May 11, 2010

• {Monday. Mother’s Day. And Only One Toilet in the House Kind of days.}
  
  
  Today was a long day.
   
  The kind that at some point either has you bursting into tears or bursting out laughing.
  
  I think I did a bit of both.
  
  It started with one eye opening to the sound of arguing coming up from the kitchen from Kate and Ben…
  and being reminded as I pried the other eye open of why I should never go to bed without washing my mascara off first!
  
  I went downstairs to discover the argument was over something to do with the pancake batter they were mixing up… [Ben was trying to make up his own recipe, I think] A quick assessment around the room showed me that most had ended up on the floors and walls instead of in the actual pancakes.
  Which led to an impromptu early morning kitchen scrub down. Which led to a trip to the garbage can in the garage.Which led to the site that the dogs had dug up. chewed up. and destroyed the perennials I had just planted in my garden the evening before.Which led to one mad pregnant woman chasing two dogs around the yard in her pajamas with wild hair and black smeared slept in mascara.[Yeah, if I were a dog I would run too!]
  
  Which led to me wishing Monday could be Sunday all over again.. cause now that, that was a NICE day!

  

  

  

   

  = = ~ = =
  
  We didn’t really have anything special planned. I just wanted a relaxed kind of day, and that’s what it was.
  Except when we went to go out to eat… I couldn’t quite decide where exactly I wanted to go.
  [takes me longer these days to get in touch with my inner taste buds]
  Shayne was so sweet and patient as we headed one way, then the other when I changed my mind.
  Only to find everywhere we did go was packed out!
  
  I guess we didn’t take into consideration that every single family in the world would be eating out that afternoon.

  shayne asked for a scary face:
  

  and a goofy one:
  

  and a normal one.. or something like it:
     
  
  We ended up at a park to sorta wait for the crowds to pass. Shayne snapped some pictures for me with the kids as we walked around. It was a bit of a chilly day, but the sun was nice. I’m glad I had thrown some sandals in the van to replace the heels I’d worn to church.  
  
  Finally, we headed to my restaurant of choice, which by now.. had changed again. Still.. at three in the afternoon the wait was an hour! So we took our little buzzer thingy and went to McD’s for fries to hold us over, then to Lowe’s to pass the time. Hey, what true mom doesn’t like hangin out at a Home Improvement store on Mothers day!!
  
  We did eventually get that lovely lunch, now turned dinner. We sat in a cozy corner booth just for five, though I think six would fit comfortably too and ate stuffed mushrooms, crab legs, and drank fun Shirley Temple’s with cherries on top!

  
  Later that night we went out for ice cream in our pj’s~

  

  couldn’t have become or be a mom without this guy’s help:
  
  
  
  = = ~ = =
  
  Towards the end of last week. I had this growing “worry” coming up inside me.
  I don’t know what exactly brought it on… 
  Though it probably had something to do with me just recently writing about the peace I had been feeling in life.
  seems whenever I share something publicly God tests me out in the sincerity department soon afterwards.  
  
  But the worry had to do with the house and thinking about baby coming this fall.
  
  Suddenly having this overwhelming sense of..
  where was this little one going to sleep?
  and how would we fit two in a room that was barely big enough for one?
  and how were we going to get by with just one toilet?
  and only six kitchen cabinets, total?
  and no dishwasher?
   
  … and on and on the mental list of “what we needed” went! 
  Causing the little worries in my mind to turn into a major discontentment tantrum in my heart.
  
  On Saturday I was waiting on Kate and Ben to be finished with a play practice and found myself in and out of different stores~
  which let me just say that if you’re struggling with being content – - shopping is NOT the cure!
  No wonder my Dad used to say the best way to save money is to just stay home.

  

  I haven’t had that feeling in a long time I can honestly say.. that ugly greedy part of me that walks through going, “I want one of those and one of those… If only I could have that… And wouldn’t life be easier with… And gee, if only I could think of a way to come up with more money to buy all these things I want…”

  and now for a short commentary on the stores I visited~

  *Target is like walking into an old friends house – I get the urge to hug something when I enter. Good thing they don’t have door greeters like Wal-mart! *Pier One smells absolutely divine – how do they even get it to smell that way? From now on I’m just going to open the door, take a big whiff, then keep on going. and *Ikea – Can I just say whoever designed that place was absolute genius! They’ve made it like such a maze, that you’re certain to buy something just for someone to please show you where the exit is!

  Ben was actually with me when I stopped in there and I haven’t shopped there tons, so I guess I don’t know the “system.”
  And trust me – - there is a system.

  At one point I said to Ben, “man. it seems like everyone is going in the opposite direction from us!”
  I just like wandering to wherever seems to catch my eye. 
  A bit later Ben asked, “Why are there big black arrows on the floor, mom?”
  Suddenly I got the system and I realized WHY I felt like a fish swimming upstream!
  
  I came out of there feeling like I’d been to an amusement park…. head spinning from trying to take it all in. following the herds of people. standing in long lines. and eating a bag of popcorn that I really have no idea how it ended up in my hands!!

       
  
  Please don’t misinterpret me~ I love to shop and can keep up with the best of ‘em. Systems or none.
  Only on this particular day, or times when I feel that gnaw of discontent coming over me, it’s not always healthy.
  
  But shopping was not really my point.
  My mind rabbit trails a lot when I’m pregnant. And tired.
  Which I happen to be a lot of both lately.
  
  But while I was gone for the afternoon Shayne told me two older ladies stopped by the house…
  one of them said she had been raised here and she just wanted to see “the old place.”
  Shayne let her come inside and look around.
  
  He called me on my cell later and was telling me all this.
  
  “And guess how many kids were in her family?” he said. “Twelve!”
  
  The parents room was where the office/classroom is downstairs. There were two girls in Emma’s room, two girls in Ben’s, three in Kate’s, and what is now our bedroom… that’s where the five boys slept!  
  
  As Shayne described the sweet way this woman reminisced about her family and all the happy memories she had here -how that she and her brothers and sisters would sit on the steps, watching their mother cook, waiting for dinner. playing outside all day by the creek..  Suddenly, as I listened, my dreams of bigger houses and rooms and lots of pretty things seemed to melt away. My soul shifted to a different perspective and my focus began to clear.
  
  Does it really matter if every child has a room? Or I have to wash dishes by hand the rest of my life?
  
  Is that really important to having a happy home? Is that what memories consist of? ~“Oh man, you should have seen our house… we had TWO whole toilets!!”
  
  A child might never remember the number of times they had to wait outside the bathroom for their turn, but they’ll never forget the spirit that filled their home!

       
  
  Being a good parent has nothing whatsoever to do with how much stuff you can give your kids!
  And certainly nothing wrong with “stuff. I like stuff.
  But it’s a lie from hell to believe that having more will make us happier.
  
  There is nothing in life, absolutely nothing that can bring any kind of lasting fulfillment apart from Jesus Christ.

  I wouldn’t mind bigger. and I certainly wouldn’t mind an extra toilet…. but most of all what I want my kids to “get” growing up in this home. to remember. and to believe. and especially, see lived out before them – is the truth that Jesus ALONE {all by Himself with nothing else added on} satisfies.

  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  ¸.·´¸.·¨) ¸.·¨)
  (¸.·´ (¸.·´ (¸.·¨¯`♥ amber.
  

  • 1:26 am
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