BE A BLESSING!

It all started when Ian went to Kindergarten in the fall of 2008. I would bubble up with all the remember to’s when he left me each day for school.

Remember to play nice.

Remember to use your listening ears.

Remember to be good.

Remember to share.

Remember to take care of yourself.

Remember to help friends who need help.

These don’t even cover the magnitude of what I thought I needed to remind him of each morning. It became quite a long speech. One day it hit me that he didn’t need a bullet point list on how to be at school. He had received that foundation. What he needed was encouragement and inspiration from his Momma. I thought long and hard about what to say in a quick, loving send off.

Be good – but it sounded like be better than others

Be the best – but it sounded like a lot of pressure for a 1st born/type A kiddo

Follow Instructions – but it sounded only rule focused and not creative or relational.

Then I started to learn more about God’s intentionality about each person being designed with a true gift and purpose. We are to use our individual giftedness to be a blessing to ourselves and others. It flipped a switch in my brain. A true EUREKA moment happened. I had found it. My blessing and sending off each time my kids headed to school or anywhere became…

BE A BLESSING!

In the morning now for years, I focus on each of them before they leave our home. Right after jackets and backpacks are on, I take them by the collar and look them right in the eye. I smile and say, “Be a Blessing!” No matter our morning. No matter how tense the time may have been. I bless them. It has become a Wooldridge Ritual. Even Amon surprised me when I was heading off to my seminary retreat in August. He took my by my shoulders and told me to Be a Blessing! It was the first time in over 4 years of blessing our children, that I was blessed before I headed out on a new journey. It felt GOOD! I felt like I was commissioned and blessed with love.

Even today as my three kids left for school, I pulled each of those yahoos by their collars and looked them in the eyes. I then happily sent them off with their blessing!

It is powerful.

It is intentional.

It is positive.

It is from love.

It is inspirational.

I pray for the them to do good, kind things to themselves and those they come in contact with. And that they can make choices that they can be proud of or at least learn from. Raising loving, positive kids should never be easy. It is all about constant choices, communication and pressure. But it is rewarding and amazing to witness their wings being developed. Man, oh, Man – – are they going to take off some day!

SO REMEMBER…

BE A BLESSING!

A little extra I had to share with you::

Today after Ian and Kaylee left the house. I turned my attention to the final details of getting Rhett out the door. I heard the back door open and I wasn’t surprised to hear MOM yelled. It happens often…

Someone forgot a coat

Someone forgot a permission slip

Someone forgot a lunch

Someone forgot a library book

Someone forgot their glasses (usually this one)

I came quickly back into the kitchen to see Ian beaming. Then he started to repeatedly and loudly chant to me.

BE A BLESSING!

B E A BLESSING!

BE A BLESSING!

B E A BLESSING!

What a great chant to start my day! I am blessed beyond measure.

Praying that each of us can B E A BLESSING to those in our lives.

(Thank you for your grace and support as I have been absent from blogging. I am praying to be more intentional. It helps me express my thoughts and I hope it provides encouragement to you as your read. Thank you again for your support. I count each of you who read this as blessings in my life. BE A BLESSING!)

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4 (Count’em 4) Wooldridges are Back to School

Oh me! Oh MY!  The joy of learning and the excitement of the unknowns.

> Who is my teacher?

> Who is in my class?

> Can I make new friends?

> Will my teachers like me?

> Can I handle the work?

> Will I find my way??

These questions are what are facing me and my 3 kids.  Ian headed off to 4th grade to be an “upper” classmen at his elementary school.  Kaylee bounced off into 1st grade like it could be a cake walk and was ready to be with her friends.  Sweet Rhett even boarded the bus this morning for his first day of preschool, which left us both very shaken and teary eyed.  I am used to them going to school.  But it is my turn this fall too.

I have been out of college since 1998.  14 years.  In those 14 years I have worked and enjoyed a fast paced sales career.  I’ve stayed home for almost 10 years to support Amon’s career path, raise our sweet kiddos and find what makes me tick.  I’ve also lead an amazing ministry at my church for 6 years.  The known has been GOOD.  It has been quite a journey of ups and downs but it helped prepare for my next step.

It has opened me up for what I could be and that I can be more.  So here goes!  My backpack isn’t Hello Kitty, but my new school bag is filled with syllabi, notebooks and required readings.  I am reading and writing all the time and devouring what I am learning.

My new journey starts officially Wednesday when I travel to Conception Abbey for the CREATE cohort retreat for 4 days.  I applied and interviewed back in the spring.  I was notified in the middle of May that I was selected as one of ten in this newer Masters of Divinity program at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.  I will work closely and study with these 9 other students over the next 3 years.

How I will be shaped and how I will grow is unmeasurable.  I am so excited to lean into the work and grow.  I have no firm plans for after I complete the program.  It is open-ended and I can’t wait to see the pieces add up.  And as a planner this FREAKS me out!  But I know to my core that my openness to creativity, the learning and the journey will be my responsibility at God’s work in my future.

What is known is that when the program is completed I will still be sending off my children to school… to kindergarten, to 4th grade, and to 7th grade.  And I am excited to be on this journey with them.

Keep us in your prayers!

Bullying a Rite of Passage… that STINKS

As a mom I’ve never been ready for my children to be bullied. 

I know first hand that it is part of life.  It spurs on perseverance and of course makes great stories for later in life.  We all have those don’t we?  If you are lacking let me know and I will share some of mine with you.

I know I had a lion share of experiences from 6th grade on.  I was an easy target.  I was good.  Squeaky clean to be exact.  But now raising a pretty good and squeaky clean kid it is hard to watch from the parenting bleachers when he is confused, hurt and manipulated.

The observer in my parenting role is hurting.  I want to just jump in and counsel and help him.  The fixer in me wants to jump in and meet up on the playground with this other boy.  “Hell has no fury than a mom of bullied child”… isn’t that the way that saying goes… 🙂

But as I said yesterday, I pray.  So as the stories continue to unfold I feel drawn to prayer.  Drawn to needing guidance for the right words and timing.

The situation isn’t life threatening.  It is “light” threatening.  My son shines with sweetness, chattiness and innocence.  But hs has been manipulated for over a month and feels like he can’t change the recess pattern.  It is heart breaking to watch him get all red and blotchy and hold back tears I know that are about to burst out of him.  Truly heartbreaking.

I am going to continue to lift him, his day and his bully in prayer.  And I am going to continue giving him ideas on how to break the pattern of the demands.  No 25 minute recess needs this harassment.

Anyone else dealing with bullies right now????  I know I can’t be alone in this struggle.