HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAITH!!!

My Dear, Sweet Little Lollipop,

Everybody always says they can't think of just one favorite thing they like most about someone they love so much. There are just too many good things to pick from. But I can.

It's your laugh. You have absolutely the purest, most genuine laugh that I've ever heard! It is at once robust and girly, sincere and infectious and I have NEVER ONCE been able to keep from smiling when I hear it! Not even on my darkest days.

You are a joy from top to bottom! A "favorite" just means that it is the best of many good attributes - and you are full of them!

I know it might not be your favorite thing, but I LOVE the way your freckles dot only one side of your face! It reminds me so much of your life. From one angle you look so grown up, and it reminds me of how gracefully you are maturing into a classy young lady. But on the freckled side, I still get to enjoy you as the carefree little girl deserving of all life's innocence for just a bit longer.

And I love those ADORABLE round little buns in a bathing suit! I'm sorry, but I do! You CRACK ME UP when you do "squeezy cheeks," when you lock those knees together and scrunch your buns up, walking in little baby steps like a Chinese woman while speaking hilarious stories in that IMPECCABLE British accent! Oh, my, word - how you can make me laugh! You are SO FUNNY!

And smart. I've been blown away by all you've learned this year Biblically. You have such great questions and you never settle for the simple explanation. You want to know WHY you should believe what you are told and I LOVE THAT! Your teachers are equally as blown away with the depth of spiritual understanding you can garner and even explain to others from your Bible lessons. God has given you tremendous insight in this area, and I am so proud of you for using it for humble purposes and honest living.

This year, you have also practiced courage in a way that has made me so proud of you! You had a rough year last year, but you have never used that as an excuse. I have heard that the definition of courage is not the lack of fear. But that it is fearing the unknown and facing it anyway. You have been the absolute embodiment of courage by that definition and I couldn't be prouder! God richly rewarded you for it this year, too.

I guess every Mom wants to be the one to give her daughter the present that her daughter likes better than all the rest for her birthday. But this year, you got one even greater than the one that Daddy and I have picked out for you. God gave you Jenny. I LOVE to watch the two of you riding your bikes down the street together, giggling about secrets that only the two of you know. I love watching your matching pigtails bob up and down as you pedal, shadowing the tassels hanging from your handle bars. Your fair hair and skin color and her dark hair and complexion, often in matching outfits. God has given you the joy of a best friend. Jenny was the answer to some of my most earnest prayers for you.

My prayers for you are many and they always will be. I want you to be happy and grounded and for the deep love that we have for you to always be apparent to you! I want the world to be kind to you. You are such a vital part of it. The world is such a sunny place in the spot where you stand. You are amazing to me in every way! So humble and forgiving and sharing and kind. So encouraging and funny and smart. Like I always say, you are SWEET ON A STICK - forever our LOLLIPOP!

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

WE LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS!

A Little Late, But Quite Sincere

A week ago Sunday was Grandparents' Day, but I missed it because I had it written down as this past Sunday. Then I missed it again because I've been sick. So my great parents and my lovely Grandmother never heard from me. My MIL and I had dinner for other reasons altogether, but I never mentioned it because I am, obviously, losing brain cells by the bunches. But we love them all four, dearly, and my hubby's handsome Grand dad, because they are quite simply some of the best human beings for us to have the privilege of sharing a legacy with, for a whole host of reasons:

For being willing to explain the details of a sport, even right in the middle of The Big Play.

For hosting "just because" parties for the grandchildren including real invitations by snail mail for them to receive.

For purposely being too slow to beat the train across the tracks, even though it makes you late to an appointment.

For hours on a ladder painting clouds upon their ceilings.

For learning new talents and skills and computer programs with them around, so they know that they're never too old to learn and grow. Or never too young to be a help. :0)

For spending time picking vegetables in the garden - or fishing or riding four wheelers or running errands, visiting family, shooting guns or making crafts - instead of always huddling in front of the television.

