Five Minute Friday: Learning to Visit

Blogger wouldn't play nice yesterday, so I am doing a "Five Minute Saturday". This week's topic is VISIT.

GO

The giggles pour in from the other room. They are having a "smart tea party" complete with real tea cups, sugar cubes and milk. They pass the sandwiches. "Would you like another, Madam?" That's the rule, all sentences must end with "madam". More giggles. More sharing.

Their voices drop as they talk about this, about that. All of a sudden one asks, "Do you know all of the Lord's Prayer?" They begin to recite it. They correct each other and eventually get it right. Why the Lord's Prayer? Who knows. Why does any conversation go the way it goes?

They talk about school, about the weather and about church. They tell jokes and tease one another. They talk quietly and seriously and they talk loudly and boisterously.

Then it hits me, standing in the next room ready to make more tea, these little girls are growing up. They are not playing at a grown-up tea. They are having a grown-up tea. They are learning the art of how to carry on a conversation and visit. They are learning the charms of their nature.

It makes me smile. This visit from these little girls. And it reminds me I need to visit with my girlfriends as well. Maybe I'll call one up to meet me for a cup of tea soon.

STOP


Thank you for visiting my little corner of the web. I hope that you will come again. To read more brave writer's visiting on the topic of VISIT please join us at lisajobaker.com

Marriage Monday---Pondering New Life, Treasuring Children

It's Marriage Monday! I'm so glad that autumn is here and we are writing on marriage again.  My apologies that I missed the first one earlier this month.  The topic was communication--and obviously I'm doing a great job communicating right now.  This month's topic is children. Last time we spoke of children here at MM, I wrote on our choice to home educate.  Today, I'm going to veer off the suggested paths and post something I've been writing for the last several weeks.

You may remember that my words for 2011 are PONDER and TREASURE. They are taken from Luke 2:19:

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

We've had much to ponder and treasure this year as we learned early in 2011 we would be moving to Ireland. German began work in March but we were unable to move until the end of June. Settling into a new culture and watching my children navigate these waters have given me many things to treasure, and to ponder.

*Every time Jewel tells me she has finished another book (she is a voracious reader) I treasure that I was the one who had the privilege to teach her to read.
 *As both girls embraced tennis camp this summer, just a week after we moved in, I pondered the differences in the ways they approached making friends---Jewel knew everyone's name but nothing about them; Flower concentrated more on one person.
*As they find their places in Sunday School, I treasure the insights their teachers give me into their personalities outside my presence.
*As Jewel struggles with what it means to follow Christ and encounters that tug-of-war between sin nature and desire to follow I ponder what future God is preparing for her.
*As Flower chatters about the missionary stories that they read with their Daddy, I store up the treasure that these little girls are learning that God leads people and they are learning that in the presence of their father who is teaching them that they are adored.

You see, I thought when I chose the words Ponder and Treasure I was choosing something to help me focus my year. But there is a bigger picture. I am learning that those words need to be the focus of my parenting. I need to treasure my children--wrapping up those moments of joy, of insight and even of difficulty and holding onto them. I need to allow those things that I treasure to penetrate and sit well in my spirit. They then will be the things that motivate and encourage me as a parent. If I don't take the time to ponder the questions they are asking or the experiences they are having, I may very well miss the very thing that God wishes to use to shape them into the adults of the future.

Pondering and treasuring have become a huge part of my evaluation of my parenting. And that would have made them perfect focus words for 2011. But, God had more in store when he chose those words for me at the beginning of the year. And we had no idea!

The true irony is that in January I would have told you I was storing up treasures of our new life this year. But I thought that was only a life in a new place. I never dreamed it would also mean a new life--one that as I sit here and type these words is emphatically kicking to remind me that he/she is most definitely here. Just like Mary, we are storing treasure of the new life that God has given to our family and who will make his/her appearance in a few more weeks!

We have taken time to treasure the blessings that God has given us. Often I have thought about blogging something that happened, but instead felt the need to choose a path of private treasuring for the time. And it has been good for our family. I have treasured watching the girls telling others they are going to be big sisters. I've smiled as they have related how they have prayed "forever" for a baby brother, and quietly helped them ponder the reality it might be a baby sister. We've treasured the joy and excitement of others as they have celebrated with us. Now, as we enter the final few weeks I am beginning to ponder the changes that will come. How do we help them transition to their new roles? What will the new dynamics of relationships be like? Will we still travel with a newborn and do I remember how to do that?

I'm not sure what all the answers are.

But I know that we will be treasuring the changes as we ponder the newness.

