Dance in Smarty Pants

We are perpetually silly here! I love it! I think my favorite times are those when we all share our silly dreams, funny jokes, and favorite laugs of the day! I love being in this fun, funny family!

One of those days

I have had a day where every call I placed ended in a negative response. It gets a little discouraging. Here I am all gung ho to get out there and do some good and it just seems like nobody else wants to cooperate. So I sit here with my computer, my husband downstairs watching Jay Leno on TV, and I wonder... what do people DO all the time? Something is keeping us busy, tied up, occupied, and otherwise engaged. At least that is what everyone told me today. "I'm sorry I am just otherwise engaged..." I have 3 children who are small and very busy. My day begins at 5:45am when I wake to do my ritual 3 mile walk with my neighbor. Upon arrival at home I retrieve the Wall Steeet Journal, water the flowers in front of the house, go inside and start breakfast. (I know you are thinking - gross, you don't shower... I am being honest here...it is not top priority in my life). At that point the three princesses are released from their towers and I go up to make sure plaid pants aren't worn with flowery shirts, and that everyone has clean panties on. We get the clothes on and the mass exodus happens, with everyone carefully holding onto the railing as we go down the stairs (Of course we all hold the rail - what kind of mother do you think I am?). Downstairs the princesses climb up into their thrones, and I prepare the regular breakfast of oatmeal with some kind of fruit in it, sweetness, and creaminess. We all eat together. At that point my husband joins us to say his goodbyes and shuttle off to work. The girls clean up breakfast, I throw laundry loads into the washer and dryer, then we head up the stairs to our loft where we do school. (We are homeschoolers and I am doing small amounts of school in the summer, just to get a little bit ahead of the game.) We work on school together (3rd grade, kindergarten, and preschool all at the same table) then about 11 am head down and I do lunch prep. Just before that I throw a load in the washer and dryer, and haul the clean load over to the couch to fold...

You are getting the idea here. I keep busy all day long. And somehow I am able to teach Sunday school, lead a childcare program for preschoolers, be involved in Bible Study, and still maintain a marriage and a reasonable amount of sanity. So what do other people do with their time?

I am just praying we have the volunteers we need to care for the children, hold the babies, love the toddlers, and assure those mommies that we can do it with a measure of grace and tenderness that they can trust.

Plaster of Paris

I love children, particularly my own. There are times, though, when I wish I could loan them out for the afternoon on Freecycle to some kind family that appreciated all that pent up creativity and energy.

My second princess, today, decided to dust her room, Amelia Bedelia fashion. With plaster of paris. Oh, and she thought including her sister in the process, both dusting and being dusted, was a great idea and a shining way to SHARE. Don't get me wrong. I love when they choose to share. But today, and with plaster of paris? AGH! After I vacuumed everything, wiped down as much as I could find (Did I find everything?) and scrubbed two tiny white girls in the tub, grumbling all the while, I tossed the crowd of them into bed. And here I sit. My hands are wrinkled and dry - about 2 weeks of deep conditioning night treatments might get them back from old lady condition.

It is days like this that I feel alone and tired. I feel unappreciated and wonder if giving up my shining career (honestly, it was fueled with potential) was REALLY the best choice. I feel entitled to complain and grumble, be grumpy and antagonistic. I want to give up, call my husband to come home, and go back to bed - or on a trip to California.

I am reminded of a MUCH greater person who could have felt this way. Jesus gave up heaven - being in the presence of God's glory at all times - to come here. He took on a body that was small and human, potentially ill, and easily harmed. He came to show us the way to know God... to talk to Him... to make things just like they had been in the Garden, so long ago, when people walked and talked with their Maker. Jesus came to BE THE WAY. And all the people around Him did was fight over who was greatest, misunderstand what He was trying to tell them, value money more than people and push children away because they thought Jesus was WAAAY TO IMPORTANT to take time out for them. During all of that Jesus lived His life with love, kindness, and with a tenderness and humility that drew people - and children - to himself.

Jesus did it... Overcame sin and selfishness for me. He died so that I would be free from the restraints sin puts on me. The way I live will either reflect that or cast shame on me because I am not aware of the price paid for the freedom I have.

