I was rocking Ava to sleep tonight, and I asked myself a random question.
"Describe each of your kids in one word."
So, here goes. I'm sure you won't be as interested in this as I will be in 5 years when I read it again. But I've gotta write it somewhere. =)
Ethan: Energetic!
Kylie: Flamboyant!
Julia: Sensitive
Ava: Content
Ok, now I have to write a little more than one word. You really think I could manage to stop that quickly?
Ethan: Energetic! He goes all the time! The exausting part is he wants me to go with him.
"Mommy, can we play a game?"
"Mommy, can we go for a bike ride?"
"Mommy, can we go to the library today?"
"Mommy, can we read a book?"
"Mommy, can we go to the park?"
"Mommy, can we listen to Odyssey?"
He wiggles, karate chops, kicks his feet, wrestles, jumps, climbs, shoots, and sword-fights CONSTANTLY!
I need to hire an energetic highschool boy just to entertain Ethan. Anyone know a bored kid who'd love to get paid in homemade chocolate chip cookies?
Kylie: Flamboyant! If Kylie was a flower, she'd be one of those great big, hot pink, tropical ones. She throws herself into every moment, enjoying it completely. She dances and twirls her way through life and makes sure that everyone notices her. She actually keeps up with Ethan most of the time. As girly as she is, she fights dragons and monsters right alongside him.
Julia: Sensitive. Julia's my cuddler. She'll walk up and give me a big hug and kiss and say, "I need you to cuddle me, mommy." She always notices when someone is hurting. All her owies are a BIG deal. She also screams - ALOT. Every time anyone so much as looks at her cross-eyed, she screams for all she's worth. She gets upset often because no one could possibly treat her sensitively enough not to hurt her feelings. I have NO idea where she got that from..... =)
Ava: Content. Ava's happy anywhere. She plays and watches and makes very little noise - at least not that can be heard above the din of the other three. =) She waits to eat until I have time to feed her, content to suck her binky. She falls asleep in her crib by herself. She SMILES all the time. Three things she really dislikes: anything but a dry diaper, being left in a room by herself, and baby food.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
"He cares for you."
I was reading 1Peter 5 this morning, and something clicked in my brain that had never connected before.
Here's 1Peter 5:5b-7.
I paid too much attention to the verse breaks every other time I read these verses. So in my mind I thought, "Ok, I should be humble. And I should bring my anxiety to God and leave it there." Two separate actions.
But this time, God showed me something. Anxiety is a direct result of pride. When I'm anxious it's because I want my life to go the way I have planned. I'm worried about how to work my life out the way I want it. I think it's my job to figure out how to make things work out for my good.
I.
Me.
My.
Pride just pours out of all these statements. I exalt myself to a position I have no right to hold when I think I get to pick how my life goes. When I worry, it's just a manifestation of me holding on to my life much too tightly.
So I always knew I had a tendancy to be an anxious person, but I'll have to add prideful to the list now. So now I can be anxious about the fact that I'm a prideful person.... =)
Maybe what I really need is verse 7, "casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."
Thank you Jesus for taking my anxiety when I am willing to pry my fingers off of it. And thank you for caring for me, a sinner in desperate need of Your grace!
Here's 1Peter 5:5b-7.
"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."
I paid too much attention to the verse breaks every other time I read these verses. So in my mind I thought, "Ok, I should be humble. And I should bring my anxiety to God and leave it there." Two separate actions.
But this time, God showed me something. Anxiety is a direct result of pride. When I'm anxious it's because I want my life to go the way I have planned. I'm worried about how to work my life out the way I want it. I think it's my job to figure out how to make things work out for my good.
I.
Me.
My.
Pride just pours out of all these statements. I exalt myself to a position I have no right to hold when I think I get to pick how my life goes. When I worry, it's just a manifestation of me holding on to my life much too tightly.
So I always knew I had a tendancy to be an anxious person, but I'll have to add prideful to the list now. So now I can be anxious about the fact that I'm a prideful person.... =)
Maybe what I really need is verse 7, "casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."
Thank you Jesus for taking my anxiety when I am willing to pry my fingers off of it. And thank you for caring for me, a sinner in desperate need of Your grace!
Friday, May 14, 2010
My little wormie baby
Ok, first off, I should tell you that you have to sing that title to a certain song which I have in my head but cannot for the life of me remember what it's called. It just doesn't sound right if you read it, though, so make one up. =)
Now. Check this out.
In case you didn't get that, here's a better angle.
Yes, that would be my GIRLS with worms. Not gummy worms. Earthworms. And yes, they're on a plate - which I will never use for food again.
Kylie loves earthworms. She calls them her babies. She fills up her purse with dirt and worms and carries them around. In this picture she was trying to feed them. She is very sure they eat leaves (or in this case, maple tree helicopters) like caterpillars. Eating dirt is gross, she says.
(And carrying around earthworms and dirt in your purse isn't?!?!?)
She has converted Julia into a worm-loving girl, too, as you can see.
I was a scaredy cat when I was little. Ask Rob or Becca. But I tolerated earth worms and daddy-long legs. Sometimes if I was feeling particularly brave I let them crawl on me. But NEVER, EVER did I carry them in my purse or try to feed them. I did not cuddle them next to my face either. I'm very sure.
What kind of girls am I raising?
I have made one solid rule. Wormie babies do not belong in mommy's house!! =)
Now. Check this out.
