My Little Helpers

I am a blessed Mom. My kids are always helping me. It is so wonderful. For instance, I started this year's handmade Christmas cards last August. My crafting friends always look forward to their handmade Christmas card and it is my little gift of love for each one of them. This year's card was about Joy. Joy was stamped for the front, Christmas paper behind, a definition of joy inside and a picture of my three beautiful helpers inside.

Labor Day Weekend is what I refer to as the Collision...for many reasons. The card was put on hold and just kind of sat in my crafting space. The Christmas season arrived and my little helper, M, decided those pieces of paper would make The Perfect Train Tickets for punching. Have you ever seen The Polar Express? M is the conductor making beautiful tickets with my hole punch and Joy cards. I have lots of little pieces of confetti decorating my house and not very many stamped Joy cards for the front of my card.

What to do? I went to Shutterfly and put the precious picture of my little helpers (I think we took 48 pictures before I waved the white flag and decided this was the best of the bunch). My oldest helper hates the picture but since she is not paying for the card...tough. M looks goofy (making a face like usual) H is posing (where did she learn that???) and L/R feels she doesn't look as lovely as she would like. Mom wins. Cards are ordered. Cards arrived. I am addressing...I decided to go semi-handmade and stamped the envelopes. For those of you receiving this family's 2008 Christmas card...ignore the ink smudges. Thank you.

Arranged Marriages

That's my Facebook status. I am trying to arrange a marriage for my oldest daughter. I am offering ten goats to the son of a wonderful couple at Church.

I heard my friend, Elyse, give a devotion at a shower a year and a half ago. I thought whoever marries their son is going to be so blessed to have Tom and Elyse as in-laws. Their view of marriage is so honoring of God and each other and I am sure their sons have picked up on this from their example.

Tom and Elyse understand God's view of leaving your mother and father and becoming one with your spouse, how to treat one another and others with respect and love, and they have a wonderful sense of humor. Their daughters-in-law will have two people they can turn to for wisdom and discernment when the marriage has rough patches. There will be no judgment by either of them...they will gently and lovingly point them in the direction that will honor God.

I pray my children will have such wonderful in-laws. It is so important to feel that you are truly part of the family. This cannot be said for a lot of marriages. Most mates are not seen or treated as part of the family. I hope my children will be blessed by God honoring in-laws, especially my two little ones. I may not be around to see who they marriy and it would be wonderful if their new parents gave them the same amount of love and encouragement as I would. It would be nice to pick their in-laws so you could have the assurance they will be treated with love, honor and respect. It would be nice to know their mate would have a wonderful example of marriage to follow and parents that would lovingly point them in the right direction if they head down the wrong path. Parents who recognize that the two are one in God's eyes and honor the boundaries of that covenant. I think it is possible that the old ways may not be too far off if you could make sure your child will be treated in the way God created marriage. I know most arranged marriages were for political gains or riches but if you could make sure your child was surrounded by loving in-laws, wouldn't it be great?

Back Roads

When I was young, my dad took us to Missouri every Thanksgiving. The one thing I noticed about driving the roads in the country was the "one finger wave." Oncoming drivers would lift their index finger as a greeting to our car and my cousin, Bill, would lift his. It was delightful. Now I live in a suburb in Alabama and behind our housing development is a country road with horses, cattle, cotton fields, a cotton gin, and a little breakfast/lunch restaurant. I use this road all the time to get to the main highway and me with my city ways just drive...oblivious to everything...and I finally noticed after two years of living here...the one finger wave is granted to me each time I drive down this road. I never noticed until a few months ago. I am sure all the farmers are thinking "stuck up City Girl." It was sweet and quaint to realize, I live in the almost country where people still greet strangers.

Christmas Joy

joy (joi) n. 1: a very glad feeling; happiness; delight 2: anything causing this very glad feeling; happiness; delight 3: anything causing this.

