My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

Eeek!  I’m excited to announce my little sister is getting married!  The kids are very excited to be gaining an “Uncle Kevin”!

I don’t think my kids ever enjoyed our backyard more than they did when we supplied them with very large mounds of dirt!

Every passing year of motherhood, I am more and more in awe of my mom.  She made it look effortless.  She made the daily-cooking, hourly-cleaning, laundry-folding, thermometer-wielding, playdate-driving, soccer-game-watching, homework-assisting, complaint-listening, tear-drying art of mothering look second-nature.  And it made me want to be a mom.  And now, here I am, almost seven years into mothering, and I know that many times it’s anything but effortless or second-nature.  It’s hard helping little people who don’t want to be helped.  It’s thankless cooking and cleaning for little people who just keeping spitting out the food and making more messes.  It’s exhausting caring for sick little people who don’t understand why they don’t feel well.  It’s heart-rending watching little people figure out that things in life don’t always go smoothly.  But my mom knew that motherhood was a gift from God.  And because of her, I know it, too.  And so I can view the hard times as a gift, as a way to give God glory.  Because it’s not through my strength that I can do hard things.  “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil 4:13).  And because of Christ, motherhood is full of joy.  It’s an act of service to the Lord, one for which He will continue to equip me.  It’s joyous because it’s a way we can better understand what Christ did for us – thankless, complaining, sick, undeserving little people though we are – on the Cross.  Motherhood is a joy every time I look at these four amazing people and realize that God loves me even more than I love them, and that He died to save us, working all things out for His Glory and our good. 

My mom gave me a wonderful book called “Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full” by Gloria Furman.  Furman writes, “The gifts that God gives us serve this holy purpose – to direct our praise to the giver of those gifts.  If you enjoy the gift of your children and the gift of your motherhood, but your joy terminates in those gifts, then you’ve missed the point of the gifts” (p.31).  The point of motherhood, the point of life, is to glorify God for creating us, sustaining us, and saving us. 

So Mom, thanks not only for displaying the gracious gift of motherhood, but for teaching me that “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).   I love you. 

Danny was running too fast and fell face-first into the dirt. 

I called over to him, “It’s okay, Dan.  Just brush yourself off.”

From his prostrate position on the ground, Danny mumbled, “I can’t.  I’m a pancake.”

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Danny was sitting on my lap and twirling my hair around his finger.  He looked up and whispered in admiration, “Your hair looks like a racecar.”

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I saw Danny standing quietly in a darkened hallway.  He saw me and whispered, “I’m hiding.”

I said, “Oh, are you pooping?”

He nodded slightly and whispered again, “Stop finding me.”

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The boys were “helping” me water the plants, when Jimmy suddenly turned the hose on his brother and soaked him.

Danny hollered out, “I am NOT A FLOWER!”

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Danny was pleading with Susie to help him with a game on the iPad.  She tried to explain to him she didn’t know how the game worked so she wouldn’t be of any help.  He wouldn’t take no for an answer.

He scolded her, “Come on, don’t be a wuss!”

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Danny: “Dogs don’t eat bones.  They’re too spicy.”

Me: “What do dogs eat then?”

Danny: “Apples.”