The glamour

The other day...
Me: G you need to pick up your shoes and put them away.
G: Why?
Me: Because you are going to forget where you put them and then when it is time to go somewhere you won't be able to find them.
G: Where are we going?
Me: We aren't going anywhere right now, that's not the point. The point is that whenever we do go somewhere you'll be running around going (me acting hysterical), "WHERE ARE MY SHOES? I CAN'T FIND MY SHOES. AHHH, WHERE ARE MY SHOES??"
E running in, takes a look at me and proclaims: Mom, they are on your feet! Take a breath!

And as a side note, Hubs always gives me a hard time when I say that the kids bother me incessantly when I use the bathroom and how frustrating it is. His response is always, "Just lock the door," as if that solves everything. Today, though, I had a sweet little taste of revenge.
As usual while I was making dinner the kids began their constant pestering. I finally banned them from me completely, telling them that their dad was home for once so to take all matters to him. As a side note--what is the deal with this? Why do they always come to me, even when he is home?
Anyway, at one point Hubs went to use the bathroom. Just as he sat down, E started frantically pounding on the door.
E: I have to use the bathroom, Dad.
Hubs: Ok, go use the other one.
E: I have the use the bathroom. Are you done?
Hubs: I just got in here, you need to go to the other one.
E (now frantic): Are you done? I need to go!!
Hubs (increasingly angry): GO USE THE OTHER BATHROOM. DO NOT PEE YOUR PANTS.
E: I have to go. Are you done?
As this interaction continues, G starts yelling from downstairs.
G: Dad
Daaaaad
DAAAAAAAD
DAD DAD DAD DAD
(Hubs in the bathroom) I AM GOING TO THE BATHROOM. GIVE ME A MINUTE!!
When a harried Hubs had finally finished and marched out from dealing with E (who had eventually used the other bathroom) and going to see G. He came into the kitchen annoyed and shaking his head.
"You should have just locked the door," I said.
Hee hee hee.

By the way, this is how E was sleeping during his nap today. Awesome indeed. 

Miracles

I have so many things that I need to post. Ahhh! However, as the year is coming to a close I have done a lot of thinking lately (I know this is shocking to those who know me well).
Sometimes I feel like I am not sure whether my prayers are being answered. Sometimes I lay in bed at night and experience such overwhelming fear for the future that I sink into despair. It is easy to feel so overwhelmed with everything in life. There have been many times this year that I have sunk into tears feeling like I am barely holding everything and everyone together and I am just so tired and worn down. I know that I can't make everyone be good or do what is right. I know that I can't fix all of our problems or keep us all safe, but somewhere I have this sense that if I just work hard enough at it I can keep everything afloat just through sheer force of will. (Does this remind you of anyone else in our family?) Today, though, as I was thinking through some of the events of the year I realized that we have experienced a lot of miracles--large and small. I feel like I should list some of the ones that I can remember, just for journaling purposes.

1. Hubs passed his exams and got a job immediately following graduation that he loves. Technically this happened at the end of last year but it is worth mentioning. This was truly a miracle for us. Hubs went from a HORRIBLE work situation that was finally getting to a point where it was torturous for our family, and within 2 weeks was in a situation that he loves with a wonderful boss and staff. I felt like God just plucked us up out of a lake of lava and gently deposited us in an oasis. This has been an amazing blessing for us and was literally like flipping a switch in our lives from sad to happy.

2. E jumped in our neighbors pool unnoticed and a neighbor boy fished him out almost immediately. This one still chokes me up especially as I found out that a man I grew up with had his young son die recently from a similar swimming pool scenario. What would we have done without our wonderful E? I can not imagine the heartache that could have resulted from this situation. I thank heaven for that neighbor boy and for the angels that were watching over our family that day.

3. My mom is a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-off and is going to Orlando to compete for the grand prize. Tens of thousands of people submit recipes to this contest every year. I just read something on Pillsbury where one woman said she submitted 5 recipes. My mother is not a professional chef. She just felt inspired and entered one recipe and now she is one of one hundred people to be in this competition. This is amazing.

4. We were able to get the lot we wanted in the neighborhood we wanted even though it wasn't for sale. If you know our whole story regarding where we are moving, it is sort of a miraculous turn of events. I won't go into detail but for all intents and purposes, we should have never been able to acquire the location that we are building our house. In fact we were told "no" probably a half dozen times until one day we were called back and told, "The man who has it under contract changed his mind, he just signed the papers and it's yours." Everything changed in an instant and I know there was a message in it for me. Though this is still a long way from being completed and still causes me a lot of stress (please someone buy our house!!) I know that this all came together in such a miraculous way that it was meant to happen.

5. My dad fell down the stairs and though he broke his collar bone, managed to avoid any more serious injury. Though this might seem like a strange thing to think of as a miracle, I do think that it was a tender mercy that he didn't have any neurological damage or break his neck or back etc. It was a scary phone call to receive as we were driving home for Thanksgiving but it made me realize how much we take every day health for granted.

