a parent's prayer

Today was one of those days, the kind where my children have pushed every button and I have failed in countless ways. This humbling kind of day is good, though - it reminds me of how much I stink at life when I try to do it on my own. This day led me back to this prayer, which I needed and will add to my morning prayers. And that is a good thing.

O Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.

Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly.

Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.

Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.

May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power.

Let me not tempt my children to lie or steal.

And guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all that I say and do that honesty produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. And when I'm out of sorts, help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue.

May I ever be mindful that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgement of adults.

Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions.

Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm.

Make me fair and just and kind and fit, O Lord, to be loved and respected and imitated by my children. Amen.

-from "Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home"

playin' in the rain

Every part of me wanted to say, "No." I may have even half-heartedly breathed the word.

Aida had just said, "Mommy, I want to go outside."

Of course, my children had steadfastly refused as I had practically begged them to go outside yesterday when it was 77 degrees and lovely outside. Today, it had dropped 20 degrees in an hour and was raining. I wanted to say, "No." But then a little voice in my head said, "Why not?" I want to be a Mommy who lets my children play in the rain, who cultivates in them a sense of creativity and spontaneity and gratitude for every blessing. It's not always easy (convenient, conventional, painless) to be that kind of a parent. But I had just been presented with an opportunity. I wanted to take it. So I let my girlies put on their rainboots, grabbed our coats, and we headed outside.

It was so much fun. The girls got soaked. We tracked 600 leaves and a gallon of water into my mudroom. I put Aida and Sophie into a warm, deep bubble bath and let them soak for a half hour. We had vanilla chai and graham crackers and snuggled on the couch waiting for Daddy to get home.

It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon - much better than sitting around inside, staring at each other. And it was a good reminder to me that I need to just go with it, go with it, justbe present in each moment, sending up prayers of gratitude for each sweet moment, rain or shine.

a bear by any other name...

Meet Doh Doh and Bacy Macy. We have finally entered the naming-dolls-and-stuffed-animals phase. But you won't find any Marys or Sarahs around here. Doh Doh and Bacy Macy. I love it.

* * * * * *

Happy Thing of the Day: Watching my girls play Duck Duck Goose with each other - just the 2 of them. One sat on the floor and the other walked around her, patting her head each time and saying, "Duck...duck...duck...goose!" Then they both ran around the house with no apparent goal (other than running in the house - hmmm). They traded off who was chasing whom until one of them finally made it back to home base (Mommy and Daddy's room), and the game started over. Their giggles are the highlight of my life.

Sad Thing of the Day: Saying goodbye to Nana after a week of having her with us. We miss you already, Nana!

favorites - revisited

(little girls in pjs, buried in our giant laundry pile)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I wanted an update. Here it is.

Sophie's (current) favorite:

• color - ummmm...brown...and pink
• animal - ummmm...meerkats and giraffes
• food - ummmm...popcorn (an interesting choice, since she can't eat popcorn until she's 4)

Aida's favorite:

• color - blue
• animal - tiger
• food - couscous

just a day at home

Nana is in town for the week but none of us were feeling super great so we stuck around the house today. We were lucky to have a visit from Aunt Jac and the indomitable Robert Gordon this morning - I have never seen a kid go down the slide like that one does.

"Quiet Resting Time" was a disaster - sisters were screaming, threats were made, tears were shed. You would have thought the world was ending (it sort of felt like it was for a minute there). I find it happens like this so often - when I feel desperate for a rest my children refuse to work within my own will and instead insist upon exerting their own. Which usually does not involve resting. This always presents me with the question - am I humble enough to surrender my own desires and attend to that which God has given me? With His grace - and a thousand whispers of "Lord, have mercy" - sometimes I am.

So we were out of bed and treading that ever-so-thin line between boredom and peace. Working to find our rhythm, we did find peace - in a glance at rain showers, in candles and tea, in building and watching fall, building and watching fall, building and watching fall. We snuggled up to some Veggie Tales silly songs on Nana's computer and to lots of books. We tickled and kissed and cooked. We painted and played and pretended. I prayed, seeking wisdom and patience, offering gratitude and thanks for these precious days at home.

that magic hour

I sat down in the living room, notebook, shopping list, and recipe book in hand, and started planning our meals for the week.

Sophie tugged at my arm. "Mommy, dance wiff me."

Meal plan? Or dance with my daughter? Not a tough choice.

Aida and Daddy quickly joined us and we cut a rug there in our living room to Ace of Base. I tried to drink it all in - the flying hair, the high-pitched giggles, smiling eyes and all the new dance moves.

There was a time - not too long ago - when the hour between dinner and bedtime was one we just had to live through. These days, that hour is the best one in each day. Bellies full, Daddy home, Mama relaxed and lots of laughing. And some nights, lots and lots of dancing.

(The dancing later changed to a recent favorite game - Daddy throwing/spinning the girls onto the couch. Check out the face of the spectator sister in each of the 2 pictures below...I love it!)

the pumpkin patch

Well, God is merciful and the throwing up didn't begin in our house until after Elijah made it home. We are doing much better now but are still kind of in recovery mode - so I thought I'd just offer some more cute pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch and call it a day.

So excited for Hayride #1:

The wheat:

The tire swing (such joy!):



Just before it all completely fell apart:
Hoping for health for all of you!

letters to daddy while he's away

Friday

Dear Daddy,

Today we ate lunch with Mommy up in the fort. She wasn't sure how long we would last with the flies everywhere but we had a great time and ate all of our food up there. Then we slid down our slide and Aida went so fast she flew off and landed on her bottom. She cried but it was very exciting. Later, we played almost-naked Duck Duck Goose (well, Mommy wore clothes) in the living room. And tonight we had dinner at MBA, where we got tattoos on our hands and our picture drawn. We think it is beautiful and we said so - repeatedly. There were balloons and little footballs and cookies. It's been a fun day but we miss you.