What have your children done this week that you are treasuring? It doesn't matter how young or old they are, don't forget to treasure them!

Join the other amazing ladies that write for Marriage Monday at Chrysaliscafe.com today!

Happy Birthday

One day


One Year

Turn around twice and....

Now You are Six!!

Happy Birthday Flower!!!


(in all accuracy, this picture is her blowing out the candle at Christmas...I don't have her birthday pics loaded yet).

Never Underestimate the Power of Parenting

alternate title: This will make you want to cry

A friend of a friend this week has run from her supremely abusive marriage, taking her five children under the age of eight and two garbage bags of belongings. That is all she got out with, but she is out. And she is determined to make a life for them all. The past couple of days she has been getting a place to live sorted so the kids have been staying with my friend. (on a side note, the amount of furniture and clothing and other essentials donated through word of mouth has been amazing, so she is actually setting up a home!) Today my friend had an appointment and could not take her two kids plus three of the five with her (the two little ones were with their mom for a doctor appointment), so she asked if I'd watch the three kids. I was happy to help.

My girls and these kids were playing a game. I was listening from the other room. Somehow the topic of being sick was being discussed. Here was the conversation:

Middle child (7): I got sick one night in bed. It was awful!
Flower: One night I spit up all over my bed, too. When I cried Mommy and Daddy came running to help.
Eldest child (8): Your Dad came to help?
Flower: yeah...
Eldest: Really? You're serious?
Flower: uh huh

She was incredulous that a Daddy would ever help! I was on the verge of tears for these poor kids who can't comprehend that. And, I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving that mommy and daddy being there to help them is something my kids can take for granted.

Don't ever doubt that the mundane parts of parenting matter. They do. Seriously.

Please keep this family in your prayers. They will be in their home tomorrow. They still need so much, but they are grateful to be together and be safe. Pray that they remain that way!

Promised Birthday pictures

Here are a few of the promised pictures from the birthday party. Think you will agree all had a great time!


















Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Flower

Four years ago, I missed all the inauguration coverage on television because I had an OB appointment to schedule an induction for my second baby who was becoming quite tardy in making her appearance.

But that induction appointment was unnecessary, because at 8 p.m. it became apparent that she was indeed going to make her entry.

And at 10:21 p.m. our little Flower was born.


Saturday, she celebrated the day with a bouncy castle and 20 of her friends. It was a glorious day! I'll post the pictures when I get them downloaded off German's camera.

Today, I'm a little melancholy because my baby is FOUR!




Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Accidents Happen

I thought, I'd better warn you...accidents happen.

Especially when you have a migraine and are just trying to live until nap time. And then you sit in the room with the little Flower until she falls asleep, because you have a foreboding feeling that something could happen. But once she is sound asleep, you feel that all is safe, so you creep away seeking the darkness of a quiet room for your aching head.

Accidents can still happen.

Because she may wake up. And as she makes her way to her toy room, your large recliner may accidently jump in front of her, placing her in the little corner where you keep your cross stitch materials.

And while she is in the corner, that she is not allowed to be in but is now accidently there, the scissors may accidently jump into her hands. Not just any scissors, the extra-pointy-extra-sharp ginghers.


And while the extra-pointy-extra-sharp scissors are accidently in her hand, they may accidently jump up and cut some of her long, beautiful blond hair. Accidently. On both sides and in the fringe. And these remnants may accidently be left behind as evidence.


All of this will of course lead to a rushed visit to the hair dresser the next morning.

Where you may find yourself accidently smiling, because the new do is kind of cute as well.


So consider yourself warned....accidents happen. Just ask Flower.

IOW--Beyond my Expectations

Sunday was Flower's first week to go to "big church" for the first half and then leave for Sunday School. Up until now, she has been downstairs for the whole service in the creche (nursery for US readers). She usually gets whisked downstairs about five minutes before the service starts, which is about 3 minutes before the church fills up, lol.

So Sunday she was looking around, waving at people and chatting away with folks she only ever sees after the service. All of a sudden her eyes grow big and she points up and says, "how'd they get up there?" She was pointing to the balcony, which she had never noticed. I explained that there was a door and showed her where it was. She kept repeating "people are up there." Her church world had been widened. There was a new dimension to a building she thought she knew so well. And it fascinated her. She will never look at it the same again.

Cute. Bordering on adorable.

Consider, then, this interaction that I often have with God. (Maybe you have these interactions as well.)