For having patience while they were still learning that "sharing" referred to bicycles and toys, but not to toothbrushes and drinks.

For biting your tongue while we as parents were learning the difference between defiant disobedience and simple childhood foolishness, and for when we mistook the latter for the former.

For telling them stories of their parents as kids and for making us sound like heroes.

For deferring to our preferences as their parents and letting us raise them our way. For respecting our choices on drinking and movies and world news and dress and Santa Clause.

For so many of our ways being the very way we were raised because they work and they are right.

For not allowing any disrespect with the excuse that they are "just kids."

For being equally interested in ALL their activities, as diverse and silly and new as they sometimes are.

For holiday traditions they look forward to for weeks.

For telling them "You can do it!" when you're not completely convinced yourself.

For remembering the time I crawled into bed with one of them after a particularly bad nightmare, but not the time I punished one of them for stalling bedtime, when they really had a case of pin worms. And for assuring me that even the cleanest home wouldn't have prevented them from getting it.

For pancake breakfasts and fun discussions about what they'll be when they grow up.

For reminders that they have many years until they HAVE TO grow up.

For sharing with them the "Good Ole' Days" without making their own days sound bad or scary by comparison.

For praying for our efforts in raising them!

For making a trip to your home seem inviting and familiar and adventurous and new - all at once.

For saving the housework until we leave.

For hanging their artwork on YOUR refrigerators.

For referring to your grandchild in heaven by name.

For admitting to feeding them ice cream every night before bed and setting that precedent for honesty. It was the more important lesson. :0)

For not buying them EVERY thing they want, just because you can.

For telling them "you look JUST LIKE your mommy at that age," and meaning it as a compliment.

For watching the same rated "G" show for the tenth time when you would really like to see "48 Hour Mysteries."

For trying to still lift and hold and swing them, even though it hurts a little more now that they're bigger.

For treating the boys like boys and the girls like girls - guilt and PC free!

For making the drive to see us more than we do to see you. It hasn't gone unnoticed - or unappreciated!

For being at so many Birthday parties, even though they are too busy with their friends to pay much attention. They cherish you there in the photos!

For being "Grandma" or "Grandpa" to their friends and cousins who don't see theirs'.

For letting them call home at midnight if they want to.

For meaning NO when you say "No." And for not saying it very often.

For imposing a bed time, but not necessarily a sleep time. For extra kisses and tickles and "boog-a-doo, boog-a-doos."

For introducing them to your own circles of wise and weird and accomplished and quirky friends.

For reminding them in speech and in deed that virtue and character and church and friendship and hard work and forgiveness and God ARE IMPORTANT!

For making God bigger than the four walls of our own home.

For being such top-notch examples of integrity and love. They only have 5 grandparents. But you all are enough to show them all they need to see.

A Hodge Podge Of Humor

One thing I love so much about blogging is having a regular way to record all of those precious little "funnies" that otherwise go unrecorded. Oh, I have scraps of paper with the most outstanding events I never want to forget - SOMEWHERE. But years from now, I really wish I could go back and visit my kids' little years in some sort of detail, like one of my favorite blogs, Lots of Scotts. She relays the cutest stories of her kids and the wisdom she is learning because of them along the way. I may have long forgotten many of those precious preschool moments, but my busy young elementary kids still say and do plenty to keep me entertained.


WE'RE COUNTRY FOLK NOW, BOY!
Until this summer, I had never once had a tick that I know of. But since our move outside of town last year, my husband and I have had three between us. (I have NO IDEA how they have missed the kids.) Appalled at our last discovery, my 5-y-o declared with much frustration, "Another one! Are you kidding me?! This Place Is INVESTED With Ticks!"


GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS
After witnessing a younger member of our church do what so many toddlers do, Faith couldn't wait to get into the car out of earshot and tell me "Gross! J. was picking his boogers and eating them! That is just so......EW-ISH!"

