Clayton's Big Day

Clayton had a big day yesterday. It was his first day to *really* stay home while I went in for a staff meeting, etc, and was gone for several hours.

He decided he wanted to ride his bike to some friends' house that were moving, to see if they needed any help loading the truck.

Phone call number 1: "Mom, can you please call them and make sure that they aren't done already?" I didn't. I told him he could use the exercise anyway and could at least say goodbye.

When he came back up our driveway, a doe ran across. No big deal. He kind of stopped and waited, because usually deer come in groups. They are rarely alone. ...and he was right, her gentlemen friend approached the driveway and apparently intimidated by the bicycle, locked his horns in the spokes of Clayton's back tire, flipped his bike up and threw Clayton to the ground. Clayton scraped his hands a bit, but took of running as fast as he could, not knowing if the buck would come after him.

Phone call number 2: "Mom!!"

Then apparently, he decided the way to ease his sorrows was to make fudge.

Phone call number 3: "Where is the marshmallow fluff stuff?" "Whyyy?" "I'm making fudge?" "Whyyyy?" "I just want to." "I don't have chocolate chips." "You have baking chocolate." "O.K. Hon, I'm in my meeting now, so try to not call again for about an hour unless it is an emergency. O.K?"

Seriously, you'd think I was talking to a woman.

The fudge ran into a few complications. When I got home, he was worried because it wasn't setting. "I had to make a lot of substitutions because you really didn't have all the stuff." "Like what?" "Butter." "Butter? ....what did you use instead?" "Oil."

Nice. A whole pan of fudge goo made with oil. What do you do with that exactly?

Later in the evening, he was being a tease. Go figure. This is what my boys do all day long. Who can out tease everyone else?

So, he stole Ian's frog and threw it in the field. Now the field is full of stickers. I don't know what they are really called. Bill calls them velcro seeds. I grew up calling them beggar's lice - as in "You so po', you can't e'en affode real lice!" You know...those little rain drop shaped stickers that stick to everything.

Bill commanded Clayton to find the stolen frog. Clayton bent down in the field and promptly coated the entire top of his curly blond head in beggar's lice. After we all stopped laughing...no wait..we're still laughing...but we did help him get them out.

Snakes

Today we had a snake loose in the house - Again. In fact, I believe this makes the third time in my career of motherhood that there has been a snake loose in my house. The first time was actually the worst. I found a baby copperhead in my hallway in Arkansas. I picked it up with a pencil and rushed it out the back door. That time, it wasn't actually my boys' fault. We just had holes in our floor. The seven foot long, black, king snake was nice enough to stay on the porch or under the house. He never came inside.

The second time, it was a rubber boa, native to the Northwest and quite harmless to humans. He was never recovered and either made his way outside or is happily living inside our walls somewhere earning his keep by keeping the mice population down.

Yesterday it was "Garter" the garter snake....another harmless little guy. Ian fixed him up a big box with grass in it, a cup of water, and a coffee can made into a bedroom. So cute. However, later at night, the snake was not in the box.

Now most of my mom friends seem pretty freaked out about this. I'm not so much. After all, with four brothers and four sons, I've come pretty accustomed to frogs, lizards, snakes, beetles, walking sticks, locusts, etc. It is a harmless snake after all.

There is nothing more pitiful than a little boy crying while searching, "Ga-r-ar-ar-arter. Gar-arrrter. Here snakey, snakey!" He cried himself to sleep last night with big red puffy eyes. His snake would probably never be seen again and would probably die without him.

But all is not lost. Garter was found today in a bath towel. Thankfully, he was found by Riley and not one of my mom friends. So Garter is safe and sound in his box OUTSIDE, and Ian went off to catch a frog.

Sundays

I LOVE Sundays! Hands down, it is my most favoritest day of the week. It is the day I try to keep free of any agenda if at all possible. Since we go to church on Friday nights, I have the possibility of really treating Sunday as a day of REST, not just the day we spend at church.

So this morning I slept until 10:30. That's right. It's not a typo. ...and I don't feel guilty. I needed it! I woke up and ate a bowl of cereal, drank a cup of caramel coffee and snuggled between two boys on the couch watching cartoons. Then I put a loaf of French Bread in the bread machine and made a fresh apricot Kuchen (always wanted to make one of those). Then I enjoyed a neck massage with my latest thrift store find - an electric massager for $1.50. I did some stretching, assigned chores (the kids have had enough rest this week) and met Riley on my bed for chapter one of The Case For Christ For Kids. Then some writing. Ahh!

Now I'm off to exercise and shower and maybe even paint my toes before heading off to our church's community day (free school supplies, clothes, hair cuts, and hot dogs!) at the middle school down the street.

Tonight, we spend one last evening with our dear friend Craig before he heads back home to his sweet, precious family who has had to do without him for most of the summer. - and even though we do have some Coeur d'Alene Golf Club Repair business to handle tonight, hopefully the day will end as peacefully as it began. :)

Birth Announcement

Those of you who know me very well and have kept in any sort of touch with me at all over the last few years, already know of my passion for writing...and you probably know of my passion for ministering to young moms...and of course my biggest passion is writing in order to minister to young moms.

About five years ago, something was conceived inside of me. It was conceived out of much pain in my own journey as a young mom, who was isolated in the middle of the country, in poverty, with few friends, struggling with depression and loneliness. It started as a concept, and grew to a plan, a book, a desire to share, ministry to moms, and MOPS coordinating.

But of course, almost every vision experiences a death or two along the way.

For the last year, the Lord has literally removed me from all of it. He has taken me aside to another desolate place for the purpose of refining and re-defining. I've been struggling, like many moms with those passions that burn within, but are impossible to carry out. What do you do with them? Why are they there if you are unable to carry them out?

I've learned to rest in the Lord, in His timing, and in His plan. He has taught me how trustworthy He is, and I am grateful.

At the same time, this last month, my spirit has felt like the woman who is 44 weeks pregnant, and is certain that if she is unable to deliver pretty soon, that the child within her is going to die - and very well may take her along. My spirit has been overdue and in need of delivery.

God is good, in all He does. His timing is perfect, and so is His shepherding. He revealed to me last week, that part of my problem is that I was trying to give birth to a full-grown child, rather than a baby. He urged me to lay down my need for perfection in my plan and peacefully give birth to an infant.

So, it is with great anticipation, that I make this announcement.