Overheard in my car today:
Hope: "I hope the antichrist comes soon."
Me: "Why?'
Hope: "So Jesus will come back sooner."
I have never met anyone, let alone a child who longs for Jesus' return as much as she does. I know I don't. But I want to!
Of course, she may have been anxious for the return of Jesus on this particular day so she wouldn't have to ride in the car to take her sister to dance class.
Yesterday was the Daddy/Daughter Valentine Party at church. The girls have always had so much fun at this event. This year was Joy and Grace's last year. Next year they will be over the age limit (which I wish were older than it is!) Paul got to read the story. The girls made fun crafts. And much sugar was consumed by all!
I started thinking last night about how much I'm enjoying this stage of our family's life. I really enjoy the age everyone is right now and would like to freeze time at least for a little while! We are at that beautiful season where the girls are independent enough to buckle up in the car, but still need to be tucked into bed at night. Independent enough to stay home with Faith while we go on a date, but still want us to say goodbye before we drop them off at dance or piano or church (often with a kiss!).
Faith is in that wonderful stage of early adolescence where she is still more child than adult. Although I see God maturing her so much spiritually and am so loving that, I also love that she can still be a little girl. I'm so thankful she isn't eager to grow up to fast and is enjoying this last taste of the freedom of childhood. I know these days are numbered, so I want to treasure them.
Hope is really growing up, too. She is much more willing to try new things, which has sometimes been a challenge in the past. I also see her taking more ownership of her things and some of her responsibilities. She's definitely still all child, but an older, more mature child.
Joy and Grace are at that wonderful, joy-filled stage of childhood. Life is just so much fun for them! (Which may be more a factor of their personalities than of their age.) They are so fun and so girly!
I know the coming years will be filled with changes. Driving will replace dolls. Wearing real make-up will replace the current sleepover make-overs. School will get harder. But I pray many things will remain the same. I pray they continue to want our input in their decisions. That they continue to be and have good friends. That they still WANT to spend time with our family. And that they retain their childlike faith while they grow deeper in love with Jesus!
Lord, Help me not to get so caught up in the busy-ness of life and school and schedules that I forget to savor and treasure these wonderful blessings You have given me!!
Thanksgiving Break wasn’t much of a break in our house. We spent several days getting ready for and then performing in the Great Russian Nutcracker. And by we I mean Faith, Joy, and Grace. I just ferried them to the studio and the theater and made buns and bought tights and such. The girls all did such a great job! And afterward Faith and I went to the cast party at our dance instructor’s home. Joy and Grace went home with Hope, Daddy, and Nana. Because for them mingling with Russians doesn’t begin to compare with Nana time! Faith, however, appreciated the unique experience and was able to get many autographs.
I cooked a pretty good Thanksgiving dinner. But without turkey. We had ham and a rotisserie chicken along with homemade bread, cornbread dressing, and that sweet potato casserole with all the butter, pecans, and sugar. And pie, of course!
I was able to get some shopping done. Not the 4 am variety, but some realistic 8ish shopping. I really didn’t need much, but I was able to get my niece’s present and the little girls got some new jeans and leggings. Paul did get us a new TV! We now have a wonderful new flat screen!
We put up our tree on Thanksgiving day, much to the delight of the girls. They put on all of the ornaments themselves, and I must say they did a fine job! I love our tree. It won’t make Southern Living, but each ornament has a history and means something.
We went to a nearby Christmas tree farm as well. We have an artificial tree, but we all enjoy looking at the beautiful “real” trees, eating the biscuits and sausage, and riding on the hay ride.
The girls really liked the Snowman Tree!
Joy and Grace watching some syrup making!
Walking through the trees.
I want to write more, but there’s a piece of chocolate chip pecan pie calling my name! And I don’t think I can ignore it any longer!
Some recent quotes:
"And God told Abraham, 'Y'all are going to have a baby.'" ~Grace, narrating the story of Abraham and Isaac. (I always knew God spoke Southern!)
"I'm going to open this card with joy!" ~ Joy, before opening a card from Nana
"Next, I think I want some church heels." ~ Grace, commenting on her desire for shoes with heels
You gotta love 7-year-olds!!
