About Misty Krasawski

Misty Krasawski is the overly-blessed mom of eight children, six of whom she still homeschools in sunshiney Florida. Her wonderful husband Rob has much treasure laid up for him in heaven for having been called to the daunting task of leading them all. She also is the Community Director and a contributing writer at MomHeart Online, hostess of an online mentoring program for moms called Titus 2 University, author of Back to Homeschool, and is a regular contributor to Home Educating Family Magazine as well as Heart of the Matter Online . She writes when the house goes to sleep at Encouraging Beautiful Motherhood, and would love for you to find her on Twitter and Facebook.

A Letter From Your Father …

June 16, 2013 By Misty Krasawski

Quodlibet, Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts

My Dear, Beautiful Daughter,

Today is Father’s Day. I know there’s a lot for you to do, and this isn’t a day you usually think much about yourself. But in all of today’s busy-ness , there were some things on My heart that I wanted you to know.

I see you. I see you patiently tying the shoes for what seems the fourteenth time in an hour, picking stray macaroni and cheese bits out of the carpet, washing yet another load of laundry. I see you struggling, too often alone and too often unnoticed and unthanked. I see your heart wilting a little when you feel unsupported, and I know you think you fail way too many times.

You need to know how much I love you. I am with you every moment and I do not miss any of those sacrifices you make for your children and family and for the people around you. I see them all. I am so proud of who you are. While perfection feels so far out of your daily, practical reach, I see that perfection already in your life because of my Son. There is nothing you could do today to make Me love you one bit more than I already do. Your efforts make Me smile and they are not in vain!

You know how your heart feels like it could burst when you sneak into the children’s rooms at night and catch a glimpse of those long lashes on rosy cheeks — the way you jump at their every cry for help — that surge of pride you felt at every new step, every accomplishment, every bit of progress as your little and big ones learn new things? All of those feelings originated in My own great heart. And I feel every bit of that same love and glory and pride as I watch your own progress.

I am cheering you on. I will never, ever fail you; I will never, ever leave you; and I will never, ever give up on you.

You are a diadem of beauty in my hand. I am perfecting everything that concerns you. I am the Author and Finisher of your faith. And I am waiting to refresh you at every step, to strengthen you at every turn, to carry you whenever necessary.

And on this Father’s Day I want you to know that I am proud to be your

~Daddy

3 Comments | Filed Under: Following God, Uncategorized

What Does It Mean to Wait on the Lord?

May 25, 2013 By Misty Krasawski

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

I’m not very good at waiting.

It stresses me out when there are decisions to be made … and they haven’t been made yet. When we’re going on vacation … but there are three weeks until we leave. When we’ve been to the doctor … and have to wait on test results. And when the water takes too long to boil. That’s pathetic, but there, I said it.

It’s no fun to wait, and I don’t think there’s anyone I know who would say they like it!

I’ve been thinking about this verse a lot lately (which may or may not be because I’m in great need of strength!) It seems to be saying that when strength is in need of renewal, the prerequisite is that dreaded word … wait. And so what does it look like to wait upon the Lord?

Well, when one sits down at a restaurant, there is a waiter. And the waiter’s job is basically … well, to wait! First they wait until you tell them what you want. Then they go get it for you. They bring you what you asked for, then ask if you want anything else. And for the rest of your time there, they sortof hover around a bit, watching to see what you might need or want–more water? Ketchup (in those fancy places)? A new napkin?

It occurred to me that maybe we ought to think of ourselves as waiting on the Lord in that way. Keeping close to Him. Waiting and watching. If we truly drew near–really got close to Him, what would we notice? What’s on His heart? What can we see needs to be done, retrieved, or brought to Him? What are His wishes? How can we serve?

There’s more here, too. Baby eagle wings are fluffy and cute. But they’re not much for flying. The verse previous to this one tells us, “even young men grow weary and vigorous young men stumble badly.” (The mamas of young men said, Amen.) But those who wait on the Lord … in other words, those who give God time! Those who have grown older in their waiting. While we wait, our wings grow. They become less cute, sure; but they also become useful. Only time allows the development of the long, sturdy feathers that allow us to mount up over circumstances and go long distances. The wings of an eagle are especially designed to allow them to soar on warm air drafts using little or no energy. When we wait on God, wait to hear His heart and His plans for us, when we resist following our inclination to be “busy” and “do something” that’s all our own idea, we give ourselves an opportunity to mature.

And perhaps that is the greatest gift of waiting on the Lord … a little more time to grow up.

Are you in need of strength today? How hard is it for you to wait on the Lord?

Blessings, Misty

6 Comments | Filed Under: Following God, Hope, Prayer, Uncategorized

Why We All Might Need to Slow Down

April 19, 2013 By Misty Krasawski

American Gothic, Grant Wood. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

And I noticed something else. The car was not only easier and faster than the team and wagon. It gave a new aspect and a new motion to the world. The wagon passed through the country at a speed that allowed your eyes to come to rest. Whatever you wanted to look at in the road ditch or the fencerow or the field beyond, your sight could dwell on and you could see it. But from the side window of Grandaddy’s car where I was looking out, the country seemed to be turning like a great wheel. The rim of the wheel, at the roadside, was turning so fast that everything was a blur. To pick out a detail–one fencepost, one rock, one tree trunk–was impossible … the smaller details were getting lost. Even farther away… there were no details at all, just the vague blue ridges way off there as if in a different world. And that, as I now know, would be the new world, the “world of the future,” which to most people in it would be hazy and without detail, way off in the distance.” ~ Wendell Berry, Andy Catlett, Early Travels

Just two weeks ago, we loaded piles and piles of boxes and plenty of furniture from our home of thirteen years into a giant moving van and drove nearly thirty hours across the country to a new home.

