The One About My Daughter, the Entertainer

I really wish I had a picture to go with this story.

We went caroling last night & one of the places we go to is a nursing home. We all (about 36 of us) pile into their living room and sing in front of the tree. It's a lot of fun. This was the first year for Katie and at first she was shy. But then she started to get into the music. She was in my sling and started dancing in the sling. That got everyone laughing. Then she noticed that we were all holding books and she desperately wanted one and screamed until she got one. ;) Yes, I gave in! The funniest thing is, that right after she got a book, she had it open to a song and was looking at it. She started to sing w/ us! Not words, of course, but opening her mouth and making singing noises. Then we got to "Gloooooria" and she looked at us and started forming a perfect "o" w/ her mouth and singing the "o" parts to Gloria. The whole room was cracking up and I have to admit, she was pretty entertaining! I think she's the first child in our family to sing so early!

The One Without Do-Overs

Michael, my oldest, was sweeping the floor today. He kept missing spots, so I kept sending him back to finish properly. I explained to him that when you have a job to do and you don't do it right you have to fix it. You have to go in and finish it. I told him that when Matt messes up something in his painting or fixing a car he has to go back and fix it. I explained that it happens to everyone. We all make mistakes, miss something or are just plain lazy at times, but we have to go back, fix it and finish the job.

I turned to the sink to finish the dishes and it hit me. As a Mom, I don't get do-overs. I don't get to go back and "fix" whatever problem may arise. I think it hit me because today has been a particularly rough day. A lot of frustration on my part which led to being more stern/annoyed/frustrated with the kids than I usually am. I realized that while we definitely can go back and apologize for our 'bad Mom" moments we cannot undo what has been done. We cannot take away the words we used, the tone we used, the deep & frustrated sighs we use. Children pick up on those cues. They know when we're annoyed or frustrated with them without us having to use words. And while we can try to smooth over the things we've done the problem is we've already done them. We already hurt them. We already frustrated them. We already missed that moment to teach God's grace to them. We already missed that moment when we could have created peace instead of making war. We missed that moment when all they really needed was a kind and gentle answer instead of a frustrated sigh.

Do-overs don't happen for Moms. We can't fix the things we've already done. We can only try to remember to not let it happen so often. We can only try to listen to that still, small voice inside of us reminding us "This is a moment to teach compassion" or a "Moment to show grace". We can only thank the One who shows us grace time & time again and try hard to mirror that to our children.

And thankfully.. children are resilient. The Lord has filled children with such love and understanding. Much more than most adults have. I'm thankful for that because my children sure have forgiven me for a lot of 'bad mom' moments. Hopefully more 'good mom' moments are what will help shape them into who they become.

The One About the Unwritten Pages

I honestly cannot remember exactly the point of Pastor Roland's message on Sunday. However, he was talking about how our lives are like a book w/ the ending currently sealed. No one is able to open the seal except for the Lord because He is the only one who knows what's going to happen with our lives. With the book "Becca Pattullo White" I can look back and 'read' all that has happened, but I cannot read into the future no matter what I try. His point in that analogy was why worry? Who better to know the rest of our story but the Lord? Why not just put it in His hands, knowing it's written. It really made me think about my struggles with anxiety. I worry about a lot of things. I worry probably too much... and I can't see that changing immediately however, the sermon was a baby step in the right direction for me. As I've come across some of the worries of this week I remind myself that it's all in the Lord's hands.

All of this reminded me of the song "Unwritten" this evening. While not a Christian song some of the lyrics are so true. I could go through the lyrics and change them to mean what I'm trying to say, but I think that you can get the point by reading them...

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined

I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh, oh

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines

We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

The One About a Craft Day & a Snow Day

NOTE: I fiddled with this stupid thing for 1/2 hr now and it's still uploading my photos wrong and deleting them and not letting me put them where I want them... so please excuse the jumbled photos and disorganized look, but I don't want to deal w/ it anymore. I have other things to waste my time with like dinner and kids.






We've had a busy week here! On Monday the cousins came over for a craft day. We made a craft (that is a secret right now) and decorated cookies. Here's a picture of almost all of the cousins together... and one of Katie upset because I wouldn't give her more gingerbread cookies!

