Gratituesday Archives | Page 8 of 40

Gratituesday: The Girls In My Life

March 24, 2014 by Laura 9 Comments

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“So Laura, don’t you ever wish you had little girls?”

People ask me that question quite often as they observe my boy-filled life. My answer is always “no.” God knew what He was doing when He gave me all sons and no daughters. Plus we snatched up little Gladis, who gets to be our daughter/sister/friend/delight in Honduras.

I didn’t have any sisters when I was growing up either – just one brother. You know what I have now? All kinds of sisters! My brother’s wife, Matt’s sister, Matt’s brothers wife, plus all the Christian sisters God has put in my life. So, do you know what I might have someday? Four daughters, if God sees fit that all of our boys get married.

Guess what else I have? Several nieces. Precious, sweet girls who give me excuses to buy pink, giggle, and talk about fingernail polish. Girls who tell me, “Hey, cute jeans” and “I like your sweater.”

I do sometimes wonder what my daughter might have looked like had I actually had one. I usually look no farther than my brother’s girls. If I had a daughter, I’m pretty sure she would look a lot like this:

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This niece of mine looks so much like I did when I was little.

I got to see two of my Kansas nieces briefly this weekend. My oldest niece, who is 12, and also a lot like I was when I was her age, spent some time in the kitchen with me, helping me and chatting as we worked on lunch.

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Yep, except for the braces, I bet I could find some
12 year old pictures of me that would look a lot like this.

While we worked, she asked me, “Do you ever wish you had girls, Aunt Laura?” It was a moment I had not planned, but it was the perfect opportunity to stop my work and look right into her eyes. “Not even a little bit, Kailey,” I told her, “because God gave me nieces like you instead.”

You should have seen her smile. She’s old enough and mature enough to hear my heart. I’ve said it to others, but there was something pretty special about sharing it directly with her.

I’m so thankful for all the girls God put in my life to love on. Bring on the shopping trips, hair styling, and shared smiles as we watch the boys race through the room at lightening speed.

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Gratituesday: This and That

March 17, 2014 by Laura 14 Comments

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I couldn’t come up with any one thing to write about today, so I decided to share several things I’m thankful for:

~ A week of down time.

Basketball season ended, spring soccer season hasn’t started yet. I’d go into detail about how lovely it is to have several nights off all in one week, but I’m too busy enjoying the (relatively) empty calendar.

~ Boys who are creative and fun.

I just went to check on the kids, and they are all working together to create music and put together a new video. I love watching them (not argue while they are) having fun together and using their talents.

~ My Amazon Subscribe and Save order came today.

We got to unpack big boxes, then I got to stare at my bulk purchases for a while and get them all organized. It was super fun.

~ Our basketball award night is Tuesday night.

This is always such a wonderfully fun night. We eat together, give awards to the athletes, then play young sibling vs. young sibling, Moms vs. Daughters, and Dads vs. Sons basketball games. I’ve been talking to my muscles, trying to prepare them for doing what they aren’t used to doing. I hope they’re listening.

~ A variety of food

I just love food. I’m so thankful God blessed us with such great variety. I do not take it for granted that we are so privileged to have such bounty.

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Gratituesday: Just What We Needed

March 10, 2014 by Laura 15 Comments

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I have been craving sunshine like crazy! Maybe you can relate? Those of us who live in colder areas have been deprived of warm rays and Vitamin D for quite a few months. Just about the time I thought I might go stir crazy for lack of sunshine – God gave us a hint of summer!

It hit the 70’s outside both yesterday and today. We opened up our door and curtains, brightening up our house with sunshine. We set up a table outside to eat our meals. We took our math book and read-alouds outside. We put on shorts and short sleeved shirts to get as much sun on our skin as possible. We pretty much didn’t come into the house all afternoon. The warm weather and sunshine was too hard to resist.

Tonight we fired up the grill to make Italian Chicken (Let’s Do This eCourse, Lesson 1 ). Mmm, that grill and the chicken smelled so good! Don’t worry, that little chunk of chicken you see on my plate was just my first helping. :) —>

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The entire day was glorious. It was just what we needed. Maybe, just maybe, we can all survive the remaining few weeks of crazy winter-to-spring weather. Praise God for sunshine!

