A three year old Gospel

Gracie is by far my most emotional child. I guess that would be because she is a girl. Well lately she has been wanting to talk to me about God and Heaven. She knew she could ask God into her heart when she got a little bigger. Well a couple of days ago she felt bigger.

It started with an interesting conversation(in the car...all of life's biggest conversations seem to happen in the car) of how we "got" Benjamin and Samuel. I told her that God gave them to me just like he did with her. She wanted to know some specifics about how God gets them into mommy's tummy. I was quick to tell her that she wasn't quite big enough to understand. WHEW... :)

Then she started asking how God could come into her heart. She wanted to know what it felt like when He did that. We talked about how He changes your heart, how you won't physically feel different but you will want to talk to Him, please Him, and learn more about Him. She told me she WAS bigger and ready to ask God into her heart because she needed Him to help her not do bad things and to love her brothers more. So...we prayed together. It was a sweet time for me right there in my van. She said that now God could help her not to be scared or naughty. That she knew He could! Later we talked about Heaven. She wanted to go but really didn't want to go right now because she loved her room to much but maybe living in a castle with God could be fun later! She started crying that she wanted to be with her family and really didn't want to have to leave. I told her that now we all could Heaven because now all FIVE of us were ready for that day! That made her pretty happy. She said maybe when she got bigger she could learn a little more about God. That night when she said her prayers she and I BOTH prayed a prayer of Thanksgiving that she had asked Jesus to save her.

I know it's a three year old Gospel but my God can call any of us to himself...the little and the big. And I also know she can understands that she really needs Him. Now, that's the Gospel...and it took my kid to remind me of that!

GOT TO GET THIS

Okay...if you don't know about this and want a great way for your kids to learn scripture...here it is...
This CD Is put out by Seeds Family Worship (http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/) It is a GREAT way for kids to learn scripture. On my CD there are verses like Ephesians 2:8. It is sweet music to hear all three of my kids singing "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— it is the gift of God..." I just love it and the kids ask to hear it...you know I will be ordering some more.

Check it out!

A tea Party

Brian and I have always felt that it is very important for our kids to understand their gender identities. I don't mean that we ever have forced sports on the boys or princesses on the girls. But we have felt that it's our job to instill in them some understanding of the male and female roles that God designed for us. So...if any of you know Gracie it isn't hard to really ignore the fact that she is mostly all girl. Occassionally she likes a good wrestle or to play baseball but most days always chooses pink and wants to wear some sort of girly shoes or dress. So...it makes sense she would want to do the girliest thing possible. She LOVES tea parties. So...here's a couple of pics of the last one we had with two of her girls from church. We did the same thing last Spring and Gracie has been talking about it since then. So we had to do it again. Same two girls...same place...same girliness. It was filled with all things pink!

A new season

Well...it's official...Gracie is finished with naps. So everyday unless someone is sick there is not a child/or parent usually here in this house that is sleeping. It's bittersweet. It's nice to be able to go places and do things and to not be hampered by getting home in time for a nap. But I have such wonderful memories of the precious nap time. It reminds me of when my kids were babies...now it's seeming like those days are getting farther and farther from me. It makes me sad when I think back to when the boys were both little running around in diapers together when we lived in our house on Alpine Drive. I will still remember those days when they stood together in front of the TV screen watching Blues Clues and dancing together. When we would dress up together and sit for hours in the playroom doing puzzles and building with blocks. I remember just a couple of years ago when my baby girl was so tiny. She was never the easiest of babies but there still is some part of her babyhood I long to have back. She still has that pacy at night and carries her blankie. I think I hang on to that so I can hang on to a little bit of her babyness.

There are some things I like about my older kids. They are independent, funny, and thoughtful. They are able to carry on a conversation (for the most part) with me. They can make me laugh in different ways than they did when they were little. They help out with chores. I know there is a lot more to look forward to in the next few years. Instead of Blues Clues...it's baseball. Instead of tiny pink booties...it's hot pink dresses. There isn't anything not to love about it...it's just remembering every day what a blessing it is to have that day to be a part of their lives.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

Summer's Coming..

Well it's practically June now and the days are getting longer and hotter and more busy. I can tell summer is coming. Only 16 more days of school and the pool opens this weekend. I LOVE summer. I love the beach, pool, and most days I love having the kiddos home all together. (Ask me again in August). We have had some fun times recently as a family. The kids are all riding some sort of bike now and it has been fun to take them all on bike rides. Gracie and I recently went strawberry picking. The boys are both playing baseball now and Brian's the coach. It has been some fun stuff! Looking forward to popsicles and ice cream cones. It's gonna be a fun time!

