In Whom Do You Put Your Trust?

Today had the makings of a day from you know where.  Three diaper blow-outs (two of them from the toddler...ewww...), Jeremiah's entire lunch reappearing on the kitchen floor, at least one massive meltdown and/or tantrum from each child, the baby literally passing out not once but twice from holding his breath while crying, nearly constant bickering all morning, and yes, that was Abby with a permanent marker on the couch thank-you-very-much.  And there's more...it's Saturday and Claude was out.

Our church hosts a Men's Expedition (not to be mistaken for a Men's Retreat, mind you), each year.  Claude isn't always into those manly American gatherings.  When I first asked if he would like to go he said, "No".  So, I asked him a couple more times and each time he gave the same answer.  Then a couple of Sundays ago, during the announcement for the expedition, he leaned over and said, "I may want to go".

Now, I was glad that he wanted to go.  He works very hard, wakes up very early, goes to bed very late, and never takes time off to rest and be refreshed.  I praise the Lord for Claude's excellent work-ethic and his determination to do what needs to be done whether or not he feels like doing it.  But, I can recognize when he's run down and needs a break.  Getting him to take a break is a bit like...where are those really great metaphors when I need one?  Well...let's just say that he never takes a break even when I'm insisting that he does.

In the end, Claude opted to drive up for the day on Saturday so that he wouldn't have to sleep in a retreat center bed.  :)  I was glad that this worked out for him, but to be honest I wondered how the week would go.  I am used to having the kids all day during the weekdays, but to add a sixth day on my own started to sound like a nightmare. 

As the scenarios of other bad days went through my mind, I realized that I wasn't trusting God.  I had put some of my trust in myself and my own abilities.  I had also put some of my trust in Claude to help me get through the weekend.  If he wasn't home how would I manage?  Something had to change in my thinking.  If the Lord moved Claude's heart to take a day off to be refreshed, then He would certainly give me and the kids the grace we would need to get through one day.  So, I gave the day to Him and didn't even make plans...that is unusual for me.

And did the Lord ever provide grace abundant today!  A friend from church called and asked if she could come over, bring lunch for the kids, and give me some time to rest or take care of things that needed to be done.  Now, I am really bad at accepting help.  After a long time of many people around me assuming that I had everything under control and could handle just about anything, I started to think that I shouldn't need help.  But, as the Lord would have it, He had already given me the grace to gratefully and humbly accept the offer and I'm glad that I did!

The day would have been a train wreck had I tried to plow through in my own strength and wisdom.  I could have done it, but my patience would have unraveled all too quickly and I probably would have spent the day yelling at the kids, causing the meltdowns and tantrums to be worse than they were, and then feeling terrible for treating them unkindly simply because I felt tired and overwhelmed.

Praise the Lord for His provision of grace and help to us today!  What could have been one of the worst days on record in our household was actually quite pleasant and even productive.  Because of my friend's servant-heart and her willingness to give up her Saturday afternoon, not only was the load of the day shared but I was also able to go grocery shopping with only one child tagging along.

I am so thankful that the Lord enabled me to put my trust in Him today!

In whom do you put your trust?

 

Snapshots: Rainy Day Adventures

Photo from houston.about.com

We've had this week off from school and are trying to make the most of it.  So, when I found a Groupon for four admissions for $15 to the Children's Museum of Houston, I jumped on it.  It turned out today was a good day to be there, too, because it started to rain and turned cold (well...cold for Texas).  It was nice to get out of the house and let the kids run off some energy.

The favorite part, by far, was Kidtropolis.  This exhibit is set up to be like a mini-city for kids, complete with paychecks, jobs, grocery stores, and even its own currency.  The kids loved going grocery shopping and being able to check out using computer registers that not only worked but even scanned items with bar codes.  Another highlight was the ambulance with medical supplies and a patient, too.

Overall I was very impressed.  We have only been to two other children's museums, but this was by far the best one we have seen.  The kids could have easily played for hours in just one of the two exhibits we saw, and there were more that we didn't get to today.

Needless to say, we will definitely be going back.  Maybe in the heat of the summer we'll venture downtown again to discover more of what the Children's Museum of Houston has to offer.  I'm especially looking forward to checking out their outdoor FlowWorks exhibit at a time when the kids can get good and wet.

