Kristy Dorminy

We were on a road trip yesterday morning.  We left while it was still dark outside.  I noticed the sun coming up as we were deciding when to pull off and enjoy a Waffle House breakfast where I was excited to order a pEcan waffle with coffee.  Before we pulled off though, I made the comment that I much prefer sunrises than sunsets.  I asked Josh which one he preferred.  He wasn’t sure which one was his favorite and began telling me the positives of each one.  I can understand the indecisiveness on the question.  They are both breath-takingly beautiful in their own ways.  They paint such different pictures in the sky.  But for me, sunrise wins, hands down.  And here’s why–  I’m needy.

 

That’s right.  Right there is why sunrise gets my vote.  What is new every morning?  The Lord’s compassions.  And I’m in need of His unfailing compassion.

The destiny of our road trip was the Space Center.  We learned that if you are an astronaut training for being in space, you spend time at The IN SPACE SIMULATOR.  On the simulator you are traveling in such a way that the sun rises 16 times in a regular day!  I thought to myself that this is the place I need to move to because that is how needy I am and how often I need to remember that His compassions never fail….they are new every morning!

As a matter of fact, I was trying to wait until life was a little closer to perfect than it has been lately before sharing any spiritual insight or inspiration.  But I was reminded that life is real.  It’s hard.  And sometimes it is real hard.  But there is always the sunrise of another day that gives me hope!  Hope in the Lord and His promises.  I am thankful for His faithfulness, His amazing capacity to love me,  and the way He can bring light to the dark nights.

When life seems dark, I’m reminded that it was Jesus who touched the blind man and made him see.  I’m reminded of John 7 when the Feast of Tabernacles was winding down, pilgrims were taking down their lamps and heading for home, and Jesus said to those still around, “I am the Light of the World. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of Life.”  I’m needy for a touch from The Lord.  I’m needy for Him to be the Light of Life to me!

When the evil one brings on accusations of all manner, I am reminded of the woman caught in adultery.  She was brought to Jesus and all eyes were on her and on Him. What He wrote in the sand, I do not know, but I do know this–the accusers scattered quickly!  Then, it was just her and Jesus.  He gave her such hope.  She was not just the culmination of all of her sins. His compassions never fail.  I need Him to meet me with compassion when I blow it with the kids or have a critical spirit towards someone or get frustrated with my husband or….any other thing I do that Satan reminds me of at a point of weakness.

Oh, to be so compassionate.  To be so forgiving.  What must it look like to ooze this kind of graciousness and love?

This road trip I told you about?  The one that started early and sparked the conversation about sunrises and The Lord’s compassions never failing?  Yeah, well, it ended up being a long ride home.  There was an accident on the way back, so we sat in traffic a long time.  Someone got hungry.  Someone got tired.  Someone had been behind the wheel a long time. Someone has a wife that makes too many “suggestions” about his driving.  The rest of us were fine.  I mean, there were movies and naps and fruit roll ups and another nap and another movie.  What did we have to be frustrated about?  Happy, happy road trip.

So when we finally made it home, someone just basically went to bed.  I turned around and found him to be in the bed.  He was grumpy.  He was short with us.  He was done.

I was not happy.  I didn’t say anything though.  If there is anything I have learned in marriage, you do NOT try to resolve an “issue” in the evening when one of you has already laid his head down on a pillow…and you know he is tired and hungry.

Then, the sun began to rise.

I awoke.  Josh awoke (no need to use the “someone” business anymore!).  He came on down the stairs,obviously refreshed,  gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, “I’m sorry I was such a bear last night.”  I smiled, and he walked to his office.

But, wait.  Was I just going to let it go?  I mean.  Didn’t we need to go over what he did wrong exactly?  Don’t we need to hash out how he hurt my feelings so that he can work really hard to never do that again???  Don’t we??

See, I want the Lord to really mean I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I mean, is it really that straight-forward?  Confess your sins; He forgives you.

Yes.  That is true.  So, what about me?  I know I am not Jesus, but Jesus lives in me.  “To live is Christ.”

Soooo, this morning, why didn’t I respond with compassion?  Why did I hold my hurt feelings in one hand and Josh’s apology in the other and take a few minutes to weigh them out?

“He was pretty mean.”

“But he did just say he was sorry.”

“Yeah, but he went straight to sleep without so much as a word.”

“But he was so tired, and he did just say he was sorry.”

“I’m not sure I can just let it go so easily.”

“Oh, look Kristy, is that the sun rising out the window?  Take a look.”

I had to ask myself and will continue to ask myself, “Do I just like sunrises because of the compassions that wait for ME because I realize how needy I am of The Lord’s lovingkindnesses and forgiveness?  Or am I looking forward to sunrises because it is another day that I can display The Lord’s compassions and lovingkindnesses and forgiveness to others?  Starting with my family!

Colossians 3:12-14 ” So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kinds, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also must you.  Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond on unity.”

We have made it through most of the week again! I’m thankful.

Tonight Mack had football practice. He is doing great and really improving ( says his doting mom!). Every Thursday he is so excited for practice time.

Molly has been gone this week, so Ruby had to entertain herself at practice.

