Lady G

One of my very favorite things about God is the creative unlimited ways in which he cares for us. I have had a rough couple of days, the ugliness of humanity bearing down on me. Sin cracking the window, obstructing the view of what I should be focused on. My vision tunneled onto those deeply mired cracks.

And then God started orchestrating ways to uncap the pressure, a few adjustments to let the steam hiss out. Out of the blue my mother offered to babysit all three boys so that J and I could have an evening out. Then my generous in laws treated us to dinner and a movie. J and I dropped the kiddos off and had such a lovely evening together. We let go of the stress and enjoyed that long forgotten phenomenon of eating a meal the moment it arrives. Ahh the simple things...Thank you Lord for a little R&R.

But God was not finished yet, because on Sunday He shuffled my schedule around so that I could make a new friend.

Now let me start this story by saying that I never grocery shop on Sunday mornings and my new friend only ever shops on Sunday mornings. Divine appointment right off the bat!!

I love the grocery store. Its where they keep the chocolate and the avocados and the English Breakfast tea. Its also a great place to meet someone and brighten their day. Of course, I am referring to my lovely children brightening others days. I always slow the cart down when I catch someone looking their way. More often than not, it is an elderly person. I always slow down for them. I let them talk to Babe or the boys and I soak in their smiles and laughter. We introduce ourselves and we make new friends. But then after a few minutes we part ways and I usually don't see them ever again.

On Sunday, I was strolling through the produce department when I spotted a lady by the tomatoes, her eyes glued on Babe, a wistful smile on her face. I headed her way and we started talking at once.

Lady G, as I like to call her, is from England. She looks to be around seventy but knocked my socks off when I discovered that she is ninety!!

"You look fantastic!" I say.

"Yes, I know. I never drink coffee and I take great care of my skin" she says with a cheeky wink.

She keeps me laughing there in front of the tomatoes for a full twenty minutes. We talk about England and World War II. She shares her love story and I soak in every word she says about the handsome American boy that stole her heart and whisked her off to Pennsylvania in the late 40s.

We finally part ways and I continue with my shopping. Every aisle I put between us I keep feeling that feeling.

You know that little nudge from upstairs when He is asking you to go talk with someone? Well it went from a feeling to an itch to an outright SHOVE.

I don't even know if I have any paper on me, I thought to myself. I fished around in my bag and came up with a lone scrap of paper, which happened to be the sleeve of an English Breakfast tea bag. Ah, confirmation.

I scrawled down my name and number and started searching for Lady G. My heart ached and I prayed that I was not too late. I recognized how badly I wanted to be her friend. How lovely it would be to share stories over a cup of tea. It was one of those moments when you have met someone new and realize that your life has been holding a place for them for quite some time and you just know that their laughter should be echoing around your dinner table every once in awhile.

I found her a few minutes later, parked in front of the frozen food section. She was quite surprised to see me advancing with my name and number. But Lady G smiled graciously and thanked me with a nod the Queen would approve of.

When I left the store I told J all about her and ended the story expressing my hopes that she would phone me.

Today the phone rang and I heard Lady G's voice, telling me how happy she was to have made a new friend. We had a lovely chat and I have decided to keep a record of all the English-isms she uses.

I am so thankful she called. I am looking forward to many cups of tea and stories with Lady G. Unlimited creative ways, reaching into my life. Lady G definitely fits the bill. :)

A Sneak Peek

Its safe to say that I am about one week away from finishing the boy's homeschool room.

I am quite happy to be done. So is my husband, since the completion of this project will usher in a new age of laundry being done on time.

Here are a few sneak peeks at what I have finished this past week...

I reupholstered my rocking chair from pottery barn in a cute blue madras print. Bear asked me to add a heart to the pillow. I agreed. This is the chair that I nurse Babe in. I also hug injured children and read special books from this chair. A heart is quite appropriate, I think. :)

Race car lamp. I super glued a few race cars to this black drum lamp and added the road drawing. I finished this just today!! The boys are quite excited about this lamp and at the same time, puzzled by the fact that the cars are S T U C K! "Poor little cars" Cubby said with a sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his face, "I wike it!!"

I ordered a set of alphabet letters for the main wall of the room and was quite disappointed when they arrived after a six week wait! Two of the letters were cracked and 10 of them were either beige or white. Ummmm....boring!! So, Mommy had to upcycle these bad boys.

I glazed some Where's Waldo paper on the letter 'W.'

