Christy Cabe

Island Issues.

My dad called me earlier this summer and sent me on a mission. He was out of town and afraid Costco would sell out of a large raft he’d seen and he thought we needed it for our upcoming lake vacation.

Operation vacation floatation accepted.

And then I stood frozen in the aisle at Costco. I stared at the box that contained the said raft and dialed Dad’s number. Actually, I shouldn’t use the word raft. The thing comfortably seats seven adults and boasts six cup holders. It may be visible from space.

“You know this thing is ginormous, right?” I said into my phone with raised eyebrows as I tried to figure out how to lift the box into my shopping cart.

“Yes, it will be fun. Just grab it. I’ll pay you back.”

Never mind the story of how I got it into my van with only my six-year-old’s assistance, and how we blew it up and got it into the water and anchored at the lake.

Bottom line: we’ve got our own island now. Zip code not included.

But here’s the problem. There’s no good way to get on this thing. No ladder. No handles. No flight attendant holding out her hand for assistance.

My process to board the island resembles a walrus rolling onto shore, only not nearly as graceful.

One time my son, who was already on the island, offered his assistance. He pulled me up and our momentum continued until I knocked us both over and landed on top of him.

“Are you okay?” I asked once I found which way was up.

“Yeah, you didn’t hurt me, you just held my head under water for awhile.”

Oh, that’s all. Glad it wasn’t more serious.

The kids are the most successful at boarding the island, but teenagers and grandmas alike have had some serious island arrival issues. We’ve laughed at each other and cheered our successes. Sometimes we tell others to look away so as to save some embarrassment. Other times we own the hilarity.

And as in life on dry land, it helps to know we’re not alone in the struggle.

Sometimes we help each other by offering a hand. Other times we make life better by laughing together at our failures and encouraging each other to try again. Sometimes we take each other down in our desire to be a team, and sometimes we lift each other up in triumph.

But we’re in this life full of struggle together. It’s a lot better that way.

No man is a floating island.

This post is part of the Five Minute Friday community where bloggers are invited to write for about five minutes about a topic after being given a one-word prompt.

This week’s word: HELP

Snail Spa

I’ve heard it said that no lake vacation is complete without a man-made snail habitat. Er, something like that. But I can’t argue with the saying, because it certainly rang true for us.

While spending a week with our extended family, my daughters and their cousin not only discovered the snails in the shallow water of the lake, but “rescued” them and carried them a good twenty feet from the water to our deck railing. The girls then spent hours caring for the snails and building a natural habitat out of paper bowls, water from a squirt gun, leaves, scissors, and dish soap.

Of course the scissors and leaves were part of the snail clothing design unit and not so much the living quarters, but useful nonetheless.

The habitat was complete and the snails were quite spoiled with their own bathtubs, showers, and even a hot tub. I can’t speak for the snails, but who could really dislike such a variety of hygiene and relaxation options?

IMG_5774 (1)

As I watched the girls bathe the snails for the forty-second time it occurred to me that as parents we really don’t need to create fun for our kids as often as we think we do. Sure, sometimes it’s good to play a family board game or a round of “I Spy” in the car, but most of the time, kids just need a little freedom and maybe some Palmolive.

It’s a delight to watch a child’s imagination at work and to see their little hands design and create- even if it leaves you with a mess and a few less paper bowls in your stash.

This post is was inspired by the Five Minute Friday blogging community where bloggers are invited to write about a topic for about 5 minutes based on a one-word prompt. To see more of this week’s post from other bloggers visit here: http://katemotaung.com/2016/07/14/five-minute-friday-create/

This week’s prompt: CREATE

Give It A Rest.

It’s really just a piece of junk that our dentist gave my son as a prize after a routine teeth cleaning. The pink and blue toy top with the smiley face lays on the floor as another hazard for bare feet, along with the Barbie shoes and plastics beads.

With a quick snap of my thumb and middle finger I send the top into motion. It spins across the floor and the happy face blurs out of focus. I watch it and also notice the dust and dirt that’s been tracked into the house on our many trips in and out.

We’ve been busy.

Summer break has begun, but our calendar apparently didn’t get the memo. Each day we’ve set alarms and helped bleary-eyed children get dressed and out the door for our fun-filled camps and summer activities. Three weeks into this routine is enough. Thankfully now the pace is slowing down.

But just as the top begins to wobble more as it slows, I feel as if I’m becoming a little unsteady myself. The motion has brought joy, but I feel that for it to continue to do so, it first needs to stop and be intentionally set back into motion.

Sometimes a reset is needed.

The top slowly ceases moving and rests on its side. The happy face is back in full focus. And this is clear to me as well.

Rest makes it easier to get a good grip and a nice start to the motion.

Just watch your step if you leave your toy resting on the floor.