Ephesians 3:16-19
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I can love these children who mess things up sometimes. I can be patient with them and let them know they are much more important than things or dinner or carpet or wasted plaster of paris.

Powerlab VBS

This week at VBS each of the 15 helpers in the Elementary Crafts area have individually handled many supplies…The breakdown happens like this…

20 sharpie markers - $14
40 pieces of foam - $14
20 pipe cleaners - $2
200 pieces of lined paper - $10
200 foam stickers - $7
20 pieces of elastic cord - $3
100 beads - $5
2 soccer balls - $20
20 blue boxes - $15
400 foam squares - $5
20 suns - $3
20 clouds - $3
20 prayer foam pieces - $3
20 plastic bugs - $2
6 bowls of glue - $9
24 toothpicks - $1
20 frame cutouts - $4
20 colored papers - $2
20 MORE pipe cleaners - $2
40 pieces of double sided tape - $6
200 science stickers - $9
20 photographs - $5
2 rolls of masking tape - $3
20 large buttons - $5
20 lengths of curling ribbon - $2
20 atom cutouts
160 dangling science mobile pieces
180 pieces of yellow ribbon - $15

This is the PER HELPER cost breakdown! The total is huge! The price of all these things comes out to a big number! In all of this there are additional responsibilties...

The responsibility of making sure everything had a name on it…
Keeping track of time for 20 kids…
Encouraging 20 kids by letting them make creations they way they wanted to…
Doing it all with a measure of grace that reflects Jesus!

Priceless!

It has happened - The Lord has given us the ability to carry out another great week of VBS! We planned for 310 kids and ended up with 410! In all of this God provided all that we needed to carry it out, and only with minor cost additions. He is so Good!

The Winds of Change

I love my little girls, and dressing them is my joy - I get to "play dolls" every day with them, at least until they have more interest in dressing themselves. This particular morning we were heading out for a glorious day of VBS at our church.

Let me preface this with the fact that I had been up at midnight ironing fancy theme based patches on the front of old stained t-shirts, because really, how many t-shirts does a 4 year old need? Well, the shirt I chose for my youngest, who is 2, was a vivacious chartruese colored wonder. She looks terrible in that color, but I thought "FINALLY we can put this thing to use.." I pulled it out and found the front had a pocket on it, so being a practical mommy I decided to just iron the fancy patch on the back. It stuck like a charm and looked great.

Back to dressing this morning. Everyone was thrilled with their "new" fancy shirts. Much hoopla was being made and pajamas were instantly abandoned in a mad rush to get fully adorned for the fun of VBS. I looked everyone over, noticing my 2 year old had her little shirt on backwards. I bent down, explaining that "the tag goes in the back" and started extracting her chubby little arm. She moaned, hissed, and fussed. She kept saying "THIS the front, mommy, THIS the front!" I thought she must have misunderstood the explanation about the tag being in the back and reiterated that point. She told me in no uncertain terms that, regarless of the placement of the tag, that patch was going to be on the front. Pocket aside, she was wearing the patch on the front. Realizing that the battle was not important or really vital, I allowed her to choose and wear her shirt backwards. She wore it all day and never complained about that itchy tag rubbing against her little throat.

So my littlest girl is finding her own, unique, and unpredictable sense of style. She is growing up.

I love that they are growing, but as I work to enjoy every day and as many moments as possible, I am slowly watching them pull away from me. I am reminded again of how very temporary my place as Mommy is... I am already Momma to my second child... and Mom to my oldest one.

As they pull away from me, Lord, I pray that they are drawn to You. That into your arms they fall and find that tender refuge that You really are. Help me turn them to You, Father, because where I fail, you are more than enough for them and where I am weak You are thankfully strong. You have been that for me and I know that You will be that, and more, for them.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to and end, they are new every morning, Great is Your Faithfulness Oh, God!

Training Children

I have 3 daughters, for which I am becoming more and more grateful. Tonight I was running behind - preparing for the arrival of houseguests does that to me sometimes. My husband called from work to let me know he was leaving there to come home... that meant in 15 minutes he would be arriving home and we generally eat dinner at that time. Panic set in. What would we eat? Nothing was thawed, my freezer was without handy premade meals, and the clock was ticking!