I glazed a map onto the letter 'M.' Can you see what's on the map? Florida, Pennsylvania and I managed to squeeze Price Edward Island on there!

Love this letter 'E.' The Bear decided that we should paint an "electric car." I warned him that Mommy has no artistic skill whatsoever and that since his gifted, talented Auntie N was not due for a visit anytime soon, that we should probably 3D the letter. He quickly agreed.

Here is the finished wall!!! You can see that the letter "C" is from Eric Carle's Hungry Caterpillar" and that we are supporting Daddy with the letter "U." I am quite pleased with how it all turned out after all the readjusting we did.

I am off to sew some curtains. Did I mention that my middle son almost killed himself with the curtain pull two weeks ago? Yeah. The project list has been interrupted by the urgent need to install curtain rods and sew curtains for the windows of our home. He always keeps me on my toes.

I'm going to try and have the room finished sometime next week and I will post the pictures of the finished product then!! Happy Saturday to all!

Zoo

After two weeks of nonstop rain the restless energy in the bungalow reached fever pitch levels. The Bear woke up Tuesday morning, peeked out the window and said, "Let's go to the zoo!"

I really really really did not want to go to the zoo.

So we went to the zoo.

I dropped Babe off at Bella's house and took off with Bear and Cubby for a morning of unbearable heat.

Now I should clarify that I love the zoo. Our zoo is wonderful. Great classrooms, fantastic animal exhibits, we are constantly learning there! But our zoo is HUGE...and not in a good way. A massive sprawling zoo, completely outdoors and totally impossible to complete in one morning with two toddlers. Throw in ninety degree weather topping one hundred on the heat index and pour in a hot soup mixture of humidity and well, you can understand why I did not want to go to the zoo.

The boys shrieked and cheered when they heard where we were going. They love the zoo. When we turned into the long driveway entering the zoo they began kicking their legs and squealing out the names of their favorite animals. I took note of the heat waves rising off the concrete. Once they started asking for animals located at opposite ends of the zoo, I made an executive decision, announcing that we could each pick one area of the zoo to visit before returning home. The Bear picked his favorite place, the aviary. Cubby selected the Children's Zoo and I told them we would go to a secret spot after we finished there.

Wings of Asia is a beautiful display. Tented and packed with bamboo forests and trees, a cool river runs through the exhibit and there are plenty of waterfalls and small ponds. The exotic birds inside are spectacular and my boys love watching them.

Ok, fine.

They love chasing them. But once in a blue moon they do love watching them peacefully from the sidelines. That moon is quite blue, by the way...

So there we were, wandering through the bamboo forest, total peace and quiet, shattered occasionally by the sound of my voice screaming out my middle son's name as he tried various ways of killing himself via waterfall drowning or losing an eye to the seven foot tall crane following us. The Bear tip toed down the path in hopes of catching a partridge unawares.

The humidity swirled around us, the mosquitos abundant and hungry. Yes, a very normal day at the zoo.

And then I spotted an elderly man sitting on a bench. An expensive camera hung from his neck, a brown sack lunch fixed at his side. He was dressed in a suit and hat, despite the hot weather. His face had wrinkles in happy spaces, laugh lines like sunbursts mapped outwards and immediately drew me in.

I love elderly people. Have I mentioned this before? I love talking to them, or rather, I love listening to them. I think toddlers and elderly folks are the best story tellers on the planet. I could listen all day.

We met Ted. Who is originally from Switzerland and frequents the Wings of Asia display on a daily basis. Thats right, he goes to the zoo every day and spends each hour in a lovely bamboo forest full of birds. He likes to photograph them, he says, laugh lines stretch upwards, tufts of white hair peak out from under his hat. I end up taking his arm and he shows us around the place. He knows where all the nests are, knows the name of each bird and where they like to hide. He knows the treasures of this space. He gazes at my children, drawing from their energy, I can see his heart lifting as he takes in their giggles. Looking at them seems to fill his soul and he hangs on to my arm a bit tighter. He tells me about his family, his brother in particular. His eyes mist as he speaks of that brother and he stares into the distance, looking back only to watch the little brothers ambling down the path behind us.

We shared the better part of an hour with Ted. Precious time, well spent. When we reached the end of the exhibit, I held his hand and kissed his cheek. His bushy eyebrows lifted, as did one corner of his smile and a sweet blush covered his weathered cheeks.

We parted ways, all smiles and waves. The boys and I ventured off into the blazing sun once more, the slow shuffle of feet just behind us, retreating back into the cool shade of the bamboo.

After a half hour ramble in the reptile house at the Children's zoo, we fed a small army of goats near the new barn. The boys are quite red by now, damp faces and dirty knees too. Their bodies emitting smells of summer, sweat, grass...they smelled a bit like goat food as well.

"Time for Mom's adventure!" I announce.

I lead them to the ice cream cart and we order two scoops of vanilla. Then we walk to the tiger exhibit to sit and eat and watch. A little bench stands in front of the tiger's keep, shaded by a nice old oak tree. They sit with me, one on each side. We watch the tiger for half an hour. Have you ever watched a tiger for half an hour?

We did. It was lovely. Even after the ice cream dribbled away, belly bound or sidewalk smattered, we sat together, watching, waiting. Pointing things out, laughing, learning, always learning. And then silence for a few blessed moments...

The boys, thinking about tigers and sword fights with each other.

Their mother, thinking about the shuffle of feet in the stillness of a bamboo forest and the small bodies flanked on either side of her, the little heartbeats she loves so very much.

We ran back to the car, their sneakers pounding on the pavements, their small voices shouting, "Lets do this again and again and again and again!!"

How wonderful that we will :)

Something New

We started something new this week, something Jesus put on my heart. A new way to help our boys understand accountability. A clearer picture of the repercussions of their decisions.

My boys like to wrestle. Or rather, Cubby likes to wrestle and Bear defends himself out of necessity. We average about four or five injuries a day.

So this new thing to help them understand consequences? Well it seems to be working so far...

Whenever the boys wrestle or fight over a toy, I usually separate them and immediately ask, "What is more important? This ____(insert toy, activity, food item) or your brother?"

They usually peek up at me from under their lashes before mumbling tearfully, "My brother."

And yet when an injury is involved, I usually move off to tend to the injured boy while the other boy waits in the time out corner until I return. The boy in time out misses what happens in our bathroom. He doesn't see his brother's tears as I tend and doctor a wound caused by selfishness and anger. He avoids the tears, the blood, the bandages. He stands in a corner thinking only of his own misery and isolation.

So we started something new. Hands that hurt must learn to heal.

Now when the boys wrestle and hurt each other, they must also help each other heal. Beyond a simple, "I am sorry," the boys must now tend each others wounds.

A few days ago, Cubby scratched Bear across the face, leaving behind an angry, bleeding cut. It breaks my heart when my sweet boy hurts his brother so viciously. His two year old heart is entirely self centered still and it aches to see this biblical evidence, glaring me in the face. None of us without sin, not even one. Not even our smallest, sweetest children. He is my son. Shared bone, shared blood, shared sin. And to watch him hurt my other son, pierces me. So I am taking the time to help him see and understand his part in all this.

I separate them. Comfort the Bear and lead them both into the bathroom. Cubby's eyes are wide as he watches me, waiting, for the punishment he expects to greet him. Anxious for his own fate and not sparing a thought for the brother with blood dripping down his face.

We sit the Bear down and I make Cubby hold the Bear's hand.

"Now," I say. "Help mend what you broke."

I guide him in cleaning the Bear's face, in applying salve, in unwrapping and placing the bandage. We wipe away the Bear's tears together and pray for him.

I oversee the apologies and forgiveness.

Then I ask the Bear to walk his brother to the time out corner. And Cubby serves two and a half minutes because he is two and a half years old. (The time is doubled if they refuse to apologize). Once the time out is done and the last tears are wiped away, we sit down together and talk.

Does this sound like a long arduous process?

It is.

And yet, I have to discipline myself to discipline them. To set aside whatever I am doing so that my boys can understand the depths of their sin so that they may one day appreciate the depths of grace and forgiveness. I sacrifice this time for them. The dinner burns, the laundry stays piled in the basket, the floor goes unswept. But they learn one day at a time to take responsibility for their actions.

At times, sin feels like an imposing mountain in my path. My children's sins tower even higher. I fret and worry over them. I doubt. I grieve.

Then Jesus gently reminds me that I can not save my children. He has done it for me. He has done it for them.

I often think of that precious verse, Isaiah 40:11

"He tends his flock like a sheperd:

He gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them close to his heart;

He gently leads those that have young."

He leads me gently as I slowly push my young along, nudging them ever closer to the truth of grace and the hope they can have in this life.