Happy 9th Month!

This is a Home Where Children Live

My neighbor dropped this poem by my house awhile ago:

This is a Home Where Children Live

by Judith Bond

You may not find things all in place,

Friend, when you enter here.

But, we're a home where children live,

We hold them very dear.
And you may find small fingerprints

And smudges on the wall.

When the kids are gone, we'll clean them up,

Right now we're playing ball.
For there's one thing of which we're sure,

These children are on loan.

One day they're always underfoot,

Next thing you know, they're gone.
That's when we'll have a well kept house,

When they're off on their own.

Right now, this is where children live,

A loved and lived in home.

Notes on Worry

I was listening to James MacDonald's Walk in the Word radio program a couple of months ago and I pulled over and jotted some notes down, because I thought it was so good. He was talking about worry. So that I can make these notes useful, I thought I would blog them so I can throw that little piece of paper away to avoid worry of cluttering my house. :)

He said these are the things I cannot control:
My health future
My family future (the kids might... my spouse might...)
- I can love, serve, pray for and prioritze my family, however
My financial future
My environmental future

The truth that sets me free is that I cannot control these things.
What I can do:
-Do something to affect these things
-Walk godly in these things

The word worry means "to choke."
The word anxiety means "to have a divided mind"-- Do you ever spin your wheels and accomplish nothing?

Our choices TODAY affect the FUTURE. Worry, however, keeps me from what I can do today (to affect the future).

Worrying about tomorrow insulates me from being effective today.

Good stuff, huh?

Andi

Happy 8th Month!

Jeremiah is exceptionally mobile. Sometimes we call him "the worm," because he does a modified army crawl everywhere. He just started clapping and is a huge joy to all of us!

Happy Halloween!

Oh How the Years Go By...

Happy Half Birthday!

Jeremiah on the move!

I've never seen this one before... but he is making a valiant effort to move. Butt up. LONG pause. Head up. Collapse. Butt up. LONG pause. Head up. Collapse. I thought Jeremiah was a bullfrog.... not an inch worm! :)

McDonald's Mystery Part II

Life can go on... the McDonald's "on the way to church" that was abruptly taken from us, has now been revived and is better than ever- complete with tables donning glass vases containing live flowers. We were Happy Meal-buying customers on their 2nd day of business to celebrate (well, it was good timing-- we needed dinner that night in between an outing during the day and a church function that night).

There does seem to be a bit of spiritual truth to this whole incident.

Change is hard. And while life seems out of control, devastating and scary since the outcome isn't known (at least to Jillian regarding this), oftentimes change leads to better things.

Jeremiah is 5 months old!

Summer!

The Magie Corner, Part 2

Hey kid... don't you know... what's good for you isn't always good for everyone else?

I laid Jeremiah down next to Joey to say good night and Joey stuck the corner of his blanket into Jeremiah's ear. It didn't work. :)

The Secret to Breaking Habits

Jenna has sucked her fingers since she was a baby when we took her pacifier away (4 mos) to try to help her gain weight. For the last year or so, she has only sucked them at naptime and night time. She told us that when she was 4, she would stop sucking them. About a week after she turned 4, we thought we would help her, so we gave her a glove (a pretty one!) to wear to bed at night. About the 3rd night into this, we lost the glove. We were going to look for another one and she said, “It’s ok. I don’t need it.” We were very skeptical. But, she has never sucked her fingers since.

Last night I took her out for ice cream to celebrate her entry into the non-finger-sucking world. I asked her what the secret was to how she quit sucking her fingers. She said, “I sucked the glove and it was yucky.” I said, “You sucked the glove? Did you try sucking it for a second, or how long?” Jenna said, “About a minute.” I said, “Well, when you didn’t have the glove on, how did you keep from sucking your fingers?” She said, “Well. I wanted to be like Jackie and Jillian. I looked at them and saw that they were going to sleep with their arms down. So I did that too.”

And there you have it.

