Dining on the Floor

Today as I watched my little ones eat their lunch under the table I had the thought that no way would this have happened a few years ago.  A few years ago eating under the table would have been a no-no not because of what I thought but because of what I perceived others were thinking.

Don't do this to yourself.

When you go to say no to your child - think are you saying no because you believe it to be wrong or because of what you think other people will say or think?

Let's take the example of eating under the table.  What are the cons?

1.  The floor will get dirty.
     - Well, we haven't figured out how to keep the floor clean when they eat at the table and not under it so we are good to go on that one.

2.  I don't want to eat under the table.
     - I don't eat lunch with them.  I use this time to clean up the kitchen, prep for dinner or fold laundry.  I am with them, in the same room and can monitor them but I learned long ago that this works best for us.  They eat more, they interact with each other and are occupied while I can get some work done.

3.  They will want to eat under the table all the time.
    - They have never asked to eat under the table at any other time.

4.  They will think it's normal to eat under the table and want to do it at friend's house/school/church.
   - Nope, hasn't happened yet.

So in conclusion there are really no cons (in my humble opinion) to eating under the table save for the fact that other people might think it strange or uncouth.  But really I think they probably would think that about us even if I didn't let my children eat under the table :)

So today take your eyes and thoughts off others and do what you think is best, what's right for your family.  It looks different to all of us.  And yes you will get strange looks and maybe someone somewhere in the world will judge you for what you are doing but really that's going to happen no matter what.  It's the way of the world unfortunately and I would be lying if I said there weren't moments when I thought WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT MOM DOING.  But then I remember that they are a mom and us moms have to stick together because we have a tough job.  We all have good days and bad days and even everything-is-going-perfect-so-you-better-darn-well-look-at-my showered-self-today-because-who-knows-what-tomorrow-is-going-to-look-like days.

Well, I have to go because MY lunch is waiting and I always like to dine in bed, under the covers reading my novel while Francesca sleeps and Nico is sequestered in his room to play by himself.

Judge away........................ :)

Sunday Dinner.......If Only It Were More Holy :)

It started with Fia telling us about Jack (this is her pretend dog that she has had to make up because we will never, ever have a dog because all we need around here is more poop..........).  Jack comes to bug her every night at dinner for food.  This is where she rolls her eyes and sighs big sighs because no one will ever accuse her of being understated.  Nico, OF COURSE, has to add in his own thoughts about HIS dogs.  This is accompanied by Nico playing the part of himself AND his dog.  The conversation is short and sweet.....

Dog Nico:  I am hungry.

Nico:  What you want?

Dog Nico:  I want to eat the window.  

This is followed by hysterical laughter because pretend dogs eating windows is apparently the absolute height of preschool humor.  

Then Nico begins to talk about his boring little brothers.  I would imagine this is, in part, an example of Nico's wonderful imagination and part commentary on his own little sibling - a bit subtle for my boy but stranger things have happened.  We learned some interesting things about his boring little brothers tonight............

Nico:  You know my boring little brothers?  They always have butt cake, every day.  It tastes....like.....like.......yogurt with butt.  (This spawns a while other train of thought, this mere mention of yogurt)  They also open the fridge and get out yogurt and put it in their BUTT.

I really must stop laughing hysterically when he says this stuff.  I apologize in advance for any of you that might have inappropriate encounters with Nico.  It's not his fault, really.  He spent all his formative years at home all day with a mother and two sisters that find him to be beyond cute :)

Time For Bed

A day filled with face painting, mask making, cannon creating and sundae eating....................

A day filled with moments of laughter and joy and fun..........

A day that you wish could go on and on because it was the best of days............

But it can't.  Times passes, the sun goes down and bodies grow weary.

Parting words for the night?

Sofia beckons from the top bunk....Mom, don't start reading books without me tomorrow, ok?

Nico creeps out as daddy has a final chat with the girls.......(He hands me the cannon he made at Art Splash this morning, a cannon made from cardboard and duct tape) Mom, I want you to have this cannon, ok?  Here's the remote (as he passes me the imaginary remote :).  Now don't, DON'T, push the red button.  That's a bad button.  The green button will help you shoot guys, ok?  But don't push all three colored buttons together, that's BAD.  Do you have the remote still, Mom?  Ok, keep it with you.  Just point the cannon out the window.  Ok, I have to go now.  (I tell him what a good knight he is, thinking of his mother's protection as he goes to bed for the night)

Francesca jogs out after all have been tucked and kissed.......Mom, Mom where my water bottle?  Where my water bottle?  Here it is.  I got it, mom.  I got it.  (Little feet pitter patter back to bed and back to the living room again)  Mom, mom where my Dora book?  My little Dora book?  (I reply that I have no idea) Ok.  (She rummages through a basket of books in the living room.)  I got more book, Mom.  I got lot of book. (Pitter patter back to bed)

Good night my precious ones.  Sleep tight.  I love you.  Thank you for your last words of the day.....for prolonging the sweetness for a few extra moments.

What I Hear

When finally it comes, when the day has been spinning round and round, and I find myself sitting in the stillness, in the quiet.  When the dishes are done, the laundry washing itself, when the kids are quiet and still and my coffee is hot, He beckons.  It's a call I hear every day, every moment.  Almost every day I answer - for a few minutes, for longer sometimes.  I sit at the table or on the big comfy green chair with my Bible and journal spread out.

