Forward, March!

So for a couple weeks now, my productivity level has been down. My discipline has been slipping. I haven't had a ton of focus spiritually, and I've been losing sight of the big picture. Because I have a lot set up to keep me automatically on track (Bible reading, a close church family, etc), there hasn't been a lot of fall-out from the slipping, and it hasn't been really dramatic. But I have apparently been waiting to have someone kick me back on track.

That kick came this morning with my preacher's sermon. He talked all about Colossians 3:17, which says, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." He used this verse to give us all a kick in the pants about excelling in what we do. He warned us that we have only one shot on this earth to be all that we were created to be, and that we should not waste our life.

I love those concepts, and they were just what I needed to hear. My preacher had warned us that he was about to bring it, and so I prayed that the Spirit would use this sermon to tell me what He needed me to hear. And, oh how He did. My preacher didn't tell me specifically what to do, and yet, after his lesson, I had a direction. I had focus. I knew what I needed to do. After church, I ran into the people I needed to run into, and talked about the things I needed to talk about. I scheduled dinner with some parents, lunch with a friend who wanted to talk about the Spirit, and childcare so that I could put in some much-needed work at the church building. I had ideas. I had inspiration. And I had the realization that even though my job as a wife, mother, and woman of God is daunting, it is also do-able. With God, I can do everything that I need to do: I can spend quality time with my husband and children, and I can get up early to read my Bible and blog about it, and I can plan nutritious meals and keep up with the household finances and shopping, and I can reach out to my neighbors and write the 2-3 year old curriculum for Sunday nights and get more involved in children's education at church. I can do the youth group newsletter and stay involved with the teens to the degree that I need to. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

My job is not like most people's jobs. I don't have someone to tell me where I need to be at what time, and what I need to do. I don't have my days planned out for me. And I love that. I love that I can just seek God each day, and that I can carve out sixteen hours of living for Him however He chooses to guide me. However, I can also use that freedom as an excuse to slack off.
I can spend too much time in self-indulgence instead of maximizing my short life for God's glory.

So, no more of that!

Do I have God living inside me? Yes, I do!

Do I have everything I need for life and godliness? Yes, I do!

Can I live each day, each hour, each minute for God? Yes, I can!

So let's get to it...

Sweet and Salty

I'm considering banning the phrase, "Fine, then!" from our house. It has become Luke's number 1, best way of voicing discontent. He has two levels of frustration. In the first one, he "reasonably" delivers ultimatums to us: "Fine, then. If you make me lay down and close my eyes, I'm not going to go to sleep. I'm just going to lay here and lay here and never go to sleep." Those rarely work out in his favor, as they are usually followed by an ultimatum of my own. However, if Luke is not in a "negotiating" mood, he will instead simply let loose with a frustrated exclamation of, "Fine, then!"

That is his "salty" side.

His sweet side was on display today as he and Anna pretended to be firemen with their plastic hats. Over and over, they rescued puppies and kittens from trees that were on fire. At one point, Luke came up to me and announced, "I have puppies and kittens holding on all over to my shirt!" Both he and Anna presented me with many rescued puppies and kittens today as pets.

On the other hand, though, when he is not being a professional Kitten Rescuer, he is in league with Goliath! He came to me tonight after his bath and declared, "I'm a Philistine!"

I was quite impressed with his get-up. Then, he hopped on the chair and announced, "Move out of the way, everyone! Mr. Buzz Lightyear Philistine is about to fly away!"

When I took his hat off and sword away to dry his hair, Anna tried them on for size.

It's Spring!

And you know what that means...

Festival time!  Today, we all headed down to Main St. and hit up our town's spring festival, Gaga-style.  Have I mentioned how much I love my town?  It is so fun to go to a "big" town event, and to know so many people.  I think I saw about half my church today, plus my neighbors, Luke's classmates from preschool, and a couple of families from our Mommy group.  I love being "plugged in" to the place where we live, and I look forward to getting even more so as the kids get older and enter school.

Since I got a ton of pictures, I will tell the story of our day using a simple:  "First...and then..." format.

First, Luke rode the motorcycles.  It didn't go splendidly.

And then, Luke and Anna rode the Thomas train.  That went much better.

And then, we all rode the helicopters.  Greg has his eyes closed, but this picture shows both of our 'copters:).

And then, we all went down the big, big slide (minus Gaga, who took pictures).