This post is part of the Five Minute Friday community where bloggers are invited to write for about five minutes based on a one-word prompt. To see other posts on this same topic click here: http://katemotaung.com/2016/06/23/five-minute-friday-rest/

Today’s prompt: REST

Nothing to Lose.

I’ll never forget what she said. She stood behind the simple podium telling a room full of young moms the heartbreaking story of her infant daughter’s death. My throat felt tight and many eyes twinkled with tears as she told our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group the details of her unimaginable loss. But it was one statement in particular that hit me. And it stuck. Though it has been years since that morning, I have replayed her words in my head often, as if she said them just last week.

She said something like;

“This may sound strange, but now that we have other children and I try every day to protect them from this world and to raise them right, there are times when I’m thankful that the daughter that we lost is already safe. Nothing can harm her now. She’s with the Heavenly Father, and she’s safe.”

Her transparency is capable of encouraging many others to live with such a perspective. Her worldview is an eternal one. Her hope is not rooted on Earth, but in Heaven. Her trust is in an invisible and loving God.

Though she has lost the most precious thing, she has nothing to lose.

I know for a fact that this woman would have rather not faced her horrific pain in order to gain such a mature and godly perspective. But we don’t always have a choice in our life lesson plan. We do however have a choice in how we’ll accept it.

And her words remind me to accept an eternal perspective.

That with our Heavenly Father’s love and the gift of hope He offers, we have everything to gain.

And when we rest in the Truth, we have nothing to lose.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot

This post of a part of the Five Minute Friday community where a group of bloggers write for about 5 minutes about a topic based on a one-word prompt. To see other posts from this week you can click here: http://katemotaung.com/2016/06/16/five-minute-friday-lose/

This week’s prompt: LOSE

In Plenty And In Want.

It was a few tissues and an empty Starbucks cup that tipped me over the edge. They were strewn on the floor around the empty trash can instead of being out by the curb with the rest of the trash that my husband had collected. Didn’t he see he’d dropped it and he really hadn’t completed his task of taking the trash out? I would be sure to mention this to him.

And I did.

“You left a mess of trash on the floor out there and you forgot to put a trash bag in the upstairs trash can. Basically, you completed half of your job.” I said in a huff later that afternoon.

I wanted him to get it right. I wanted him to do his whole job with no mistakes and no delay. I wanted him to make me happy and not leave extra work for me. I wanted him to be perfect.

Somewhere along the way in marriage the “wants” change.

When we were dating I wanted him to sit by me. To take me out to dinner. To kiss me. To propose. I wanted him to want me and choose me to be his forever.

When we said our vows we said we’d love each other “in plenty and in want,” and we meant it. Of course, that meaning of the word “want” in that context is to be in a struggle or need of material possessions or money. And that is a “want” that we, middle class Americans, have never truly known.

Somewhere along the way in marriage the “wants” change.

The focus changed. It went from me wanting him to choose me, to me wanting him to do things for me.

My focus used to be on him, and now it is more often on myself.

I want him to provide and protect.

I want him to help with the kids.

I want him to help me keep the house in order.

I want him to take all the trash out.

Somewhere along the way in marriage the “wants” change.

And each day I need the reminder to strive to change them back.

To ask myself how he’d want me to serve him. And to faithfully put him above myself.

To love and cherish the wonderful man I married. In sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

In plenty and in want.

———-

This post is a part of the Five Minute Friday community where bloggers write about a topic, based on a one-word prompt, for about five minutes. To join us, check it out here: http://katemotaung.com/2016/06/09/five-minute-friday-want/

This week’s prompt: WANT

Famous Wise Sayings (Mommy Style)

Happy Mother’s Day! Here’s to “keeping it real.”

Christy Cabe

I have great and utter respect for Benjamin Franklin, Albert Eisenstein and Thomas Jefferson. The guys who wrote the Chinese proverbs and whoever thinks up the sayings on fortune cookie papers aren’t bad either. Some people just say some smart stuff. Ya know?

But today I’d like to keep things real. What if the famous wise sayings of old were written by a mommy who was still wearing her bath robe and slippers and was able to just say it like it is. I’m talking about Mommy Wisdom. Smart little nuggets for REAL, daily life.

This thought struck me as I cleaned up a spill on my kitchen table and floor for the third, yes third, time in one day. Thus leading me to my first Mommy wise saying amendment…

Don’t cry over spilled milk.

AMENDMENT: Don’t sob over spilled milk. Deep breaths and/or moderate sighing is encouraged. If…

View original post 502 more words

34.

In honor of Mother’s Day weekend, I am sharing this post from four years ago about the struggle I felt as I turned 34- the same age my mother was when she passed away.

