All Things

One day he will see this picture...

and realize what he had on his ears...

and he will cringe.

And this little princess...

who is noble and obedient and wonderful, a precious vessel given to us by God,

just might be the most creative 5 year old around.

She's been doing "experiments" in the backyard.

Last Friday, MW, little man, and another friend flooded the dirt surrounding the swing set and created their very own "lake house." Complete with swings over the water. (Translation for your mental benefit...HUGE MUD PUDDLE all around the base of the swing set, children swinging on the swings and swooshing their feet through the mud puddle...even plastering mud in their hair!) And I did not get a single picture of it!

and OH...that little man!

Last week he went to "use" the bathroom. I heard a slapping sound coming from the bathroom. I went to check and little man greeted me at the door.

Do you know what that expression says?

T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

What, you might wonder, was going on?

Try this on for size. Little man told me he was worried the "potty won't flush wit all dat toilet paper in der."

So, like a helpful little boy, he reached his hands in...and fished it out. And threw it on the bathroom floor.

Problem solved. (Thank goodness all he pulled out was t.p.!)

This really doesn't do justice to the volume of toilet water on my floor.

Oh, did you catch him sucking his thumb?

I just about vomited.

The kid is going to have an incredible immune system.

And just so you know, later that afternoon he went to potty again. I was in the kitchen and he hollered to me to come turn the water off. I meandered in figuring he couldn't turn the sink off. Um, nope. The toilet was overflowing.

And the days are flying by!

And precious little MC.

What can I say about her?

She is so "go with the flow." She's rarely been fed without a sibling hollering or running through the room, usually stopping to "pet" her. She doesn't know what it's like to sit unbothered and she gets hundreds of kisses a day. Bath time usually means she has three faces staring down at her, with six hands plunged in the water, "washing" her. Her big sis often picks her clothes. Some battles just aren't worth fighting. Don't judge me based on what she's wearing. (This would include baby doll clothes.) She smiles a lot. She coos and coos. She is wonderful.

A good and perfect gift from God, they all are.

That would be a cappuccino foam mustache! (decaf)

Regarding my previous post on homeschooling...I'll return to that soon enough.

God has been at work in so many ways in my heart in the last week. While visiting Mama last weekend, her dear neighbor met me outside to hand over some coupons (hooray!!!) and talked with me for a bit.

She told me she was worried about how I am handling three little ones and a puppy. The long and the short of it is... she challenged me. Told me point blank that while anger and frustration are normal under these circumstances, I cannot stay there. She asked me, in the most kind and loving and humble way, what I was learning from this experience; what is God teaching me in all of this...and was I learning it? She asked me if I was seeking to serve T and to honor him.

I wish my answers could have all been, "oh yes, I am joyfully submitting to my husband and I am serving him and honoring him. When I want to complain and say wretched things to him, I bite my tongue and am controlled by the Holy Spirit." I wish I could have told her that "I am learning all kinds of truths and am growing spiritually by leaps and bounds." But alas, I could not tell her any of those things. I simply looked into her eyes, with a few tears in my own, and admitted I was not doing those things, and that she was right. And wise.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." ~Romans 8:28

"All things" means great dane puppies.