I learned recently what the letter of the law actually is. According to one sweet daughter, it's H. Of course, she didn't say it in so many words, but I got the message anyway.
She and her sister were having a fight disagreement when I heard her yell say loudly, "I h-word you!" Our girls all know they aren't allowed to say hate. (Except for hating the devil. One takes great delight in hating the devil.) But she wanted to express the sentiment. So she was in perfect obedience of the letter of the law, but missed the spirit of the law. Legalism starts early!
We discussed that she actually loves her sister, and that anger doesn't give us the right to be unkind. And the two involved in this episode are best friends once again.
And I realize that as a mom, my girls are ready for me to begin going beyond the what of the law to the why of the law: that we want to reflect Jesus in everything. And He only hates sin - and the devil!
During the Christmas trip to visit my family, we found time for a side trip the The American Girl Store. We had been planning this for months, and the girls weren't disappointed! We all had so much fun! The girls had been saving their money for months, and each one had a nice amount accumulated. We first visited the doll salon where they all had some of their dolls' ears pierced and where Joy and Grace got a doll's hair styled. The stylists were so nice and did a great job, even on the doll that has lost a great deal of hair!
The girls each bought a pet for their dolls. Faith, Hope, and Joy bought the calico cat because, of course, our cat is a calico. Grace bought Kit's basset hound just because she liked it. Faith and Grace also bought outfits. Faith had been needing a new dance bag, and I bought her a really cute one on sale for $10! She likes it a lot, and all of her stuff fits!
After our shopping, we had a snack at the Bistro. We had some ice cream, a milkshake, and cookies and milk. The milk came in the cutest container! It was a little jar with a small cup on top. Joy and Grace had so much fun pouring the milk into the cup and drinking it! Of course, their dolls joined us for our snack.
Elizabeth, in her new hairstyle, and Kit
Samantha, with her lovely hairstyle
Hope had her first piano recital the week before Christmas. She was so excited! She had practiced her songs and said she wasn't nervous at all. She had chosen to play 3 Christmas songs as duets with her teacher. It sounds easier than playing alone, but I think it was really more difficult because she had to stay on tempo.
The recital was held in the music room at church. Hope and the 6 other students played for their families. Then their teacher played, and we had a small reception.
Hope did a fabulous job. We could really tell that she has natural musical ability! (And she practiced.) She also had had a solo in the children's Christmas musical, and did a great job with her singing. I'm so glad that Hope has found her "thing" in music. She has already told me that she wants to teach piano when she grows up, and that she thinks God wants her to play piano at church when she is grown. I love seeing how she is wanting to use her talents to serve Him!
April flew by, just like I knew it would. We actually had a great month. The ladies' conference at our church was uplifting and challenging. God is continuing to heal me from past hurts, but it's a long and on-going process. We were challenged to spend time with God first thing in the morning for two weeks, and I did it! My time with God has been rather hit and miss lately, so seeing how I could get up and have time with Him was a good thing. I wish I could say those two weeks set the pace for the rest of my month, but I have found myself waking up late far too often, so I need to get to bed earlier, so my mornings can start earlier!
My friends and I had a fun-filled whirlwind shopping day in the nearest big city. We hit an outlet mall, a regular mall, a great stand-alone department store, and a Tex-Mex restaurant. All in one day! I bought a few things and got some really good deals. But the best part was the fun we all had!
We capped off the month with the girls' dance recital. All four of them looked beautiful and were so graceful! This will probably be the last recital that all four girls dance in. Hope wants to take piano instead of dance next year. She really has not been fond of dance lessons the last couple of years, but she does like dancing at home. She is very graceful and would do pretty well if she continued, but her heart is not in it. Faith is a beautiful dancer! She has a natural grace and poise that shows in her performance. And she is a natural-born performer. Joy and Grace also enjoy being on stage, and they seemed to be having a lot of fun performing. My mom was able to visit for the weekend and the girls especially enjoyed having Nana watch them dance.
I can't believe May is already over one-third of the way through! Time is certainly flying!