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Gratituesday: Shopping With Boys

March 3, 2014 by Laura 11 Comments

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I used to love clothes shopping with my mom. We’d skip everything at the front of the store and head directly for the clearance racks. We’d find great bargains, which made the shopping so much more fun!

My four boys aren’t so much into shopping with me. When they were little, they hid in all the racks or tried to stand up in the cart, making my shopping experience more than a little bit stressful. As they got bigger, they just stood by the racks, bored out of their minds. “Do you like this shirt?” I’d ask. They’d answer with a blank stare. I gave up, deciding I’d just need to wait until they got married, then perhaps my daughters-in-law could go shopping with me.

But over the weekend, I actually experienced about twenty minutes of enjoyable Mother/Son shopping. (Yes, twenty minutes. Total. I know better than to push a good thing.) We were in a city, and our oldest needed new indoor soccer shoes, so we briefly hit the mall.

We entered the athletic store, and saw that they had a total of two varieties of indoor soccer shoes. One pair was $55, the other $65. Not terrible for high quality shoes, it’s just that we have a lot of kids and they have a lot of feet and they play hard and it just all adds up. We told the salesman what we were looking for, and asked if these two varieties was all they had. He replied with a yes. And then as an afterthought he said, “Oh, except for whatever we have in the back on clearance. But those are for really big feet.” Um, hello? Have you seen my son’s feet? Big. Show us the shoes!

Would you believe this? They had one pair of men’s indoor soccer shoes on clearance. One. And guess what size it was? Asa’s size. And guess how much it cost? Ten dollars. Seriously. Who has name brand, high quality shoes for a big footed boy for just 10 bucks? What a blessing. They fit perfectly. We were so excited.

That all happened within the first seven minutes. The rest of our time was spent at the clothing clearance racks I had found by the shoes. Everything was half off of the clearance price, which, if you can even believe it, got my two older boys excited about shopping with me. Long story short (20 minutes, remember?), we walked out of the store with a pair of shoes, two very nice hoodies, and a pair of high quality athletic shorts for less than the cost of the $55 shoes we had originally found when we walked in.

In conclusion: I shopped with two of my sons, and we all had fun. It may be a miracle. Let us all take a deep sigh and hold these memories in our hearts as they may never happen again.

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Gratituesday: My Prayer Mugs

February 24, 2014 by Laura 18 Comments

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Through the years, it’s been interesting to discover what items trigger a memory of someone I care about. The laundry detergent I use makes me think of one of my sisters-in-law, because she is the one I purchase through. My painted toe-nails remind me of my cousin, Carie, who paints a fun design on my nails each summer when I see her. And last summer, someone at church comment on my flip-flops. From then on, every time I put on the flip-flops, I think of her.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I believe that when someone comes to mind, that is the Holy Spirit prompting us to pray for that person. Therefore, doing laundry reminds me to pray for my sister-in-law. My cute summer toe-nails remind me to pray for Carie. And my flip-flops? Well, it just so happens that the person I had that conversation with and that I always think of now when I slip on those shoes moved out of state a few months ago. She and her husband are away from family for the first time while she is in grad school. She and I weren’t close really – more like acquaintances. But I tell you what. She is very dear to me now, through the power of prayer. I believe God has used each of these “silly little things” to remind me to pray for those I might not likely think to pray for throughout the day. Isn’t He cool?

At Christmas this year, our family carried on our tradition of “Mom taking each of the boys shopping, one by one, to shop for each other.” It’s a riot, it’s a little bit exhausting, and I absolutely love it. Each boy has a set budget, and an idea of what he’d like to buy as a gift for each of this brothers. He and I have one-on-one time while we shop together and he makes his purchases.

Last year, Malachi had a difficult time figuring out what to purchase that would fit into his budget and that his brothers would enjoy. He finally spotted a variety of mugs – gift packaged with marshmallows and hot chocolate mix. There were four different colors, so he could pick a mug for each brother based on what color he might like.

There was just one problem though. If he got one mug for each of this brothers, everyone would have a mug but him. I mean, he was in the giving spirit of Christmas, but still. He thought maybe he needed one of these cool mugs too.

