Then, Tuesday morning I got up thinking: "I really need to blog today." After reading my Psalm and Proverbs for the day, before starting my daily Bible Study time, I opened up the devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. (I first began using that devotional my senior year of high school, in 1994, and, after the Bible, has probably had the single most greatest impact on my life! Thank you, Stacy Wisnieski, for giving me my first copy and to Emy Bridge for replacing that tattered copy with a leather version several years ago!)
Here was the first paragraph from "My Utmost for His Highest" for October 12:
"The true test of a person's spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening."
Have you ever felt like God just punched you in the gut? You know, one of those parental looks of great love, with a hint of laughter in His eyes that say: "Ok, Julie. Do you get it now?"
You see, an extraordinary life is made of extra-ordinary moments: in other words, lots of ordinary moments. "Extra" means "more of" or "many": extra large is "more" large, so, therefore, "extraordinary" means "lots of" ordinary! Lots of ordinary moments loving each other, forgiving each other, learning, growing, falling and getting back up again leads to an extraordinary life when lived in Christ!
So, here is an extraordinary ordinary moment from the other day:
When you have a family of 14 plus a staff of the same size, that provides the opportunity for the study of the social behavior of humans in groups! People always say that women go to the bathroom in groups and men don't! I remember in Junior High at lunchtime, one of the guys would get up from the table, disappear for less than a minute and come back. However, at some point during lunch, one of the girls at the table would announce to all: "I'm going to the bathroom." That was an immediate invitation for the other 8 of us at the table to get up with her and follow her to the restroom! No matter that there were only 3 stalls in the bathroom - the trip was not out of necessity, but was a social event! We would finally return to the table 15 minutes later: after combing hair, fixing make-up, getting caught up on the latest "news" and, maybe, having actually used the restroom!
Well, those of us who live at Refuge Ranch discovered the other day that such behavior is simply programmed into the female psyche, it is not learned behavior!
We currently have three 4 year old little girls! Berenice, Cirino's daughter, turned 4 in September; Ana, our daughter, turned 4 in August; and Ruth, also our daughter, will be 5 in November. So, for two months out of the year, all three little girls are the same age. (I teased my older girls that having three 4 year old girls at the same time is dangerous, but having four teenage daughters at the same time is simply pure craziness and has to be against some law!)
Ana
Ruth
So, we are at dinner and Berenice announces: "I am going to the bathroom!" Immediately after she left the dining room (aka: the warehouse), Ana announced: "I have to go the bathroom!" She was no farther than the door when Ruth added: "I need to go to the bathroom!" At nearly the same time our 6 year old son, Caleb, said: "Mom, I'm going to the bathroom." Well, within less than a minute Caleb was back at the table. He went and came back alone - like an honorable man! However, there was no sign of Berenice, Ana nor Ruth! Another minute went by....and then another! I decided it was time to check out this situation.
I went to the house to hunt down my little girls! We have three restrooms in our home, but all three girls were in the main restroom with the door locked! I knocked and heard Ruth say in a hushed yell: "Hide!" She kindly unlocked the door for me and revealed the party scene! Berenice was on the changing table and Ana hiding beneath. Berenice had her pant leg pulled up and I was promptly informed that Ana was caring for a cut (non-existant, mind you) on Berenice's leg. Band-Aid wrappers strewn about on the floor served as proof of Ana's budding medical practice, along with the white antibacterial cream spread on Berenice's knee. My arrival cut their little nursing party short and the three were escorted back to the dinner table.
Theory proven: women were created to go to the bathroom in groups!
You see, an extraordinary life is made of extra-ordinary moments: in other words, lots of ordinary moments. "Extra" means "more of" or "many": extra large is "more" large, so, therefore, "extraordinary" means "lots of" ordinary! Lots of ordinary moments loving each other, forgiving each other, learning, growing, falling and getting back up again leads to an extraordinary life when lived in Christ!
So, here is an extraordinary ordinary moment from the other day:
When you have a family of 14 plus a staff of the same size, that provides the opportunity for the study of the social behavior of humans in groups! People always say that women go to the bathroom in groups and men don't! I remember in Junior High at lunchtime, one of the guys would get up from the table, disappear for less than a minute and come back. However, at some point during lunch, one of the girls at the table would announce to all: "I'm going to the bathroom." That was an immediate invitation for the other 8 of us at the table to get up with her and follow her to the restroom! No matter that there were only 3 stalls in the bathroom - the trip was not out of necessity, but was a social event! We would finally return to the table 15 minutes later: after combing hair, fixing make-up, getting caught up on the latest "news" and, maybe, having actually used the restroom!
Well, those of us who live at Refuge Ranch discovered the other day that such behavior is simply programmed into the female psyche, it is not learned behavior!
We currently have three 4 year old little girls! Berenice, Cirino's daughter, turned 4 in September; Ana, our daughter, turned 4 in August; and Ruth, also our daughter, will be 5 in November. So, for two months out of the year, all three little girls are the same age. (I teased my older girls that having three 4 year old girls at the same time is dangerous, but having four teenage daughters at the same time is simply pure craziness and has to be against some law!)
Ana
Ruth
Berenice
I went to the house to hunt down my little girls! We have three restrooms in our home, but all three girls were in the main restroom with the door locked! I knocked and heard Ruth say in a hushed yell: "Hide!" She kindly unlocked the door for me and revealed the party scene! Berenice was on the changing table and Ana hiding beneath. Berenice had her pant leg pulled up and I was promptly informed that Ana was caring for a cut (non-existant, mind you) on Berenice's leg. Band-Aid wrappers strewn about on the floor served as proof of Ana's budding medical practice, along with the white antibacterial cream spread on Berenice's knee. My arrival cut their little nursing party short and the three were escorted back to the dinner table.
Theory proven: women were created to go to the bathroom in groups!
2 comments:
Reminds me of what my son David at age 3, said when his sister wanted to help her dad (me) work outside, "Girls can't do that!"
To which his spinster aunt (my sister in law), replied, "Why you male chauvinist little piglet!"
All the while I'm thinking, "Where did he get that idea?"
Bill Karkow
You put a huge smile on my face! :) What a wonderful way to start the day! Thank you so much for sharing the story and allowing all of us to feel like we are a little bit closer to all of you!
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