6. This is also sort of a weird one, but we decided to go to Orlando to support my mom and have a fun family vacation. We delayed booking to trip only to find that airline tickets raised. Frustrated and discouraged I booked the tickets at the higher rate. When we went to book our hotel, however, we found a deal that was actually a couple of hundred dollars less than what we had originally planned (with all of the same benefits) and it actually compensated for the cost of the increase in airfare. I know that this may seem silly, but I felt like it was a tender mercy.

7. Finally, our computer screen has not been working correctly for the last year. It flickered on an off and you had to jiggle the screen to get it to work. It had gotten so bad that when I saw people using laptops normally I would find myself baffled for a second as to why they weren't jiggling their screens only to realize that my screen was the problem, not theirs. Two days before Christmas our screen quit working completely. We trekked up to one of the two Apple stores in the entire state to see if we could get it repaired and how much it would cost. They quoted us $300 which we agreed to since buying a new one would have been closer to $1200. We were discouraged but unsurprised. We also figured it would be over a week before we could drive the hour back to the store and pick up the computer as a family since I didn't really want to make my trip on my own with three small children. Yesterday (on Hub's day off) we received a call that the repair was done and that it had only cost $50. We quickly made the drive to find that not only had they repaired the computer for $50 but that they had replaced the keyboard and all of the plastic facings for free since they were still all under warranty. Now our screen works perfectly plus it feels like we have a brand new computer. I was so happy I could have cried.


These are just a few of the miracles that I can remember recently. I am sure that we have had many more over the past year or so. I am so grateful for the hand of the Lord in our lives. I know that I don't have to do everything on my own through sheer force of will and that often even if I don't realize it, my Heavenly Father is lifting me up and pushing me along. As I think about this I see myself as one of my children in those carts at the grocery store that are shaped like cars. They spin the wheel and strain to steer the car, while all the while I am the one directing our path through the store. I wonder if he ever laughs and shakes his head at my frantic wheel turning and horn honking and thinks, "Just calm down, I've got it." I'm grateful that he does.

Penitence

This evening after G and E were yelled at and sent to bed early for their incessant fighting, we received this letter:

Dear Dad,
I am going to cancel Christmas if I get in trouble and E bothers me.
Love G

(By the way, I'm not sure of the exact punctuation here. I'm not sure if he is going to cancel Christmas if he gets in trouble and, oh by the way, E bothers him. Or alternately, if he is going to cancel Christmas if he gets in trouble or E bothers him. Let's be honest, he is better off getting Christmas if he chooses the former. I digress.)

Ahh. Isn't it nice to see that our lessons regarding taking responsibility and acting correctly are really being absorbed by our children?

If you can't tell, that tone is sarcasm.

Maybe someone does deserve a lump of coal.

Today...

E: Don't go to school. 

Me: I have to. But you can play with Grandma and then Dad will come home and you can play with him. 

E: I don't want to play with Dad. 

Me: Why not?

E: Because he is UGLY!

And we can't forget the moment today when I heard E in the bathroom...

Me: E do you need me to help you wipe your bum?

E: No

I walk in to find him bent over, with Miss H holding the smallest piece of toilet paper in the world, about to wipe his bum for him. 

E: H will do it.

I took over. Then we washed everyone's hands. Twice.  

Thanksgiving Part 2

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to visit my parents. We haven't been out there for a while and especially in the winter. It was fun to go, even though it was a shorter trip than we intended. I didn't get many pictures taken, but here are a few.

After a long drive and being completely off their schedules the kids were a little tired. Can you tell?

 We went to the local science and industry museum. Hubs remarked that he has been to more museums there than anywhere near where we live. Isn't it always the way?

 At that museum they had a Body Worlds exhibit going on. For anyone who doesn't know, Body Worlds is an exhibit of real bodies that have been preserved and dissected in different ways in order to show the intricacies and function of the body. It was amazing and a bit awe inspiring. I thought it would be disgusting, but if anything it made me feel a little bit reverent and grateful for the design of the human body.

 Afterwards we took a trip to a well known local doughnut shop called Voodoo Doughnuts. It is a kitzchy little shop that sells all sorts of weird "gourmet" doughnuts (doughnuts with bacon, cereal, cookies, cotton candy, etc.). Their signature is a jelly filled doughnut in the shape of a voodoo doll. There was a couple getting married there when we went! Crazy.

 This is my only picture of Thanksgiving. Do you like how Miss H is ready to rumble? Shirts off and no prisoners.

 My sister made all the girls cute aprons, even Miss H.

 Hubs thought it would be super funny to take a picture when we weren't looking. Apparently, this is how we normally look when we aren't posing. Hahahaha.  

It was really fun to go visit and always feels too short. We are so thankful for so many things but most especially for family.