unexpected promises

I just got a package!

Now

if I were like my friend Sandy

I would have waited till this evening to open it

but alas

I am not.

I am

me.

So I quickly grabbed my trusty Leatherman pocketknife

and opened the box.

I thought maybe it was going to to be a nutcracker;

the size was about right.

But it was way better than a nutcracker

(especially for nasty black walnuts!)

and if I would've waited till I was all alone to open it,

I would have missed Lily's delighted squeal

at seeing

the

chocolate!

~

Thanks, Mom!

I love you

~

um....

I shared before I saw the note;

sorry.

And to be perfectly honest,

now that they all know I have candy

I'll probably share again.

That's just what moms do.

not quite music

Tyler was 'singing'.

Rather annoyingly, in my opinion.

Of course, to be perfectly fair, it has been a long day

and my nerves and ears were shot hours ago...

I told him he was catterwallerin'.

He disagreeed

and continued his noise.

Lily came in the room

took one concerned look at Papa

and asked,

"You okay?"

they say clothes make the man

Whaddya think??

things are going to change around here

It has been a l o n g day!

Tomorrow will be even longer.
Crackdown!
To be entirely honest,
it should have come months ago
but the whole thing is just overwhelming to me.
1 kid at a time
would be okay.
But both of these little guys???
And their ever-so-observant sister??
(and the big guys aren’t entirely flawless, either….)
Meanwhile
ever so subtly
things grew worse and worse.
Not quite instant obedience.
A few too many questions.
Not outright disrespect
but
disrespect nonetheless.
Lack of discipline.
(on my part just as much, if not more, than theirs. Sigh)
Too much crying and ridiculous carrying on.
Anger.
~
I’ve been trying the mercy route.
It ain’t workin’.
Somehow
even though I was careful to express that I was showing mercy
- lest they think I was just a weenie letting things slide -
(although, again, being perfectly honest, sometimes I was)
they mistook my mercy for _________
Well, I’m not sure what exactly they mistook it for…..
Suffice it to say
There has been a lack of peace & joy in our home
and frankly
I can’t take it any longer.
So

here we are
in boot camp.
Or maybe we should call it
Booty Camp
‘cause I know 2 little guys

who are gonna have real sore ones.
~
Ya’ll pray for us!

was that fun?

"yeah"

"Do you want to do it again?"

"No!"

Not so with Josiah!
"Was that fun?"
"That was much fun!"

a tip - what not to do in church

The pregnant woman sitting in front of you

probably will not appreciate

you kicking her chair

-however gently-

throughout the service.

~

I'm just guessing.

exercise buddy

my exercisin' buddy!

I have to wait till Lily is done eating her breakfast to do my T-tapp

'cause she will decide she's finished

before she's finished

so she can exercise with Momma

I do love that girl!

but...

Lily had a messy diaper not long after waking up this morning.
So I took her in the bedroom to change it.
As we walked through the doorway
she said, "I not tired!"

initiative

One of the things I desire

is for my children to show initiative.

To see a need and fill it

without being asked.

It seems that girls are a bit better at this than boys.

But

maybe not.

Jeremiah has gotten fairly good at showing initiative.

He is often the one to realize we have no water at dinner-time

and will go get it.

I used to worry that he was getting it straight from the faucet

without using the filter;

but, no, he even uses the filter!

Just a moment ago

I was folding laundry and the timer went off.

It wasn't a big deal;

nothing was going to burn in the oven,

so I just ignored it.

It went off again.

Josiah told me, "Timer, Mom"

and I assured him it'd be okay if I got it in a sec

it was just to remind me to check the bread

to see if I needed to turn the oven on yet.

I told him I would finish folding the laundry, then get it.

And that sweet little 3 year old boy said,

"How about I finish folding the laundry for you

so you can get it now?"

~

Honey - that would explain why

it looks like I just wadded up your skivvies.....

