Something About Boys

This weekend we had a little excitement. Our boys have this very cool rope swing tied to a tree in the yard. They spend hours out there swinging. Saturday, however, the rope broke with Riley in full swing. Somewhere during the time we were waiting for the paramedics, older brother confesses, "It's all my fault." Apparently they saw the rope was getting thin, and brother #1 thinks to dare brother #2 to try it before he does. So six paramedics in the bedroom, two climbing on the bunk to load Riley onto a back board, one ambulance ride, four x-rays, and one urine test later, we discover that Riley is just fine - though he had us very fooled with his constant falling asleep and motionless during the previous hours.

I keep hearing from others about what I'm in for with four boys. I agree. It does seem to becoming more routine. However, what I don't get is that with four boys, it seems to be the same one that keeps getting into these predicaments. I guess maybe the odds are just higher.

....and this morning I found him in the top of above mentioned tree, trying to reconfigure the rope swing.

The other boys have been intrigued this week with ants. Their latest epics include trying to capture fire ants without being stung and placing them in jars with black ants, just to see what they'll do to each other.

As a sidenote: I was reminded again how important it is to be on top of your own medical care. As Riley was being loaded onto the backboard, one of the EMT's was getting background information on Riley. I informed him of Riley's concussion last year and his major surgery in August and his kidney health history. However, when we got to the hospital, a different EMT passed us off to the nurse and informed her that Riley had no health history!! That particular EMT had never asked me anything. She had only talked to Riley. It was his health history that prompted further tests on his kidneys because of the area of his back that was hurting. Good grief!

Becoming Real

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near teh nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," Said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

I'm dreaming of a green April,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the tree tops flower
And rain drops shower,
And noone plays soccer in the snow...

Good grief!

New Ventures

Often, on my way to work, I make a quick call to take care of some business or just catch up with someone I haven't talked to in a while. It's a good 15 minutes to chat. Last night, I kissed my husband good-bye as he walked in from work, and then got in the car and called my HIM.

Today, I had to change my mop water three times before I got the tile washed.

So that should tell you a little bit about how life has been around here, and why I haven't been on the blog!

Bill started back at the golf course this week. He had a sit down with his boss about the timing of taking his PAT's, etc. He asked his boss to tell him what his main focus should be right now. His boss said, "Play golf." Poor thing. I'm thinkin' somebody ought to be coming home in a really good mood every day. This is my last week at my job, since Bill's new hours won't coincide with mine. I am really eager for a bit slower of a pace.

So I'm on my way to new adventures. I'm aspiring to order a current Writer's Market Guide and work on selling greeting card lines, then baby step to articles, etc. I know I can write more. But I'm just not getting it done. It will help just to get some bylines. In the meantime, I'm trying some e-bay ventures and just seeing what all I can do to bring in the same amount a week I was at my job. A new challenge!

I'm dreaming of a green Easter,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the tree tops flower And raindrops shower,
And no one hunts e-eggs in the snow.

I'm dreaming of a green Easter,
With every Easter card I write.
May your days be merry and bright,
And may none of your E-Easters be white!

On a more serious note... We've enjoyed several fun things this Easter. Saturday night we made Easter Story Cookies. Each step of making them tells a little of the Easter story. You tape the oven shut (sealing the tomb) and leave them in the oven overnight. The kids go to bed a little sad that they can't eat them - which ties into the sadness of Jesus' followers putting his body in the tomb and leaving him there.



We also did our own little model of the tomb. We made a playdough tomb and the Little People helped us out. Eddie was wrapped in toilet paper to be Jesus and buried in the tomb. The mechanic and a wise man helped guard the tomb. In the morning, the stone was rolled away, the guards were knocked over, and Jesus was gone. His grave clothes were still there - and the angel.



I was acting it out for Hayden and he asked where Jesus was. I told him we'd have to go look for him, and then I asked if he wanted to see what was in the oven. We went to investigate our Easter cookies....not thinking of the connection he was making. Me: Do you want to see what's in the oven?
Hayden: What's in there? I know! Jesus is in the oven!!

This morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast with Jonathan and Michelle. I tried a new recipe: Strawberry Marscapone Crepes.

Something struck me this year as we were watching the Matthew video (from The Visual Bible www.visualbible.com). Do you remember what I said a few weeks ago in my Valentine blog about how the Lord kept vigil for the Israelites as they left Egypt and were delivered from slavery? How they were to on that night keep vigil every year in remembrance? Now take your mind back to the week of the crucifixion. Jesus and his disciples are having passover together. They leave the passover meal and head out to do what? To keep vigil. It was a something they did every year, remembering how God had delivered them from slavery. But on this year, the disciples had the privilege of keeping vigil with their deliverer as He agonized about what was to come. He was getting ready to deliver them from another kind of slavery. Amazing!

So much more I need to catch up on here! Goodness, the things we've done in the past couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll be back soon.

Beyond Me...