Give it up for "One Fine Day" moments

I had to laugh at myself when my desperation got this far. Jeremiah spit up on my shoulder and in my hair. Gross! I wiped it off, but this time it REALLY stunk. I had to go somewhere and there was no time for a shower, so I grabbed the nearest bottle of shampoo (which happened to be the kids' mango something or other scent). I leaned over my bathroom sink and took just the section of hair that had been spit up on and washed just that section of hair. Out the door I went! I was going to make this post all about "Desperate Mom Situations," but I think it sounds much more graceful to call them "One Fine Day" moments. Here's why:

Sometimes I feel like Michelle Pfeiffer in "One Fine Day." She was always so ingenious. For instance, when her shirt got dirty, she pulled her son's t-shirt out of her bag and put it on and just kept on going through her day.

I had a monumental One Fine Day moment last year at VBS. It was crazy hat day. Only, I had forgotten. When we pulled in the church parking lot, the kids noticed everyone else in their crazy hats. Yikes! What do I do?! Panic! No... "think like Michelle" I told myself. I looked down and buried under random stuff in my van was a knight's hat! I came up with something else from my car for my daughter, but can't remember what now. And then I thought how sometimes it can pay to not live an obsessive-compulsively clean lifestyle!

I'd love to hear your desperate moments... I mean your "One Fine Day" moments!

Andi

McDonald's Mystery

A week ago, a McDonald's we pass often was bustling with business. Today, we passed it and it no longer existed. Immediately, my 5 year old girl started crying. (I'm in the front seat trying not laugh at her mourning over the loss of McGrease). Her older brother tried consoling her by saying, "They HAD to tear it down. They had served over 99 billion people. I'm sure they'll build a newer and better one instead."

The Magic Corner

We recently took a roadtrip to Colorado. On the way home, the kids fell asleep at night and my husband and I decided to drive as long as we could stay awake since they were peacefully sleeping. About 2 AM, I heard from the back seat, "Mommy?" I said, "yes?" Joey held up the corner of his blanket and said, "Not working." He always puts the corner of his favorite blankie in his ear and then goes to sleep. Strange.... I know. We got to the hotel a half hour later. My husband laid him in the pack and play and handed him his blankie and asked, "is it working now?" He replied, very satisfied, "yes!"

Happy 1 Month Birthday (a little late)... are you seeing a pattern?

Happy Easter (a little late)

Good Quote

I saw this up on the bulletin board at my kid's pediatrician's office today.

Don't MAJOR in the MINOR things.

A letter to Peyton

I found an address where you can write in a request Peyton Manning's autograph. Here was Jackie's letter:

Dear Peyton-

I loved it when you and your buddies all worked together to win Superbowl XLI. Colts 26 - Bears 17. Thanks to the catch where number 26's heel almost went out of bounds. Now may I have your autograph. And please sign it with your own hand.

Love, Jackie, you and your brother's favorite fan.

From: Jackie

To: Peyton

Age 6

Favorite thing to play: football. Favorite show: football. Favorite thing outside of football: reading.

One of my aspirations...

"I really believe in flylady’s mantra that people, not things are more important in life. My husband, children, and I are changing our way of thinking and not buying “stuff” hardly at all any more. We’ve decluttered about 40 boxes of “stuff” now and I don’t even remember what was in them. They certainly weren’t loved items. Now instead of taking care of our “stuff” we’re taking care of each other and others more."

-A testimonial from someone on http://www.flylady.net/

Why Did I Even Ask? and The Big Delimma

I think I have a condition. I have self-labeled it "PPND"- Post Partum Nesting Disorder. I was ripping apart and reorganizing cabinets when I went into labor and I am back at it again. Today I found a can of red hair coloring spray in our "party" supplies. This is where my mistake was. I almost just threw it away, but consulted my husband first, thinking, "he'd be the only one crazy enough to actually use this stuff at some point." Little did I know that he would chase down our 6 year old son within 30 seconds of laying eyes on the can and start spraying!!! Then, he got Jillian too. Why did I even ask???