I am in the midst of Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself Bible study. This week is on kindness and goodness. Yesterday, I read about God's loving kindness to His people Israel and to us and how He so often expresses that kindness in terms of a loving parent. It's a beautiful picture that inspires me to be a more aware of God's Fatherhood and to be a better parent to my girls.
In the back of my mind the verse about the kindness of God leading us toward repentance kept playing in my head. I looked up the verse and it says, "Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" Rom. 2:4 (ESV) God does not force us to repent. He doesn't shame us to repentance (although He most definitely does convict!). He doesn't nag us to repent. He gently draws us to a place of heart change through kindness.
And I thought about my parenting. Am I trying to bring about heart change in my children using methods that can only change their behavior but not their hearts? Nagging, threatening, yelling, and punishing might bring about the behavior I'm hoping for, but my children's hearts won't be more tender toward God or more obedient to me because I do those things. I realize that I need to use kindness to motivate my children to want to obey. I need to use kindness to draw their hearts to me and to God. This doesn't let me off the hook when it comes to discipline. Leniency is not kindness!
So I'm asking God to give me creative ways to show godly kindness to my girls. It will reap rewards in all our lives.
This week a hint of fall came to our neck of the woods. It wasn't full-blown fall, and I know it's only temporary, but it was a welcome change nonetheless. The girls noticed and wanted to spend much of their days playing in the lovely weather. And I let them. Which means I let some of their chores be postponed. So our house needs a little work.
I had planned for Friday and Saturday to be our catch-up days. We had no other obligations those days so I knew we would have time to both get caught up on our housework and enjoy the beautiful days. Until the stomach virus hit.
Joy had actually had a touch of it on Tuesday. Friday Grace came down with it. Saturday began with me feeling awful. Then Hope got sick. And then Faith. We were a rather pathetic bunch! And so the house remains cluttered. But I am so glad that the girls played outside earlier in the week. We can clean house any time. Such great weather isn't likely to be around for long.
I opted for the girls to have fun memories of playing stick horses in the back yard, eating a picnic lunch in the playhouse, and picking beautiful bouquets of flowers for me. One day I hope to figure out how to structure our time so we can have the memories and the tidy house. But for now I'll choose the memories.
No matter how much I wish my girls would stay little, they keep on growing up! Over the past couple of months my youngest two have reached several milestones. They began to do "kindergarten" with me at home. They moved from the Pre-school department to the Children's department at church, so Cubbies has been replaced by SPARKS. And each one lost her first tooth.
I expected most of those achievements for months now, but the lost teeth took me by surprise! One day they each had a slightly loose tooth, and before I knew it they each had a tooth that was ready to come out. I was excited, but a little sad at the same time. My babies are growing up!
I had always wondered whether they would lose their teeth at the same time. They are so identical that I suspected they might. And I was right. They lost their first teeth a day apart. Since I'm a bit squeamish about pulling teeth, Paul did the pulling. (The teeth needed to come out and were ready to come out, but the girls couldn't get a good hold of them.) They could have lost their teeth the same day, but Joy said she wanted to have her own day for losing her tooth, so she chose to wait a day to have hers pulled.
The baby smile is no more, replaced by a reminder that little girls will grow up, and that I need to cherish these days while I still have them.
Memories of a wonderful summer evening:
*Viewing three planets through a powerful telescope. Venus and Saturn were close in the western sky. And Jupiter was visible in the east. Jack's telescope is so powerful we could see the rings of Saturn, some of Jupiter's moons, and the bands of color on Jupiter.
*Weeding my roses in the dark. It was much cooler than in the daylight hours. And I could fool myself that I had made more progress than I really had.
*Watching the neighbors shoot off fireworks. They must have been having a pre-Independence Day celebration. We saw everything from small ones that stayed on the ground to big, beautiful starbursts high in the air. (These are my favorite.) And when they were finished, the smell of the fireworks lingered in the air, continuing to remind us of the summer celebration.
*Watching my girls play flashlight tag in the front yard. They ran and played with joyful and youthful abandon. And only one minor fall occurred.
*Seeing the beautiful full moon looking bigger than usual. Because of the angle of the moon, it looks large. We've been watching it the past few nights.
*Taking a walk down the street in the dark. The girls found our late-night walk fun and exciting.
