I'm up to no good again. Sprawled on the couch you'll find three days of clean laundry and though it's midnight, dirty dinner dishes still crowd the counters.
Shoot me.
I could list other evidence of my shortcomings as a housekeeper, but I still want you to like me so I won't torture you with details about the dropped or forgotten kid items crowding our walk spaces and the cyclone we call a playroom.
Thursday is our easiest homeschooling day so there is hope for the house.
Did I tell you? Peter's decided to raise crickets. He's got a green tree frog, purchased after asthma broke his hamster-lovin' heart. Crickets are ten cents each, so he figures we'll save a bundle.
Ahem.
That is, if I can get used to this racket. Surrounding me now is a cacophony of cricket calls, and while it may be peaceful camping music, I don't prefer it while I write.
On AWANA night the kids come back so hyped, doing well means having them asleep by ten--and that's with showers and baths taken before AWANA. Poor Paul was still awake tonight at 10:30, what with three different cricket containers placed all over their room, screaming at him from every angle.
So I brought the crickets out here to the living room and now Paul sleeps soundly and I'm left wondering: Will they make this flirtatious racket all. night. long? Because I'll surely be able to hear this from my bedroom?
But Peter, he dozed right off. He's half-human, half-insect, that one. Today he placed a ginormous grasshopper in my face and didn't understand why I kept backing away. "It's not harmful, Mommy."
"It's never about harm, Son. It's about flying. up. in. my. face. I don't share my personal space with creepy crawlies. But I agree with you...they're fascinating works of God."
He also has two Walmart goldfish and a truly amazing water bug, caught at the drainage ditch (aka frog pond). Mr. Water Bug, who eats small fish and crickets, happened to be fed the third goldfish for dinner--the one that died shortly after Walmart rung up those orange buggers.
I don't have to tell you, do I, that the vicious, shark-like consumption of said goldfish by Mr. Water Bug, both fascinated and horrified my four children?
Last week Peter forgot to put the lid on the water bug's container. They jump and/or fly, so it ended up on the floor of the girls' bedroom, where I later saw it and panicked, wondering if we had cockroaches all of a sudden.
"Mommy! That's just silly. Roaches are a lot bigger and they're not rounded!"
This, from a boy who's only seen a Madagascar cockroach--at the zoo.
Anyway, I did have a purpose for writing tonight. It wasn't just to ruin your appetite for that late-night ice cream.
We're all giddy that Lexi--a neighborhood friend we've prayed for and shared our faith with--got permission to go to AWANA club with us! And that Lexi bursting with excitement as I dropped her off at 8:22 PM?
It just made me smile and wink at God.
As she exited the van, she told us she couldn't wait to get her AWANA book. She would stay up late every night studying the whole thing, she told us. And by the way, could she come over tomorrow and read her new Holy Bible with Peter?
Yes, our beloved AWANA church gave her a copy of The Holy Bible. And do you know, every time she mentioned it she called it The Holy Bible. All the way home.
Grins, I tell you. I've been all grins tonight over this and now my cheeks hurt, some four hours later.
Never mind that she told her verse teacher about the fight she got into with a neighborhood girl. "I called her a really bad word."
Never mind that she did several other things that embarrassed Peter, though overall she behaved well.
Peter: "Mommy, why did she have to tell Mr. Dale about all that fighting and bad word stuff? He looked surprised." (No, Lexi didn't mention which really bad word she uttered, though I trust it wasn't what you're thinking. Young children exaggerate the badness of bad words, I've found.)
Mommy: "Well, Honey, if she went in there smelling of roses, Mr. Dale wouldn't have thought to pray for her. This way, he'll probably pray for her all week long. She needs all the prayers she can get, Peter. Trust God to work through every last detail, and remember that church is for sinners."
Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
The Bible tells us that God calls the ones who will believe. He awakens them spiritually and then they respond to Jesus. Since we never know who He'll call, we witness to everyone.
Lexi was not someone I expected to hear this excited response from. And that's why my cheeks hurt from smiling tonight, and why tears keep threatening.
And the woman two houses down who didn't respond to my dinner invitation some time ago? She now sends Landon here to play several times a week, and she's thinking of putting him in AWANA.
The Lord is good. All the time. Hallelujah!
More thanks for Thankful Thursday:
~ A friend got a part-time job, postponing some major worries
~ My boys reading Freedom Train about Harriet Tubman, and seeing with new eyes how blessed they are.
~ The Holy Bible and Lexi's excitement over owning one.
~ Mr. Dale, Peter's verse teacher at AWANA...a dear man who blesses my Peter and inspires him to do his best.
~ Lexi's family saying yes.
~ My husband's eyes welling up when we told him about Lexi's response.
~ Late-night dish duty (hard hallelujah)
~ 12 little Cubbies struggling to understand it all and looking so adorable while they do. Ages 3 and 4, they can't quite get the concepts right for sin and dying on the cross. "What is sin?" the Cubbies teacher asks every Wednesday night. "It's when Jesus died on the cross!", the pastor's son answers with confidence. There have been many answers, but never the right ones. They don't understand why they need to love God. They just love him and it's precious. If you ask them...why do you love God? I'm sure they'll say...because He loves me. Amen to that!
And one last word about little ones and their "wisdom".
My five-year-old daughter, quite stubborn, was angry about something Peter did to her the other day. I reminded her that God forgave us, and so why couldn't she forgive a wrongdoing?
"Because he's God and I'm not."
I had no words.
Shoot me.
I could list other evidence of my shortcomings as a housekeeper, but I still want you to like me so I won't torture you with details about the dropped or forgotten kid items crowding our walk spaces and the cyclone we call a playroom.