THIS PARENTAL DISCERNMENT THING IS KILLING ME

A couple of times lately when I've called my youngest son into the room for some sort of instruction, I've noticed him leaving my lecture to call his sister in for my run-down as well. "I only needed to speak to Justice," I would tell her, and she would be on her way. Yesterday, I discovered what he was doing. "Faaaaith! Mom needs youuuuu!" he said, though I had suggested nothing of the kind. As Faith emerged to find me he yelled, "Ha ha, you're IT, now!" as he ran by her, brushing her arm with his hand. That little runt has been telling her I need her when he's tired of looking for her in hide-and-go-seek! And I had actually lectured her recently about not coming when I call her. Now I know why she wasn't!

NOTHING SAYS "I LOVE YOU" LIKE IN-HOUSE MARKETING

My older son, who loves all things technical, was looking around an approved website when he called out excitedly across the house, "Ooooh!....Oooooh! Oooooh! Ooooh! They're selling really cool sparkle pink lip gloss! And if you buy one, the second one is half price!" After questioning stares from his younger brother and I, he finally added, "Where's Faith? She's gonna love this stuff." Honestly, though, it warmed my heart for him to be so excited for his sister like that.

A LITTLE GUY'S MIND ON THE SUBJECT OF DEATH

Three years ago, my brother-in-law passed away from life-long diabetes as he ultimately succumbed to liver failure. He was the "cool uncle" to my kids that always did outrageous fun stuff - like the time he rented them a moon bounce for Easter. In his last months, he developed circular scab-like patches on his skin from the toxin buildup in his system. For some reason this past summer, the kids all talked about him an unusual amount and had some pointed questions about those last hard days. "Mom, why did Uncle Scotty have pepperonis all over him when he died?" It's so sweet to realize how innocently they take it all in.

HEY, DUDE, I'M JUST DOING MOM A FAVOR!

My daughter was gone one night as I was trying to go through old clothes to hand down. Not sure if she had outgrown a particular outfit, I asked my son to try it on because their sizes are close enough for me to tell that way. He gave me the eye roll and a little protest, but he is a good kid and does just about all that I ask. "No one will see you," I said. "It's just us here at home." So he held the clothes up to him just as his dad walked in from work. "O.K. Dad! I'm just helping mom out because Faith's not here. I'm just trying to wear my girl clothes like a man!" He cracks me up.

A PENNY SAVED MEANS A LOT LESS WORK!

My daughter wanted a chore to do to earn money for a book order from school. My youngest son, seeing the size of the job decided he could help to earn a little cash of his own. A little squabble ensued about whether he should get to share in the chore or the payment. Knowing his track record on this particular job, I told him "You can help, but remember a halfway done job only gets halfway paid." His response was not quite what I expected. "Cool, Faith! Let's just do the job halfway, then we can share our money and not have to do it all!" Lord, help me.

THAT "OTHER" DISCIPLE

My kids were quite amused by their last Sunday School lesson. Our friends, who happen to be the associate pastor and his wife, have a bright and lively three year old as their middle child. The teacher asked the kids if they were able to list all of the disciple's names, and, she reports, they did a rather impressive job. But she was particularly surprised that such a young boy knew that Levi was also known by another name - "Pull-up" (Philip).

Pink Glittered Lint

Reason #437

why I love the darling little girl I get to call DAUGHTER

----------------------------------------------------------

Glitter in the pink lint after doing a load of her laundry.

I once heard a prominent Christian women's speaker suggest using daily chores as a reminder to pray for certain people or situations in our households. Like praying for the owner of the clothing you are washing, drying or folding. I love this kind of advice - practical and applicable. I am a logical deduction kind of gal and I appreciate such direct advice. Still, parables are important too, sometimes, to understand the context of Divine ideas. So I thought about that lint. How it could easily represent the sin that we all have in our lives. It must be trapped and removed in order to make our apparel the best we can put on. How it hinders the laundering process if not removed. But looking at the lint, it is also indicative of the owner of the laundry it comes from. My husband's lint is almost always a light or reddish color. He works outside and wears light-colored clothing in order to tolerate the heat. The red comes from the Oklahoma dirt. My son's lint is almost always full of small scraps of paper that I somehow missed cleaning out of one of his pockets. He is a list maker deluxe, much like his Momma. Mine is always colorful. I love a different feel to my outfit each day. Fashion is fun for me. And my daughter's lint - it almost always contains pink and glitter.

