Because That's What I Taught Them...{& In Which I Announce Concrete Words Writer & Give Link-Love}

When the leaves start to lose their chlorophyll as the sun gets less bright, my girls will get on that huge orange bus that always comes like a freight train and grass blowing and tossed in it's wake. They'll travel to new places unknown, take on new adventures. Things might look scary to them, from way down there where they are, looking up at adults with sticks and rulers and older, teenage girls kissing a boyfriend in the hallway.

I had my chance to teach them and in a bittersweet turn, it's come to an end. I hope I taught them well. I hope that respect and quietness and reverence they have about them stays with them always. I don't plan to give up my role as teacher. I hope the lessons I've placed deep in their hearts makes them rise tall and blossom and I want to see them fly.

I know if my little one gets shoved down into the dirt on the playground, she'll cry, dust herself off, and yell at them to "STOP!". I'm not afraid, because I know my girl. She's tough. The stuff she's made of is what has made me go to bed crying some nights.

I know if my nine year old gets held back a grade, or made fun of for her smallness if she moves on ahead, that she'll laugh that contagious giggle, and tell them it just makes her quicker and cuter. I know she'll have an endless amount of comebacks, because she's dealt them out at home often. She has no problem making her mind known, and letting her confidence shine.

I know if my oldest girl walks shakily onto the high school campus and is overwhelmed by all the classes and work, and has nightmares about not being able to find her classroom, that the strength and solidity I see in her will see her through. She will navigate tough, unknown waters with sureness and capability.

I know, I just know that if they fall, they will get back up, dust themselves off, and try again.

Because that's what I've taught them.





Honestly, I think this was more like 8 minutes--schooling the girls so intensely has my brain literally running at the speed of a sloth. At 5 minutes, I think I had, like, a total of 3 words.

**On Fridays I join Lisa-Jo and the #FiveMinuteFriday Community. We write for five minutes flat, with no extreme editing, no worrying about perfect grammar, no worrying if our words sound just right.

"Unscripted. Unedited. Real."--Lisa-Jo Baker

The one-word prompt this week: FALL.


 



Now for #concretewords highlight of the week! The writer I'm highlighting this week for #concretewords is:

Janel Andrews at Pour Cette Temps for the Afternoon--absolute stunning write. Janel hit the Concrete word nail on the head!

***Don't forget that lovely Ashley Larkin will be guest-posting here, this Monday, June 10th at sixinthesticks for our prompt, the Morning! Give it your best shot and show me what ya got! Ashley will be picking her favorite post linked-up and will announce it on social media and possibly also on her blog next Friday!! Don't miss this--Y'all please come by and give Ashley some lovin'! {Also, Ruth Povey will be taking Concrete Words on July 1st--mark your calendars!}



Here, y'all, just some randomness for your weekend, some laughter and link-love to inspire that I wanted to share with you and which I've been compiling over the last couple weeks.... {Have a lovely weekend, friends...}

Thought it'd be fun to share..what I wore Monday...my favorite necklace, a "Faith" necklace {And I'm not a faith-necklace-wearing-girl, but Kashoan made me into one} made by Kraftykash --GO! Check out her cool stuff.

A very funny Southern woman that had me chuckling--laughter is medicine to the mind, body, and soul....


This 1,000 gifts video and this article about a 14 year old boy with an amazing talent, shared by Ann Voskamp--well. worth. taking a look. It's these kinds of creations of beauty, of pulsing life that keep me going when I only see darkness on this fallen earth...

This blog post by Preston Yancey--I see a new trend amongst writers, and it's refreshing. Makes me sigh relief--that we could just keep the one thing the most important thing--the gospel, not a different or new one that we've heard, but the true one...

This one is amazing by Ann Voskamp...women need this one--then scroll down to the free print-outs--I'm printing these out, folding them with love, thinking of those I'll send them to, with a sigh of contentment in my heart...maybe reaching out to someone is what you need to heal those broken places, too?

This one by Duane Scott--I'm A Christian and I Drink Starbucks--so do I , Duane, so do I. Love his heart.

Amazing write by Amanda Hill--Be Still, My Soul  --"And the silks, oh the silks. Without a harness at all, these incredible species of human beings climbed and bowed and swayed and made love to dangling ribbons from the sky..."

This Five Minute Friday write by Alia Hagenbach that made tears well up, because we've all been there, in some way or form...

This blog post by Jen Hatmaker--one of the absolute best blog posts I've ever read, possibly. Definitely on my top ten. You will laugh. Hard. And it will be good for the soul in so many beautiful ways. I promise that--especially if you're a mom.

This good one by Lisa-Jo Baker--this one hit me in the gut--I've done this, and I know love isn't about me, how good (or bad) my home looks, I'd love to throw my arms open wide and welcome friends into the chaos....

An important article on drowning as we all take our families to the pools and beaches this season...Your kids will not make a sound if they drown; read this to know what to look for...