In the stillness, He calls.

He calls me by name.

He sweeps waves of peace and love over me.

In the stillness all I hear is............

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

The dirty kitchen floors are wiped from my thoughts.

The scale that never reads the number I want, the number, the goal always changing because it will never be right until I am right with not the number but the person.  That scale is swept aside.

The piles that invade our house over and over again are erased from my mind.

The failures of the day, this day where I prayed that I wanted to be a better wife and a better mom than I was yesterday, these disappear.

Every imperfection is gone and in it's place is His perfect love.

A love not based on the cleanliness of my house, the behavior of my children, the food I place on the table or the ways I serve others, but a love based simply on being a child.  A child with a Father who loves, who loves big and deep and wide.  It's endless and unconditional.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

He's calling each one of you today.

In the stillness, in the quiet...........let it wash over you.

Life's Little Moments

Just enjoying the little moments of today...............

Nico helping to make crust for chicken pot pie and Francesca eating the crust for the chicken pot pie :)

The changing of the windows - the spring like weather inspiring us.

Nico's creation once again, he based it on the picture that came with the bag of animals.

We had salt for the dessert, actually grass and rocks for the mountain goat and paper for the water.

Then Francesca messed it all up and combined all the animals on the dessert/dirt area. This was apparently unacceptable. Much screaming and crying ensued but God's grace endured in the moment. Momma kept her calm, Nico went to his room and emerged a better man............after quite along time and having to think of three things he loved about his little sister. He loves eating under the table with her, her room and her toys. We'll have to work on that........loving her and not her things but it's a start.

Hope your day is filled with lovely moments...........

Walkin' On Water

Sometimes I think it's easy to take that first step.......to see Jesus and in your excitement, in your awe of who He is and what He can do through you...........you step off the boat, onto the water.  You do it without thinking, without fully thinking through the fact that you are now on water and you could sink.

This is so me.  I love the jump.

I love ideas, I love making plans, picturing big things.  I can say yes with vigor and enthusiasm.  But then, like Peter, I step onto the water......Jesus at the end.....and I look around, terrified.

I said yes in faith but will my faith sustain me once I step out?  Will I fix my eyes on Jesus or on the murky waters surrounding me?

As always it's so easy to find fault with the imperfect men and women in the Bible - but am I any different?

Not really.

And that's the wonderful part of it.  Yes, the Bible is relevant to today.  I remember so clearly when I really began to question what I believed.  I spent a lot of time convincing myself that the Bible was hard and outdated and contradictory.  I looked for loopholes, taking scripture out of context and picking and choosing what I believed.  But then one day I stopped.  I believed.  I stopped making excuses.  I stopped looking to disprove.  I stepped out in faith.  I needed God.  I cried out to God.  I was sinking and I had no one else to call upon.  I was drowning in sorrow and disbelief - I could not withstand the cruelness of this world.  It changed my life - I was answered.  It hurts a bit that my faith and my heart change came about because a beautiful nineteen year old girl died.  But I am so thankful to that young woman.  I am thankful because she gave me new life.  I don't think that I caused her death or God orchestrated that event for my benefit but I have no doubt that that young woman, who loved and was dearly loved, shone God's love into my life, that God used her to love me.  And now I recognize the Bible for what it is and in part it's a love letter to us all -- reminding us that, just like Peter, we are fully known and fully loved.  That when Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink into the water, not once did Jesus take his eyes of Peter.  Peter's actions never determined the love that Jesus had for Peter, He loves us regardless.

We have been taking foster care classes again and I find myself looking at the murky waters surrounding us.  I feel fear creep into my heart and my life.  My heart dropped the other day when we got a call and I had thought it was a child who needed us.  It turned out that it was just a reminder for a class.

I was so relieved.

Then I was so ashamed.

I am taking my eyes off Jesus.  I am putting ease and comfort over what we have been called to do - what, really, I want to do.

I sat down that day and happened to open up to Matthew 14:22-32 and my heart was happy.  I read and I rejoiced in the fact that God knows.  God knows when I doubt, when I am fearful, when I shy away from the unknown and in doing so turn from what He wants.  He knows all this and still loves me, still counts me among his disciples.  He gave me His word which reassures me of His love and perfection in the midst of my imperfections.

And so when the next call comes........*hopefully* I will fix my eyes upon Jesus.  I will draw strength from Him and His love for all of us.  I will put one foot in front of the other - walking on faith, walking on water.

And So It Begins............

It's time once again to plant the seed of possibility.  To begin to imagine what will come from the soil, water, sun and hard work that is poured into these little seeds.  We have all enjoyed the rest that winter brought with it.  We have lounged and read books and watched movies and created towns and whole worlds within our home.  We have been baking and cooking and crafting.  We have played and enjoyed this time of rest away from the projects that consume us out of doors in the spring and summer.  But now it is the planting season.  We (meaning Joe) start from seed.   This past weekend the kids and Joe filled the containers with dirt.  Dirt that Nico, Joe and I had gathered a few weeks ago and the kids and Joe had sifted.  They planted and began to care for the seeds.  It's evolved into a family project - this garden that started out just as Joe's job, his project started long, long ago.  A project, a task that began when he watched his grandparents start and cultivate their own garden.  It's a tradition of sorts.   One that I hope our own children carry on.  It's one of the best ways to spend time as a family - growing, learning, talking, working, teaching.

And so it begins........................