Category: that’s just life

A Dream

I had a dream last night, really it was this morning. And it left me woken earlier than usual. Many times pregnancy dreams are so crazy and so random. But this one stayed on the emotional side and less on the “Alice in Wonderland” type weirdness.

This one was about me returning to a high school reunion. Ironically those who returned were signing up for a weekend camp-like experience where we were to “get in touch with each other and ourselves.” This concept entertains me when taken into a secular cause like it was in my dream as if “getting to know ourselves better” (much selfishness) should be the focus of our world. It’s helpful to know those areas that you are prone to weakness for sure, but not that you would correct them or be able to make your own status strong, but that when you surrender yourself to Jesus you would especially rely on Him to guide you through those areas.

So in my dream we all sat in an old library. I looked around and saw a mixture of faces that I honestly haven’t thought about or remembered since high school and some that I have recently heard about via facebook. It was funny to feel the dynamics of high school again – the “who’s popular” and the “who’s labeled what in what crowds”. Petty… unrealistic… and surreal look at how society works in “the real world.” And it was funny, much how you slip into fulfilling a role in your family when you all get together, I felt myself feeling once again like a stranger in my own “hometown” like I did in high school.

I think, ironically, many of us felt like strangers and aliens and wallflowers in that awkward phase of adolescence. We could have played the “to be liked” card or the “fake confidence in myself” card or the “mostly assured in myself” card. But it’s funny to look back on how much of me grew so much deeper and more assured in my faith post high school. So much so that as I stood up to introduce myself, after all the popular people were asked first (recess team picking in more advanced terms), in my dream, I hardly knew where to start.

In our introductions we were asked to say a few things about ourselves and then pick a theme song for our lives. Only the popular people in the room were told in advance how the schedule would go so they were prepared. The first song that popped into my head was “In Christ Alone”

It was the only song that made most sense to me then and now at how to describe the overall theme of my life. Glad my subconscious didn’t pick some crazy disco tune or something. hehe. You never know what happens in dreams sometimes.

Then after announcing my theme song I was overwhelmed with how I could possibly explain who I was. A pastor’s wife… a lover of my Matt – my best friend… a Mom of two wonderful children, Rachael and Abi, and one on the way… blessed beyond measure… striving after Christ to apply the Word and live it daily (sometimes better than other times due to still needing much work, but pushing forward toward His prize)…. a homeschooling Mom who believes education begins with Jesus… a cloth diapering fool because I will go to no limits in serving my family the best I can give – even when it’s hard work sometimes… a boaster in Jesus… a broken vessel poured out on the mission field, whether it’s in my backyard or across the oceans… lost and found in Jesus….

How can I possibly summarize who I am and how I have changed from the self-centered, immature but well-meaning Christianity I displayed to you all in high school? It’s like the blinders have come off… the scales have fallen from my eyes and my heart has broken so in the compassion of our Father for the truly lost, dying and piteous world that so desperately needs laborers for the harvest.

And it’s my hearts cry, whether it be here or there or anywhere, to yell from the pit of my toes, laying it all out, “Here am I!!!! Pick me, Lord!!!” as He rallies His troops to send them in Christ’s Name. Oh that He counts me worthy… me?!… is beyond anything I can possibly express to you all…

And then I woke up.

– Grateful for the reminder.

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Goodbye, Beloved

This morning marked a huge step out of babyhood for my dearest Abi Grace. This morning after breakfast (don’t mind our wild night time hair), we said goodbye to our beloved friend, Paci. We rounded up all the paci’s in and around Abi’s bed (the last remaining ones in the house since we weaned her back months ago from daytime paci use).

Rachael talked all about how big people don’t use pacifiers and proceeded to list off a list of all the people we know that don’t use pacifiers while we gathered up the friends.

Then we put them in a bag, Abi having a last suck of “the favorite” one.

And we paraded off to the closet where we stored them away. We purposefully put them into a closet that they are not stored in so we can recheck the closet in the moment of her distress and see that the paci’s are truly gone. (I already pocketed them and moved them while no one was looking). During their nap time today, I’ll take them down and thoroughly clean them before returning them to storage.