So even our struggles and particular temptations make us unique. I don't love my daughter because she has lint (or sin), but I don't NOT love her for it either. Yes, I have to stop and pick the lint out of the filter each time I do the wash. It is an extra step and a little bit more work. But I have been given this awesome privilege to be the one to teach her to eliminate more lint from her life. But if I didn't get to be the one to do it, if life were "easier" and the lint removal was left to another, I would also miss the unique personality, the glitter and sparkle, that's peeks through the dust of the lint.

I guess the glitter would be love, since God is Love, and He is the Light - the sparkle. So I thought about my lint, that sin that God removes as He passes me through the wash of the blood of Jesus. It reminded me how much He loves me. That like I do with my daughter, He must pick the lint out of my life, but stop to smile at the glitter. He clothes me in it, just as hubby and I clothe our daughter in her glittery garb. So I guess my prayer would be that I would continually choose the sparkly bright outfit that glitters of LOVE, so that there is always sparkle in my lint. My lesson from the laundry today reminds me to love my family as they are. Help them, pray for them, and give thanks for the note-filled, red-dirt-stained, and pink glittered lint.

My Heart Is Too Full....

to adequately explain the joy I am feeling right now as I peer through the glass door into the back yard.

Thank you, God, for summer days, swimming pools, and Jenny.

Good Advice

I have always sought to follow the advice of those who have gone before me and to try my best, yet without their perspective, to take it to heart, especially to "enjoy your husband and children and don't take a single second for granted." But this particular article I found at An Ordinary Mom worded it so beautifully and so succinctly that I had to share. It was such a vivid reminder to go hug my loved ones, really hard......and right now!

“All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

“Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, have all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.

“What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations –what they taught me, was that they couldn’t really teach me very much at all. Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.

“When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself.

“Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton’s wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane?
“Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.
“Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the, ‘Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame.’ The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, “What did you get wrong?”. (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald’s drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

“But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.

“I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

“Even today I’m not sure what worked and what didn’t, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I’d done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.

“The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That’s what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.”~ Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist

Because He FIRST Loved Me

I received a comment yesterday from a blogger who was new to my site and I felt the need to respond. Her comment was so lovely, sweet, and encouraging and also the perfect platform to explain the AMAZING GOODNESS OF GOD to my family. The honest answer to her hint at the character of my family lies totally and completely with JESUS CHRIST!

Here is what Sunshine wrote:


Hey - I loved this post - I was reading on "Embracing my Cup" which led me to you...as I was reading on your blog I found out that Ashley is your niece. I read her blog EVERY day - this is so cool. You are just as sweet as your brother and sister in law. You must have amazing parents to be so precious and to have such a precious brother. I hope you guys have an awesome night. Sunshine

(I LOVE her name, by the way!)

First of all, I just want to tell Sunshine, thank you, for being an encourager and taking the time to say when you have admiration in your heart. So many people let those things go unsaid.

Secondly, yes, my parents are awesome! They are generous, kind-hearted people who worked hard their whole lives to give us the very best of all that they had. My dad is the same as a parent as he is with everything - fair and methodical. Growing up, he was patient with us whether tutoring us in homework every night or showing us how to woodwork in his shop. But he would also step us to discipline us when we needed it. (And just for the record, I'll say that my brother needed it more....though that may or may not actually be true. :) ) Dad has always worked hard at a sometimes stressful job so that my mother could be a stay-at-home mom. And my mom used that calling to the fullest, not content to just be a good home maker, but also a real role model. She has volunteered for both organizations and especially individuals for as long as I can remember. She has done everything from bake cupcakes for the school party to prison ministry to leading a pros*titut*e to Christ and then becoming her best friend. She is the best listener I think that God ever created and crafty and creative to boot. That is why I chose her to be the matron of honor in my wedding.