Lasso Tomorrow {An Abstraction on the Moon & Concrete Words Link-Up }

                                                                                       Photo credit
I watch her, so full in glow right over the tree line.
Sometimes she is just a haunting sliver,
sometimes round in her beautiful girth,
sometimes heralded with a smattering of twinkling stars--
but she always startles me with her lonely gaze, how she stands proud
and straight, how she claims the night-sky hers,
dares anyone to come close.
She takes up her space up there
I put thumb and index finger right over her,
she's so small
I open and close and I can just see her,
so tiny, fitting in the inch between my pinched fingers
And yet she glows so bright she lights up the whole world.
I am in awe at her Creator
Sometimes she looms above me as I run round the lake
and I beg her for more time as she lowers upon my head
and rippling, still black water
Sometimes she slinks shy behind the trees,
or she proudly shines high in the sky
And sometimes it's like that with me--
my head is downcast and I have to look up
to find the light.
I look up and see her, just behind talls trees,
their bare-naked, skinny arms reaching up high toward her,
pointing The Way for me toward Something Bigger
The white beautiful pregnant full orb of her shines like a beacon
in the night and she whispers
Hush, child, slow down, she says to me.
Take in all the beauty around you, let it seize you, grip you, leave you 
flushed in it's tightened embrace
I hear her, Hush....
I see the way through the darkness, because she promises to
always shine on for me, to never go out,
she is my way home, and her constant never-changing
sings the praises of The One who is always the same
and does not change,
a lighthouse signaling to all ships chartering their course
in the night on open sea,
to all ships who've lost their way
in black velvet waters specked here and there with stars.
I will never be lost and I will always be home--
this I'm promised.
I watch her, her bosom so full as if she might nurse the whole world,
and I wonder could I ride the moon,
could I lasso her and tame her, break her, ride her into the next world?
I place my thumb up in front of my face, block her out, wiggle my thumb,
she's there, then she's gone.
What would it be like to walk on her? Would it be possible
to bring her down here, to me?
How does she stay up there night after night?
Does she ever fall from the sky, forget to shine, forget to point the way
for those who need it, for us wanderers?--
No, she stays night after night, millenniums old,
hung with the tippy tip of God's little finger.
And I feel old too, like her, the shining coming from within,
nothing I have but with what I've been given
I feel her reflection now, her quietness, her hush.
I know and understand now what she means.
There is a time to work and to rest.
Rest, child now, rest. 
Lasso tomorrow.





Gratitude: {#1067-1075}.... Continuing to give thanks, even when the heart doesn't feel it...

For a husband who listens, even if he has to work at it--working at it is love...
for children's laughter that sounds like worship, my joy in them making the moment complete
Hands in God's dirt
Sunshine on our faces
Red Cardinals and blue jays swooping through the yard
That I can call my Mama when I'm in trouble, when I need someone to calm me down...
For children who make my life complete and full, busy, giving me purpose...
For friends who love unconditionally
For birthdays and haircuts and airplane tickets (!!) --a line borrowed from my friend, Kelli




Friends, I appreciate you helping me get the word out about Concrete Words! Be sure to use the hashtag #concretewords. Please use the "Share" feature at the bottom of this post--thanks!  

What this link-up is about: In the lovely Amber Haines' words, we "write out spirit" by practicing writing about the invisible using concrete words. In case you are going "what in the world is a concrete word?!"--this just means (using the prompt to inspire) write out a story, a memory, a feeling, a belief, and make me feel what you felt, describe the scene around you, the textures, the emotions, the tastes, smells, the light. Tell me what you touch, see, hear--this is concrete words. It's a way to describe the invisible things that are around us, (that we may take for granted) in every day life. The prompt is not the concrete word--the concrete words are what you use to place us there in your story.  

A few simple guidelines:  1. Be sure you link up the URL to your Concrete Words
                                             post and not just your blog home page URL.
                                         2. Put a link to this post on your blog so that others 
                                             can find their way back here.
                                         3. Try to visit one or two others and encourage their efforts
                                         4. Please write along with us, using concrete words--
                                             Please no entries with how-to's, advertising, or 
                                             sponsored posts 
                                         5. Consider sharing via social media to help get word out!
**Today's prompt is the Moon. 

Next week, our Concrete Words prompt is Worship. {This week I'm starting something new--I'll highlight a beautiful post on Friday (and announce it on social media), so come back here to see whose post is highlighted and encourage them!} 

**Because of what I shared * here,* I cannot always answer comments and visit very many blogs, but I will do my best to visit those who link up here! I would love for you to feel a sense of community when you are here, and I hope you do feel right at home--I just think--though we all search for so much interaction and approval from others, that sometimes, maybe in some seasons, sometimes very long seasons, just a quiet place is what we truly need. Just a place to reflect, pray, dream. 

I cherish your words, and the beautiful soul God made you. I am nodding my head, teary-eyed, as I read your hearts here. I'd like you to know that when I see you here, my heart just leaps out of my chest to connect with you--to let you know I hear you! And while you leave such sweet words here, I am probably somewhere cleaning a precious 3-year-old baby girls' messes, listening to an eleven year old playwrite's brave words, or teaching my crew. If you are here, know you are loved, and you're the seasonin' in my soup. 

{This post shared with Ann, Jen, Laura, Heather, Emily, and Jennifer for #TellHisStory}

Let's have some fun with concrete words! (You can join in anytime this week until the linky is closed!) **When linking, please check out the one-word prompt first! Thanks!**