When I grow up...

We have a friend that when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he said he "wanted to be a fire truck".  He didn't want to be a fireman, but a fire truck!  

I think he and Micaiah just might be cut from the same cloth.  When I asked him this afternoon what he wants to be when he grows up he replied "I wanna be a dinosaur fossil!"  Dream big Little Man, dream big!

20 Things Not To Put On Your To Do List.

1.  Allow children to play in the mud filled sand box just before starting dinner.


2.  Decide to bathe youngest son along with his brother.


3.  While getting your son ready for a bath - get sprayed. {Not with water}


4.  Make sure he hits, not only you, but his clean clothes and the bath mat.

5.  While cleaning yourself up, leave said son alone {rookie mistake}, and allow him to cram his bath  

      towel into the toilet. {That has not been flushed for some reason}


6.  Refrain from crying.


7.  Finally get son into the bathtub, only to get distracted looking for the soap, and get doused with a 

     large cupful of water.


8.  Dry self off...again.


9.  Break up water fight between sons.


10.  Get everyone ready for dinner {this one is just fine to leave on your to do list, but I don't recommend  

       what's next.}


11.  Turn on oven to broil chicken for dinner, forgetting to remove blanket {daughter's favorite} 

       wrapped around yogurt jars.


12.  Start fire in oven.


13.  Breathe in toxic fumes and nearly throw-up.


14.  Rush 3 crying & panicked children out of the room while simultaneously trying to put out the 

       fire.


15.  Calm everyone down, put out fire, stay positive, open the windows, THANK THE LORD, and 

        take pictures of scorched blanket!

16.  Apologize profusely to daughter.


17.  Realize once again you left youngest son unattended.

18.  Clean up spilled water and soggy artwork.


19.  Wait until husband come home then dissolve into a puddle of tears.


20.  Thank the Lord for a washing machine that works, clean clothes to change into, a small fire that   

       could have been much worse, yogurt that still turned out just fine, a very busy little boy that keeps us 

       laughing, and a loving husband that comes home every night to this madness!

You know what they say...

"Boys WILL be boys!"

When I was pregnant with each of my kids.  I was asked numerous questions about our family and the new baby on the way.  Inevitably they would ask "Do you know what you are having?"  If I was in an amicable mood I would disclose the sex to whomever was asking.   If not, my general response was "Well I hope it's a baby, because we are quite unprepared for a monkey/puppy/elephant, whatever happened to pop out my mouth in the moment. - {I was a pretty cranky pregnant Momma}.

After my girls were born and I was pregnant with Micaiah,  I would tell the asking party that we were expecting a boy - our first!  Then they would generally raise their eyebrows and give me a knowing, sympathetic look, saying something like "Sweety, you have NO idea what you are getting yourself into!" or "Wow, now you are really going to have your hands full!"  Now if any of you have met my second daughter, especially when she was younger, the mere thought that my hands could be any fuller was almost laughable to me.  She was a bug eating, mud loving, tempestuous little handful when she was little.  I thought, "Really?  How different could boys be?"  QUITE!

Though I don't know that my hands are any "fuller" with my boys, the boys are most definitely...different!  The things they think up and then do are so bizarre to me that I sometimes wonder if I did give birth to monkey or an elephant.  Boys don't have to be taught to be male, they just are.  With the girls we have attitude issues, or not clearly thinking things through before they do them.  With the boys we have issues with spitting down laundry chutes and clearly not thinking at all.  But what I overheard yesterday morning takes the cake!  {Those of you with older boys feel free to give me that knowing smirk - I deserve it!}

Greg {Knowing what had already transpired}:  Hey Micaiah, what did you do with the octopus this morning?

Micaiah:  I went potty in it!

Greg:  Um...why did you do that?

Micaiah {with pride}:  Because it is soooo amazing!  I can make my potty come out ALL of his legs!

Greg:  Micaiah you can't potty on our things, there are a lot of germs in potty.

Micaiah:  Yeah, I know, but it WAS so cool!!!

I thank the Lord, that He has given me the opportunity to raise both girls and boys for His glory.  I may not always make the most perfect parenting choices, always discipline consistently, or keep my cool 100% of the time.  But I will leave this life with a deeper understanding of my Father's love for us and knowing that His grace is all sufficient.  I will also be laughing the whole way there, because if I don't laugh - I will cry!

Everyone Else is Doing It.

Jimmy: But dad, all my friends are gonna be there!, 

Hugh: I know, son, but if all your friends were named Cliff, would you jump off them? I don't think you would.

— Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

Yesterday I had a very short, but very life altering conversation with my Dad.  It was one of those conversations that I hope will have a long lasting effect on my life. As is usual, we were interrupted several times by my children, so I don't remember the entire conversation. But one line in particular has been gerbiling around in my mind ever since.  He said, "Even if everyone does it, that is not an excuse for me to do it, it simply means that everyone needs to change."  Ouch!  How often I use this excuse, and now my pitiful excuse, for justifying my actions, has just crumbled before my very eyes.   

I started to think of all the ways that I just do what everyone else does.  I don't question it,  I don't think about it, and I certainly don't pray about it?  I assume that if my other Christian friends* are doing it, then it must be fine.  Well it's not fine, or if it is fine, it's not good.  And it most cases it's not even close to the best.    We all need to change.  

1 John 2:15-16 puts it this way - Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.  

And again Romans 12:2 tells us "Do not to be conformed to this world,"  

There isn't much to argue there.  We aren't to look like, speak like, or act like the world.  I know it's hard to be the odd ball out, and it's easy to think what we are doing, or not doing, isn't that bad.  But the world doesn't need more of itself, it needs Christ!!  And if that isn't who people see in my life, then I've conformed.  

So once again I started asking some questions.

Why do I spend my time the way that I do?

Why do I wear what I wear?

Why do I read what I read?

Why do I watch what I watch?

Why do I listen to what I listen to?

How do I talk to people?

How to I talk about people when they are not around?

How do I make the choices that I make?

Why do I live where I live, and drive what I drive?

Why do I give what I give?

Why do I eat what I eat?

Is it to glorify the Lord, or is it that everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?  I encourage you yourself these questions, or make a list of your own.  And if you decide you need to change as well, let me know, because I'd love to pray for you and will be needing some accountability.

*I had no actual "Christian friends" in mind when writing this.  Don't worry I'm not keeping track of where anyone else needs to change.  I'm way too busy with my own short comings.

...And I will wait

Do you ever have a season in life, where all it seems you can do is put out the fires?  From morning until evening fixing one fiasco after another.  I'm here.

I want to vacuum the floor - It will have to wait.

I want to finish our budget - It will have to wait.

I want to finish a food order - It will have to wait.

I want the kids to stop shrieking - It will have to wait.

I REALLY want to take a shower - It will have to wait.

I want to write a real post - It will have to wait.

I want to finish my sewing projects - It will have to wait.

I want to call a friend and have an adult conversation - It will have to wait.

I want to fold the 7 loads of laundry waiting for me in the laundry room - It will have to wait.

I want to give undivided attention to each of my children - It will have to wait.

I want respond to my e-mail - It will have to wait.

I want to make a list of everything I need to do, and do it efficiently - It will have to wait.

Because right now with everything piling up around me, the only thing I can afford to do is push everything else aside and spend some "face" (where I am on my face) time with the Lord - and in the "stillness" (whatever that is) I will wait on Him alone.

Habakkuk 2:1  I will stand on my guard post
                        And station myself on the rampart;
                        And I will keep watch to see what 
                        He will speak to me,
                        And how I may reply when I am 
                        reproved.