Both my parents insisted on humility from my brother and I and raised us with good morals and values...........BUT.....

We were not a Christian family.

During my time growing up in my parents home, I can only recall but a mere handful of times I attended a church, all of them different denominations and all but one because I had spent the night with a friend and gone to church with their family. Sundays to us were for mowing the lawn and watching football. And I don't really have memories of anyone in our circles of acquaintances attending church either. For me, it wasn't something I thought about. I didn't have enough knowledge of God to even know TO think about it. I had heard the term "God", sure, but the most thought I gave to Him was that of some intangible ideal. A mere word to describe who was responsible for things that couldn't easily be explained. Nothing more. I certainly never ascribed to God the idea of personhood or even personality or entity.

In college, through an INCREDIBLE set of circumstances that would take a book (but it would be an awesome read) to explain, God saw fit to make me aware of Him. For the first time in my life, I remember hearing the word "Savior" and having it explained to me. I heard about Jesus and His love for me and the way that He proved it by dying upon an old rugged cross as payment for MY sin! (And between high school and early college, there had been plenty of it, I can assure you. Let's just say, God built in me a testimony sufficient to deal with teenagers and not be surprised by a whole lot they tell me.) Then one by one, my family has come to know Him as well.

Even after salvation, I have made many mistakes. I have hurt and disappointed God and others at times. I have sometimes behaved as if there had never been a change in my heart. But those were the times that I looked away from Him and His grace. Those were the times I chose flesh and selfishness over serving Him. Or tried to "do the right thing," but in my own power and way, because I was too impatient to wait upon the Lord. If there is ANY THING good in me and my family, then God deserves 100% of the praise! And Sunshine, I do not mean to diminish your compliment one tiny bit or to make light or seem unappreciative. Quite the opposite! You encourage me when you say that you see something good in our character, because what you see is Him! Jesus! Even when I am not being so easy for Him to shine through, HE still makes the effort. HE takes all my shortcomings and turns them for good. JESUS came into this family who knew basically nothing of Him and gave us a new legacy! One that is available to WHOSOEVER WILL CALL UPON HIS NAME.

If ever there was a girl who people could point to and say "She is just not the "church" type, it was me! If ever there was somebody very distant from this knowledge, it was my family. So thank you, Sunshine. God has used you to let me explain very honestly, how it all comes back to Him. All we do is let Him, because we've all lived the other way and fallen flat on our backs. All we do is keep reaching out for Him, because we remember the times when we didn't, and we don't want to go there again. He does all the work, shines forth all the good, gives all the grace, and then, miraculously, chooses to bless us with it.

And after looking around Sunshine's blog for a little bit, it is evident she knows exactly what I am talking about!

A Cinco De Mayo SUPER CELEBRATION!

Tonight was one of the absolute, bar-none, best nights of my life. Tonight at 10:45 p.m., my sweet, amazing, wondrous, beautiful miracle, my daughter, gave her heart to Jesus Christ! I got to be the one to pray with her. Wow! And the first thing God did afterward was to give me such an indescribable peace to trust that what she had done was real through the immediate fruit she bore. My sweet shy daughter said she CAN NOT WAIT to go forward at church tomorrow and ask to be baptized! If you knew her whole recent background, you would understand that THAT is straight from the Heavenly Father! Then as I was just praising Him for all of His goodness, He reminded me......just two weeks ago I had asked Him to at least once in my lifetime let me lead someone to Christ from start to finish. From telling them of Him for the very first time to planting the seed, to watering, to finally share in them getting saved. And I guess when I prayed that prayer, for some reason I was envisioning a stranger, someone I would meet and lead. But God gave me exceedingly abundant above all I could ask or imagine. In just two weeks, He answered my prayer through someone far more important to me - my flesh and blood. My only girl. And in this I believe He also answered for me another unspoken prayer as well. Yes, this was a fantastic Cinco De Mayo! A fiesta where even the angels were singing!!!