I’ve missed Molly, but I have really enjoyed conversations with Ruby. She is such a sweet girl, growing up so quickly! We had a long talk about gossip this evening. It was quite interesting to hear her thoughts and to talk about what the Bible says about gossip. We have read together, which is our favorite thing to do! We baked together and even napped together. Love that Ruby!

Tonight, Mack decided to get creative with his new Dollar Store purchases, and one look at him made Ruby say, ” You look like David Crowder!” She gave him her glasses and voila! What do you think?

I thought the girls played dress up a lot! This boy never tired of costumes…a ninja, a hunter, a Viking, George Washington….it never ends. He also builds and builds and builds all sort of things out of boxes and tape.

These two have enjoyed their brother/sister time, but they look forward to seeing Molly tomorrow!

What a great way to do school! It’s a beautiful morning, and we wanted to get out of the house.

I love hearing this boy read! He’s reading about David and Goliath…a great reminder for me…nothing is too difficult or too BIG for The Lord. He slays giants still today.

So, have you ever done an experiment with your kids to see just how long they can go with NOT doing something? I tried it with Molly and the clothes under her bed, but I couldn’t take it very long.

I walked past this about two weeks ago.

A spoon. On the stairs. For two weeks. Maybe more. I am not sure when I decided that I was NOT going to be the one to pick it up, but it has now turned into an experiment. How many times can these kids go up and down these stairs and NOT pick this up? I even have times where I say, “Walk into every room, look on the floor, on couches, under couches, anywhere! And if you see anything out of place…anything at all…then put it up!”

And still there is a spoon on my stairs.

I’ll keep you posted on when this is moved to the right place and who actually does it!

Molly has sewing today. We drove down the winding gravel driveway to the yellow house where she has her lessons. As we got closer to the door, we spotted some turkeys! She immediately said, “I am NOT getting out while those turkeys are walking around.” She was so serious.

Then, I took the other two to Starbucks to help pass the time. They were pretty excited to go in Starbucks. Ruby was surprised by how many people were just sitting at tables with their laptops. She said that we “totally need to come here and do our school work one morning.” I think that’s a great idea!

We would have stayed inside or sat at tables outside, but the place was packed!! We opted for the car. Ruby and I read. Mack made funny noises to try and annoy Ruby. Oh, siblings.

We had a good time in south GA with family while we celebrated PapaMac’s 100th birthday. But before we got there, we had to eat! It was Josh’s choice.

Mack enjoyed it!
And we were greeted with a special surprise when we got to PawPaw’s house.

A go-cart!

For the kids…ummmm, mostly for the kids.

Thank you, PawPaw, for such a fun gift!

We always love seeing Aunt Norma and GG! Two sweet ladies!

And there’s always fun to be had with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Pep around!!

And Uncle Tony usually has a trick up his sleeve!

It was a fun couple of days! We’re glad we got to celebrate his 100th birthday. (Ruby remained unsure he would make it until the morning of his birthday.)

I am about to go get my nails done. Molly begs to go with me.
I say, “No…this is Mommy time.”

Josh has been gone quite a bit lately, so now that he’s home, I’m getting out of the house.

Molly tells me I had Mommy time every night after I put them to bed. (See, I didn’t let anyone sleep with me at all while Josh was away.)

I laughed at her. Then, I left all. By. Myself.

This child clearly doesn’t understand “Mommy time.”

I was doing some cleaning around here and found this precious jewel that Ruby wrote.  I couldn’t bear to throw it away, of course….it was for Josh about his mom, Gran/Debbie.

 

 

12-5-13

“My grandma is the best.  I called her Gran.  She worked in the library.  I liked to visit her at the library because I loved to read and to do fun games on the computer.  We would have fun at her house and Molly always wanted to drive her golf cart.  And when it was summer we would play in the pool with her slide and diving board.  And we would do dare devil things on both the diving board and the slide!  She would read CAPS FOR SALE to us and we would act it out with all of her caps.  And we would go play putt-putt and do the arcade.  It was fun!!  And whenever we would come over she would have gifts for us.  And we would always have a lot of fun when we came over.  And one time on Christmas Eve night we were ready for bed and about to get into their bunk beds in their pool house and suddenly there was a knock on the door and Mommy and Daddy opened it and there she was acting like Mrs.  Santa Claus!  She said, “Hello, there!  Would you happen to know where my husband is?”  We laughed, when suddenly PawPaw (he’s my grandpa) jumped out and said, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!”  It was so much fun!!! I loved Gran.”

 

Those are sweet words, full of love for Gran.  We are thankful that the kids do have memories of Gran…and that one day they will see her again in heaven.

 

Today I passed the mirror in my living room and scared myself with my big hair. I said, “Whoa.” Then, I stopped and messed with my hair a second. Mack said, “What is it, Mom?” I told him my hair was HUGE today. He said, “Well, I know someone who has bigger hair than you.” (I could tell he just wanted to try and make me feel better about the hair.)
“Really? Who has bigger hair?” I asked.

“Dolly Parton,” he said said, quite seriously.

I laughed inside and thought to myself, “She has a couple more things bigger than me besides her hair!”