Below are some photos from our visit, as you can see, even Jeremiah found a place to play.  There is a toddler area but Joshua and Hannah weren't allowed in because they are too old, so Abigail and Jeremiah had to tag along with the bigger kid activities - I don't think they minded one bit.

Abby trying to pull herself up using a pulley.

 Look out, Daddy, these kids are ready to start working in the lab!

 Joshua, EMT.

 Hannah in the back of the ambulance.

It looks like this guy may need a little more help than a blood pressure reading!

Between naps, Jeremiah was enjoying his time at the museum.

 

Books Abound

Our kids love to read. And when I say love, I mean LOVE! We started reading to Joshua, our firstborn, when he was just a few months old. As a first time stay-at-home mom, I was pretty eager to fill the days with some kind of meaningful activity. I would sit Joshua up in his bouncy seat and then read all kinds of colorful picture books to him. When he was about 9 months old we bought a picture Bible for kids and started reading that to him.

By the time Hannah came along and then Abby, reading was a definite staple in our daily routine. Not only did I spend a fair amount of time reading to the kids, but they spent a lot of time on their "reading" to themselves and to each other.  In fact, when Abby was around 7 months old she became so enamored with books that if I read one while she was nursing she would stop her meal in order to look at the book.

Given the way the kids love to read, it shouldn't come as a surprise that their favorite outing (next to Friday park days) is going to the local library. We used to frequent the library once a week, but now we just grab a giant pile of books that we read and re-read until their due date. Then we go back and get another stack.

I have mentioned Joshua's fascination with Ancient Rome, which has gotten us well-acquainted with the Juvenile Non-Fiction section on ancient cultures. So contagious is Joshua's enthusiasm for all things Roman that Abigail has even caught on. She informed me yesterday that she wanted books about the Roman Army. She's a girl. She's 2 1/2 years old.  She doesn't know Dora the Explorer or the Disney princesses, but she knows about legionaries and the Colosseum.

When we do get out of the Non-Fiction section, we make our way to our other favorites which are The Berenstain Bears, Franklin, and Maisy. We went through a Dr. Seuss kick, but the kids only seemed to like a few of them - "Fox in Sox" was by far the favorite.  I'm also starting to check out some chapter books to see what might be age-appropriate for Joshua (5 1/2 years old) who is reading up a storm.  This week I found "The Indian in the Cupboard", "The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog", and "The Jungle Books". It'll be refreshing to get my nose into something other than books about family and home management!

And, if I was ever wondering how much the kids are learning from all of their independent reading, my concerns should be put at ease after this brief conversation with Joshua this morning. With the Lord's help, I taught Joshua how to read, but the learning certainly hasn't stopped there!

If you're looking for some book suggestions for toddlers and preschoolers, you can check out our book blog.  I wasn't able to keep up with it how I had hoped and abandoned the effort after a few months and since our kids were still 4 years and under, we never got into books that are geared for elementary students and older.  But, if ever I have the time (and that's not meant to be joke!) I will certainly resurrect this blog.

So, what kinds of books do you and your kids like to read?

 

How Does He Know This Stuff?

We went to the library this morning and found a nice stack of books to read for the next couple of weeks.  As has become our custom, the main stop we made was in the Juvenile Non-Fiction 900's.  Today I had a hard time finding appropriate books for Joshua because he's already read what our local library branch has to offer when it comes to books on Ancient Rome that don't divulge unnecessary information - unnecessary for a 5-year-old, that is.

There were a couple that seemed good but each had several pages that went into more detail about the Roman gods than I would like for him to be reading about at this time.  One book in particular, which has some great cross-section illustrations of Ancient Roman structures had only one page that I wouldn't like for Joshua to read right now.  After talking with him about my reasons, he was in agreement and told me that he'll just skip that page when he comes across it.

Each time we pick out books on Rome, I remind Joshua that he will probably come across some descriptions of how Ancient Romans worshiped.  Usually I say, "Just remember that even though the Romans worshiped many different gods, there is only One True God."  He's heard this enough times that he usually finishes the sentence for me.

Today, while we discussed the page from the cross-section book, we had this short conversation which left me speechless.

"Some of the Romans were Christians," Joshua informed me.