This Christmas I found I had misplaced my joy. Yesterday, I suddenly found it. I was driving H to school and I put in The Polar Express CD. I looked in my rear view mirror and M's head was bobbing up and down and suddenly he was making train chugging motions with his arms. M's smile was ear to ear. H joined in and the two were delightful to watch. I found my joy.

M was convinced he needed glasses (both of his parents were them) and on Thursday he earned enough stickers in his PreK class to get into the Treasure Box. Getting into the Treasure Box is the highpoint of a PreK student's life. M came home with these glasses. What mom could not fall down laughing when seeing her son sporting these four eyes? Yep, that's my boy.

Rainy Days

I love rainy days. I want to flip on the fire, grab a good book, a cup of tea, a throw and spend the rest of the day reading...

Today is a really rainy day, great for the above mentioned favorite expenditure of time. What did I do? I went to Body Works with Killer Kelly. Did I pick up the lightest weights possible. No. I thought "I work out, get the heavier ones." Stupid. Stupid Stupid. Did I mention the word "Stupid?"

Tomorrow is yogalates...I have a feeling I won't even be able to pick up a latte, let alone my leg. (That is if I drank lattes...I won't be able to pick up my mug of tea tomorrow)

I wonder why I do this. I must be a masochist. Tomorrow, I will go to class, I will moan and I will groan, then I will put on my jeans and wonder why I am doing this since the jeans aren't really getting any looser. On the bright side, they aren't getting tighter either.

For now, I am going to delight in the rest of the rainy day, read about the American Revolution in my quiet room and let the Motrin do its work.

Christmas Gators

M has been asking every morning if today is Christmas. He declares "Oh man!" when I tell him it is not Christmas and won't be for a few more weeks. He then asks to open one of his presents. It is very had to say "No" to that sweet little face. He is quite the charmer and he is quite determined. He inches his way towards the tree, down to the presents, soon his little hand is moving the present, and I know any second that paper is going to be flying off. I devised a plan. I told him to not touch his present because there is a sleeping alligator in the box. This fascinated him. He wanted to know if his other box had a gator too. I said "Yes" and Sissy's boxes have the mice for him to eat.

The rest of the day has been non-stop alligator planning for Matthew. Matthew wanted to know where the alligators leash was. He is going to take his gator for a walk. He has informed me that on Christmas Day the alligator will not like girls and all the girls in the neighborhood cannot come near his alligator. This applies mostly to his sister, Hannah. The alligator will like girls after Christmas.

I put another box under the tree yesterday and he wanted to know if it was another alligator...what could I do but say "Yes."

I have a feeling that the really cool presents I bought for him are going to disappoint when he finds there is really no alligator.

I wonder if I could find a live looking gator before Christmas...I think my story is going to have serious repercussions.

Time Flies

I just looked at my blogging page...I haven't been here since September...my how time flies.

I still haven't found my sense of humor. It must be really drunk in Mexico by now. Perhaps my sense of humor took off for Australia. Koalas are kind of cute, who could blame the sense of humor for wanting to find something cute and cuddly.

Christmas is coming and I am lagging behind its rapid approach. I am blessed with little kids. The Little People keep me focused. It would be really easy to fall into the pit of self pity but I have to stay on top of the pit and away from the edge for them.

I also am blessed with some really awesome friends who are there whenever I need a rope to keep me away from that edge. I like how God always gives us just what we need when we need it the most. I goofy comment on a picture, a hug, a goofy yoga teacher with aforementioned friends actually in the class with me, or a sweet soft kiss from a child, they're like little Christmas presents each and everyday.

Today was nice, a little lunch and pedicure with my oldest blessing. I don't get to spend a lot of time with her now that she is creating her own life. I love watching her learn to deal with the problems life throws at you when you least expect it. She is learning grace. It is also fun to watch her deal with boys. I don't envy her that. I am glad I will never be her age again. It's an awful age emotionally, physically it's great but emotionally it's a rollercoaster. It seems like it has been ages since she was 6...but then again, it seems like it was yesterday. Time flies.