After getting her hair sprayed, Jillian said in her very girlish style, "Um... now I can't even chew on my favorite piece of hair!" My husband and I both said, "WHAT?!" We didn't even know she had a "favorite" piece of hair that she chews on.... and besides, that is GROSS! What a dilemma for a 5 year old!

Happy 1 Week Birthday!

Jeremiah is such a joy to our whole family!

Welcome Jeremiah Andrew!

Happy Due Date!

Well... here I am just a few hours before the clock rolls over to my due date (February 27). There are small signs of activity. I've thought I was in labor twice now, but nothing came of it.... obviously. So, until the time comes, we will continue to hang out and wait. Still feeling pretty good and enjoying the time with not much to do.

Andi

Songs in the Night

Any man can sing in the day…

It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight;

but he is the skillful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of light by which to read….

Songs in the night come only from God;

they are not in the power of man.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Moose, Muffins & a Mom's A.D.D.

So, my 2 year old son, randomly picked the book "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" off of the shelf at the library the other day. As I read it, I could totally relate to the Moose. In fact, I think I am the moose! Laura Numeroff wrote a whole series of these funny books- "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" was the first one.
Anyway, a boy offers a moose a muffin. The moose then asks for more muffins, until the boy has to go to the store to get more and the moose wants to go with, so he asks for a sweater since it is cold outside. When he puts the sweater on, he notices a loose button. He then needs a needle an thread, which remind him of puppets his grandmother used to make, so he looks for some old socks to make puppets. Through many more diversions during this ordeal, he ends up outside and notices blackberries, which remind him of jam, and then he asks for a muffin to go with it.

The part I relate to is not the constant asking of things. It is how the moose is constantly sidetracked!!! I talk to so many moms who can relate, otherwise, I might start to think I really do have Attention Deficit Disorder. I guess it's that we are constantly in a state of multi-tasking. Although, I'm always saying that the more simple life is one I strive for. Omit the clutter (physical and mental)!

Some examples:
-How many times a day do you go upstairs, stand there and try your hardest to think, "Why did I come up here?'

I know I have a BAZILLION other examples, but cannot think of one right now! I think my brain is tired. But, I will leave you with a real life example that just happened...

-You're updating your blog, a new email comes in, which prompts you to forward it. You can't find the address to that person, but you know it was in an email from your husband, so you sort your email by his name. While looking for that email, you notice there are some really old and irrelevant emails from him and delete those as you go along. Before you ever get to find the email address you are looking for, you remember that you are writing a blog entry.

Just the tip of the iceberg. A single example from one certain hour in the day....

Can you relate?

Andi

PS: Better go find that email address!

Shots and Suckers

Handle this.... And you'll get this:

That's what we told our kids this morning as we lined them all up on the bench awaiting their annual flu vaccinations. Jackie bravely took the chair first, got the shot and promplty got his reward of a sucker. Jillian followed the same way. Joey figured out the trick-- if I sit on Papa's lap in the chair, then I will get a sucker. He was begging to get up in that chair! But... it was Jenna's turn. But... Jenna was obviously disturbed and not going to get in that chair, so Joey got to go before her. The nurse put that bowl of suckers right in front of him as the nurse got the shot ready for him. His eyes fixed on the suckers, he barely flinched when she actually administered the shot, and then claimed his prize, opened it and indulged. Jenna, still disturbed, had to be held down, wouldn't look at the suckers, got the shot and was inconsolable. Her eyes still fixed on the needle and the nurse who inflicted the pain, she could care less there was a sucker awaiting her.

As I watched this, I realized this was a microscopic picture of trials in life, but the hope we have of rewards and eternal life in heaven. Yes, our troubles are much bigger than a shot. But... if we can remember to keep our eyes fixed not on the trial, but the reward, the shot will not seem so bad after all. Keep our eyes fixed on the shot, and we get caught up in the here and now, and completely lose sight of the end goal. Easier said than done..... but here is what the Creator of heaven and earth says about this:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3