Thankful . . .

Confession: I am a selfish person. *gulp* And over the course of the last few days I've been quite convicted on how often my own interests are forefront in my mind. Naptime=quiet time for mommy rather than rest time or story time for Caleb. Husband and kids aren't terribly crazy about vegetarian entries for dinner? Oh well, I like them. Mommy is in charge of the radio in the car, even if Caleb doesn't like Sara Bareilles. . . I could keep going, but you get the idea . . .

But lately, every time a complaining thought or selfish vibe springs up in my mind, I hear a whisper in my heart:
"What are you thankful for?"
That will stop a girl in her tracks, let me tell you.

I try to be thankful, really I do. I'm thankful for food to eat, money to pay the bills, clothes to wear, and health—good things. But I forget, and don't like, to be thankful for all things, even things that don't go my way. Sick kids—not the sick part, but the staying-home-and-spending-time with them, part. Piles of laundry—not the vast amount of work, but the fact that my family has so many items to clothe ourselves with, that they end up in dirty mounds in the basement. Dirty dishes—proof that we eat good food on a frequent basis.

Slowly, my perspective is being forced to shift a bit, and I am being called to offer up my thanks regardless of my circumstances. A hard lesson, believe me.

However, how much better to give thanks than to wallow in self-pity and frustration? Even my children are affected. Proof that they really do WATCH YOUR EVERY MOVE and LISTEN TO YOUR EVERY WORD, (Scary).
Last night as I knelt by Caleb's bed and did the night-time routine with him—drink, story, bedtime songs, prayers—he said to me,"We have to say thank you Mom,"
Me: "What should we thank Jesus for, Caleb?"
Caleb: "Everything."

Out of the mouth of babes.

"Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
—Hebrews 12:28-29

Word-wise.

Vocabulary has always been kind of a big thing to me. I love words, and given the option, I prefer to call things by their proper names: children, not kids; deer, not deers; red honda civic, not Lightning McQueen, etc. And while I am by no means consistent in this, I have apparently been consistent enough for Caleb to catch me in my wordy-ways . . .

Caleb: *quietly musing* "awe-dem."
Me: "What bud? All of them? All of what?"
Caleb: "No Mom. Awe-dem."
Me: *tries again with more articulation* "All. of. them."
Caleb: *sighs exasperatedly* "No Mom. Awe-dem."
Me: "Awe-dem?"
Caleb: *getting frustrated now* "Awe-dem!"
Me: "Autumn. Oh Autumn! Yes Caleb, It's Autumn.
Caleb: "That's what I said, Mom. Awe-dem."

Fall might have been easier to pronounce . . .

Sprinkles

The other morning as I was helping Caleb get dressed he reached up and smoothed my forehead with both hands.
Caleb: "Mommy, you have stripes on your forehead!"
Me: *Laughs ruefully* "Yes. Yes I do. Those stripes are called wrinkles.
Caleb: "Wrinkles?"
Me: "Yep." *Helps pull on a sock*
Caleb: "Who gave them to you? Did God give you those sprinkles?"
Me: *laughs again* "Wrinkles. And I think maybe you gave them to me."
Caleb: "I did?"
Me: "Maybe."
Caleb: *Pauses thoughtfully* "I like them. Show me your sprinkles again."

Pigtales . . .

What one has, so must the other.

When Caleb Sleeps . . .

. . . Ella totally gets into his stuff.
Don't tell him.

Updates

It has been brought to my attention that my blog posts have been lacking (read non-existent) as of late. And so I decided to remedy that little problem. So. . . for the sake of all interested . . . here's a rundown of our quadruple life over the past couple of weeks!

1. Potty training is going well . . . in fact, I think I'll give it a couple more nights with pull-ups and then we should be diapering only ONE child here at the RedHouse!


























2. Aaron and I played Scrabble. This is worth noting only because we are NOT game people. We don't play games. No games. Have I mentioned that we really don't play games? Well, we did. And despite my being a word person, I lost to Aaron, who is a picture person. Go figure. We still had fun, and we might do it again, sometime. Maybe.



























3. I went to Seattle for FIVE DAYS and had a wonderful, lovely, beautiful time! I went partly to research galleries (both as a possible venues for my own work—visit exhibitionb for a sample), and to research the setting for a book project I'm working on. Here's me at an outdoor coffee cafe in Pioneer Square, Seattle.


























While there, I also had a chance to visit my wonderful and beloved friend Rebekah, who is also an artist (AMAZING) and had a fabulous time catching up and tightening friendship strings. Here's a couple samples of her sculpture work-in-progress.




















































4. Since I've returned I have simply been enjoying time with my sweet family. And doing my best to keep up to Caleb, and Ella!