25 Days of Christmas

Christmas is such a wonderful, joyous time of year but we somehow seem to let it fly by each year too quickly. In an attempt to slow down and cherish each day, I hope to blog about how we celebrated Christmas each day this month. Having three small children (one of which is celebrating her first Christmas this year!) does bring an extra dose of cheerfulness to this month, but also in my adult, spiritually mature mind, I can also get quite caught up in the mystery of it all.

Jesus, the Creator of the universe, humbly took the form of man and came to live on earth for one purpose: to allow His creation, mankind, a chance to get to know God personally. It is just amazing! To be a mother is to know firsthand how fragile and helpless a newborn baby is. Jesus left the splendors of heaven and was born as a baby into a dirty, animal stable. And we get upset about having to run errands on a rainy day.

Thank you, Jesus, for being our best Christmas present ever!

Merry Christmas!

Nine-month-old Screamer

When I was pregnant with Juliet, she barely moved and I was quite nervous about her a lot of the time. Then when she was born, she didn't eat for 13 hours just because she didn't want to. I was astounded by how mellow she was. Hence the nickname "Marshmallow". I really don't call her that much, marshmallow is a mouthful, and anyway she's really not that mellow anymore. Other that being a very patient baby when it's meal time if I'm carrying her around, Juliet has become quite the little impatient eater and screams out at random other times for no reason too. She's so funny.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 36th birthday.  According to Philip, I've been around the sun 36 times now.  It's been a good day filled with reminiscense back to some of my favorite things.  This morning my friend and neighbor Greta came over and she, the kids and I drove to North Greenville University where her son and daughter are students.  It's beautifully located in the mountains of northern South Carolina.  Fall is my favorite time of year to go to the mountains because you can see red and yellow leaves for miles! 

So my first flashback was eating a meal in a college dining hall.  The wide variety of food, unlimited supply and seemingly all of it for free (Greta treated us but I remember never handing over cash when I was in college; just scan my ID, thank you!) brought back many memories.  However the differences were extremely apparent too.  Never at my days at Winthrop University did I ponder, "Can my 8-month-old eat that?", "Where is my four-year-old?" (with Greta at the waffle iron), "Will my 6-year-old hurt himself as he does pretend karate on a makeshift stage area?" and last but not least, "What I wouldn't give to be able to walk in here and eat everyday instead of staring into my fridge and pantry trying to find something healthy/tasty for my family to eat!" Our friend Suzanne, who also came with her 11-month-old son, and I did discuss just staying through lunch too as we don't eat that good at home, but reality kicked in and it was time to drive home.  It was a nice visit and we all decided that we'll visit again in the spring and maybe spend some time wandering around campus. 

On the way home, I stopped at the park at the lake (just a mile from our house!).  The kids had done a great job at the college so I thought it would be fun to enjoy the pleasant fall weather.  We had the park to ourselves and so I enjoyed another favorite flashback... swinging as high as I could!  It was exhilerating to be on that swing with the fall foliage surrounding the beautiful lake in my view.  Swinging could definitely be the next fitness craze as it really does work your ab muscles!

After that, on to the house and Kim's grown-up, real life once again.  My birthday afternoon was spent making lunch, nursing Juliet, teaching Philip and Braewyn as school-time was pushed to the afternoon, and washing a load of laundry. 

Life is good and I thank Jesus everyday for which all He has blessed me.  I pray I might use my next 36 years to glorify Him more than I have with my first 36. 

Confused about the neighbors

My kids are growing up and with each stage comes new joys and new challenges.  Philip is now 6, almost 7, and thrilled that six boys live within walking distance of our house.  I love the small community feel of our little, dead-end street but it seems recently that it's turned into the set of a soap opera instead of a sitcom. 

So I'm trying to share the love of Christ with the boy Philip plays with most often.  His parents are divorcing and I'm happy to provide him with a peaceful haven for a few hours after school.  His mom is at home during this time so I'm not techincally babysitting.  The friend who I will call Charlie is an overall good kid but somewhat on the hyper side but I've grown to love him and he and Philip play really well together.  There's been a few potty humor jokes said and pretend injuries to the groin area but Philip sees that stuff from his church friends as well.  At this age, that kind of stuff seems to be on the minds of all boys no matter how strong his family is spiritually. 

Well, Charlie's mom and I are acquaintances.  I'll listen when she tells me how things are going with her husband and I try to encourage her to turn to Jesus.  Not that I'm trying to be preachy, but He is truly my only source of hope and strength, and I want that for her too.  She is a seemingly nice lady but I don't know her well enough to ask her to babysit my kids.  I don't think I should feel bad for saying that I don't know exactly what is said or done in their house and so I don't want my kids influenced to the point of not being able to come home if they want to (only Philip goes over there, but she's offered to watch all three). 

Here's where it gets complicated. Another mom on the street called me last week. She and I are even more distant acquaintances but she's always seemed very friendly and I know their family to be Christians. She called me with much hesitation as she didn't want to gossip but she told me that she and Charlie's mom are no longer friends due to Charlie's mom saying some very unkind things about her to other neighbors and being involved with things that the mom calling me disagreed with (being places and saying she was elsewhere, lying to her husband about things, etc.). This other mom said that Charlie had gotten too rough with her kids and was not allowed to play there anymore.  The mom was calling me to make me aware of the situation and not trust everything I see or hear.

Now I feel silly writing all of this because it does sound so 6th grade.  But the bottom line is that I love my son and want to protect him with my life.  Where do I draw the line as to whom he can play with, whose houses should I let him go into, how do I say he can play with certain kids if they come to our house but not to their houses?  I don't really think I'm a good judge of character as I'm quite gullible and often buy into whatever the person says. I do know I should pray for discernment and not let my mind go all "after school special" coming up with crazy thoughts of what might happen.

A friend whose kids are older teenagers now told me, "When your kids are little, it's physically exhausting, but when they get older, it's mentally exhausting."  I'm going to be all-around exhausted if I'm in the tough physical and mental stuff all at the same time!