"Wow, how'd that verse get there?" eyes growing wide.
"It's always been there."
"No seriously, I've never seen that before."
"You've never looked."
"I've read this passage before!"
"I didn't say you hadn't read it, you hadn't looked at it."
"What?!"
"Reading the words and reading My meaning aren't always the same thing."
"I still don't get it."
"You read My Word to get it to conform to your agenda. I want you to read it to conform to Mine."
"Oh....wow," shaking head in amazement and dropping eyes in shame.

And just like Flower, my view is widened. There is yet another dimension to God's work in my life. And I am fascinated. Hopefully, I allow it to change me and I'm never the same again.

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image.



~ A. W. Tozer ~

Father, today, help me to be willing to modify myself in order to conform to Your agenda. Give me wisdom to differentiate the differences. Widen my view. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Today's In Other Words is hosted by Deborah at Chocolate and Coffee. Please visit there to read other reflections on the Tozer quote.

Heard at My House...the profound edition

"The Lord has given this land to us,
I need to fuss
He knows what He's doing,
The Lord...."

You astute VeggieTales officiandos out there will know that the second line of this song is actually "NO need to fuss." But that is not how it is sung at our house. And it is sung at our house at least twenty thousand four hundred and one times a day, so this is heard at our hosue often. As I went to correct the girls for the umteenth time, I begain to see that they may actually be singing reality.

fuss: a: a state of agitation especially over a trivial matter b: objection, protest c: an often petty controversy or quarrel (according to www.Merriam-Webster.com)


How often do I see that God is at work in a situation and instead of rejoicing in what is happening, I choose to fuss? Maybe God chose to work differently than I would have chosen, so I get indignant. Maybe His time table did not comply with mine, so I get frustrated pace and fret. Maybe I am just disgruntled because someone else is getting the blessing instead of me. Maybe my excuse is that I am just being human, but that really translates into just being selfish.

There is often a sense that I need to "fuss"--fret and object--out of some misguided sense of injustice. Other times I "fuss" around--fidget, interfere, agitate--and get in the way. I say that God is working in my life but I don't act like He knows what He is doing. Worse yet, I act like He needs my "superior" skills to accomplish things. What a joke! What a sinful, prideful, selfish person I can be. And although my words may be saying "God is doing great things" if my actions are saying "I wish He would listen to me", what are people hearing? I think they more often hear the actions than the words. I want my actions to demonstrate my trust that "The Lord is giving (whatever we need) to us....He knows what He's doing."

Leave it to the children to teach us the lesson.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. Psalm 28:7

An added note, after I wrote the above I went to the dictionary to get the actual definitions (as quoted above) instead of my in-my-feeble-brain definitions of my rough draft. In addition to the ones listed, there is this definition:

a: needless bustle or excitement b: a show of flattering attention

I realized that sometimes I "make a fuss" over what God is doing and in the end over-analyze it to the point of almost minimalizing it. The key words here seem to be "needless" and "flattering". It is important to recognize God's hand and to give Him the glory. But often I need to just let God be God and not try to explain Him. He doesn't need my flattery, He deserves my worship. That is the fine line that He is teaching me to define. Seems to me there is more heart-work that I need to do here. Maybe I'll write about it more in the future.

Blessings today! Thanks for coming by!

photograph courtesy of www.morguefile.com; artist=setapart

My Princess is Three

Flower celebrated her third birthday yesterday. How can that be?



We actually had her party Saturday night. We invited the six families from our church who live in the neighbourhood over for a buffet dinner and birthday cake. A great time was had by all.

Then yesterday after church she was allowed to open her presents. She loves the dress up clothes from Grandad and D! Although the Cinderella balloon is also getting a lot of play.


Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Heard at Our House--the Funny Edition

A few more snippets of what you can hear at our house:

Flower: "I'm a Yogurt!" (playing with her talking Shrek toy from McDonalds)

*******
Mom: You have to wear long trousers today.
Jewel: I want to wear shorts.
Mom: Long trousers.
Jewel: But I want to be beautiful!
Mom: You will be beautiful no matter what you wear, but it will not be shorts. It's 4 degrees (C) outside.
Jewel: Then I won't wear anything!
(Like Mom is going to think naked is preferable to shorts on a cold day. *shrug*)

********

Dad: We're having pita bread tonight.
Flower: Pita is in the Bible.
Dad: No, Peter is in the Bible.
Flower: That's what I said, pita is in the Bible.
Dad: I think we need to work on her rrr's
Mom: I think that it is weird so many of her food conversations include the Bible.
Dad: Or maybe we are doing something right? (pause) It says we obviously feed them and teach them of the Bible. Must be right.

