Perspective

Today was a rough day. A day of normal life, but difficult for me to make right choices in my mind, my heart, my actions. Our children were inventing new ways of testing limits, so my day was spent parenting, not much else, just parenting. The hard part is disciplining and training without anger. My heart and body are drained from simply controlling my emotions today. I've really just lost track of the many difficulties of today, but at the end of the day, we all survived. God willing, everyone also learned something.
All day I was asking for God to show me and guide me, but I felt such gratefulness when I was reading some posts from a friend. A good friend from my childhood has a son who is extremely ill. His name is Grant and this is is CaringBridge Website. My day was hard, but they are watching their 8 year old deteriorate before their eyes. And still, God is sustaining them and Grant. My heart breaks when I read their family's struggles, but God is still with them. They are suffering well.
There are times in life that are challenging, and I want to glorify God in those. But there are other times in life that are indescribably painful. When those times come, I want to suffer well. I want it to count, to mean something, to glorify God.

Please pray for this family.

Not me! Monday

In the grand tradition of MckMama, I'd like to tell y'all some of the things I DID NOT do this past week. I would never succumb to these behaviors.

I did not actually fall asleep for 20 minutes while playing 'nap' with my daughter.

I did not stay in my PJs until 11:50 that day. I did not not shower until 5PM that same day while my children watched TV.

I did not leave my van's sliding door open the entire night.

I did not feed my children mac n cheese with green beans for dinner because I just didn't want to make anything.

I also did not feed my children Aldi brand spaghettios and canned pears another night because we had a dinner guest who was served twice bake potatoes, salad, roast chicken, and magic hot fudge brownie.

I did not sleep until 9 AM on Friday. My kids however did sleep until 9 AM.

These are things I would never do...

Today at a birthday party at Rocket Park:

Chase comes up to me with his plate that has half of his piece of cake on it.
Chase: "Mom, I don't think I should finish this cake. It has a lot of sugar, and I've had a lot of sugar recently."
Me: "Ok. So what should we do?"
Chase: "I think I should just through it away."
Sabrina: "Can I have another piece of cake?"

George put Sabrina in a swing and she was very excited.
Sabrina: "Mr. George. He helped me. He helped me into the swing."
Me: "Yes, he did"
Sabrina: "Yes, Mr. George is a very nice man." (this is much funnier heard in Sabrina's lispy, helium voice)

Funny conversations

Stuart: How many times have I been to the moon?
Chase: Twice.
Stuart: No, how many times have I been to the moon?
Chase: Half the time.

--------

Sabrina (to Stuart on his bike): Stuart! Come back here.
Sabrina (to me): I gotta stand up and call Stuart's name
Me: Why?
Sabrina: 'Cause he didn't follow my directions.

Humility and Strength

A few weeks ago, I was upset with my husband. We really hadn't had some time to talk it out, and for me, that is really vital to resolving conflict. So, I was sitting on some anger and disappointment for a few days. At a meeting, a couple friends asked how I was. I said I was working through being mad at my husband. I didn't think much of the conversations; however, two of the people came back to me to say that they appreciated my honesty and transparency. My sharing gave them some confidence that they are normal and some hope that they can work through things as well. Once again, I didn't really think much about it at the time.

Then this past week, I've discovered a few friends have walked away from God, and the results have hurt my heart. In all the situations, deception and lack of transparency have significantly contributed to the problem. The maintenance of the appearance of normalcy has isolated each person from the love and support available to them; the consequences have been disastrous.

So, I've been thinking about those conversations, a lot. I've been thanking God for the gift of repentance. I've been thanking Him for the tenacity within me to be open with people. Thank you for the grace of Jesus in my life that is His gift. Kingdom thinking is an Opposite World. We think that we should appear as if we "have it all together”; Kingdom thinking is, "here are my weakness and my struggles". Our thinking produces isolation and dishonesty, because, no one has it all together, and we don't want to be around people who do. Kingdom thinking endears us to people who are attracted by humility, and are encouraged by feeling like they can identify and connect with someone else.

This is God's love for us—vulnerability can bring us protection; humility, strength.

Not me! Monday

These are all the 'unprofessional' mothering events I did not, under any circumstances, do this past week. Check out MckMama for more fun.

I did not spill an entire bucket of dirty mop water, just as I had finished mopping the house.

We did not sleep in until 9:30 on Saturday while the children roamed the house.

I did not pull off the interstate because my children were shouting in the car. I did not get lost in a neighborhood after not taking that exit. I did not burn meatloaf because of that excursion.

I did not show people at parties pictures of the children from my cell phone.

Lastly, I did not turn on PBS kids for Sabrina while I wrote this blog entry (a day late!)

Pictures of the week

Stuart was very helpful in the kitchen.



Sabrina came up with this outfit all on her own...can ya tell?


Chase & Sabrina with their glasses



Peeling potatoes, Chase and I found this one!

Oh a fork...

For those of you who know the game, "This is a fork. A what? A fork.", you'll see why I busted up laughing at my kids today.

At a birthday party this weekend, Stuart made a bird feeder out of peanut butter spread on a whole grain bagel smashed with birdseed. Today, I was finally to the point to help him find a place outside to hang it. When he came inside, he was so excited to tell Chase.

S: Chase! I hung up my bird doughnut!
C: What?
S: My bird bagel!
C: What?
S: My peanut butter bird bagel!
C: Oh, your bird doughnut.



Also just some cute picture of Ruth and Sabrina at the Zoo yesterday.

Not me! Monday

Ok, so I'm totally stealing this idea from Sara who, in turn, stole the idea from her friend. These are some of the things I "did not" do this past week. "Not me!" Never!

On Sunday afternoon, I did not east 1/3 of a large apple pie that I made for Chase's birthday dinner on Saturday.

I did not feed my children a slice of white bread and butter with 2 small slices of mozzarella cheese and grapes for dinner on Sunday evening. They did not eat this supper on the floor of the living room while watching Toy Story 2.

I did not not ensure my son put away the stool after helping me make pasta sauce. I did not stub my toe so hard on that stool that I may have broken my toe.

At Chase's 6 year doctor's visit today, I did not allow my 2 year old daughter to blatantly disobey to avoid a meltdown during Chase's examination. I also did not touch the buttons on the scale to allow the other children to weigh themselves while waiting for Chase. I also did not allow Stuart to go back and forth from the waiting room (where Toy Story was playing) to the exam room four times.

There are not 5 baskets of laundry sitting on my sofa waiting to be folded. Additionally, I'm not staring a huge pile of crayons that I did not allow my children to dump onto the table this morning. Like Sara, I always finish my chores before using the computer.

In the Wink of an Eye

Grandparents Day was Friday at CCS; Michael's mom and Grandma came for the morning at school. Grandma Jane was in Chase's classroom, and his teacher gave her a real place of honor—the rocking chair in the front of the room—when she discovered Jane was Chase's great-grandma. As Grandma Jane took the seat, Chase winked at her. She wasn't quite sure if he actually winked, so Jane winked back. And he winked again. Such a proud grandson!

Evening Concert

Last night we had a puppet show and a concert.
Here is what my cell phone captured.
"Good morning, God.
This is your day.
I am your child.
Show me your way."