My Muddy Little Missionary

Last night while I was at a very important school curriculum meeting, my hubby took all three kiddos with him to check jobs. We have a construction company and it has rained so much lately that he needed to know if there was a site dry enough to go to this morning. When I returned home last night from my meeting, I found this:

And then this:

It's one of the things I love most about Faith. She is almost ALWAYS thinking of others and their needs. Especially their most important need.

Awwww

I wasn't trying to spy, I promise. But I couldn't seem to stay off of Boomama's website yesterday, wanting to see the totals being raised for Heather to have the consultations at Mayo Clinic. And wanting to read all the comments to her and bask in the heightened knowledge of my uncountable blessings, especially my health. And there I saw almost every commenter who has ever been to my site, which granted is not a whole lot, but enough to give God a little to do a lot with. THANK YOU for being willing to step out on faith at the request of one stranger to bless another stranger. I just knew if you would go to her site, you would see why I have been so blessed by this sweet young woman. And though I know her no better than you all, I can't help but feel blessed myself by your participation. The last time I checked, the total was up to something near $9000! I'm just.....crying. I love knowing that at least some of her family's burden has been lessened and that my "friends" (because that's what your actions showed) helped! Thank you friends.

Boomama has stated that the donation button will be up for several more days if you decide that you can participate later. :0)

He Knows

God knows when you're at that limit when you absolutely just can not take any more. I used to think He must not REALLY know because He used to push me WAY BEYOND my limits. Or at least that's what I thought. Really I was capable of so much more than I thought I was - through Him, of course - and it was that "through Him" part He was developing in me. But today was kind of rough, again, and He knew that. So tonight He made very, very sweet. To anyone else, it may sound entirely boring, but God knows me. He gave me what I needed. A misty rain falling while sitting at Sonic with my kiddos, who were getting along nicely. (Hubby was stuck after hours at a job that got rained on.) The window rolled down. Nostalgic road music playing on the loud speakers. Details about my children's day, spoken in turn one at a time. A delicious coney dog and raspberry slushy. A leisurely hour to spend before the next "to do." A polite and friendly waitress. A crisp breeze. A warm sweater hoodie and my favorite pair of jeans. And on the way home, a smoky gray sky and a Nora Jones CD with quiet kid chatter in the background. For me, it was a small slice of Heaven.

More Cute Quips

What would this world be without children? They save your sanity on weeks like this one where getting out of bed seems like a dangerous risk to take. How I love all their sweet funniness!

As I tried for fifteen minutes to arouse the children from sleep this morning and they remained in their state of comfortable comatose, Faith finally offered a pucker of the lips as a sign of life. Perhaps it was her way of tricking me into thinking she was making a real effort at bona fide movement. "I'm a fish" she moaned. "Well" I said, "why don't you be a Fashion Fish and go put your new clothes on? I laid out your new pink sparkle shirt and pink rain boots." Within 4 1/2 seconds she was up and on her way to get dressed. All it took were the words "new", "clothes", "pink", and "sparkle" for her to snap to!

Later as we ate breakfast, Faith declared with rather ceremonious giggles "Hee hee hee, I ripped a toot!" (Which we allow talk of only within the confines of our own twisted home.) "Ew, Faith!" I teased. "We're about to eat." "Well, girls DO toot TOO, you know." "Yes." I said. "But it's strictly a boy thing to actually be proud of it." Then Dalton spoke up. "I don't know, Mom, did you hear it? It was definitely one to be proud of!"

I am so glad they support each other.