*******
coming soon...said at our house, the profound edition

Heard at Our House this Week

For your amusement a couple of conversations heard at our house this week.

Conversation One:
Setting: I had just sat dinner on the table which included some sliced cheese
Flower: What kind of cheese is that Mum?
Me: It's Edam
Flower: Mum you're funny!
Me: Why am I funny?
Flower: Edam not cheese. Edam was in the garden with Eve!
Me: No baby, Adam was in the garden with Eve. Edam is a town in Holland where they make cheese.
Flower: Oh....sorreeee!
Bible and geography lesson in one. How fun!

Conversation Two:
Setting: Sitting on the bed reading "The Night Before Christmas" story.
Flower: Why they call him St. Nick? That not St. Nick, that Santa Claus!
Me: Remember, the character of Santa Claus came from the legend of St. Nicholas. Some people use the name of St. Nick for Santa Claus.
Flower: Well that's just wrong!
Me: Why is it wrong?
Flower: Because St. Nicholas was real and Santa Claus isn't real and the story isn't real so it's Santa Claus not St. Nick.
So now you know....

It's a Good Thing She's Cute...or is it?

It's a Good Thing She's Cute...

You know, moms, when you have had one of those days, and dad comes home and you tell him how bad it has been and he says something kind of supportive, but in your heart you read his eyes saying "why are you being such a wimp, they're kids"? We've all had those days. And the dads in our life try, but they really don't get it.

Until it happens to them.

German was such a sweetie on our holiday, and would get up with the children at the crazy time of 715 and allow me to sleep a little longer. (note to self: don't put children in only bedroom with east facing windows!) Day Six of our holiday dawns, and this set-up is working great for me. Around 730, we hear children and off he goes to get them and go downstairs. Then I hear an "Oh Flower!" followed by complaining, although mainly under his breath. Flower had had one of *those* diapers, you know the ones that get everywhere--in this case all over the stark white linens on her bed and the marble floor. I took this as my cue to come and help--I cleaned her up, he cleaned to floor up and then I put all the linens in to wash. Catastrophy avoided.

Since we are all up, we head down for breakfast poolside. Flower is goofing off at the table and drops her fully jammed up toast onto her shirt. Two outfits and it isn't even 830 yet! *sigh* I strip the shirt off of her. We finish breakfast. We send the little angels (ahem) in to get dressed--Jewel was still in pjs and Flower is in shorts only at this point. Peace at last.

We finish our drinks, gather all the dishes up to go inside, get to the door and....Flower has locked the sliding door! And the girls have gone up to the third floor so they can't hear us knock. We are locked out for 22 minutes before they wander back downstairs to see what we are doing! The entire time German is fretting. I keeps saying "it happens" and he keeps shaking his head, as if this type of thing has never happened before. *heeheehee*

The girls let us in. German looks at me and says, "that has to be everything today, right? I mean three things before 930!" I just smiled knowingly, because this kind of day is just beginning.

Don't you love it when they get a glimpse of our world?!

And she is cute (here playing hide and seek with a friend).

But then again...is it good she's cute?

Flower was the belle of the ball in Turkey. Everyone loved her fair hair and blue eyes. People fawned over her. Ladies pinched cheeks, men stopped her in the street to give her flowers "for a kiss on the cheek", we were offered, tongue firmly in cheek, 15 camels for her. She ate it up! And the waiters...oh the waiters! The pictures speak for themselves.


The sweetest story, was on night two when the waiter (first pictured) was asking Flower if she would like to stay and help wash dishes. She was nodding her head and we were joking about it. All of a sudden, Jewel burst into uncontrollable sobs. She really thought we were going to leave her! Ah, bless her heart.

Funniest story was the last day. German was doing a "wrap-up" video with the girls of what we had seen and done. He asked Flower if she liked it when "all those men kissed you?" She vigorously nodded her head and just giggled. *sigh* What are we going to do with her? I'm proposing locking her up until she is 30. Any suggestions?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Fun things heard in our household the last few days. ;)

Mommy: You are noisy
Flower: I no noisy
Mommy: Yes you are
Flower: I no noisy, I funny
Mommy: You are that too.
(how can you fault that logic?)

While watching NASCAR last night:
Jewel: (amazed at spinning car) Someone needs to tell them to slow down.

And my personal favourite...
This morning while cleaning their room:
Jewel: (singing) My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's nothing He cannot do.
Flower: God big! God big! God big!
Mommy (to herself): Yes He is!

Smile! God is big enough to handle whatever comes your way today!

Happy Birthday Flower!

Then:

Now:

Happy Second Birthday Sweetheart!