Therefore, into the cart went four different mugs. Under the tree went the gift wrapped mugs: “To Asa, From Malachi”; “To Justus, From Malachi”; “To Elias, From Malachi” and in true Coppinger silliness, “To Malachi, From Malachi.” They had a blast opening their mugs and enjoying their hot cocoa packets. Anytime I make hot drinks for the boys, I serve them in their special mugs.

boys mugs

But here’s what I love best about these mugs. In the mornings, while the boys are still sleeping, I get up early to have my coffee and time with God. Each day, I choose a different color mug. Each mug represents the boys who owns it. The morning I am drinking from their mug, I pray very specifically for that particular son. Obviously, I pray often for all my boys. But there’s been something very special and powerful about spending specific prayer time for the son whose mug I am enjoying that morning.

I’m so grateful for the way God works. If He can use coffee mugs, flip flops, and even toe-nails to accomplish His purposes – I’d say we serve a pretty awesome God!

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Gratituesday: Monday Nights

February 17, 2014 by Laura 13 Comments

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Tuesday and Thursday nights the older boys have basketball practice. Wednesday night is Bible class. Fridays and Saturdays include basketball games. Sundays are full of fellowship and worship times.

And that leaves Mondays.

Once basketball season ends and soccer season begins, we’ll shuffle everything around and our evenings will be full in different ways. But for now, I am really appreciating our Monday evenings off.

Monday nights lately have been so enjoyable. A fun dinner that we can enjoy together for longer than a “hurry and eat so we won’t be late.” Board games. Snacks. Movies. And the past two Mondays? We’ve gone to the gym together and played three-on-three basketball. So what if I’m stiff and sore for days afterward? Playing basketball with all six of us has been sooooo much fun!

Next Monday, we’ve invited a young college couple over for dinner. The Monday after that? Well, who knows? But it’s nice to know that we can look forward to being intentional about family focused time that evening too.

This season in life, with our teenage and pre-teen boys being so active in sports and church activities, we are having a blast. I love watching their character develop as they listen to and work hard for coaches, as they juggle responsibilities, as they interact with friends, and as they minister to others.

Monday nights bring moments with few distractions and lots of crazy goofing off. I cherish it all as I soak up my time with these amazing boys. (And I will continue to talk smack when we play games, because as much as I love them, I still like to win.)

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Gratituesday: Kitchen Time

February 10, 2014 by Laura 15 Comments

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Many people assume that since I love to cook and since I focus on feeding my family healthy food, I must spend hours and hours in the kitchen. Quite the opposite. Sometimes days go by and I’ve barely found time to pull out a freezer meal and throw down some vegetables. (That’s okay though – that’s what the freezer meals are for!)

As I talked about in the Let’s Do This! eCourse, I have to grab any spare moment I have to try to get ahead in the kitchen. Working ahead is the only way I’m able to keep up with all these big appetites and our full schedules.

After several weeks of barely keeping up because of basketball game travel, colds and flu we’ve been passing around, and just life in general – I finally found some time this morning to get a few extra recipes whipped up. Wow, that felt good!

monday cooking

I got out my cookbook (so handy to flip open and use quickly instead of running back and forth to the computer) and made two batches of Whole Wheat Quick Mix. I made a double batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie dough balls for the freezer. I made two batches of Homemade Instant Oatmeal. I made a big mess. I cleaned it up. The short time it took to make these simple recipes will save me a lot of time during the next couple of weeks.

Hooray for time in the kitchen! It’s therapeutic for me and productive too. :)

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Gratituesday: A Step Ahead Of Me

February 3, 2014 by Laura 14 Comments

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Praise God for women who have been there, done that. I need them in my life, and God has provided.

Why do I need them? Well, just like I needed someone with experience to give me pointers back when I had babies and toddlers, I now need someone to guide me along as I raise teenagers. I haven’t a clue what I’m doing, and for the most part, that’s okay. God teaches us as we go, equips us with what we need, and we as parents do the best we can with the greatest Guide there is. But sometimes I just need to talk to someone a little older, a little wiser, and a little more experienced so that I can ask questions like, Is this normal? How should I respond to this? What did you do when your kids did this? Yes, I have a million questions.

I love that God has known my recent need for mentorship in this area, and that within the past few weeks, He has put me in conversations that addressed just what I needed to hear – sometimes before I could even bring it up! Isn’t He cool like that? He continues to remind me that when I take my self out of the equation and quit trying so hard to be a great parent – and instead let Him parent through me – all of life runs so much more smoothly.

