Wet Blanket Mommy

Bedtime silliness drives me bananas.

It might not be so bad if I didn't have TWO little boys bouncing off the walls--and each other--and getting exponentially goofier every minute. If I don't put a stern stop to it, the tiredness makes them slide into nothing-stops-the-giggling mode. Nothing, that is, except separating them, or spanking them--and even then only sometimes. When I can't separate them into different rooms because I'm trying to put them to bed--let's just say, it makes me want to rip my hair out. Or someone else's.

So tonight, as I was toweling Skyler's hair dry after a swim at the pool, he began spiraling downhill into goofwad mode. "Skyler, stop being silly," I warned him.

"Mommy. "He gazed up at me sorrowfully. "Why won't you let me do my main passion?"

On racial profiling...

Anaya informed me the other day that she believes it is almost time for her to start preaching now. A little later, she brought me a notebook.

"I am planning what I am going to put in my PowerPoints," she announced. "Here's what I am planning."

"People need to realize that racism is bad!" she glowered. "So that's what I am going to talk about."

I'm glad she gave me the interpretation on that...

Wedding bliss

Yesterday we went to a wedding...with three children. (This, by itself, might make some people question our sanity. For those who still think there is a possibility we are sensible people...we also took them to a 2 1/2 hour graduation the same day.)

Thankfully, they are getting old enough to survive such adventures. This was evidenced by the fact that we actually made it to the wedding on time (barely!) and were able to sit through all of the bridal processional. (Well, depending on your definition of sitting...Skyler was rolling around under the pew part of the time, but there was no raucous noise, so I'm counting that as a success.)

Anaya was, of course, no trouble, having been enraptured with the entire wedding process since age 2 (no joke). She positioned herself next to the aisle with her hot pink camera, and was pretty much mesmerized from the start.

After the parading in of the bridal party, when everyone was up front lookin' pretty (mainly Ruthie and girls--no offense, Joe and friends!), I took the boys and a bag of toys out to the mothers' room so they could play quietly. I pulled out an assortment of cars and was about to leave them when Seth objected.

"But Mommy, I want to see the wedding."

"Why, Buddy?"

"I want to hear what the preacher says, so I can study it afterward."

Really? Wow. How do you argue with that?

So Skyler was left playing by himself while Seth trooped back into weddingland to sit with Daddy and me. All went surprisingly smoothly, and Skyler even joined us for the last ten minutes or so, sneaking in with his bag of toys and clambering onto Daddy's lap.

"Did they kiss yet?" he whispered.

"No. Did you want to see that?"

He grinned and wriggled in slightly sheepish glee. "Yes."

A little child shall lead

A few days ago I was puttering around in the kitchen making breakfast when I heard Skyler steadily plodding through Genesis 1 in the living room. "And every...wing-ed bird..." Peeking around the corner, I saw him laboring over the huge family Bible on our coffee table.

"Sweetie, what are you reading?" I asked, squatting beside him.

He beamed at me. "I wanted to read the Bible by myself today."

"That's great! But you know, it's better not to just read, but to actually study it. You might get more out of reading just a few verses and thinking about them." I gave him a few suggestions on how to visualize Creation and make practical applications to his day regarding what he was reading. "And especially," I added, "you need to pray that God will help you to understand and to love Him more through your time with Him."

"That's right, Mommy," he looked up at me with his (always melting me!) big brown eyes. "Because if we read just so we can get done as fast as we can, so we can go play, it doesn't count with God! We might read just so we can say, 'I finished reading my Bible' and feel good. But then we missed loving God."

Soup is good food

Winter, to me, is soup weather. I love chopping a bunch of organic stuff I glean from the garden or farmers' market, with some potatoes, lentils or tomatoes, and feeling like I am pouring pure nutrition into my thriving saints' little tummies.

The saints who own said tummies are not always as enthusiastic.

"Can I just have Goldfish crackers?"

"Can I make something for myself?"

"Can I have hot dogs instead?"

After several (I'd love to say patient) sessions of explaining that food is for the purpose of making us healthy, not always happy, and that Mommy slaved over the hot stove to make that stuff you don't like, I went into Sensible Mommy Mode, trying to involve them in the preparation of the meal. When I discovered one afternoon that we were out of onions, I sent Skyler outside to pick wild onions from the yard (something he loves doing, which leads to onion breath poisoning when we are driving in the car sometimes--but that's a different blog). After blending the soup (carrot-curry-coconut-ginger, for those who are interested), I poured it back into the pot to cook the onions. However, the green onions gave it an entirely different color than usual.

"Oh wow!" Skyler exclaimed when he caught a glimpse of lunch. "Anaya! Sethie! Come see what we have for lunch!" He pointed into the pot as they scurried into the kitchen. "Green goo swamp!"

New blog

So...I do occasionally have sane rambles. (True story. Ask my husband.) In an attempt to unscramble them and process intelligently, I sometimes write them down. And since I enjoy writing, and people have told me I should do it more, I decided to share some of my thoughts.

But not here. This, so far, has been pretty much a place to help people laugh, and pray for us, and remind those who don't have kids what they're in for if they get them. (I know, I know, that's already pretty random, but anyway...)

So, I have decided to blog on our ministry website. And if you are interested in reading said ramblings, I invite you to come read them!

You're welcome.

Here's the link:

http://www.heartthirst.com/blog/

Please feel free to comment, encourage, criticize (but please be nice), or otherwise ruminate along with me. I appreciate your input.

(Well, maybe not the criticisms...or at least only the nice ones.)

One unwise king from the east

"Skyler! Why are you all wet?"

He stood in the bathroom in his soaked pajama shirt, grinning mischievously under wet curls. "Because I anointed myself."

 "Sweetie! You were supposed to be brushing your teeth! Why--"

"But Mommy, I was just thinking about King Saul being anointed."

"Well, you aren't supposed to anoint yourself. Why did you do that? Did you think it would be special, or just fun?" (And why do I ask such useless questions?)

"I just wanted to do it." The naughty twinkle hadn't left his eyes. "But it's a good thing I didn't do it with olive oil, isn't it?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Because then I would be...king!"