And while this morning she was smiling and saying “Bye, bye Paci. All gone Paci,”

I know that nap time and night time will come with grieving. So today we are putting on our sackcloth and ashes in memory of the dear friends and we will be grieving and providing many condolences throughout this process. Paci has been an emotional and trusted friend since Abi was only a week or so old. And today, at 21 months we have said our goodbyes.

After much thought I figured paci would be the best one to go first in the months of transition that lye ahead for dear Abi. Since Avocado will be joining us a few months post-Abi’s two year old birthday, getting rid of the pacifier, changing to the big bed and potty training possibilities are all around that time frame. Since I know there will be much transition in adding another burrito to our mix, starting a transition slightly early will allow for a more natural transition that is not fueled by the new baby. Due to how Abi grieves, saying goodbye to paci while still contained in her crib is a better strategic move than unleashing the wild in a run-around-the-room-availability bed. At this rate Abi will be long past paci (3 months) before moving to the “big girl” bed at 2 years old. Then we’ll see how potty training fits into the mix as is dictated by Abi’s desire and readiness. I’m in no push to move her from diapers until she is ready, but paci, on the other hand, is only serving an emotional purpose (no longer fulfilling the physical teething need) and that emotional attachment will only get stronger with time. Thus, paci has “moved out” and we will grieve his departing until the new normal kicks in. 

And yes, all you Moms out there, cry with me because my baby’s growing up. 😉

Well done, Abi baby, you are and will brave this adventure well. We’re here for you, Abi, in this transition.  And we’ll all be sure to nap together after the first potentially rough night. 😉

– Hopeful and Proud.

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Adjusted Worldview

This morning a thought hit me. I was sitting in a half-filled bathtub to allow for Matt also to have hot water for his shower when he awoke. This alone is not blog-worthy, but the thoughts that God impressed upon my heart are blog-worthy.

It was in that moment that I realized most of the world doesn’t take a hot bath in the mornings or have the luxury of a shower. Here I was silently cursing our less-productive hot-water heater and suddenly I felt very grateful for it. Many people bathe in ponds, lakes, rivers or lukewarm tubs/buckets of “family bath” reused water.

I thought about our semi-useless dishwasher as a glorified two-level drying wrack with new eyes. Suddenly I felt over-blessed to have dishes to hand wash and put away when so many eat from one community bowl with their hands.

Check out this book at your local library (once I return it) for more literal pictures: “Material World – a global family portrait” by Peter Menzel. It certainly will open your eyes to the reality outside of our country. 

 

This is not a blog to make you feel guilty or call us to flee our houses and live outside in our sheds to be more like the reality of the countries outside of the United States. But i have found that the more I look outside of the U.S. and the more I look to the reality of the majority of the population, not just the elite of wealthy countries, the more I am thankful to be so blessed by the Lord.

But we can’t stop there – how are we using our blessing to lift up the Lord and spread Christ? Selfish gain is useless to the Kingdom!

So thank You, Lord, for the conviction and the correct worldview from the comforts of my pretty-warm bath water. Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord. Now, Lord, please continue to open my eyes, my mind and my heart to how I can use the blessing to further Christ …. to the ends of the earth, Lord!

“Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen!
Show me how to love like You have loved me!!!
Break my heart for what breaks Yours!!!
Everything I am for You Kingdom’s cause…

Hosanna in the HIGHEST!”

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Spontaneous Picnic at Duck Pond

For those of you with a dry wit, no our little family did not roast up some ducks for a picnic. But this afternoon after our library nursery rhyme group we spontaneously headed to a local duck park to have a picnic out in the warm sun.

We enjoyed our sandwiches, peanut butter and marshmallow for two lucky little girls, and tuna for two nutrition-minded adults.

With crackers and raisins still in hand we headed over to the ducks with a bag of mildly stale breadcrumbs.