And then, we had to take a break for Dippin' Dots.  Of course.

Then, we rode the "crazy train," as Luke called it.

I love this one of Anna holding Greg's hand.  She held mine, too, for most of the ride, and was happy as could be.

And then we got tattoos...

and decided that we didn't like them.

 

And then we saw a REAL train.

And then we took a self-portrait in front of Region's Bank.

And then we ran into Ethan.

And then we rode the carousel.

And then, we rode the Thomas train one more time, which is where I got two classic shots:

That is going to go down in history:).

Lastly, we took a family portrait.

When we got home, it was too late for naps, so we relaxed and watched Cars instead.

Whew!  What a fun day!

Thomas' Adventure

Yesterday, Luke approached me with his Thomas sticker book and announced that he wanted to make a book in which to put some Thomas stickers.  He made it known that he also wanted a stapler to be involved in this process.  I thought, "Okay, why not?"  And so, Luke got three sheets of white paper, I hunted down a stapler, and we began.  He loved stapling the pages together, and then I suggested a title:

Luke insisted on "decorating" the cover.  I have no idea what to comment on that!

Then, we opened the book and got started.  I really thought that this book would be mainly stickers.  Maybe it would have a few sentences, but this was essentially a sticker book, right?  Right?

After choosing a Skarloey sticker, Luke started dictating a story to me, and man, he just kept going!  Had I known that he was going to be so verbose, I definitely would not have tried to write in crayon.  (I ended up breaking the brown one, which is why I switched to green at the end.)  I'm the one who had to make him add more stickers, mainly because I wanted a break from writing!:)  Also, I should have waited until the end to suggest a name, because this story has nothing to do with Thomas.

Luke was positively gleeful over this concept of dictation, and so I think that we might quickly start building a little library.  We even read it as one of our bedtime stories!

In case you can't see the words, here is the story:

Skarloey was chugging down the track.  He came to the old wooden bridge, and then he went up it, and on the other side of the bridge was his friend, Emily.  Then, he tried to cross the old wooden bridge, but...CRACK!  CRACK!  CRACK!  until it was about to collapse!  And then it collapsed on Skarloey.  And then Emily came and looked down, and she saw Skarloey.  And then she tried to figure out how to get him out.  Then, she knew what to do.  She ran back to get the breakdown train.  And then, she ran back, and when she looked down, he was gone!  Someone had got him out.  And then, someone came and told her who had gotten him out.  He told her that Duncan had come with his chain and tossed it down in the lake.

Ta-da!:)

The Princess

Princess Anna shows no signs of relinquishing her crown.

I went to a Teacher Workshop at our church building today and left Luke and Anna in the childcare room, staffed by one of our teens and her three friends. During one of the breaks in the conference, the teen told me that her friends had done nothing but flock to Anna the whole time and play with her and gush over her. She was incredibly amused by how much they had taken to her. I was, too, but I was not entirely surprised. Anna gives out the "princess" vibe very strongly, and people just feel the need to care for her.

Case in point: as I went to pick up my children, I saw two of them leading Anna out to wash her hands. Now, keep in mind that there were four teens and about twenty children. I'm not sure Anna needed to be ushered around by half of the childcare staff. When I told them that we had to go, they were heartbroken.

We left, and then went to see our friend, Tyler, play t-ball. After a few minutes, Luke, Anna, and Ty's brother, Canon, were quite bored, so I took them over to the inflatables that had been set up nearby. A teen attendant was manning a large inflatable that had stairs leading up to a big slide. He was letting the kids go in two-by-two, but he let the three toddlers go together. Luke and Canon clambered up with ease and slid down. Anna, meanwhile, was on stair three. The attendant turned to me and said, "You can go in if you need to." Great. I was just about to kick off my sandals in resignation, when one of the previously rowdy Little League boys standing in line felt Anna's aura. He turned to me with a saintly face and said, "I'll help her up."

Of course you will.

So this six- or seven-year-old boy got permission from the teen attendant, and then hopped onto the inflatable with an air of importance. After trying to guide Anna up the unstable stairs, he channeled his inner knight, swept her off her feet, and carried her up the stairs, ignoring the teen's protests behind him. Unfortunately, once at the top of the stairs, Anna tried to go down the slide in what she has decided is the "safe way": on her stomach, feet first. The attendant told her to go down on her bottom, which sent her into paralysis. Unfortunately, Sir Galahad lacked the fortitude to give her the forceful shove that she needed (and that I urged him to give). He could muster up nothing more than a gentle nudge. Needless to say, that did nothing but prompt Anna to turn and give him a look that said, "Um, the princess will not be pawed at, thank you very much."

