Everything Under the Son

I'm trying to keep busy today, so I have nothing really deep or profound to share today.  It seems my to-do list continues to grow as we get closer and closer to the beginning of the school year.

I'll leave you with some random information for today, and hopefully be back later this week with something a little more interesting! :)

Levi and I spent the morning at the park with friends.  He loves to run and play...absolutely ALL BOY!  He sweats like crazy, and finishes his play time begging for water and a snack.  Today, he was thrilled when I gave him a snack container full of chopped strawberries with little appetizer forks to use.  He scarfed those down just in time for a trip to the grocery store...we are an exciting bunch!  Now that we are home, the groceries are put away, and we are loving the overcast skies.  I am holding hope that it will actually rain at our house today.  I know I have said it many times before, but I LOVE RAIN!

I have spent some time this afternoon working on my home management binder.  I am hoping to post lots of pictures and details soon, once it is finished.  I have actually enjoyed putting my new one together, updating information and deciding how I want it organized in the new binder.  I have strange ideas of fun, don't I?!  Here are some sneak peeks at the binder:

"Thwee"

Every single day for the last couple of weeks, my son has approached me about that little word...he comes to me talking about "thwee" as he holds three adorable fingers up on his right hand.  He goes on and on about the specifics of "thwee", and all of the plans he has.

You are probably wondering what he is talking about...especially considering he is already four, so he cannot be talking about a birthday, or an age.

He's talking about kids.  He has decided, along with Natalie, that we need to have "thwee more childrens".  He knows exactly what he wants..."two boys and a gowl" he says.  He wants the boys to share a room, and for the girls to share a room.  He wants us all to eat together as a family, and play together as a family.  He has thought long and hard about it.  I know this because he has lots of the details worked out in that precious little mind of his.

Just yesterday, I was sitting reading and he came in and crawled up next to me on the couch.  After sitting there for a minute, he began by telling me we would need to put together the baby bed that is out in the storage shed.  After all, "the new childrens would need a place to sleep."  Then, he went on to explain the types of car-seats we would need to have for the kids, because they would need to be buckled in safely.  The whole time he was talking, he was so serious, yet so excited to share all of this with me.

I couldn't help it.  I had to ask him where we were going to get these children, because he knows that I can't physically have any more kids.  He is just positive that God will give us these three babies.  Levi says that right now they are in Heaven, but God is going to give them to us to live with us and be in our family. 

I could weep!  These words are precious coming from a sweet four-year-old boy, who apparently wants to be a big brother.  His heart is so open to welcoming "thwee childrens" into our home.  I love that he wants to share his hope with me...and I love that he is into the details.  I love that even though I cannot have any more babies, that he makes me long for more children too.

 I have no idea what God has in store for our family.  His plan may or may not include more children, but listening to Levi dream makes my heart smile!  Who knows, maybe someday when Levi has a family of his own, the Lord will bless him with "thwee childrens"..."two boys and one gowl!" 

What's this number about, you ask?  Well, you will probably be sorry you asked...there are 159 days until Christmas 2010!  Yep, that's right, only 159 days until Christmas. 

I have started my list.  I am prepping for the creating to begin, since I am hoping to make many of our gifts this year.  There are some great gift ideas out there, and so over the next few months, as I work on projects, I hope to be able to share them with you.

I don't know about you, but I LOVE to create a gift to give to someone I care about.  I love to watch their face, and I love to see smiles and joy.  It's true what they say...giving is better than receiving!  I cannot wait until Christmas when I will be giving gifts made with lots of love!

What about you?  Have you begun preparing for the holidays?

This morning was not one of the mornings I will look back on and remember warmly.  Nothing was easy, and the kids were whining about everything, or at least that is how it felt.  I won't go into all of the details here because they aren't necessary, but I will say that I thought I had put forth special effort to plan and prepare for a special art time, and I was met with nothing but whining, crying, slamming of pencils, and stomping off in a huff.  Not a great way to greet fun.

I reacted in a way that I am not proud of, and topped the whole thing off by sending everyone to their rooms.  As I collapsed into the chair, weary and feeling like I had once again failed as a mother, I could do nothing but cry.  Then I started thinking about the bigger lesson here. 

