Musings From a Mother

• Dough pretzels are more fun when everyone makes his own “snake” in the shape he likes.

• Speaking of snakes, nothing brings the study of reptiles to life quite like finding a live subject in the school room floor!  (Call to husband while standing on chair:  “What?  Is it poisonous?  How would I know!  Righhhht.  You want me to look at its eyes.  Small problem….I HAVE TO GET CLOSE TO IT TO DO THAT!“)  Thank Heavens for boys with pellet guns looking for adventure.

• There is a small window of time when children actually love to do dishes…let them!

• I can’t get enough of naked babies.

• Homemade cinnamon rolls are worth it.  Quality translates to dollar signs in my brain, so we’ve printed fliers to sell them to the neighbors–it should pay for a few violin lessons.

• Simple, homemade play doh can save us on a hot, summer day.

• My first baby…that blessing that began and remains a miracle though born out of sin, is a woman.  And though she is my daughter, please allow me the liberty of saying that I couldn’t be more proud of who she has become.  She is my best friend.  She isn’t perfect, but praise God her heart seeks Him earnestly and she is committed to allowing Him to mold her more and more into His image.  And though she has many gifts and is full of ambition, I will not glory save in the work of the cross in her life.  All else is rubbish.

• My little boys and girls are quickly growing into men and women.  What a privilege to get to spend my fleeting days with them!  And every day counts…I want to soak them in, look long into their eyes, love deep into their souls and treasure each minute–the hard ones and the easy ones.  I want to impress deeply into their hearts the things that are noble, right and true.  I want to be the one who shapes them, soothes them, teaches them and sends them into the next generation to do it all over.

I am a mother.  It’s what I do.

I *heart* Babies

Photograph courtesy of Bria Crawford

Summer Snapshots of Sisters

Ellia and Mallie…

Mallie can’t get enough of Ellia.  She thinks Ellia is a live baby doll, available for toting and doting at her whim.  I love the unadulterated love of a child for a baby.

And with a face like that, can you blame her?

Star-Gazing is the Closest We’ll Get to Starbucks

The nearest Starbucks coffee is some 40 miles away,

but tomorrow we’ll have butter ’cause we’ve got raw milk today!

It’s not all glam and glitz to dabble on this funny farm,

but we marvel underneath the stars and cherish country charm.

They think I’m “Fertile Myrtle” but they should only see, these goats don’t have a thing on me–this baby’s number three (at a time, that is)!

It may cost less to buy tomatoes at the grocery store,

But watching them sprout from the ground has taught us so much more.

It’s a simple life we live, with its share of dirt and grime,

And as much as I love Starbucks, I’ll take it anytime.

Oh, and maybe life gets a bit too busy?  Yesterday, Aaron and I both forgot it was our anniversary

From the kitchen as we got ready for church I called into the bedroom,

“Hey Honey, Happy Anniversary!”

Dead Silence.  *hee hee*  I can see his face!

Slowly he eased out of the room, not sure if I had just remembered or had just given him ample time to drop the bomb…

I burst into laughter!

Yep, it’s OK to forget as long as you’re not the only one.  But I wouldn’t suggest taking the risk if it can be avoided.

So, we went to Starbucks later last night.  Well, OK, it wasn’t Starbucks, but that fit with the poem so much better.  It was actually a coffee cafe very akin to Starbucks except without the wavy-haired siren.

And Starbucks coffee.

All’s Not Hair in Love and War

It took me 5 children to realize that I might need to say it out loud:  “You are not allowed to cut yours or anyone else’s hair”.

You must hear it from the start…

I have had hair woes my whole life. Too thin, too fine, too–not what I wanted it to be. I deal with it.

I married a man with thick, jet black hair, but several of our first girls inherited my hair. Life is still good.

Enter Mallie.

This child was born with a shock of full, fuzzy, black hair. It was comical…me, the fair-skinned blond lady holding this dark-skinned baby with…this HAIR.

I loved it from the start.  And it grew and was so thick and so long and so wavy and so…everything I had always wanted in hair.  And despite the torture of combing out tangles from this thick-maned three-year old, I loved it long (notice that was past tense).

Not braided, it had grown to her waist.

And then…

That tangle I couldn’t get out.  It came out of nowhere and so I had to do it–I cut it up almost to her chin.  I almost cried, but that would have been silly.

So we got used to her cute new haircut.

And then…

Enter Brooks–the 5-year-old that didn’t get the memo.

“She told me to”.  That was the best he could come up with.   (Didn’t Adam say that?)

So here’s the really good part…this happened on the same day I posted about teaching our children forgiveness. God does love a good, “let’s see what ya got?” doesn’t He?

Maybe I loved Mallie’s hair too much…

It’s even worse in the back.

I left it hacked up for 2 days before I could get the nerve to cut it.  And since we don’t have a sharp pair of scissors in the house, I grabbed the little red pair, the same pair Brooks used.

“I wanted hair like Avi.” I get sad every time I look at it.

A good reminder for all of us that:

Forgiveness is mandatory…no matter the mess we have to deal with.

Hair grows back.

There are consequences to our actions.

I need to remember to tell my other 5-year-olds about the hair thing.

We probably do things that leaves God shaking his head and saying, “What was she thinking?!” and He loves us anyway.

So what did I say besides “I’m so glad my son doesn’t show promise for Cosmetology”?

“Well, there’s only one thing left to do….blog about it.”

A Few Fun Pics…

In the middle of my giving the kids some basic bedtime instructions, Kyla makes this face and says, “Hush, Mommy.”  It was one of those stunning moments where the words escape you.  I don’t think she understood the weight of her disrespectful command, and so I had to balance my response, which was somewhere in between laughter and “She did NOT just say that!”.

My daughter did that, just for the record.

“A baby is sunshine and moonbeams and more brightening your world as never before.”
– Author Unknown

She was a bit disappointed by the DOW Jones’ report today.