Finally, I released him from his obligation and trudged up the doggone inflatable myself. I got to the top just in time to see her half way down the slide. Excellent.

That girl is spoiled rotten:).

Taking a Holiday

I took a holiday today.

I didn't intend to at all. I'm pretty sure it was the weather. And the fact that, for once, I had nothing pressing on my "to do" list. My list said: "Dust. Clean my bathroom." Dusting is never pressing when there aren't guests coming over:). And the bathroom could wait.

Instead, my kids and I slept until 7:45 am (they are still not used to the time change, so they've been sleeping later). We got up, ate breakfast, got dressed, and I went running (hit the big 4-0 today). Then, because the weather was gorgeous and warm, I showered and changed into a tank top, skirt, and sandals.

And then...I traipsed over to my neighbor, Molly's, house for a playdate. We stayed there for about three hours, enjoying a delicious lunch and way too much good salsa. The kids all played together while Molly and I had a great conversation about life, Lost, and the Lord. (Come to think of it, that is also what I talked about with my bff when she came to dinner last night. Those are the three L's of good conversation, in my book:)). We went home around 2:00, and my kids went right down for a nap...and then I napped, too! I have gotten to where I never nap during the week. The time is just too precious. But today, I did, and I loved it. I woke up just a few minutes before Luke, and we ate some strawberries and lounged outside in the glorious sunshine while I drank some decaf coffee and waited for Sissy to wake up. When she did, we all played outside until Greg came home, and then we grilled steaks and made mashed potatoes, green beans, and garlic bread to go with it. It was delicious.

And my house is still dusty.

I write all this to my future self. I write it because my present self cannot for the life of me remember what my pre-kid self did with all that glorious, blessed free time that she enjoyed. Seriously, I cannot remember how Greg and I would spend a Saturday that wasn't taken with youth group events. If there wasn't an event, then what did we do??? I don't remember having a ton of free time, but I just have a hard time seeing how you can't have free time without kids! And it kind of makes me sad that I clearly didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.

And I know that my future self might look back at these short days with the kids at home and think, "What did we do before school, before all these extra-curricular activities, before I took some kind of part-time job, etc.?" And the answer is, of course, I changed diapers and bathed and dressed small children and made and cleaned up after three meals and two snacks a day and spent hours playing with dolls and trains and working puzzles and reading nursery rhymes and mopping floors and vacuuming and cleaning like a madwoman and going to play dates and doctor's appointments and the library and on and on and on...

...but I also could take a "holiday" pretty much whenever I wanted. I could spend a morning chatting with a dear friend and spend and afternoon lounging in the sunshine and drawing with sidewalk chalk. I could make a leisurely dinner with my husband. I could push everything off my agenda and just enjoy being alive.

And it was nice.

And I was thankful for it.

...and I'd love to talk more about it, but I've got to go watch a movie with my hubby!

Dynamic Duo

Luke and Anna have been squabbling a lot lately, which has been driving me just a little bit crazy. Looking over my pictures from the Children's Museum today, however, I realized that one reason they might be fussing more is because they are always together! Seriously, they were together in almost all my photos. And...they got along great today. So instead of being overly annoyed with the squabbling, maybe I should pay more attention to all the times that they play well:

Rolling golf balls down the ramp.

Playing in the water room.

Grocery shopping at "Publix."

Luke leads the way to check out. (Anna's outfit is from my Aunt Linda, btw. Thanks, Aunt Linda!)

Painting in the art room. (I was so impressed that Anna's apron fit so perfectly. Ummm...that's probably because it is hanging on her ponytail!)

My mom used to always tell us, "Get that tongue in your mouth!" because we were perpetually sticking our tongues out while concentrating. She found it very amusing. So that's where Luke gets it from. (Since Anna is a mini-Gaga, she is probably thinking, "Get that tongue in your mouth!":)).

So, the next time my kids are squawking about something one did to the other, I just need to go back and read this blog to remind myself that they do play well most of the time!

