It’s fun to just do the normal with you all.
It never has to be anything extraordinary.
It could just be a pile of planks.
On a regular school day, even.
Together with you all is just plain fun.
-Love you, girlies.
Building Together
We Couldn’t Help It
In agreement with your Daddy, sometimes we do dress you up like you’re a toy.
BUT we promise we’ll restrain ourselves… many times.
This is not one such time.
In fact, Rachael and I have been planning this for months. We designed and printed your outfit, went to the market and found the hat material (your ears are a bath mat and your hat a sheet). And then we sewed it all together, creating a pattern based on mashing together a couple of tutorials online (with Abi’s design eye help). We even intentionally made it big so we could dress you in it for many months. So technically we conspired against you before you were even born.
But thankfully you don’t appear to mind. 😉
Back to Normal…. or Something Similar
Things slowly slipped into normal again after my parents returned to the States. We had a minute to visit with our teammates in the capital before returning to our quiet city. Our church celebrated children’s day the day after we returning to our city, so the girls enjoyed the celebration of children complete with a kids message, games and much yummy food options. We all came home full, happy and exhausted.
We tried to settle into a semblance of normal the following week. Homeschool was back in full swing and the kids flourished, as usual, frolicking in the backyard between school subjects. The house started to look clean again -ha!- and we celebrated the launching of the first worship service in Chopi-land (that one deserves it’s own blog post, for sure!).
Three weeks, we have had three ‘normal’ weeks in all before the schedule takes off again. We had our moments of getting used to the dynamics of 6 little ladies, instead of our usual four, after coming off of a few weeks separated. It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how long or how short we are apart from each other, each kid adjusts back to each other differently. Having said that, I think our crew is getting more used to the ebb and flow of schooling together being interrupted by various trips and trainings between our two households. It’s nice to see the adjustment time shortening as it becomes old hat to be together again.
We are THRILLED to welcome our friends from South Africa to the mix for this last week of June. Simultaneously, Matt and I are taking on “Godparent” type rolls in a wedding (you know, cause we’re addicted to crazy) and preparing for a journey that I will write about later. The wedding business is another cultural learning curve, but we are thankful to get the opportunity to celebrate the example of a Biblical marriage between two dear church members.
So while our “normal season” coming back after the time with my parents has not really felt too calm or normal many times, we’re thankful, once again, for the wonderful crazy goodness of living and serving here in Mozambique.
Sailed the Ocean Blue
We’re learning about U. S. History this homeschooling year. And we have begun our travels with the first voyage to the New World on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The girls have been enjoying stories, videos, pictures and illustrations about Columbus’ discovery of the Americas (really Central America).
(The send-off.)
Then there were some rough waters on the open sea…
(Stir, ladies, stir!!!)
They may have been bruised and battered (while in real life one didn’t make it but I didn’t have the heart to crush one of their boats to make that point right then. Hehe), they arrived in the New World.
Beyond Disney World
I read an article this morning during the routine 6am nursing session. The author spoke of casting off the pressures that pinterest, blogs and facebook posts put on being the over-the-top parent to your children. The need to have the most creative, perfect vacation or birthday party or day of homeschool for that matter is ridiculous. It becomes about our status and quite honestly, our pride.
But I found it sad that the author failed to remember times when her parents played with her and her siblings. I get that family dynamics require parents to work from home at times. I get that family dynamics sometimes require both parents to work. I get that the house doesn’t clean itself and dinner doesn’t cook itself. But I still remember my “picking up an extra shift” Daddy staging pillow fights with us. I still remember my “returning to school to get a better job” Mommy baking cookies with us, even inviting in the neighbor kids to share in the flour mixing. Sure there was a the balance of my sister and I walking home from school together and coming to a quiet house where enjoy a premade snack of carrot sticks from the fridge or celery with peanut butter that Mom made before she went to work. And then we’d proceed to entertain ourselves for an hour or so until Mom got off work.
It was a balance. We still went to the children’s museum, climbing the rock climbing wall alongside of Daddy and racing Mom in the timed sprint display. And I remember self-entertaining on Summer days or during Mom’s study sessions.
I strive to be a parent of equal balance. Yes, I expect my little girls to play independently at times. Their imaginative delight should not be tied to me entertaining them. But I miss so much if I don’t don a princess crown regularly, or instigate a pool noodle sword fight. I miss too much if I don’t wrestle them in a game of tickle fight until our sides ache from laughter at our floor frizzed hair. I miss far too much if I don’t use the curb as a balance beam or dance unashamedly to a Disney song with a twirling ribbon.
What do I miss? I miss expressing my value in doing life with them. That their hearts matter. Right where they are. In whatever little imaginative phase they choose to live in in that moment.
I’m not saying this author’s Mom didn’t love her. HA! Not saying that at all. I’m just saying that in the swing back from our culture’s need to make Motherhood about a Mother’s status and pride, don’t forget to dabble in your children’s play regularly. No don’t buy their love with vacations and regular showerings of toys until they have so much stuff that you can’t even play with it all. Materialism creeps in so quickly.
But don’t miss out on the opportunity to just sit and read together and play together. Because just like I tell my little ladies, “we’re the only family we’ve got. So let’s do life together.”
At the end of the day, I want more than the title of Mother, Provider or Caregiver. And it has nothing to do with me. I want to leave a legacy in their hearts that we walked through their childhood together because their worlds mattered so deeply to me that it was worth the sacrifice to make them my dreams.
I wouldn’t have it any other way. They are such a blessing.
Dough Day
The baking day was a success. We made two different variations of a cool-whip cookies, strawberry bread and granola from scratch. We invited over a dear friend, Heather, and her toddler son to join in our day. The kids enjoyed stirring and pouring and making a royal mess with complete delight. How else are they going to learn? And who can judge them? I’m a messy cook too.
In the naptime quiet, I baked some strawberry breads and made some more cookie batters. Then Heather returned, exchanging her toddler son for her teenaged daughter, to finish up our work. We froze the cookie dough in individual family servings (which for us is 6 cookies) between parchment paper and wax paper so that come cookie baking time we could simply peal the wax paper off and throw the parchment paper and cookies onto a tray for quick baking.
We also froze away some pumpkin bread batters for another winter day treat.
In all it was a fun baking morning/afternoon where everyone could help at their initiative and talk/play with friends. Definitely a repeat kind of day!