We had not anticipated the affect of warm weather causing other families to have visited the ducks previously. So Matt and Rachael had a mini adventure trying to lull the already-full fat waddlers over to Mommy and Abi’s safe and comfortable bench. Abi, not enjoying the spontaneity of animals (they move too fast) warmed up to the idea of scattering bread a few inches from her feet after first starting the adventure in the safety and comfort of said bench. 

Rachael, fearless when her Daddy’s there to protect her, had a great time emptying the bag and distributing handfuls of bread all over the sidewalk in an effort to get them in the pond water. With increased practice, her aim and ability provided more comfortable distances for the over-eating pleasures of our new winged friends. But due to their previous meals, interest was soon lost and we found ourselves quite obliviously still unloading our bread for future pond-life snacks.

Then came the park play, critical when any park is in view.

 Abi trying to figure out how to approach crossing a bouncy bridge. 
She eventually decided that walking was acceptable when clinging to Mommy’s hand. Rachael also needed some reassuring when said bridge moved highly unpredictably and frighteningly.

The slide adventures were fun. 
As were the methods of getting to the slide: challenging and fun.

And then we headed over to the swings, upon Rachael’s leadership decision. Check out the contrast in the responses to the swings below.

 Verses:

I would like to take this moment to inform you that we did not offer or enforce Abi riding the swing. Abi chose to get in the swing, a choice we always leave up to her without any persuading, because inevitably every time the above terrified face occurs and immediate rescuing is required. Abi DOES NOT like swingset swings. Not in the safety and comfort of our backyard, not at the park, not when everyone else is doing it. Abi and swingset swings are a BIG no-no. Yet I find it funny that she is in love with the concept of swinging, from afar the idea of swinging does look fun, but the actual event of swinging always ends up the same horrifying way. God love the little girl. That face just makes you want to reassure the poor thing that NEVER AGAIN will we ever let her convince herself that she might like swings. But alas, we let her steak her independence (provided that it isn’t defiant or harmful) and then rescue her from her former drive when it turns to trauma.

So much fun had by all on our spontaneous picnic at the duck pond. Even a left-behind dinosaur friend enjoyed our company.

Enjoy the beautiful weather, all, and please… by all means, please don’t roast up the local ducks. 😉

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Our First "Significant" Snow

We took the opportunity today, in March, to celebrate our first “significant” snow by playing outside for a handful of minutes.

To keep with the norm, we over-bundled our children producing this:

Abi couldn’t get back up when she fell over. No crying, just called for Mommy ’til I could rescue her. =)

Then outside we headed for robotic-movement-like snow walking. Since all our outside toys were happily stored away for the “winter” we’ve been having, walking and snow inspection were the favored sports.

Movement frequently produced “I’m stuck” moments for the youngest.

Until eventually she stopped dead in her tracks (refusing to move), put her hand straight out and announced, “Walk, Mommy. Walk!” Clearly assistance was not an option. =)

Then there was the three-year-old idea of going down the slide which resulted in Mommy picking her up because the ladder was slippery and “eww, dirt” felt the need to dust all the snow off each step of the ladder, thus revealing a mild layer of slippery ice. Then came for the top of the slide dusting – necessary, especially once your pants are already soaked through.

And at last… the slide. 

Promptly followed by the fall-off at the end. 

Abi was less brave, allowing for this “look away from the sun” picture

before demanding Mommy’s hand of assistance. She had no desire to repeat Rachael’s tumbling dismount.

Daddy joined in the fun too, swinging our little frozen robots to their squealing delights. 

And then with a short bout of swinging, we decided inside was a great place to shed our dirty “snow” layers and enjoy a nice warm bath.

Here lies the product of three people playing in the snow (Daddy had already left for work and taken care of his things by then) – Nevermind the Feline Investigation Service on the left.

Straight into the tub went the girls and straight into the wash went the layers.
And our “significant” winter snow had all melted in the sunny places by 10am.

Great snow morning indeed!

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Useable Space

After taking a few pictures of Rachael’s homeschooling I noticed my ugly, explosive school shelving unit in the background. Ever done that? Found some nasty, “Oh I really need to fix that” section of your house in the background of your favorite memories?