And, before I go, I have to show you the two pictures that were not of Luke and Anna together:

This is Luke entertaining our little neighbor, Katie. Isn't she the most precious baby ever?? Don't you just want to cover those little cheeks with kisses?? I do...and I do:).

The Many Quirks of Luke and Anna

As toddlers, my children move from phase to phase so quickly. I find that I have to write down their stages, or else I would forget them! Right now, for example, their two phases have several quirks, so I thought I would note them for posterity:

1. When Anna wants something, her sentence construction is, "Pease you ______." "Pease you rock me, Mama." "Pease you hold me." She says them both soooo sweetly that I can never say no!

2. Luke and Anna are both obsessed with the Africa puzzle. Anna knows and loves Madagascar, Morocco, Somalia, and the Red Sea. Luke doesn't know many more than that!

3. Luke recently learned "The B-I-B-L-E," and Anna has picked it up from him. She sometimes sings it, "The B-I-B-I-B."

4. Luke adores stickers. He gets a sticker in Sunday school each week with a phrase that has to do with his lesson ("I can be kind to others," for example). He will invariably wear it all day long. One Sunday morning in class, he put it across the bridge of his nose and kept it there all the way until naptime!

5. Anna is obsessed with all things that have to do with the potty...but refuses to actually "go" in the potty. We have had success only a handful of times and have temporarily given up the fight.

6. Both kids are incredibly ornery. Sample conversation:
Me: Here Anna, here is a dinosaur sticker.
Anna: That's not a dinosaur; that's a cow.
Me: No sweetie, it's a dinosaur.
Anna: No, it's a cow.
Me: Anna, you are so ornery!
Anna: I'm not so ornery!

I have to note that Anna is never upset or angry in these conversations. She speaks her stubbornness in her sweet little voice, and it cracks me up.

7. Luke is obsessed with Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

8. Both Luke and Anna have gotten very imaginative and love to role play. Today, Luke announced that he was Buzz Lightyear, and Anna promptly responded that she was Jesse (both from Toy Story 2). Last week, Anna declared out of the blue that Charlotte was a dinosaur (Charlotte wasn't there, by the way), and she was a pig. Those are also both characters from Toy Story. Can you sense a theme?

9. Anna's favorite book right now is Green Eggs and Ham. She has gotten to where she doesn't sit still long to read, but she will always sit for Green Eggs and Ham.

10. Luke has decided that his bff is Jonah, from church. No word yet on whether Jonah reciprocates the sentiment:).

11. Anna calls the "ABC's" the "ABCD's," and she calls water, "yoder."

12. We have to sing three songs before bed: "Jesus Loves Me," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and "Give Me Oil in My Lamp." The children decided on these songs, as well as the order, and they have stuck with them. Except sometimes when I am rocking Anna to sleep, and I start singing, "Jesus Loves Me," she interrupts with, "No, I don't want 'Jesus Loves Me.' I want 'Happy Birthday.'" Thus, I have to sing her "Happy Birthday" instead. She beams proudly the whole time I sing it to her.

13. Both of my kids must have been street urchins in another life. They mooch food off of people shamelessly. They have even been known to sneak food off other people's plates. And whenever Luke has to leave the table, he sternly warns us not to eat his food. For goodness sakes, kids! I swear we feed them!

14. Luke always has to know what's coming up tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Occasionally, I even have to walk him into next week! That is a trait he gets from his mama!

15. Both kids love playing in the gym after church. It has become their reward for behaving all the way through service. Though it is a madhouse in there, all the older kids are really nice to them. Anna has a pack of older girls who cater to her every whim, and Luke has fun building houses out of the foam mats in the corner, usually with the help of a few older children. I'm so thankful that Luke and Anna have so many kids to look up to. I even took a few pictures in the gym today for Project Life:

These kids always keep us on our toes, but we have definitely enjoyed the ride so far!