In case you didn't get that, here's a better angle.
Yes, that would be my GIRLS with worms. Not gummy worms. Earthworms. And yes, they're on a plate - which I will never use for food again.
Kylie loves earthworms. She calls them her babies. She fills up her purse with dirt and worms and carries them around. In this picture she was trying to feed them. She is very sure they eat leaves (or in this case, maple tree helicopters) like caterpillars. Eating dirt is gross, she says.
(And carrying around earthworms and dirt in your purse isn't?!?!?)
She has converted Julia into a worm-loving girl, too, as you can see.
I was a scaredy cat when I was little. Ask Rob or Becca. But I tolerated earth worms and daddy-long legs. Sometimes if I was feeling particularly brave I let them crawl on me. But NEVER, EVER did I carry them in my purse or try to feed them. I did not cuddle them next to my face either. I'm very sure.
What kind of girls am I raising?
I have made one solid rule. Wormie babies do not belong in mommy's house!! =)
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Lessons learned in the fabric department....
A few weeks ago Tam (my mother-in-law) and I took all four kids to Hobby Lobby. I know. We're a little crazy, but we were feeling brave. We'd been waiting to pick material for Tam to make the girls quilts FOREVER. More specifically, we'd been waiting for someone to be able to watch the kids so we could go on our own.
We gave up.
So there we were in the Hobby Lobby fabric department with two carts and four energetic children. I wish you could've seen it.
"Oh Mimi! I LOVE this one!" Kylie raved over every inch of pink material she could find. Of course, just looking wasn't enough. She yanked fabric off and tried to unwrap it and drape it around her body to see if it would twirl.
And Julia pulled the pokies (pins) out of fabric at every opportunity, as if on a mission to save the fabric from being injured.
On top of that, indecisive me pulled practically every bolt of fabric off the shelves, rearranging them to see which ones would go together the best.
After 10 minutes of this, we had DESTROYED the fabric section. Fabric was piled in lopsided stacks everywhere as I contemplated and rearranged them once again.
The poor woman who worked in the fabric section looked at us in dismay which quickly turned to annoyance. She was a rather gruff looking older woman, and I could just see the thoughts swirling in her mind.
"Why can't that woman teach her kids to keep their hands off my material?"
"And why can't she put just one bolt back where it belongs?" (In my defense, I was trying to do this, but hopelessly failing, I'm sure.)
In my head she became a crabby old woman who would gripe at her co-workers for weeks about my poor treatment of her meticulously maintained fabric department. My goal was to decide exactly what I wanted, put everything back as best I could, and RUN out of the section before she lost it and yelled at me.
I FINALLY picked what I wanted, and we went to get it cut. And Tam took over. In two minutes, she had that "crabby old lady" smiling and chatting. She told the woman she liked her shirt and asked if she'd made it herself. When the woman said yes, Tam told her what a failure her last shirt-making effort had been. Suddenly, the woman was smiling! Laughing! Talking to my "annoying" kids! I stood back with my mouth hanging open.
"Wow! She is good!" I thought.
You see, Tam took the time to see how the woman was feeling and challenged herself to help her feel better. She wanted to make her smile and talk. She wanted to be friends.
I wanted to run before she killed me.
I wish I was more like Tam. I wish I saw the hurting people of the world and tried to help them instead of avoiding them or stereotyping them in my head.
Something to work on...
We gave up.
So there we were in the Hobby Lobby fabric department with two carts and four energetic children. I wish you could've seen it.
"Oh Mimi! I LOVE this one!" Kylie raved over every inch of pink material she could find. Of course, just looking wasn't enough. She yanked fabric off and tried to unwrap it and drape it around her body to see if it would twirl.
And Julia pulled the pokies (pins) out of fabric at every opportunity, as if on a mission to save the fabric from being injured.
On top of that, indecisive me pulled practically every bolt of fabric off the shelves, rearranging them to see which ones would go together the best.
After 10 minutes of this, we had DESTROYED the fabric section. Fabric was piled in lopsided stacks everywhere as I contemplated and rearranged them once again.
The poor woman who worked in the fabric section looked at us in dismay which quickly turned to annoyance. She was a rather gruff looking older woman, and I could just see the thoughts swirling in her mind.
"Why can't that woman teach her kids to keep their hands off my material?"
"And why can't she put just one bolt back where it belongs?" (In my defense, I was trying to do this, but hopelessly failing, I'm sure.)
In my head she became a crabby old woman who would gripe at her co-workers for weeks about my poor treatment of her meticulously maintained fabric department. My goal was to decide exactly what I wanted, put everything back as best I could, and RUN out of the section before she lost it and yelled at me.
I FINALLY picked what I wanted, and we went to get it cut. And Tam took over. In two minutes, she had that "crabby old lady" smiling and chatting. She told the woman she liked her shirt and asked if she'd made it herself. When the woman said yes, Tam told her what a failure her last shirt-making effort had been. Suddenly, the woman was smiling! Laughing! Talking to my "annoying" kids! I stood back with my mouth hanging open.
"Wow! She is good!" I thought.
You see, Tam took the time to see how the woman was feeling and challenged herself to help her feel better. She wanted to make her smile and talk. She wanted to be friends.
I wanted to run before she killed me.
I wish I was more like Tam. I wish I saw the hurting people of the world and tried to help them instead of avoiding them or stereotyping them in my head.
Something to work on...
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