So with the inspiration of a dear friend, Kassie’s, recent Spring cleaning kick, I tackled the “should have been done months ago” task of the school shelves.

First came the ever-so-obnoxious task of figuring out what to do with the puzzles. I had been looking around for seriously months at various puzzle-stacking racks. Man those things aren’t cheap! And I was nervous that after spending our life inheritance on one of those said racks, we would have the dreaded, unthinkable happen to us: we’d get a new puzzle – one too many for the rack. And since our children are not past the puzzle using years, I figured the dreaded would repeat itself many, many times. =)

So I recently looked into other methods and found this one to be realistic, cheaper than half a puzzle rack’s cost, and affective for other non-puzzle yet bulky items. Thus I bring to you (cue the music and pull out the megaphone): The Ultimate Puzzle Organizing Experience!!!

I used an old dowel rod, three screw in hooks (that fit said dowel rod on the ends and in the middle – cause puzzles are heavy), hefty zipable gallon and 2.5 gallon sized bags, shower curtain hooks, and binder clips (large metal pinchers to use a practical description). I screwed the hooks into the top shelf’s ceiling of our bookshelf, alternating directions to avoid the inevitable “everything falls off the rack when it’s bumped” possibility when you have small children shopping through the puzzles. Then I hung the dowel rod (Thanks Jenney and Brian for using your sweet saw to cut it down to size – my steak knife and box opener blade would never have gotten me there.) Then I hung the shower curtain hooks (I chose c-hooks because I wanted us all to be able to get the binder clips off without Rachael and eventually Abi being dependent on Mommy only to wrestle them off – though I am aware that this makes Abi able to take them off right now during the “don’t touch this- EVER” training phase.) Then I bagged up our puzzles in the gallon or 2.5 gallon sized bags (I found the larger wooden puzzles – those bigger than a sheet of paper- in need of the 2.5 gallon size to fit well). Then put our lovely clip on them and hang them on the curtain hooks.

As seen in the picture, some heavier puzzles either needed to be clipped to the clip itself (binder clips providing said aid) or the bag needed to rest far enough down that the puzzle could use the shelf to relieve the weight – thus not actually hanging, but attached nonetheless.

I also found the bagged method QUITE helpful in bagging up other “what the heck do you do to store this” homeschool items such as the loved and hated Cootie catcher bug pieces (Does Abi ALWAYS have to end up with one in her mouth even though she’s not playing?). [Does anyone actually play the legit game or are you like me and just attach the legs and crazy mouths/eyes for freeplay?] Or the ever loved, but crazy hard to store knobbed and chunky puzzles. I also found it a nice way to store the awkward shaped things and the “we would actually use this if we saw that we had it” items.

Some things will always need a box – like our beautiful and rolling wooden train (Melissa and Doug). I love that train, but that space-hog is far better in a stackable box than occupying 6 puzzle spaces on my shelf. And with the addition of the dowel-rod method my shelves went from this:

(Large open space on top shelf had “Please let these survive Abi’s toddlerhood” books that I decided to move to safer quarters.)

to this:

(No worries, Jes, the indoor snowball fight just moved to the game shelf since apparently it’s frowned upon to snow-bomb your preschooler during quiet homeschool work – who knew?!)

Yay for actually seeing what you have, spending a total of $13 on the project and getting to see that cute picture of baby Rachael from her first Easter that I haven’t seen on the mantle in over 6 months.

 Oh and for those of you wondering what’s the deal with the “Stop” and “Go” signs on the shelves. We have non-readers here, but I have placed these signs on the shelves to remind my non-readers of the things their “need for independent” selves can do without Mommy and those they need to come ask Mommy to do. Due to Abi’s oral explorations, small pieces are in the “Stop and come ask Mommy” section and require tabletop play. Added bonus? These signs are helpful for babysitters when we have to run out quickly and I forget to explain the school shelves.

Maybe these ideas could be helpful to you.
If not? Eh, thanks anyway for reading my organizational delights. =)

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