I do not know why He is so lavish.......................................

But I do know that I am blessed.  I don't even know how to breath deeply enough to absorb the fullness of it all.......

Tremendous Two's

Two year olds are so much fun, save for the potty training part.


Recent dialogues with Christopher

Me: "Christopher, aren't you going to eat your shoe fly cake?"

Chris: "Me no like shoe fly cake. 'Dere's flies in it."




Me: "Ohhhh. Look outside...it's snowing cats and dogs!"

Chris {running to the window}: "Me no see cats and dogs out there!!!"



Me: Christopher, do you know that Jesus loves you?

Chris: "yeah, me know dat. {pause} Where Jesus at?"

Me: "Jesus lives waaaay up in heaven"

Chris: "Jesus die??"

Me: " Yes! Jesus died, but He's alive now and is living in heaven. When you die, Chris, you can live with Jesus in heaven too!"

Chris: "Oh....dat be fun!!!!"



Christopher {first child awake on a Saturday morning}: " Me go wake up my kids, Mom??!"
Me: "No thanks, I actually prefer my kids stay sleeping for a long time this morning!"

Yes, really and truly, he refers to his siblings as "My kids".

 

Reality Check

I'm not the super mom that I hoped I would be.

I'm not the super-involved-always-in-the-middle-of-a-messy-kid-project kind of mom, even though I like to portray myself as such.

I'm not always smiling.

I say 'no' too often.

I spend too much time on the computer.

I anticipate the kid's bedtime too much.

I've said, "Not NOW!!! I'm too busy!!!" more times that I can count on my 10 fingers in the last week.

 Sometimes I speak words that kill and destroy the ones I love the most.

I usually do not take pictures of my worst moments.

I crave quiet time and independence.

Sometimes I yell, even in the absence of an emergency.

Sometimes I want to run away and hide in a cave for at least a month.

It shocks me how quickly I go from happy to mad. It shocks my kids too, I can tell.

On the other hand:

It shocks me how quickly I can go from complete devastation to full joy. It's Jesus.

It's surprising how much joy I've found in losing myself for the cause of raising a family. It's Jesus.

I do love my calling in life. Thank you, Jesus.

I love having fun with kids. Thank you for this crazy sense of humor, Jesus!

My kids have taught me more in the last 8+ years than what I'll ever instill in them in a life time. Not just my kids, but the vast array of kids in my life. It's Jesus in them!!!

I'm still a kid at heart. Thank you, Jesus!

I love speaking words of life and blessing to my children. Thank you Jesus for giving me your words to pass on.

I love singing with them about Jesus (and other crazy things, like old women swallowing flies) Thank you, Jesus, for giving me something to sing about!


I am so thankful and completely humbled, that Jesus {the Perfect One}, has entrusted these children into my care, knowing that I would  mess up and I would sometimes wound his Treasured Possessions.

Most of all, I'm SO thankful that Jesus has redemptive power over the realities of  my humanity.

"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands."  Psalm 138:8

It happened

That magical snow that I was wishing for several days ago...it visited us again, bringing with it an extra day of vacation from school for my two oldest children.

I was planning to do some cleaning and work on a few sewing projects today. However, things got rearranged quickly when the kids walked back in the door, not even one hour after their departure, with visions of craft projects, movies, stories, hot chocolate and lots of fun dancing around in their heads. It took me a while to get on board with all the exciting plans, but eventually I surrendered.

At lunch time we enjoyed a picnic on the living room floor. This was special for my two youngest since they rarely get a packed lunch.

It all went quite well until I had a melt down upon realizing that I failed to pack a lunch for my hungry self. Life isn't always fair, you know. I rummaged through the fridge and thankfully found some left over scrambled eggs to quiet my roaring appetite.

There were many squeals of delight when I pulled some old icing out of the fridge and smeared it on Ritz crackers. Icing crackers are the height of fine dining for these guys. (I prefer cheese with my crackers, thank you very much)

All went fine until...

ooops, mom.........

At one point during the course of the meal I began making up a really silly story which sent me into total hysterics. I think the kids were laughing more at me than at my story, which is slightly embarrassing. Their laughter turned to slight concern when they realized that their mom was not going to stop laughing anytime soon.  Thankfully my short explanation,' Sometimes when a PREGNANT woman starts laughing she just can't stop', took care of the question marks they were throwing at me. I need only to mention the word 'pregnant' and they are instantly overcome with a silent kind of awesome reverence. It's proving to be a handy word for me these days.

This was the icing on my cracker as well as my favorite quote of the day: 

"This is WAY more fun than being at school all day!!!"

(and you must understand that my kids really like school!)