*Taking a relaxing shower after we came inside. Faith and Hope also discovered how good a shower feels after you've been sweating in the humidity. (I had to tell Hope to get out so she could go to bed.)
And today I am doubly thankful we seized the evening. Not only do we have some terrific memories, but it has rained steadily throughout the day today and more is predicted for this week, so another such night may not happen again soon. God blessed us with so much! And we took some time last night to enjoy it!
I survived Vacation Bible School! Actually, this year was quite pleasant. It was the first time I've had one of my own children in my class. Every year they would all ask me to be their teacher. But, since there are four of them and one of me, I chose to decline. I've been working with the same grade ever since we moved here, and this year Faith was in the grade I work with. Fortunately, Hope, Joy, and Grace are all now old enough to understand that when they are older, I will work with them, too.
Our church has a big VBS, so we have stations that the children visit. My job was to lead them from activity to activity, helping them when needed (which wasn't often). I had around 25 kids to lead. Most were girls. Quiet, sweet, well-behaved girls. Most of the boys were also very well behaved, and the couple that caused a bit of trouble were silly and energetic, not bad.
I really enjoyed having Faith in my group. I think she was finally old enough to enjoy being with me without clinging. I enjoyed seeing her enthusiasm for learning the Bible and her eagerness for answering questions. She's a terrific girl, and am so proud of her. She got to act in the drama part of the musical the children presented on family night. She was fantastic! The kids only had a few days to learn their lines, and only practiced a couple of times, but they did great, missed lines and all! She is incredibly comfortable on stage, and really gets the concept of being "in character."
Still, VBS tired me out. And it wasn't just me. Most of the grown-ups were pretty tired by the end of the week. (One of my friends is an ER nurse, and she was worn out!) And to top it off, I promised my girls they could have friends sleep over on Friday night. But God gave me the strength to lead those kids and not be too grumpy! And, even though I was tired, I wasn't totally wiped out, like I remember being last year. And no one has gotten the stomach virus. (Which has happened after VBS twice before in years past.)
I'm thankful for my VBS experience. God gave me the strength to get up early, get all four girls up early, and get us to church well before VBS started. God let me see several of the kids in my group make decisions for Christ. And God gave me a great week with Faith and some of her friends!
Dentists have come a long way since I was a child. I always dreaded going to the dentist, but all four of my girls LOVE going to the dentist!
We go to a pediatric dentist, and he and his staff do a terrific job of making what could be an unpleasant experience FUN! The office is decorated in a train motif with toy trains to play with and a model train running along tracks near the ceiling. The hygienists are all great with children and help them get over any nervousness. The dentist is also wonderful with the girls and does a good job of answering any questions I have. And then there's the Treasure Box. At the end of each visit, the girls get to go choose a toy. I think this is what they like most about the dentist!
So today we have four sets of clean teeth, no cavities, four new toothbrushes, four flosses, three plastic spyglasses, and one set of miniature Go Fish cards. Not bad for a trip to the dentist!
We topped off our trip to the dentist with a stop by the grocery store. I thought it might be nice to have some food to eat. I had a list of five things and came out with thirty-eight! While a few were impulse buys, most were things I had forgotten we were out of or were things we liked that were on sale. So now I have no excuse not to cook!
Yesterday, after our Bible time (reading Philippians) Faith revealed that she was unsure about what worship really is. Somehow she had gotten the idea that worship always involved some special feeling and maybe even changing circumstances. She has been sitting with us in church for over four years now and has had weekly opportunities to observe the corporate worship of our church body as well as how Paul and I worship. But we had not really taken the time to explicitly teach our children about what worship is.
I guess we just thought that watching others worship, along with learning the Bible at home and at church, would naturally result in the understanding of and practice of worship. It didn't! She was so relieved to hear that worship isn't a feeling but an action, a response to God, a belief. Often feelings do accompany our worship, but they do not define what worship is.
So now I want to include instruction about worship in our training of our girls. This won't be a formal "worship lesson," but I hope to address worship as we do life, maybe taking some extra time on Saturday to help her prepare to worship God on Sunday.