A Different Kind of Funeral

March is apparently the month for funerals in my life. This time last year, we had one for my brother. And yesterday, we had one for Greg's Granddaddy, who passed away at age 91. Here he is meeting Anna for the first time in November, 2008:

This funeral was a different type of funeral from my brother's, though. Granddaddy's death was not unexpected, and he left a lot of life behind to celebrate. Though I have been part of his family for almost seven years now, I didn't know Granddaddy extremely well from my short and sporadic interactions with him. Instead, I found myself telling others at the funeral home that I was sorry for their loss. After all, they had lost an amazing man, with whom many of them had lived and worked and worshipped for decades. They had lost a man who had stormed the beaches of Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge; who had raised thousands of beautiful, prize-winning roses; who had served as an elder of the church for years; who had been a founding board member of the the North Carolina chapter of AGAPE ministries. They lost a man who, for years, had worn a rose on his lapel every Sunday to church, and who gave it to a different child each week. They had lost a man who loved people deeply, and whose love expressed itself in a myriad of actions, sometimes small and sometimes heroically large (as his five bronze medals from WWII would attest).

So they had lost a lot. But for me, what I had lost was very small compared to what I had gained from Granddaddy. I am beginning to understand more and more how history is all around us, how the contours of our world and our lives are shaped by the decisions and actions of those who came before us. For better or worse, their choices created our world. And 99.9% of the time, we are totally oblivious to those choices. We have no idea, for example, what the person went through who founded our favorite restaurant; we don't know about the travails of those who started the church we attend; we are largely ignorant of the thousands of decisions and choices that have shaped our current culture. But every once in awhile, we can grab hold of a small thread, and we can trace that thread back through the past and see specifically how our world was changed by someone in the past. And my world was changed and shaped by P.D. Kirby's decisions.

It still amazes me to see how much a man's decisions and actions in the 40's and 50's can affect his son's decisions in the 60's and 70's, which affects his son's decisions in the 80's and 90's.

It is amazing how the way a man treats his wife and family in one generation shapes the way his son treats his family in the next, and his son in the next.

And so my dominant emotion at Granddaddy's funeral was not sorrow. No, the tears I shed were tears of gratitude. I was so thankful for the way this man had lived his life, the way he lived out his faith, and the way he passed it down through the generations....all the way to my own children.

P.D. Kirby's faith, his life, and his choices shaped their lives in ways so powerful that it is hard to fully appreciate. All I can say is that I thank God in heaven for the way that both of our families have molded and formed the landscape of our lives through their past actions and their daily choices to deny self and to live for God.

So thank you, Granddaddy, for the part you played in forming the blessed existence that I now enjoy. Thank you for laying that wonderful foundation. I promise you that I will keep building on it.

Conversations Today

I will resist the urge to give explanations for these bizarre conversations. I will just say that they are very typical of our life right now:

Luke: "Anna, when you get older, what kind of car do you want to drive? Do you want to drive a police car, or a fire truck, or an ambulance?"

Anna: [Ignores him. Continues pretending that she is reading a book about Thomas. Out loud. Despite the face that she is not holding a book.]

Luke: "Anna, when you get older, what kind of car do you want to drive? Do you want to drive a police car, or a fire truck, or an ambulance?"

Anna [exasperated]: "Luke, 'I don't know,' said Sir Topham Hatt."

Luke: [repeats choices yet again.]

Anna: "An airplane."

Needless to say, that was not an acceptable answer:).

Later, in a conversation about Luke's name:

Me: "Luke, did you know that I wanted to call you Michael? Your daddy is the one who decided on Luke."

Greg: "Yep. I said, 'I think I'll call him Luke.'"

Luke: "And I think I'll call me Buzz Lightyear."

And lastly, Luke has been bad about not taking apologies very well. So I tried to work in a teaching opportunity:

Luke [after spilling my water everywhere]: "I'm sorry, mommy!"

Me: "That's okay baby."

Luke: "I didn't mean to."

Me: "I know, buddy. But hey, Luke, did you notice that when you apologized, I didn't say, 'You did it on purpose!' or 'You're mean?' I said, 'That's okay.'"

Luke [getting upset]: "But I didn't! I wasn't being mean!"

Me: "I know, buddy, I know. But when I apologized earlier, those are some of the things that you said. And when people apologize, you shouldn't keep saying mean things. You say, 'That's okay.'"

Luke [sweetly]: "That's okay, Mommy."

Me: "But I didn't...never mind."

My son loves me...

"...bigger than everything in the world stacked up on top of each other, with God on top, and the sky on top of God."

So.

Beat that:).

Trip to the Park

This happened last Tuesday, but it occurs to me that I haven't posted pictures of the kiddos in a while, so I thought I would share:

Upon arriving.

What kind of face is that?

Or that?

Playing with Ty and Canon.