I Am Owning My Life

Oh Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.

Psalm 16:5

I stepped out of my comfort zone and held a tea party at my home last night.

It was for moms to be pampered and treated like princesses.

My kids made it happen!

My little girls dressed up in fancy dresses and helped serve the treats. Garrett dressed up in a tuxedo and met people at the door.

Kelsey baked two different kinds of cookies.

Anna helped with cleaning.

Kelsey helped with everything!

Morgan was dressed very nicely and served everyone their tea.

We had quite a selection of tea, and every woman chose the kind of tea she wanted.

Every woman had her own cup.

Morgan set up the tv to play wonderful Classical music throughout the evening. It was perfect! It set the mood, tone and atmosphere for the whole party.

Kelsey helped me set a beautiful table, complete with two teapots, a teacup for each mom, and delicious treats: a variety of cookies, cheesecake brownies, red velvet cupcakes and a fruit tray. And a vase of flowers as a centerpiece.

I regret that I don’t have many pictures, but I was busy living in the moment.

I got most of the dishes and cups from Goodwill. I didn’t try very hard to make everything match. I just got my favorite things that I found at Goodwill. But they looked very pretty when we put them all together.

I had made a flyer and posted it on our neighborhood website. I had hand-delivered invitations to my immediate neighbors. And I invited a few women that I knew from church. Some of them told me they couldn’t come until later, and I told them to just come whenever they could.

Five women came.

I prayed that God would send the ones that were supposed to come.

Everyone seemed very comfortable with each other. We had good conversation, and it seemed like everyone there contributed to the conversation and enjoyed what was happening. Only two of the women knew each other.

We talked mostly about the things that God had done for us. Lots of those things involved our children and families.

I did talk a little bit about the book, Own Your Life, by Sally Clarkson. I told them that it was while reading this book that God deposited in my heart the idea that I should reach out to my neighbors and provide a time of refreshing and pampering for moms around me. An interesting phenomenon that occurred is that most of the women who came live really close by, but only one was actually from my neighborhood.

But most of us there were sort of neighbors, in a broad sense. Of course, one of the ladies was a dear friend of mine from my home state whom I have known for 14 years, who lives in Louisiana now. She is visiting here because her daughter and son-in-law are staying here while they transition to Houston. Her daughter had a baby that very morning and was upstairs with her newborn baby during our tea party!

But we all felt connected and comfortable with each other and had sweet fellowship together.

I showed them this short clip near the end of our time together:

I talked about how we each have our own cup, our own portion, that God gives us. He gives us the life that we have, and He wants us to accept what we have been given and make the best of it. And make it really good. Make it happy and joyful and fun. Do what we like to do, because our kids want a happy mom.

I like the phrase, “Become the best version of you.” I think I read that in Own Your Life, or something that Sally Clarkson wrote on her blog.

I have learned and am learning so much from the book, Own Your Life.

I would encourage all of my friends to read it. It has a special emphasis on motherhood, but any wholehearted Christian would benefit from reading her message about “living with deep intention, bold faith and generous love”.

I am grateful for the inspiration I received from this book to open my home and heart to my neighbors and prepare a lovely tea party and time of refreshment for them.

I believe we all were refreshed and rejuvenated, and I felt deep fulfillment and joy from the whole experience.

I am very proud of my children and thankful for all that they did.

It was a great blessing to all of us.

And the blessings go beyond what I can see with my eyes.