I washed my face, and my towel smelled like peanut butter.
I spent 17 minutes on hold with Verizon Wireless.
Someone decided to wash my toaster.
Someone slid through a painting that was left to dry on the floor.
I spent time on the phone with a counselor, a school official, and an insurance agency.
I finalized car titles, filled out government forms, and dealt with the school bus yard.

At some point this morning, I realized that this day was going to be bigger than me. That is what I *should* realize every day. For those are the days that tend to go the best: the days that I *realize* the day is bigger than me, instead of being convinced that I am enough to handle it.

Because in all of it today, I haven't yelled at anybody. I haven't pulled my hair out. I was even friendly to everyone on the phone. That isn't in me. It is God in me.
The point is, my kids painted! Someone made toast and wanted to helpfully clean up. Someone washed the peanut butter off their face and hands because they knew they should. And today, because God is doing miracles in my heart, I've been able to see hearts and not annoying actions that need corrected.

Thank you, Jesus.

Water!

We have water! So much water, in fact, that I almost took two showers today. It wasn't intentional. I stayed up until about 1 a.m. working on taxes. Joy. I got up at 6:00 and took my shower, but because Bill had such a strenuous day yesterday, I didn't want to wake him trying to find clothes, etc. So I just put my jammies back on after my shower. Later, when I was able to get dressed, I almost got in the shower again. Can you say, "Tired."

...and I feel compelled to explain that most times when we are w/o water, we have a stock of water bottles we can use for hand washing, teeth brushing, etc. We usually also fill a cooler, etc. before the water is turned off. But it happened w/o my knowledge this time. Something about cleaning out the toybox and putting boys to work that kept me from realizing what Mike the plumber and Bill were doing downstairs. Also, there have been two times lately that our family seemed to be completely out of water bottles. First, the day my office decided to quit stocking them in the breakroom fridge...and YESTERDAY! Oh, well. We are on city water for the time being, and all is good.

The morning started with Riley trudging through math. He wasn't liking it at all. But a mocha with cool whip, chocolate chips, and chocolate drizzle on top gave him just enough energy to get through the rest of the lesson. *wink*

Then we moved onto history, and things got exciting. We were studying the Vikings and how the north men (Norsemen, Normans) had settled in northern France and William, Duke of Normandy set out across the English Channel to defeat Harold, was renamed William the Conquerer, and become king of England. As we were studying, I began remembering tidbits from the Gifford family coat of arms. Since its my hubby's family, its not as fresh on my mind. But I'm remembering...Norman descent...William the Conqueror, and of course the fearless family motto, "Death Before Dishonor."

So we made the connection and Riley got excited. We looked up the Gifford Family Coat of Arms online, and found this:



This is the coat of arms that Bill silk screened in college, and we have hanging in our living room:


Riley thought it was cool that he was William (brave protector) Riley (strong and courageous) Gifford (Death Before Dishonor) III, of Norman descent. Things began to click and history came alive for Riley today. We got a little lost in it, and just made it history day, studying Britain's Bayeaux tapestry , a 20" x 200 ft tapestry hand woven by the women of Britain over thousands of years that tell the story of William the Conqueror, the battle of Hastings, and Harold.

Love Is not "A Work"
...and I just have to share something that clicked with me this week. I'm such a worker. My mentor is challenging me to find times that I literally do nothing and just sit before the Lord. It is HARD. To just sit. No talking, no reading, just listening, reflecting, soaking. I'm not good at it. It's uncomfortable. Funny, that also this week, we have been borrowing my brother's truck while we wait on the insurance stuff to settle out. Wouldn't you know that he has removed the stereo from this truck? Silence. Complete silence. Driving from work and back, I feel my skin might just crawl right off my skeletal frame as I'm reminded how uncomfortable I am with silence and truly try to embrace the moments. Coincidence? Doubt it!

So this week, Deborah Hiebert spoke at MOPS about God's love and the love relationship He desires for us. I need to hear it every day! Something clicked this time, though. Something I've never really grasped. As God has put before me that my job this year is to love Him and to love others, I realized that I even see love as a task. I need to work at loving. I need to show love by this and that. But this time it clicked. Love isn't a job. It's not a work. It is a WHO. Love is God. God is love. It is Him in me that creates that love. He loves through me because He is in me. His love for me enables me to love Him.

Yesterday, I started to get out my study that I've been doing on anger to move to the next lesson. I've truly enjoyed it, but realized that even that is a guide to hash away at all my flawed components to get rid of anger. Would I be angry if I was able to sit before the Lord and let Him love on me? Would I struggle with anger if I was drenched in His love and ready to pour it out to others?

Ruth Brown shared at our group the lesson she'd learned from Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself, which I've done before - but hadn't remembered. We need to "pour out" all our "junk" to the Lord, then let God "pour in" to us, so we can "pour forth" to others.

So, dinner is in the crockpot, laundry is being caught up, I'm showered, and we've finished school. But the most important things done today aren't things I've done. They are the smiles, the high fives, the hugs in the rocking chair, the racey text messages back and forth with my husband, and the moments of just connecting. Not because I've worked at it, but because I've surrendered my heart to the Lord today and let Him just cause me to pause, enjoy, and pour forth.