"Yes, I know," I replied.  "And one of the emperors spread Christianity through the empire and become a Christian himself."

"Yeah, that was Constantine," Joshua said casually.

"Yes, you're right.  It was Constantine," I replied.

"And Constantine even put the Greek letters for 'Christ' on the shields of the Roman soldiers," Joshua added.

"Wow...I didn't know that."  I was a little surprised at how easily he recalled this information.

"Well, he did, didn't he?"

"I'm sure you're right.  I just didn't know that until now," I answered.  "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, it is cool."

I shut the van door and went about packing up the stroller.  I knew that Joshua had been reading a lot about the Romans, but I didn't know what he understood and remembered from the books he's been studying.  Apparently he remembered more than I expected.  After a little research I discovered that he's got his facts straight.

Photo from wikipedia.org

As I write this post I'm reminded of another conversation that Joshua and I had last week.  He had been shouting out, "We're going to drop a nuclear bomb here!" during his play time with the girls.  How did he know about nuclear bombs?  It's certainly not something that comes up in every day conversation around here...at least not usually.

"Joshua, did you read about nuclear bombs in the history encyclopedia?"  I asked.

"No.  I didn't read about that," he answered.

"Well, how did you know about nuclear bombs?"

"I don't know about nuclear bombs."

"But you keep mentioning them while you're playing."

"Well, I just don't know about the nuclear bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan," he started sounding a little annoyed at this point.

"Wait a minute," I said, "How did you know that the U.S. dropped bombs on Japan unless you read about it in the history encyclopedia?"  Again, these are not normal topics of conversation around our house.

"But I didn't read it in the history encyclopedia," he insisted.  "I read it in the science encyclopedia."

"Oh...now I see."

Yes, I'm sure he did read it in the science encyclopedia.  But I'm not so sure that he "doesn't know about the nuclear bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan".

Friday Funnies: Friends and Fall Outs

Yesterday, the kids started talking about their friends from our weekly playgroup back in New York.  There was some fluctuation in attendance, but for the majority of our couple of years in playgroup we saw the same core group of moms and kids each week.  Then, less than a year ago, there was an exodus from the group.  Within a few months two families moved to the Midwest and then we moved to Texas

So, as Joshua was saying, "All of those friends are in New York," I reminded him that, in fact, most of the kids he named have moved away.  The conversation progressed from this point and went something like this:


Joshua: I know they don't live in New York anymore, but they are still in my heart.  [pause] But Jesus is in my heart, too.  He has the biggest place in my heart because He's God.  And there's also Jerusalem and Heaven in my heart - that's where God's throne is!

Abby: Well, Jesus "felled" out of my heart.

Me: How did that happen?

Abby: He just "felled" out.  He did.

Joshua:  If He fell out of your heart then you aren't friends with Him anymore.

Hannah, nodding with approval and nearly taking out her southern drawl to proclaim, "Amen, brother!":  Mmmm-hmmmm!


So, to all of you playgroup families, you are loved and missed!  And for Abby....I think I'll pass on addressing her fall out with Jesus.  I think at 2 1/2 years old she has some ground to cover along those lines.  ;)

Snapshots: Self-Feeding

There's nothing quite as enjoyable as being able to feed yourself a tasty meal.  Jeremiah (8 months old) is loving the new finger foods we are giving to him.  Today he gobbled up some mushy pasta in Greek yogurt with grated cheese.  Yum!  As you can see, he was pretty excited by the whole thing.  :)

 

Homemade Sparkling Slushy

I was wanting something sweet and icy to enjoy this afternoon, so I looked around the kitchen to find some ingredients that might work well together in our blender. The Sparkling Slushy is what I came up with and it certainly satisfied.

I used frozen strawberries and Hansen's Diet Black Cherry soda because that's what I had on hand. The possibilities are endless, though, so don't just use what I did. Get creative and enjoy!

Ingredients
-1 can soda
-2-2 1/2 cups frozen fruit

Directions
Place everything in the blender, beginning with just 2 cups of the frozen fruit. Blend to desired consistency. Add extra frozen fruit if your slushy looks too watery.
Makes 2 servings. Ours stretched to make 1 grown-up serving and 3 kid-sized servings.