I love that there are godly women around me who have raised fantastic children into adulthood. They point me to God, they smile knowingly when I ask questions, and they encourage me on the journey. I love them. I need them. I praise God for them!

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Gratituesday: Neon Light Moms

January 27, 2014 by Laura 16 Comments

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Our homeschool boy’s basketball team needed new uniforms this year. Our team color is green. I figured they would stick with the same shade of kelly green we’ve always had.

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Central Nebraska Falcons 2012-1013 (Our oldest, Asa is #35)

Now, why would they stick with the “normal” green when they could do something way more exciting and fun? Instead, our team picked out bright, bright uniforms – much like the color of a yellow highlighter. The words and numbers on the shirts are dark green. I wasn’t so sure at first, but hey, they really do look sharp!

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Asa is there in the background, now number 23.

Now typically, we parents and fans try to wear our team color in support, right? But this loud, neon color? I just didn’t have any of that in my closet.

A few weeks ago, while shopping online, I came across a cute pull-over that just so happened to come in this crazy bright shade of…chartreuse? Highlighter yellow? What do you call that color anyway? Call it whatever you want – I was quite convinced that while the pull-over was cute, it would not in a million years look cute on me. But it was a good price, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind how fun it would be to wear to games.

Two weeks ago, I pulled the image of the shirt up on my phone to show another basketball mom. “Do you think I could pull that off?” I asked her. “YES!” she said, “And get me one too!”

Hmmmm, now there’s an idea. Long story short, I showed the picture of the shirt to all the basketball moms/sisters/girlfriends. That night, I placed an online order for eleven Neon Light Champion Pull-Overs. Here, put on your shades and take a peek. (I’m the second from the right on the back row – just blending in with all the other brightness.)

falcon neon lights

What fun! This group of gals has become very dear to me. I’m thankful God put them in my life, and I’m thankful for the young men and women they are raising who are such great friends with my boys.

And hey, if I ever want to take a walk outside I night, now I have something to wear. :)

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Gratituesday: When the Wind Blows

January 20, 2014 by Laura 23 Comments

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Jesus had just finished speaking to a group of people as He sat on the side of a mountain. In His sermon, He had given His blessing to those who were mourning, to those who were being peacemakers, to those who were poor in spirit. He admonished the crowd to check their hearts to be sure their anger wasn’t taking them down a path of destruction. He encouraged them all, letting them know that they were the salt and the light, created to be a blessing to those around them. He counseled the crowd not only to love their enemies, but to pray for them. He spoke to them about prayer, about giving, and about seeking the Father and storing up treasure in heaven.

Perhaps you’re quite familiar with this “Sermon on the Mount” as we often call it. You can find it in Matthew 5-7.

What strikes me most about these words of Jesus is how He ends His speech: “Therefore anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

The Rock

I pause to emphasize that He does not say “a rock” but “the rock.” THE rock. Shall we continue?

“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall…” Why?? “…because it had its foundation on the rock.” Jesus, of course, goes on to say that the foolish fella who does not listen to Him and put His words into practice is like one who built his house on the sand. The rain came, the streams rose, and the winds blew, and the house fell to the ground with a crash.

What do the wise man and the foolish man have in common? They both experienced the rain and the wind that beat against their house. Jesus does not tell us that if we listen to Him, obey Him, and “build our house on the rock” that we will not be hit by a storm. He tells us that if we plant ourselves firmly on the Rock, then our house will continue to stand strong through each storm.

Instead of being discouraged, I am comforted by the fact that Jesus says “when” not “if” in regard to life’s storms. Why should I be naïve or in denial about the fact that there’s always going to be something going on in life that is (from our perspective) less than ideal? We aren’t in heaven yet, after all. Sometimes the storm may be mild, coming in the form of a few sprinkles that spit against the windows and make them smudgy. Sometimes the storm rages, appearing as a hurricane that seems to have no ending. It’s not fun. It hurts. It’s hard.

So we obey Jesus’ teaching, look up toward the Father who promises to hold us fast, and build our house on the Rock. When the rain and wind come, we stand firm. And we look forward with hope toward the promise God gave us. We’re not gonna fall. Our Foundation is mighty!

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