uptomytoes

Author: Sue Birdseye

  • What Do You Think About Gifts?

    I LOVE giving gifts.  Like really love it. This year I’ve been careful though.  I’ve set a certain amount of gifts each child will receive and an amount I’m willing to spend.  So far, I’m doing pretty well with it.  Although I’ve been known to blow the whole budget in a minute so the jury…

  • Advent for the Overwhelmed

    For a little bit longer….today is December 12th – I am officially 12 days behind.  I’m always behind when it comes to Advent.  It’s not like December 1st surprises me or that I haven’t thought about Advent in November.  I just all of sudden get overwhelmed by the days and nights and before I know…

  • Failure to Identify

    Don’t you just LOVE it when God hits you right between the eyes with truth? I’m not being sarcastic…truly. The other night at my Bible study we were talking about finding our identity in Christ. A topic I have explored often and tried to grasp continually. I have spent the last several years pretty consistently…

  • Whatever It Takes

    I’ve become a late-night person…through no design of my own. I desperately need more hours in the day…more days in the week…and more sleep in my bed. Last night as I lay my head down on my crazy configuration of multiple fluffy pillows, I began to pray for friends and family, for my children and…

  • In the Middle of the Night

    It is the middle of the night and I’m awake.  Wide awake. Yesterday I stayed home from work because I’ve been fighting a wicked cold or flu thing and I slept most of the day.  I was actually thinking I might be well-rested for the next day. No such luck. Part of the problem is…

  • Love, Rest, and Sickness…In No Particular Order

    Today is my first sick day for me in a few years. I’ve done sick days for children and sick days for parents, but not for me. I slept a lot and sat a lot…well, actually I was more lying down a lot. And all the stillness…it was glorious. I haven’t been still for….for forever.…

  • A Deep Breath

    There is a place I find myself…sometimes…it is no longer a place of deep grief, but of deep sighing. A place where I find myself needing  the strengthing of a deep breath, the focus of a whispered prayer, and the hope of an all-powerful God. In the past, this place has been about me…about my…

  • The Before…and After

    God has brought me far. Some may think I need to be farther along on this path of healing and hoping and growing. But I believe I am. I’m much farther along than I was before my life changed quickly and irrevocably. I’m much farther along than the days before… Before  …            after So much…

  • Trusting Him with Them

    I’m sitting outside on my back porch with my laptop, my Bible, and 3000 MOSQUITOES!!!! It is so beautiful out here – cool breeze, sunny, and quiet!  I love it. But I HATE these mosquitoes!  They have even bitten my hands!  It is very difficult to scratch my fingers and type. My 14 year old…

  • In the Moment

    It was one of those loooong work days. Ten and a half hours to be exact.  I was bone weary tired. So when my little ones were dropped off at my school, I decided it sounded like a Chick Fila kinda day. There was no argument from my littles.  It’s the favorite restaurant….they know us…