Oh and I hope to document my work on a project this summer. I have been convicted at how little scripture my kids know...as well as how little of the catechism they know. They should know more of WHAT we believe and WHY we believe it. The Bible stories are great but this summer I am going to make it my project to work on a curriculum that would involve some scripture memory/catechism work. We will see how it all comes out!

It's a bad mommy day.

Well you know those days. The kind that make you really wonder how God chose you to do this job. It really is a day where I know there is probably no excuse for what I am about to tell you.
But I hope somehow putting this on paper (or on the worldwide web) will somehow help me to come to some sort of epiphany about how to...

CHANGE MY CHILDREN'S EATING HABITS!

Okay so I took Gracie to the dr today for her constant complaint that her tummy hurts! It was happening far more often than I could really have patience for. I feel really bad..I was really thinking that she was somehow making up the pains. They came and went so quickly you wondered if they were somehow in her head. I thought maybe they were to get attention. Today I actually sent her to her bed to rest...in not the most gentlest of ways...because I was about to go crazy if she told me her stomach "mysteriously" was hurting one more time. So...I made the step to take her to the doctor. I wanted to find out if she was making this up or was there something physically wrong with her.

Well...it's a "poop" problem for lack of a better word. It really will not matter if I go into all the details here but apparently it's been such a problem for so long her colon has been stretched. Apparently this is not that uncommon with preschoolers/toddlers but hearing the doctor explain exactly what had happened made me feel like I wanted to crawl under the chair. It apparently is occuring because of the way she eats. Well...not the way she eats but rather WHAT she eats!
He asked me several questions about her eating habits. NOW to his credit...I did tell one of my friends earlier that he did an AWESOME job at not making me feel like such a bad parent...and when I told the doctor (and my friend) what I found out I made some GOOD GOOD excuses for our eating habits but bottom line is that the girl eats UNHEALTHY food. There can be a million excuses (one being she has a brother that eats only FIVE foods) but I refuse to go there again. It's just a matter of fact...we have to eat more healthy.

SO...right now to correct her problems the child has to take some Metamucil and some Miralax...that should be easy enough( :) )...but to help her for a lifetime I need to really instill more healthy eating in her and my kids. So...goodbye to the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts for breakfast and the million and one oreos for dessert. Hello to whole grain and fruits and veggies.

I am a horribly PICKY eater but I really need to not let that become the case in my kids. So...here it is almost dinner time. I am trying to start on the right track...black beans and brown rice and with some sort of vegetable. That's one of the healthiest meals she will eat!!!

and then it's off to Gordon Ice Cream night at Coldstone...well you can't be that healthy all the time...right??

Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Well...here comes another Mother's Day. I am so thankful to be a mom! I REALLY mean that. I think I have always been a "mom in training." I have sort of lived to be a mom I guess you would say. I remember always having baby dolls and lots of them. Gracie now has about 12 babies and that might just have me beat...but I know I was always mothering a baby. I mothered all our cats growing up. I mothered Brian before we had kids. But, I am not saying I am always the best mom. You can ask my kids that one! I make many mistakes... but I have never been more thankful for a blessing from God (except for my husband!) than when I had each of my three children. They truly are a special gift and even on the worst days I am truly amazed that they were given to me.

I guess before I had my own kids I dreaded mother's day. Mom died 24 years ago this month. She was in the hospital for her very last mother's day. I still have that card we gave her that day. It's still hard sometimes. I think that almost daily I think of a question I would have liked to ask her. At 15 there isn't really much about life that you don't think you already know. I wasn't really thinking about things to ask her then.

I wish she could met my husband. She would have thought he was really good man. I know she would have gotten his humor (or at least tolerated it)!

She would have loved Bubs. I think he would have loved her too. She wasn't loud or boisterous...he would like that about her...I think she might know about Bubs right now...sometimes I wish I had her to talk to about my struggles with him and to call when he blows me away with just being himself!

I wish she could have met Samuel...he asks about her picture a lot and asks me questions about my childhood. I don't always have the answer and wish she was here to tell him stories about me. I wish we could call her when he scores a goal or when he gets all E's on his report card. I wish she could see those things.

Gracie is a lot like me as a child. I think she would have found it very funny that I have a girl who can run me in circles just the way I did with her. She would have found her just as adorable as we all do ( and just as exhausting...) One thing I am SO looking forward to is sharing life with Gracie and hoping that I get that chance.

One day when we get to meet again, there's a lot I want to tell her. We won't know until we meet our maker if it's gonna be possible to have those types of conversations. But I KNOW that Jesus loved his mother and I would like to think He would understand that I would want recognize my mom and be able to say...."Happy Mother's Day MOM!"