Thursday is our easiest homeschooling day so there is hope for the house.
Did I tell you? Peter's decided to raise crickets. He's got a green tree frog, purchased after asthma broke his hamster-lovin' heart. Crickets are ten cents each, so he figures we'll save a bundle.
Ahem.
That is, if I can get used to this racket. Surrounding me now is a cacophony of cricket calls, and while it may be peaceful camping music, I don't prefer it while I write.
On AWANA night the kids come back so hyped, doing well means having them asleep by ten--and that's with showers and baths taken before AWANA. Poor Paul was still awake tonight at 10:30, what with three different cricket containers placed all over their room, screaming at him from every angle.
So I brought the crickets out here to the living room and now Paul sleeps soundly and I'm left wondering: Will they make this flirtatious racket all. night. long? Because I'll surely be able to hear this from my bedroom?
But Peter, he dozed right off. He's half-human, half-insect, that one. Today he placed a ginormous grasshopper in my face and didn't understand why I kept backing away. "It's not harmful, Mommy."
"It's never about harm, Son. It's about flying. up. in. my. face. I don't share my personal space with creepy crawlies. But I agree with you...they're fascinating works of God."
He also has two Walmart goldfish and a truly amazing water bug, caught at the drainage ditch (aka frog pond). Mr. Water Bug, who eats small fish and crickets, happened to be fed the third goldfish for dinner--the one that died shortly after Walmart rung up those orange buggers.
I don't have to tell you, do I, that the vicious, shark-like consumption of said goldfish by Mr. Water Bug, both fascinated and horrified my four children?
Last week Peter forgot to put the lid on the water bug's container. They jump and/or fly, so it ended up on the floor of the girls' bedroom, where I later saw it and panicked, wondering if we had cockroaches all of a sudden.
"Mommy! That's just silly. Roaches are a lot bigger and they're not rounded!"
This, from a boy who's only seen a Madagascar cockroach--at the zoo.
Anyway, I did have a purpose for writing tonight. It wasn't just to ruin your appetite for that late-night ice cream.
We're all giddy that Lexi--a neighborhood friend we've prayed for and shared our faith with--got permission to go to AWANA club with us! And that Lexi bursting with excitement as I dropped her off at 8:22 PM?
It just made me smile and wink at God.
As she exited the van, she told us she couldn't wait to get her AWANA book. She would stay up late every night studying the whole thing, she told us. And by the way, could she come over tomorrow and read her new Holy Bible with Peter?
Yes, our beloved AWANA church gave her a copy of The Holy Bible. And do you know, every time she mentioned it she called it The Holy Bible. All the way home.
Grins, I tell you. I've been all grins tonight over this and now my cheeks hurt, some four hours later.
Never mind that she told her verse teacher about the fight she got into with a neighborhood girl. "I called her a really bad word."
Never mind that she did several other things that embarrassed Peter, though overall she behaved well.
Peter: "Mommy, why did she have to tell Mr. Dale about all that fighting and bad word stuff? He looked surprised." (No, Lexi didn't mention which really bad word she uttered, though I trust it wasn't what you're thinking. Young children exaggerate the badness of bad words, I've found.)
Mommy: "Well, Honey, if she went in there smelling of roses, Mr. Dale wouldn't have thought to pray for her. This way, he'll probably pray for her all week long. She needs all the prayers she can get, Peter. Trust God to work through every last detail, and remember that church is for sinners."
Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
The Bible tells us that God calls the ones who will believe. He awakens them spiritually and then they respond to Jesus. Since we never know who He'll call, we witness to everyone.
Lexi was not someone I expected to hear this excited response from. And that's why my cheeks hurt from smiling tonight, and why tears keep threatening.
And the woman two houses down who didn't respond to my dinner invitation some time ago? She now sends Landon here to play several times a week, and she's thinking of putting him in AWANA.
The Lord is good. All the time. Hallelujah!
More thanks for Thankful Thursday:
~ A friend got a part-time job, postponing some major worries
~ My boys reading Freedom Train about Harriet Tubman, and seeing with new eyes how blessed they are.
~ The Holy Bible and Lexi's excitement over owning one.
~ Mr. Dale, Peter's verse teacher at AWANA...a dear man who blesses my Peter and inspires him to do his best.
~ Lexi's family saying yes.
~ My husband's eyes welling up when we told him about Lexi's response.
~ Late-night dish duty (hard hallelujah)
~ 12 little Cubbies struggling to understand it all and looking so adorable while they do. Ages 3 and 4, they can't quite get the concepts right for sin and dying on the cross. "What is sin?" the Cubbies teacher asks every Wednesday night. "It's when Jesus died on the cross!", the pastor's son answers with confidence. There have been many answers, but never the right ones. They don't understand why they need to love God. They just love him and it's precious. If you ask them...why do you love God? I'm sure they'll say...because He loves me. Amen to that!
And one last word about little ones and their "wisdom".
My five-year-old daughter, quite stubborn, was angry about something Peter did to her the other day. I reminded her that God forgave us, and so why couldn't she forgive a wrongdoing?
"Because he's God and I'm not."
I had no words.
3 comments:
How I love this post, maybe because it resembles my life :) So thrilled to hear about Lexi!!!! Praise God!
Tesha, I'm glad someone else might have dirty dishes at midnight. :) Makes me feel better somehow.
I'm so thrilled to have found another dirty-dishes-at-midnight- friend! ;)
And rejoicing with you that Lexi can go to Awana. Praying for spiritual fruit in her life.
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