AH! Eggs to the rescue. So in a pinch, I called my 7 year old, plugged in the toaster, and had her begin making toast. Then I called my 4 year old over, cracked a quick dozen eggs, and had her scramble them in the bowl. I was able to cut up some watermelon, while my 2 extra sets of hands helped me get things going. I had the 4 year old set the table, collected the 2 year old and had her plugged into her little booster seat, then my husband walked in. Hurrah for the family that works together! We ate and I truly thanked the Lord for these little hands that had been trained to help momma.

Training requires so much patience, failure, mess, mommy biting her tongue, and then, finally, after enough trial, there comes a time when the training is in place. Suddenly, those little hands that had been such a bother, at times, were a blessing. They are really a blessing all the time, but sometimes it is hard to see them that way. As I watch my children grow from babies into little girls, and now bigger girls, I see such value in training them. Value that not only will come to me, but hopefully someday to others - roommates, husbands, children, or coworkers and friends. Lord, help me to train them well so that they will be prepared to bless others and serve You as they grow.

Rearranging the House

My parents are coming into town with my handicapped adult sister. It promises to be a wonderful 2 weeks, but really ... TWO WEEKS! To accomodate them we have taken the futon downstairs into the playroom, taken all the toys out of the playroom and added them to the living room, rearranged the loft to accomodate my sister, and hung curtains everywhere to provide a little privacy for them as they visit.

In doing all of this I hope I can really show my parents love - real, Godly love. Love that doesn't communicate that it was a bother to arrange things, but instead lets them know that we love to have them with us. Love that finds ways to share our lives with them and glean from them love to remember and reference in the future. I hope we all create memories and have wonderful times this weekend, and in all of that, I hope my children can recall these wonderful sunny days with Grandma and Grandpa and want to have days like that with their own children.
I just hope I can remember this weekend when I am a grandparent and it is my children clearing their children's toys away and rearranging their homes. It is no easy task to take on visitors. Doing it for 2 weeks is saintly. I need to keep my visits short, but frequent... enough that everyone is happy when you come and sad when you go, and that we all say "Oh we really look forward to seeing you soon!"

Thank you Lord for giving us a home to share, food enough for everyone, and beds to sleep in.
You are more good to us than we could ever know.

While the Peter Pan's away the Indians will play

My husband has been out of town for 2 weeks and will be out next week as well. This would not be a problem if I did not have a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a newborn. And we have no family in town. So I am single parenting and having a time of it. This certainly gives me a renewed respect for all those single parents out there who DON'T have the luxury of another adult to depend on for a little break. And for those parents whose spouses are away in Iraq or other military installations.

This morning I was awakened by a combination of loud giggling and the newborn screaming. I walked out to see what was so funny. The four year old had decided to "feed the hamster" which meant that every food item, snack, or edible product we owned was being dumped into the hamster's cage AND all over the carpet. We aren't talking a light sprinkling here - I mean DUMPED. Of course the hamster thought she had died and gone to hamster paradise, so she was collecting food in her little cheeks and carrying up to her nest in the cage, and storing it. My 4 year old thought it was delightful and was laughing hysterically about the whole thing. The only thing I could think was "how am I going to get all of that out of the carpet?". After the initial interrogation session (WHAT are you doing, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?) I started her on clean up and moved in to retrieve the baby who was ready for her first feeding of the day. Thankfully, she started sleeping 11-12 hours a night about 3 weeks ago.

I only hope that I can keep everyone on track today, INCLUDING myself, and mantain a certain amount of decorum. If the hamster thing is my biggest problem today, I think we will be ok. Well, the little wildwomen are making noise and I think their bedroom has run out of entertainment options, so off I go to prepare lunch.

Thank you, God, for these blessings in pudding splotched containers. Please help me to appreciate thier simple enjoyment and love of all that is new. And please help me not to mess them up too much. You are so good to give such bright little wonders to me. Help me see a little of what they see in all that is wonderful. Keep me from letting the pressure of my own expectations create stress in our home. And lend Your power to my self control so that they will see You inside of me. I love you, Father.