We’ve traded palm trees for aspens, beaches for mountains, flip flops for parkas. While it took a four day journey to get here, that’s not really much considering the fact that we traversed over 1700 miles. There were plenty of adventures along the way, and I often felt that by the time we arrived, I’d be the perfect model for a new version of American Gothic. Except that the furrow between my eyes might have been deeper. My hair was definitely messier after not being really “blown out” correctly for four days. And also, I might have used the pitchfork to poke someone.

There was plenty of time for gazing out windows. And so many beautiful things to see … rolling hills and mountains, busy cities, iconic landmarks. I remember traveling as a child. Life from the driver’s seat is a bit different. Especially when you’ve got one eye on the road, one on the scenery, and one on your GPS.

Whoops, I guess that’s one eye too many. Or one too few, depending on how you look at it.

Anyway, when I read this passage of Berry’s the other day it rang so true in my heart that I had to pause and heed the warning.

Just how fast are we going as we travel through this life?

Are we speeding along, always with our mind on our next destination, moving too quickly to appreciate or even experience the scenery, the changes in landscape, the beauty in, Lord forbid–the people–making up our lives? In a lightning-fast internet world, we can’t exactly go back to wagon speed. But once in awhile, we’d better find a way to slowwwww dowwwwwwnnnn. To stop the mad rush; to pause and listen. To really see the glitter of sunlight on the snow, the perfect curve of a seashell in a child’s hand, the dimple on a chin. Because when we rush too quickly there is too much blur, too much white noise for us to discern what’s really out there, and life becomes “hazy and without detail, way off there in the distance.” We might even miss the most important thing of all …

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

Blessings, Misty

Encouraging Beautiful Motherhood

3 Comments | Filed Under: Following God, Parenting, Uncategorized

You’re Invited: To Be Part of a Christmas Miracle

November 30, 2012 By Misty Krasawski

Life has a way of surprising us, doesn’t it?

I’ve longed to put miles between me and “normal” ever since I can remember; chafed at the realities of dishes and lessons needing to be taught, laundry needing to be folded, plane tickets priced way out of reach. Only the blessing of my own precious babes keeps feet to native soil now, and dreams still dance like sugarplums when pictures of Africa, India, Brasil taunt me from screens large and small. Someday, I tell myself. Someday …

Last year the Lord surprised me with a new friend. We kept bumping into one another despite living nations apart, her mothering a hundred twenty-odd beauties on the back corner of South Sudan while I taught and mama-ed my eight here. Now we are neighbors, sisters in local ministry, and expectant travel companions. She’s going to share some of her story—their story—with you today. Join us–we could see a Christmas miracle, together!

Michele writes:

Mama-hood. I did not come to it naturally. Rather, I stared through tears at a TV screen filled with wide dark eyes and gaunt ebony faces. I watched small fingers sketch Crayola landscapes of the very adult atrocities of genocide. These were the smallest witnesses. And so the stirring of God in the womb of my dreams began.

Nine months later I was bouncing over dirt paths a world away searching out entrance into a place most were intent on escaping. Three days shy of 29, this simple pale-faced, one-legged city-girl who still thinks mascara belongs in a survival kit rode ten hours down rebel-frequented roads in what is now South Sudan to a dusty outback border town called Yei.

I flung wide our barely hinged bamboo gates on Christmas day, 2006 and welcomed 12 new sons and daughters into my family. Not one of them an orphan or abandoned any longer. Every single one adopted, cherished, sought out. We lived those early months out in a premium-priced, bullet-hole ridden shell of a building. No electricity. No running water. Scarcely a latrine. We bathed from buckets and my skin darkened with a tan I knew would eventually wash off. Trusting God to provide meal to meal some days.

Within months our family grew to over 50 little lives. And while I have never known physical labor pains, I have known labor and pain, loss and victory. Each child birthed into our family through incredible adversity and even more amazing grace.

Six years later we care for 120 children in family-style atmosphere, school about 500 more from our community and are blessed with over 40 amazing Southern Sudanese staff and Western volunteers on 40 acres of our own land. We have so much to be thankful for.

This year we are trusting for another miracle. An enormous, gigantic, audacious, impossible-without-God miracle. One of those. A Christmas miracle.

We are praying that every one of our 120 children will be fully sponsored by Christmas.

The best part is… are you ready? YOU. Reading this line. You can be a part of making this miracle happen. You can join us and touch South Sudan, right where you are. When all our children are fully sponsored, the children’s village they live in will have a stable stream of what it needs every month to provide for their needs.

I may be based back in the USA serving here, but these children, these sons and daughters of mine, hold my heart a world away.

Might you consider being part of making a miracle happen this Christmas?

With love and deep gratitude from the unpaved road,

Michele Perry

Word Weaver, Picture Painter, Creative Coach: A life lived from the unpaved road.

micheleperry.me Tweeting @micheleperry Writing at fromtheunpavedroad.com

For more on Iris Ministries South Sudan: irissouthsudan.org