Saturday

Dear Daddy,

Today was quite a day. We went to the pumpkin patch and then to our friends' house for an autumn party. It was so fun but really hot - much too hot for a day celebrating Fall! We went on TWO hayrides (it was just so thrilling the first time we had to try it again), spent half an hour pouring wheat grains into plastic jugs, laughed on the tire swing, and picked a pumpkin. We really missed you, but Mommy missed you even more. Luckily for her, we have some great friends who stepped in for you when we had a few minor melt-downs.

When we got home, we played with our MBA footballs in the backyard - we are super good at running for touchdowns (if running for touchdowns means running in circles).

Bath time was pretty exciting. Sophie accidentally pulled the plug and we both shot up and out in 2 seconds when we heard the water draining. Water was everywhere, we were screaming, Mommy wasn't happy with us, but we were just afraid of getting sucked down. We hope you come home soon - things like that never happen when you give us a bath.

Sunday

Dear Daddy,

Big day today - church, lunch out with Grandmom, then Gran Margaret's 90-somethingth birthday party. When we got home Mommy put us down for "Quiet Resting Time" and Sophie covered her whole body - and her bed - with coconut lotion. She smelled really good for the rest of the day.

Mommy thinks its a good thing you're coming home tomorrow because she is very tired. She's so tired she forgot to put Tony Romo back in her starting line-up for fantasy football and he threw for over 400 yards today. She needs you home to remind her of things like that. Also, she really really misses you. So do we. Can't wait to see you!

Love, Sophie and Aida

sisters

This morning, summoned by dramatic, repeated shrieks of, "Mommmmmy! It's waaaaakkkke-up time!" I left the brief moment of quiet I had just stumbled upon and opened the door to my girlies' room. (It was Sophie. Yes, she does this every morning. It is something we will be working on when I am brave enough.)

My Little J, squirreling around in her bed and ready to go, popped her rumpled head up in a quick answer to my own "good morning." Aida, on the other hand, drawn so rudely from the depths of slumber by the screams of her sister, mumbled from her side of the room and burrowed a little deeper into the covers. I sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing her hair and back as she woke up enough to giggle. Taking this as a sign, Sophie ran from her own bed, jumped into Aida's, and wrapped her arm around her sister's neck, flinging her leg over her waist. She nuzzled her nose in Aida's crazy morning hair, holding on for dear life. There they were, lying as close as they used to when they were in the womb. Sister-spooning.

* * * * * * * * * * *

This afternoon during "Quiet Resting Time" (that phrase must always be put in quotation marks), I heard giggles escalate into full-blown laughter and full-blown laughter escalate into banshee-like screaming. I thought it might be a good idea to peek through the open door and make sure everyone was relatively uninjured. I found 2 little girls, again in Aida's bed, wrapped up in each other, wrestling and rolling from one end of the bed to the other. A minute later, there was a crash followed by a bang. That was Sophie, falling out. She climbed back up and the wrestling continued. As did the laughter and the screaming.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Earlier this week we made pizza dough. My girls love measuring and spooning and stirring. They do not, however, love listening to the mixer - especially when the dough hook is in use and the whole apparatus dances across the kitchen counter. So when the KitchenAid started doing its thing, Aida and Sophie scampered out of the kitchen and into the safety of the rocking chair. When I turned the mixer off I heard the sweetest little conversation coming from the girls' room.

Sophie: "What does this say?"

Aida: (nonsense syllables)

Sophie (nodding her head, I am sure): "Oh....What does this say?"

etc.

There they were, side by side in the rocking chair, Aida "reading" to Sophie (see picture above). I wanted so badly to go in there to be with them, but I fought the urge. I didn't want to barge in on such a moment, didn't want to break the spell. So I set to work in the kitchen, sweet music in my ears, listening to these sisters love each other.

{So as to ensure that no one is under any false impressions here...I was only about 4 minutes into sweeping and mopping the house when the sisterly reading came to its end, after which the girls followed me around, whining and fussing (including quite a bit of crying). They definitely pushed my mama patience to the limit. So then I banished us all to Quiet Resting Time (or I guess I should say "Quiet Resting Time"). Just keeping it real here.}

it's been that kind of a day

An extremely busy (bordering on exhausting),

very messy,

(though Aida still managed to get some of her organizing in)

fun but with a bit of a headache kind of day.

Life is so sweet. After my girls had a long soak in the tub - long enough for the dirt and sand to float out from underneath their nails and their sweet little fingers and toes to prune up - they let me snuggle them for a minute.

AND...look whose husband brought home some chocolate pie.

(I might let him have one piece.)

After pie comes bed, glorious bed, puffy down blanket and all. Mmmm, can't wait.

my view from here

This is the view into my girls' room from my current perch on the couch:

Tonight I am thanking God for these 3 amazing blessings, and for a much-loved rocking chair in a cozy little house. I am thanking God for the grace and nourishment I received today at His table. I am even thankful for the lessons I learned in patience and parental follow-through as Sophie screamed (to no avail) for 10 minutes "I want a doooooo-nut!" outside our church's fellowship hall. Did I say 10? It was more like 15.

And thanks to you for reading. Hoping for a week filled with gratitude for us all.