houses, houses, houses, houses

We didn’t count as we were going along,
but we calculated today
that we looked at
between 25 and 30 houses yesterday.
We weren’t looking to buy, of course,
just looking for ideas.
~
For years
Tyler and I have enjoyed drawing up house plans.
I’ll think I have come up with the perfect house
and he’ll find some reason why it isn’t.
and vise verse.
Although
to be perfectly honest
I’m a little quicker to point out all that’s wrong with his plans

than he is with mine.
That’s sort of how we are in life, too.
I’m working on that…..
Then
we bought this land
and the whole house-plan drawing thing
became more challenging.
Now, we have to suit the house to our land.
And
we not only have to fit in everything we want in a forever house
in as few sq ft as is reasonable,
we have to have it on the ‘right’ side of the house, too!
Kitchen on the east
so the sun can help quickly thaw the bread
I forgot to get out the night before.
Then again
I’d also like the sink widow facing the north
‘cause that’d be the best view…..
~
It’s been several months since we’d done any plan-drawing.
Busy with weddings, funerals, and babies
you know.
But now that we are finally beginning to accumulate a bit of cash
in our house fund
we decided to get back at it.
The Parade of Homes was this weekend
so it was the perfect opportunity
to see
in person, not just on paper or the computer screen,
what we like.
~
Didn’t find a thing!
Oh, sure, there were a few small touches that we liked and might implement
but nothing big.
No
Living room, Dining room, Kitchen set-up
that was just
'wow - this is exactly what I want…..'
Actually, I really liked the layout of the last house we went to
but
I can’t get it to work with the garage on the west side……
~
We talked to one gal for awhile;
told her why we were looking, what we were looking for
and that we really hadn’t seen it.
She said, “Well, these houses are for the typical American family.
It would seem to me that you all are not the typical American family.”

Who told?!
~
Back to the drawing board.

~

p.s.

The kids really enjoyed looking for

'things that grabbed them' about the houses.

After we'd been at one house for a few minutes,

Jeremiah came and got me,

"Mom, there's a lot of things that grab me in the master bedroom.

You gotta come see!"

I quickly went to see what architectural treasure he'd found.

"This grabs me, and this grabs me,

and I really like this, too!"

~

The house happened to be furnished;

he was pointing to the bed, nightstand, and curtains.

You may have already known this

I did not.

Today

is,

in addition to being Kiss & Huggin' Day,

Flower Pickin' Day!

Which may explain why Lily

was so insistent

on wearing flowers on her clothes today.

I love you, Jeremiah!

Thanks for likin' things special.

bedtime battles

Last night
when Josiah came walking into the dining room at 10:30
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I buried my head in my arms;
tears burned my eyes
and threatened to spill out.

~
The boy has always been a champion sleep fighter.
If he could get paid for this ‘skill’
he’d be one rich little boy!

~
I told the boys when they went to bed
- I had them repeat it, so I knew we were clear -
Do not get out of bed
for any reason.
If you get up, you will be spanked.
We went through all the scenarios…..
45 minutes later
Josiah got up
(I forget now, why)
He got a good spanking
along with a reminder.
He stayed in bed till 10:30
and he just couldn’t stand it anymore.

~
I did not want to spank that boy!
Why did he have to get out of bed??
As I sat there with my head in my arms
I thought, “Oh God, I am so sorry!
How many times
have I caused You to want to shut your eyes
and pretend that, no, I did not just do that?”
I did not want to spank that boy!
How He must have hated punishing the Israelites
time and time again!
Tyler began singing
ever so softly
about God’s grace.
I gave him (Josiah, not Tyler) a ridiculously soft swat
and picked up that scrappy little boy and held him tight.
Then we all went to bed together
and he fell asleep holding my hand.
Which is all he really wanted (needed?) in the first place.
~
I wonder so often
When its all said and done
does it really matter??
Do I have to be right?
Does my word have to be law?
Will I ruin them forever
as Mr. Pearl suggests
if I do not ‘win every battle’?
If I did win every battle - would that amount to anything?
The bottom line is -
I want my children to obey
me, first - ultimately God
because they want to. They choose to.
Not because they fear the punishment,
but because they love me (and God)
and desire to please me (and God)
~
Lord, please, grant me wisdom.
James 1:5

bits n pieces

This morning

Josiah was reading Go Dogs Go.

He excitedly ran through the house exclaiming

"I learned to read! I was reading Go Dogs Go all by myself!"

We all congratulated him

and Jeremiah followed him into the playroom to listen

while he repeated those familiar words.

Jeremiah was so proud of his bub's new 'skill'.

"You are reading!

Oh, Josiah I love you!"

~

Thanks to just a couple minutes instruction from her brother-in-law

Lily now knows her hands and her elbows

and she has delighted in telling me about them all day long.

Such a smart little girl!

~

That smart little girl has also been a bit (and I'm being kind!)

of a stinker this week!

I told her I expect a new tooth soon

~

I heard a new song on the radio the other day

and it has stuck with me.

I think I'll make it my prayer for my 41st year.

Lord

empty me

of me

so I can be filled with You.