But worship isn't just singing songs at church. It's living a life that glorifies God and lifts up Jesus in all things. It's praying. It's studying, memorizing, and meditating on God's Word. It's being kind to family members and friends. It's being a good neighbor. It's making choices about what we watch and listen to that honor God rather than just doing what everyone else does. It's doing things we don't care for without complaining or arguing. It's being joyful. It's loving God and others. As Louie Giglio says, "Worship is a way of life."
I want to live a life of worship, and I want to teach my children to do the same. Because, whether I recognize it or not, my life is all about Jesus!
This weekend was busy but very good. On Friday I was able to accompany a friend to the airport in a neighboring city to transport our guest speaker for the Ladies Conference to our town. She and her assistant were both so nice and I enjoyed getting to meet them both. My sweet mom had come in town, so she watched the girls so I could go. The speaker we were meeting had spoken at an event at her church a few months ago, and she was glad I had the chance to spend some time with her.
The girls danced beautifully in their recital. Faith is a natural performer! She smiled big for her tap and showed her serious and graceful side during her ballet. Hope has struggled with tap this year, but she did OK, and her ballet was quite good. I could see some grace that she is developing. Grace was a bit reluctant, but she did get up on stage and dance. Joy was joyful! She embellished the dance with lots of lovely twirls and kicks. Everyone around us noticed her. All four enjoyed their beautiful bouquets.
Life has slowed down this week. Dance class is over until September. I think all four girls (and one in particular) are ready for the break. Faith and Hope have only one more day of children's choir at church until the performance this Sunday. All we have left for AWANA are Fun Night and Awards Night. And we only have 23 days more of school!
They've been using the extra time to be scientific and creative. Yesterday they caught bugs in the front yard to observe. Today they are playing with sidewalk chalk. The older two have also spent the past two days making "people" out of craft sticks and scraps of fabric that will be a birthday present for Joy and Grace. Faith got the idea after making a diorama for AWANA. I'm so glad that I let her figure out how to make the figures in the scene instead of telling her that she could dress up small dolls.
May is going to be a great month. Playing outside. Picnics. An out of town field trip. Fun. Imagination. God is good!
I'm finally feeling better from my sinus infection! I guess a cortisone shot and a Z-pack will do that. Even with those it has taken several days to feel better, and I'm still tired!
This week is a busy one. Dance recital is Saturday. All 4 girls are dancing. Faith is dancing in three numbers (her tap, her ballet, and helping the kindergarteners), Hope is in two (her tap and her ballet), and Joy and Grace are in the preschool number. Rehearsal is Saturday morning and the recital is in the evening.
If that's not enough our church is holding a big ladies' conference with nationally-known speakers on Friday evening and Saturday until mid-afternoon. I'm helping out, so I need to be there as much as possible. So I want to be two places at once! And since I haven't figured out how to duplicate myself, I have to make some tough choices.
My mom is coming down, so I think she and Paul will be able to handle dress rehearsal without me. I'm sad to miss it, and have struggled some with where I need to be the most. Some of my struggle is with letting go. I sometimes think I'm the only one who can do things for the girls. Or at least I'm the only one who can do it right. Ouch! It hurts to admit that. It's not very pretty. But it's something that I'm asking God to change. And this weekend I get the chance to practice. I'll leave the girls in the capable hands of Paul and my mom and trust them to take care of everything while I serve the ladies at our conference. Because, really, wherever I am, God is in control of it all. And He can do it better than I can!
Yesterday we had the election of officers for our 4-H club. Because we had more available offices than qualifying members, we knew Faith would get an office. She decided she wanted to be president. When I asked her why she said it was because she liked to talk in front of people.
She comes by it naturally. Both Paul and I think public speaking is fun. He gave the message at evening church a few weeks ago and did a great job! I have gotten to facilitate a few Bible studies at church and my favorite part was the time when I got to give my opening remarks.
Although two other kids also ran for president, Faith did win the election. She looks forward to leading our meetings next year. She'll do a great job! Because she not only inherited our fondness for public speaking, she also has a quality neither of us naturally possess: organization. (But I'm relying on God's power to enable me to create and maintain order in my home.) Isn't God good! He uses our strengths to glorify Himself. And He gives us His strength to compensate for our weaknesses!
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