If this attitude of entitlement and un-gratefulness makes me so upset, how does God feel when I act the same way?  How often to I act selfish and ungrateful for the blessings before me?  How often do I look at what I have been presented with, and complain that it's not good enough?  That it's too hard?  That I can't do it...won't do it...wah, wah, wah.  I wonder if God wants to say the same thing to me that I said to my children..."Go to your room and think about it!"  OUCH!

I'll never give up on my kids.  This parenting thing is harder than I ever imagined, and I realize more and more every day that I am highly unqualified and extremely inadequate when it comes to this job of raising my children.  But I will NEVER give up trying to do better...trying to teach them and model for them what's good and right.

How much more then, does God feel that same way for me?  For today, I will rest in these things...I am not alone on this parenting journey.  I have Nathaniel by my side, and God has our backs.  And just like I'll never give up, He will never give up on me.


(I have talked with the kids, explaining my mistake in handling the situation, and have asked for their forgiveness.  We talked about how no one is perfect, certainly not mommy, and that I was sorry for my actions.  I am hopeful that we have all walked away from this morning with a few lessons...I know I sure have.)

This week has been full of busy-fun!  We are all exhausted from the fun, and it's not over, but I thought I would post a couple of pictures for you to enjoy.

I am leading the opening and closing sessions at our SBA (Summer Bible Adventure...the new VBS!), and this year's theme is Egypt.  We are following the story of Joseph from prison to the palace, and we are having a great week!  Here I am all dressed up....

I have a secret project going and am looking for someone who designs blogs.  I know there are LOTS of people out there, but I need two things...someone who is GOOD, and someone who is CHEAP (maybe I should say inexpensive)!  There could even be a trade in the discussion!

This is where you come on....do you design blogs?  Do you know someone who designs blogs?

Feel free to leave me a comment if you have helpful info!

There is never a dull moment around the Jones house!  Sometimes we are hysterical in tears, while other times we are hysterical with laughter, but it's never dull.

Yesterday, the kids were in the playroom and I was in the living room.  Natalie called me to come "quickly" which should have been my first clue.  She kept saying Levi "broke the window", but there aren't any windows in the playroom...only doors.  UH-OH!  Levi had thrown a tiny magnet into the glass on the french doors, and it had cracked into a billion tiny pieces, and it sounded like sleet as the pieces continued to crack and fall.  I was in shock, but quickly sent the kids to their rooms because I didn't want anyone to be hurt by the glass.

Here is a close-up of the door:


I did what you might expect...I called Nathaniel!  He headed home early from work, and the window in the door progressed to this:


YIKES!!  That is lots of tiny pieces of glass.  What a BIG mess!  Thankfully, Nathaniel was the master of the mess, and he worked on cleaning out the glass while I took the kids with me and we went in search of a fix.  The french doors are double paned, with blinds sandwiched between.  We were hoping to find a place to purchase a piece of glass, but apparently that is going to be an expensive and complicated ordeal. 

I made the decision we would go with a piece of wood for now.  Cheaper and easier to find at 6pm on a Thursday.  Here is what we ended up with:



It may not be beautiful, but it works, and it fit the budget!  The only other losses besides the shattered glass were my rugs.  I had to lose two rugs to the dumpster because I just couldn't chance that some of the billions of pieces of glass might be stuck in there...too dangerous.  So, goodbye glass, and goodbye to my cute rugs.

No one was hurt, which is the most important thing!  I even kept my cool through the whole thing, keeping my perspective!  It's good practice for me, because around here, there is never a dull moment!

I know my last post was pretty heavy, so I decided I would post something lighter today.  For today, "lighter" also means useless.  I have nothing big or profound, only pictures of a typical summer lunch around our home.  I try to make it at least LOOK fun, because the truth is, it's hard to have a very big lunch repertoire on a tight budget with kids who like different things!

So, here it is...what you've all been wondering about me I am sure!  Here is a photo of a typical summer lunch at Anne's Kitchen: