Today has been more than a warrior dash.  I’ve never been through one, but from what I hear, they include fire and mud and endurance.  Let me back up by saying that Matthew and I were convicted last night that we have not been faithful in praying for our children together.  So, we did some popcorn prayer last night before bed, praying for one child in turn, back and forth.  It was actually kind of funny, because by the time we got to #4, Matthew was falling asleep and asked me drowsily, “Are there any left?”  Anyway, today then unfolded like a battle against unseen forces.  My eyes are stinging from the tears.

I will not go into detail of what sorts of battles, but let’s just say one was especially difficult.  Hearts are such fickle, deceitful things.  After exclaiming victory over the one battle, yet another began.  My third child decided that he wanted to run away from home.  I’m not exactly sure why.  His reasons were things like, “My sister is bossy.”  He had a bag packed, his special pillow and  blanket, and a box of treasures.  First he asked me if I would drop him off at his best friend’s house.  I told him that I would never help him run away.  After much pleading from his siblings, he decided to go outside on the front porch to think about it.  He knocked after awhile and I asked him if he was still wanting to run away or if he was ready to live with us forever.  He still wasn’t sure, so back outside he went.  By this point the two older ones were crying buckets, and I was trying to hold myself together.  I really wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing.  I kept an eye on him from the window and he kept lying down on his little blanket, then getting back up.  Next thing, he ran around to the back door.  When Elijah opened it, Jack exclaimed, “I decided to stay home forever!”  MORE tears.  Hugs all around.

Today I think sisters have thought more deeply about how their actions can affect someone’s decisions.  I think everyone is just a little bit more thankful for home, and for love and for eachother.

Tonight: we plan on praying for them again!

There are lots of forts in our backyard.  Under bushes.  Up the maple tree.  Behind the pine trees.  Yesterday Nadine made it official:

GIRL’S CAMP
ps no boys aloud enles you say the paswrd and ps agan mack shre you are good in hear

Translation: No boys allowed unless you say the password, and ps again, make sure you are good in here.

I love the creativity.

There’s something beautiful about a baby’s first giggle.  It makes one squeal with excitement so that usually the giggle turns into a frightened cry!  

There is something beautiful about a two-year-old dressing herself  in stripes, polka dots, and flowers… with the overwhelming theme of pink.

There is something beautiful about a four-year-old praying every single day for summer to come tomorrow so he can go swimming!

There is something beautiful about a six-year-old looking like they are losing all of their teeth.

There is something beautiful about an eight-year-old being able to reach the higher cupboards so she can unload the dishwasher at long last.

There is something beautiful about a really loud muffler that signals the much-anticipated arrival of Daddy.

There is something beatiful about turning thirty-one, because that means I have had the blessing of living life for another year.

This week I am not signing into facebook.  That might make some of you roll your eyes because perhaps you aren’t tempted in the first place to do so!  That might make some of you cringe, thinking that it might be too hard to press that “deactivate” button and close yourself off from the world for a set period of time.  I know it sure made me panic a tad!  It’s not fun admitting being somewhat addicted to “crackbook”.  On day two I can truly say I feel liberated.  It’s okay not knowing what every other person is doing or thinking.  It’s even better having those extra “minute here, minute there” to do other things!  (And let’s be honest, 99% of the time, a “minute” on facebook  turns into a whole lot longer than 60 seconds…)

In lieu of a facebook status update, I will give you details of my day.  The gory, wet details, because it poured all day!

It started off with some diligent kids doing their schoolwork without complaining… then it switched into high gear around 10:30 when we headed off to the dentist for Jack and Elsie to get checked.  Of course the van was on “E” and Nadine gets very nervous about that, even though we’ve never run out of gas.  We made it to the gas station and poured some money into the tank.  Thence to the dentist, where Jack did great and Elsie decided that lying down on the little chair so they could tickle her teeth was NOT what she wanted to do… so while I nursed Betty I tried to persuade her (like telling an orange to peel itself).  I gave Betty to Nadine and proceeded to pin Elsie down and pray she didn’t bite down on the hygienist’s hand.

That over, we trudged through the puddles once more to the YMCA.  We arrived soaked.  So soaked, infact, that a lady in the locker room asked me if I had just come out of the pool.  I learned that nursing a baby  in a locker room is not very comfortable.  I ran almost two miles, then we trudged through the rain again to the grocery store.

Once there, it takes some doing to get everyone situated.  Snap-and-go stroller gets Betty’s carseat snapped in and pushed by Nadine or Elijah.  Elsie goes in the grocery cart, and everyone else walks.  We look like a small field trip.  Of course by the time we got to the fruits and veggies (our first step in shopping), Betty woke up.  So the rest of the trip was spent with Elijah doing his best tricks to make her happy, then finally ended with me holding her and Nadine pushing the big heavy cart.  What a team!

Back through the rain, and Betty cried the whole way home.  I had to feed her right away, and this is where the beauty of today really shone through.  I felt exhausted and wet as I sat on the couch feeding Betty.  Then Elijah pipes up, “Mom?  Do you want us to carry in all the groceries for you?”  Wow.  So, all four of them happily trudged back and forth through the rain to carry in our large load of groceries.  They are the best team ever.

After that, I was so happy for a hot shower and being able to reward them with being able to watch the Brady Bunch.

It was quite a day.  But it was beautiful.

My funnies are WAY better than the paper’s funnies.  That is my humble opinion.

Elsie, who loves Tinkerbell, said to me the other day: “Lerk, mom!  Picky dust!”  I’m not sure which word I love more: lerk for look, or picky dust instead of pixie dust.  A lot of the time she likes to pretend that she is nursing her baby dolls just like I nurse Betty.  She informs me that “those” are her “armpits”.  She did a pretty naughty thing last week and cut her bangs with some huge scissors.  Somehow she still looks relentlessly cute.

Jack is into writing letters to people and then folding the piece of paper and stapling it all around the edges with a dozens of staples.  Tonight he was being evasive about who the last letter he wrote was for, but he described him as, “Four years old, just like me!  He has a mouth and a nose just like me.  He’s got spikey hair and he’s really cool.”  I’m not sure which little boy fits this description, but Jack likes to be secretive about things like this.  He LOVES to go to the dollar store, and Grandma took him this past weekend, whence he got a gun and handcuffs.  All day he has been handcuffing himself to the legs of chairs.  The other day when I took his picture all decked out as a cowboy, I told him to smile at me like a cowboy.  With a very straight face he said, “I am.”  Too funny!  Not sure which I love more: the serious face, the clip-on tie, or the glow-in-the-dark star-turned-sheriff’s badge.

Elijah has another wiggly tooth.  Somehow he still manages to eat whole apples with it wobbling back and forth!  He is such a good big brother!  Tonight we had a dress-up contest and he donned this:

Nadine is growing right before our eyes.  All of a sudden she is changing yet again and yet she is still a little girl… for a teeny tiny bit longer.

And our Bitty Betty is a champ.  She’s been sleeping 8-9 hrs each night and making us so proud!  Her smiles are electric.  She is so sweet and tiny and yet fills up a huge part of our hearts.

This weekend was amazing.  It started off at midnight on Thursday.  I tried my best to stay up for Matthew’s homecoming, but after sweeping up every possible dust bunny and folding each piece of possible laundry, I collapsed into bed to “close my eyes”.  I opened them when I heard the bedroom door opening and saw a very burly, bearded man with a tan face and a smile in his eyes looking at me.  What a fun reunion!  My Matthew.  Home again.  We stayed up talking for almost two hours, falling asleep as we said just “one more thing” that would pop into our heads.

The next day was fun.  Each of the kids piled into our bed one by one with giggles and joy.  We had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and everyone got a necklace from Haiti.  In the afternoon we delivered the boys to Matt’s mom and the girls to my mom and then took Betty with us on a weekend marriage retreat with our church.  It was a totally amazing weekend!  The hotel was beautiful and the fellowship with 30 other couples was fantastic.  We were refreshed.  What a blessing to have awesome memories behind us and a new week ahead of us.

 

Matthew arrived safely in Haiti.  Every night around 9 o’clock we check the team leader’s facebook page for pictures and updates on their day.  It’s hard not being able to hear his voice, but it’s a blessing to see his face in another place and know he’s alright!  We can hardly wait until Friday when we can smother him with hugs and kisses and hear all his stories and see how tan he’s gotten… while we’ve watched the snow fall.

The week has been very endurable with wonderful family and friends.  My sweet friend, Ruthie, decided to drive all the way from Ohio with two of her three kids to be with me for 4 nights!  Not only has she been with me, but she has baked cookies while I napped, cleaned places that haven’t seen a dustcloth in months and months, mopped, and helped me rearrange my bedroom into a romantic suite.  It has been such fun!  Time is passing quickly and pleasantly!  Such friends are a rare find.  When there aren’t 7 kids vying for our attention, I will write more about how we became friends way back on African soil…

Until then, it’s time to start school.  There may be snow on the ground, but we are not having a snow day here!

Betty is smiling.  She has been for a couple of weeks, actually.  It is so exciting to see their open-mouthed grins.  Sometimes she smiles at the invisible angel hanging out somewhere on the ceiling where only babies can see them.  But most times she smiles right at my face and knows how proud I am of her.

I have a friend who is amazing.  Ours is the type of friendship that started (as most of my closest friendships have) with the wrong impression.  I thought she was weird.  Well, at the time she was.  =)  She thought I was stuck up.  Well, I probably was.  Anyway, we were both 15, so we had a lot to learn, and a long ways to grow.  I am so thankful that 15 years later, we are closer than ever.  We would take hour-long roadtrips in an instant to meet eachother for one afternoon.  We share a love of hand-made delights, simplicity, and hot tamales.  I could write pages of memories we’ve shared.  Like the time I forgot that she was coming to visit me, and I wasn’t home.  No one was at our house, infact, and she was forced to camp outside under a tarp for almost 24hrs and use the Burger King bathroom across the street… until I remembered that she was coming to visit me and I high-tailed it back home.  She was comfortably settled under our maple tree, with a blue tarp above her.  I apologized profusely, and somehow, we’re still friends.

She is also the queen of creativity and thoughtfulness.  Such creativity and thoughtfulness is usually wrapped up in a fun package that finds itself in your mailbox on just the perfect day.

Yesterday was one of those days.   I received a package from Sarah with the enclosed hand-made headband.  It suits Betty absolutely perfectly.

Cheers to friendships that last and grow and better with time.  I love you, Sarah!

To see more of her creative designs, visit her at simply sarai.

This morning is Saturday.  Usually Matthew is home.  Today he had to work.  I was prepared for it, but my biggest wonder as I drifted off to sleep last night was, “What on earth are we going to have for breakfast?!”  Especially considering I had fed them popcorn for supper… which, I must say, Jack thought was “the best supper ever!”   With little over a cup of milk left, no cereal, and all 5 kids waking up starving at the same time, what was I going to do?  Well, after I fed Betty I came downstairs to see a note by the computer from my beloved Matthew.  “Pancake batter is ready in the fridge…”  What a sigh of relief and a huge fill-up of my love tank.  The griddle was ready on the counter and all I had to do was pour the batter and drop in the chocolate chips!  Voila !  Breakfast was ready.  I so appreciate it when someone anticipates a need and helps to meet it without being asked.

Yesterday I was trying to teach Elijah the same concept.  He was throwing his tissues away into an overflowing bathroom trashcan.  Wasn’t sure if he took it to heart, but later in the morning when I was about to throw something away in the kitchen trashcan I noticed it was a clean, empty bag.  Hooray!  I love seeing knights in shining armor become even more knightly.

Needless to say, when Matthew comes home from work, a grocery trip is on the list of things to do today!  Until then… popcorn is served!