it on. She just does it.

And when we found out that the littles were getting glasses, she didn't complain that they didn't have to wear patches & she did. She asked 'why?' & sighed a little because it's hard to do things like this all by yourself......but she moved on.

She's been strong & I'm so proud of her & I'm jotting it down here because I want her to never forget that I admire her for how she has handled this. It's not a big deal in the big picture.

We know that.

She knows that.

But she wishes she could see normally & if she can't she just wishes that she could not have to wear her patch.....as pretty & fun as they are. Some days she just wants, and these are her words, "for people to not stare at me."

So. She's praying & I'm praying with her. And we would love for anyone reading this to pray about this part of her story......that her vision would be great. Great enough to say farewell to the pretty patches. And that we would completely trust that the Lord has a big story for her life & whatever that looks like, that we will rejoice. And God gets the glory for all of it because it's His big amazing canvas.

Not perfection. Perfection, or even the attempt or desire for perfection, keeps us clinging to ourselves or to another's applause. We want whatever it is that keeps us close to Him.

Patch or no patch.

the hearts part deux

We had a blast making these!!

It has been nice to have a little time carved out to really spend some time this year, this season, whatever..... it's been nice to have time.

It's funny, it's not like the time hasn't been there all along - we have just filled it up with stuff that I honestly can't really remember. These are the moments I remember & it's usually because the kids won't let me forget! Short amount of amazingly messy happy times are totally multiplied.

hearts & a big ol mess

Yes. I'm remembering it all so clearly now. These are my favorite things. Valentine's, for starters, though not my favorite holiday with all the commercializing the love, but I do love the hearts & the chocolate & the crafts & the candy.

But a true love of mine is just getting a little messy on the kitchen floor with the littles. I don't do it enough & we haven't done it in a while. We started making our valentine's today & had a pretty great time. And oh my goodness why don't I just snap her picture all the live long day? That face! That funny expression! & she does it always when the camera is on her. These are the days......right?

I was in line at target & a dad told me to hold on to these days & I could tell he was remembering his bigs when they were littles. And I can't imagine the memories that he holds in his heart because my heart could explode with all that is in there already.

And as an added bonus I feel such freedom snapping the pictures at moments like this because my house is supposed to look like this. You don't notice what a disaster it all is with the glory of the flour & such scattered here, there & yonder.

I love playing with dough - something messy & pliable that can be molded into something beautiful. The sweet picture of this while making hearts just makes for pretty awesome conversation. Beautiful messes covered by grace. I can't wait to post pictures of their finished products!!!

The Doster Family: Give Them Grace

My sweet friend Rebecca wrote his post today & thought it was worth passing along.

The Doster Family: Give Them Grace: I am reading this book and I am LOVING it. One thing I have struggled with as a new mom, and I knew I would from day one, is feeling li...

Story Telling

I was busying myself around the house when I looked over & saw my 2 youngest 'reading' - the boy 'reading' to the girl. She was snuggled up right next to him & I grabbed my phone to snap a picture.

And then I heard those noises in my head.

The 'clicks' ..... like a shutter opening & closing.

What was that?

So familiar.....

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks....

My phone has made life speed up. Much faster than it's supposed to & much faster than I am comfortable with.

When did I settle for a phone snapshot?

When did I settle for grabbing my phone out of my pocket to just send that picture off to the facebook??

When did this happen?

Where in the world is my camera?

My camera. When I look through the lens of my camera (that I

am so unqualified to even use, by the way,) I hear stories being told.

Memories being filed away & I feel so present.

When did I start moving too fast to carry that big ol' thing around?

Well.

That stops today my friend.

No more.

No more of this phone camera picture snapping.

I'm back to the process of story telling.

Story telling is a process.

It forces a barrier between my story & theirs & gives a more clear perspective.

It's slower. It develops.

It spiritual.

Me & camera.

Because I am not thinking about fast forwarding through these years of him reading to her when he can't even read himself. It's not nearly as much fun to watch him read to her when he can actually read! I mean, LOTS of people can do that!

It's those special years when the pictures tell the story & only the one holding the book can tell you that story.

I want to know that story.

Only a few people on the planet get tickets for that show & I am one of them.