I took more pictures than theses, but because blogger is giving me troubles, this is all I could upload to the site. We had fun & you could hardly tell there were 9 kids all 8 and under in the house!

Then, just a few days later, we got our first real snowfall of the season. Of course we all had to bundle up and spend hours outside playing in it. Michael, Nathan & I got into a big snowball fight. Then Nathan, Karah & Erich enjoyed building a couple of snowmen. It was a lot of fun... and a bit chilly!

The One With Flowers

Some people like to get flowers for their birthdays or anniversaries. Some people don't like to get flowers at all. Some people prefer they be arranged when they come or from a special florist.

I like to get flowers 'just because'. I love it when Matt brings them home from the grocery store because I love arranging them myself. It makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. :)

The One With the Christmas Tree

We decided to get a real Christmas tree this year. Not only to get a real one, but to go pick one out, cut it down, bring it home, trim it & then decorate it. So this morning that's what we did. We went to a local tree farm and as we were browsing through various trees the lady who co-owned the place came to us and told us of a patch of trees out in the middle of the woods (only a few minutes walk) where we could find white spruce. I was hoping for blue spruce, but those weren't the prettiest, so we decided to walk and see what we could find. We ended up finding a nice big one & then came the issue of how to get it out of the woods, back through the fields and up the hill to the car. Matt decided to take it upon himself, so he literally threw it on his back and walked down the road with it. It was hilarious to see! It looked like a tree with legs.... you could see nothing except the tree & his legs. He even did a little jig for us. ;) We got the tree back to where he could drive the car to get it & then he set it down... I think he deserves a back rub tonight for that!

After the tree cutting they served hot chocolate & cookies for the kids.

We got the tree home and trimmed a little over a ft from the bottom of it and put it up in the

living room. Then came the fun of the lights and ornaments. The kids put a TON of ornaments on it all in the same places, so after they go to bed tonight, I'll rearrange them. :)

I forgot my camera when we went to the tree farm. I'm bummed because Matt & the tree would have been a GREAT picture... but here are some from right after we got home (kids w/ traces of cookies and hot chocolate on their faces) & the tree... fun stuff!

The One with a Gingerbread Village

I found a gingerbread village kit at Target a few weeks ago. It had 5 houses in it... perfect for the kids to each have one! I promised them we'd do it right after Thanksgiving, so right after school on Monday we got to it... I didn't get many pictures of them actually decorating because I was doing my own... I mean helping. :P

The One With a Sermon, Shopping & an "At Home" Date.

Pastor Roland had a really good sermon on Sunday. He preached about doors... yep. Doors. He started w/ explaining the difference between your front door and your kitchen door. The front door is for salesmen, strangers or acquaintances that aren't real familiar with your home & your family. They knock, you stand in the doorway and talk and then they go and you go on with your life. Then there's the kitchen door... the people who come to the kitchen door are your friends and family. The people you say "Come in! Let's sit down, have a cup of coffee/tea and chat." The people you gladly give up part of your life to spend with them. His point was... what is Jesus to you? A front door kind of guy or a kitchen door kind of guy?

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My husband took the WHOLE weekend off this past weekend!! It was WONDERFUL! Saturday we shopped @ Moms store. Between Fri night w/ Rachael & Saturday w/ Matt we are 95% done Christmas shopping!! WOOHOO!! After shopping we came home and decorated the house. Everything except for the tree is done. Matt is never home for that part of Christmas decorating so it was a lot of fun to have him here this year. He was very helpful for getting things up high and coming up w/ ways to make things stay in place a bit better.

Saturday evening we put the kids to bed around 8 and then made cookie monsters. Warm homemade chocolate chip cookies (which Matt made) with ice cream & toppings on top. Yumm... and soooo bad for you! We watched Fireproof together. We had been putting it off expecting it to be hokey... but it wasn't. It was pretty good. It was encouraging to us both. While we don't have the problems the couple in the movie had, we do tend to take each other for granted or forget to put the romance in our marriage. There were some really good points in the movie like "fireproof doesn't meant you won't have fires... it means you can withstand them." It was nice to have that time to spend together. He's been working so much that I've forgotten what it's like to have him home in the evenings... it was nice. :)