Christy Cabe

23 years ago today my Mom, Mary Miller, died suddenly of a heart arrhythmia. She was 34 years old.

This Friday is my birthday. I will be turning 34.

I’m going to be very honest here and admit that I’m struggling with turning 34. It has nothing to do with aging and I’m not one bit superstitious so the number itself doesn’t bother me. I guess what bothers me is the realization of how young my Mom was when she passed away. This realization sits with me differently at age 34 than it did at age 10.

I always knew she died young. I heard that comment from grown-ups over and over in the months after her death. I also knew it was such a sad thing that she left my Dad with two little children, ages 10 (6 days shy of 11) and 6. I was sad because I’d…

View original post 992 more words

The Dash

Christy Cabe

April, 2016

This month I will receive my first paycheck in almost 12 years. I started working part-time as a grant writer for a non-profit (FCA.) I’m excited to be able to use writing to help raise money for a ministry that I care about, all while working mostly from home.

The decision for me to start working again was not one Kraig and I made lightly. For a dozen years we’ve intentionally chosen for me to stay home full-time with our three kids. Now our youngest will begin Kindergarten this fall and the timing seems good for me to start this job as well as pursue some other opportunities as/if they arise.

A few years ago I wrote a blog post called “The Dash” about my thoughts on being a stay-at-home mom and how when a financial planner summarized my contributions to our family with a little…

View original post 1,284 more words

Easy Does It.

I appreciated the fact that my eleven-year-old son wanted to help me put the groceries into our van from the shopping cart. What I didn’t like quite as much was when he placed a case of water bottles on top of the loaf of bread. The Sunbeam lady on the bread packaging looked a little shocked as well.

Later in the week, my son sat on a piece of cake.

Granted the cake was not on the table, but had been cut and placed on a “to go” plate and covered with plastic for me by my Mom who was sending it home from a family birthday party. She had placed it on a bench by the door for me to grab on my way out and Karson somehow did not see it when he sat down on the bench to tie his shoes. So he says.

Easy, boy.

As the old saying goes, this is why we can’t have nice things. Or recognizable bread slices.

But, apparently, if covered with plastic, you can have your cake, sit on it, and then eat it too.

—————–

This post was inspired by the Five Minute Friday challenge where a one word prompt is given and bloggers take 5 minutes to write about whatever comes to mind based on the prompt. Today’s word: EASY. For more posts by other Five Minute Friday bloggers go to http://katemotaung.com

Shareholder.

My finger gently tapped on my phone’s screen and scrolled through the content of my Facebook feed. Photos of adorable babies and funny status updates kept me entertained, but I quickly moved my finger and eyes past the other content, “The Shares.”

Article link after link appeared in my feed and it mostly had been put there by users who had not written it themselves, but had pushed the “share” button in order to join in on the cause and commotion. By sharing they became a part of the latest secret and amazing trend.

“Try These 8 Simple Steps That Will Make Your Kids Fall In Love With Brussel Sprouts!”

“She Took A Paper Towel Tube And Transformed Her Kitchen Into The 9th World Wonder!”

“You’ll Never Guess What 5 Common Household Cleaners Lead To Weight Gain. Number 4 Will Shock You!”

I’ve done it too. I’ve shared articles or events that are near and dear to my heart, and in doing so, I’ve felt as if I’m a part of something bigger. As if I’ve joined in on the cause.

But have I really?

It cost me almost nothing, other than a quick click of my mouse or tap of my finger, to share content.

Sharing something makes me a sharer, but not a shareholder.

On the contrary, this past week I joined a group of moms at my son’s elementary school. The fifth graders are going to be performing the Wizard of Oz later this spring and the music teacher asked for volunteers to help with stage construction and design. I put my name on the list. It was a simple task to sign up, but that was just the beginning.

I then was asked to show up.

I sat on the stage in the cafeteria with a large sheet of cardboard and an Exacto knife. I was going to be drawing “Dorothy’s House” and I was cutting the backdrop to fit on the wooden frame on which it would hang.

The cafeteria soon filled with 20 third graders who had come to practice their recorders. They all played a different song at the same time. I was almost paralyzed by the “music.” The school custodian began running the vacuum on the floor about ten feet away from me. The blade on my Exacto knife kept falling off and I felt as if I was coming unglued myself.

Showing up is more difficult (and louder!) than simply pushing share.

But, if I truly believe in something, I hope I’m willing to make an effort to invest my time, talents, and treasure, even when it’s ear piercing, messy, and inconvenient. I want to show up, and become a shareholder.

And maybe invest in some ear plugs along the way.

———————

This post is a part of Five Minute Friday where a group of bloggers write for approximately five minutes about the same topic based on a one-word prompt. Today’s word: Share. To see more click here: http://katemotaung.com