Driving down the highway to run errands, my son spotted a mini semi truck sporting colorful photographs of pizzas enlarged to six feet tall on the sides of it. "Oh, cool, Mom look!" Is that truck carrying a bunch of pizzas?!" "I bet it is!" I said excitedly for him. "Oh, Mom, I think I finally know what I want to be when I grow up! How cool is that?! Getting to drive the pizza truck!" High standards, this guy. Just see what he aspired to in yesterday's post. We've got to sit him down and have a talk. Well, O.K., not yet. He's still good for a few more years of cheap entertainment. : )

Sweet Public Sundays

After much mental game-playing to try to delay such realizations, I have finally conceded that my life is entering a drastically different phase from the previous few years. And I am finally beginning to even embrace it. I am finally giving in to the idea that my home will never again be filled with a multitude of half-filled sippy cups. I will no longer hear the sounds of sing-songy cartoon themes like Dora The Explorer or Blues Clues blasting from a TV that no one is even watching. Now my kids would rather watch pre-teen sitcoms that require far more vigilance in screening beforehand. The toys that filled the living room floor and burdened a clean path to the kitchen are gone. The children are starting to prefer role play in their rooms instead. They like to open the window and pretend it's a fast food drive-through. And more and more, they are preferring to play these games with friends, peers their own ages, rather than just with Mom and Dad.

Dalton, especially, is getting to that age where a kiss on the cheek is a little too uncomfortable for the school drop-off line. Instead, he'll just lean his head down for me to ruffle his hair and tell him I love him in his ear, though it looks like I could just be reminding him there is lunch money in the small pocket of his backpack. The funny thing is, I thought when he ever got that way, I might be offended. But I'm not. Because he doesn't come across at all as if he is embarrassed of us now that he is growing up. It's more like HE needs to start believing that he is going to have what it takes to be on his own one day, because instinctively he is beginning to realize that will eventually be the case. And I instinctively want to encourage him that he will one day do well as his own man, even as I secretly pray that day would be a very long time in coming.

Thankfully, every night lately I have been noticing that as I sit on the sofa to help my daughter with her homework, Dalton comes to sit beside me and leans his head against my shoulder as he and I listen to her read. He's very subtle. Sometimes it even takes me a couple of minutes to realize he is there. I am so engulfed in helping her to sound out the more difficult words. Occasionally, he'll even slip his arm around my neck as he sits with me.

But on Sundays, this ritual makes it's only public appearance. After years of participation in Children's Church, this is Dalton's first year to come into regular services. No more brightly colored pictures of the most popular Bible stories. No more macaroni glued to form scenes on the back of a paper plate. My son is now expected to sit with the adults and hear the preaching of God's Holy Word. Sometimes the subject matter still seems a tad too tender for his innocent ears. I know it's inevitable he'll hear about topics such as war and church strife and sex SOMEWHERE, if not in church, but still........I'm longing for the days when learning to tie his shoes was his biggest worry in life.

So this morning, as the past few Sunday mornings, I couldn't help but smile with sweet satisfaction as Dalton leaned his head against my shoulder right there on the pew for all to see. He even grabbed my hand and held it in my lap as he listened to the pastor preach about end times and trusting God in times of persecution. He could have chosen to sit with his friends, but instead he leaned on me and made comments or asked questions only at purely appropriate moments. He's getting so grown up that way. And I just thanked God for His marvelous grace. That He saw fit to make it so that they leave us very slowly. And that when they do, they are far more prepared than they probably recognize. Hopefully, far more prepared than I feel like I will be. But for now, I just love that head breathing softly on my shoulder as I soak in God's reminders to us both. That though we don't see Him, He will always be with us. One day, when my son leaves my home and goes wherever it is that God's plan is leading him, my strongest hope is that he will remember that. And know that he has a mom back at "home" who feels the same way!

My Right-On-Time Valentine

I am sick today and obviously not feeling well. My preschooler is here at home without his brother and sister and without a mom who feels like doing much. So he went into his room, unbeknownst to me, and drew me a card. It showed several little hearts arranged together in the shape of one big heart and said "i love U mom, OK." As he presented it to me he said, "Mommy I know that it's not Valentine's Day anymore but this is my Valentine for you today anyway. I hope you feel better!" Well, after that, you bet I do!