Reading.

It all starts innocently enough. You read books to your kids for hours. And hours. And hours.
They memorize the books as you read them, and soon you get to listen to them recite the books as they 'read' them.
Then they start to make up stories to books they haven't read much by just looking at the pictures.
And then it happens.
WHAM!! What the what??! Is she reading??? Yes, i think that's what she's doing.
wow.

January 29, 2013

Today is a new day. A day filled with new hope. New opportunity. New goals. New dreams. New attitudes. Yesterday was an end. An end to our 'beginning'. Today is new. Today is my Happy New Year!

Breakfast.

This morning, between the hours of 3am-6am, i decided i was pretty weary of this whole 'mommy' gig...between the baby and the 3 year old, sleep was like a distant memory. But at breakfast this morning, i realized these days are numbered... You know, the days where you sit with a bowl of apple jacks and discuss the lifestyles of mermaids and fairies. Yeah... I'm gonna miss this someday!

Royalty.

"mommy, I AM A PRINCESS. Just thought I'd let ya know!" -Jada

6:41pm

6:41pm
The girls were told 5 minutes until bath time. They both complained that they didn't want to take a bath. Instead of arguing with them, Nate gave them an ultimatum: they still had 5 minutes, but they could choose bath time or bed time (because that's a no-brainer, right??) It was unanimous -- bed time! We exchanged glances, had a silent conversation with each other, and made the same offer, just to be sure. Same answer.
7 pm. Stories read, prayers said, lights off, girls snug as a bug.
Ahhhh.. Perfect ending to an overwhelming, exhausting day.

Commercials...

Proof that my kids are paying attention to me even when I think they aren't...
As we are watching cartoons this morning, a commercial comes on. We usually don't watch tv (If we watch anything, it is a movie) so they aren't used to advertisements.  Normally when we do watch tv, they complain during the commercials that they want the 'movie' to come back on. But this time, EE just calmly says, "we need to watch this before our show comes on because the commercials pay for our shows."
Yes, sweet child, you are so right.

My Savior was born WHERE??!

A few days ago, my devotions were focused on the events immediately surrounding the birth of Jesus. Maybe it is because I am just a few days removed from my own birth story, but I was struck with the details of this story in a way I never have been before.

Toward the end of my pregnancy, many of you know how absolutely uncomfortable I was. It hurt to walk, sit, sleep… anything, really!  But Mary. Sweet Mary was riding on a donkey, in the final days of her pregnancy, a distance of at least 80 miles!! When I get the chance to meet Mary in heaven, I don’t think I’ll complain to her about the aches and pains I experienced!

And then when it comes time to deliver her sweet child, she is far away from home in a town packed with travelers.  “There was no room for them in the inn.” So baby Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was born in a stable. My mom often asked me as I was growing up if I was born in a barn. Jesus was!  Mary didn’t have the luxury of a large hospital room, a crew of nurses at her disposal, and a doctor to deliver her baby. She had some hay and maybe a cow or a donkey.

As I read the birth story again, it was the cleanliness that struck me more than anything. As I prepared to deliver Kate, the nurses prepared the room for the doctor. We had some student nurses in the room, so they went about the preparations as they were supervised by other nurses. One of the students was getting all the doctors tools ready on a table. I watched her unwrap the ‘kit’… she was very careful to not touch anything except the outer wrapping. However, because she wasn’t wearing gloves, the whole kit had to be removed and a new one brought in.  The delivery room is a sterile environment!!  Stables?? Not so much!

Often, when we think about that stable, we picture that pretty little nativity scene sitting on the mantle. A nice shelter. Mary and Joseph sitting over their baby boy. Angels, shepherds, and Magi visiting. And the clean, well groomed animals sitting outside watching it all happen.  But think about it! This stable was not prepared for them in expectation of their arrival.  Mary and Joseph couldn’t find a room anywhere in Bethlehem. They settled for a stable. A stable that housed animals. Certainly they had to step over piles of poo and endure all the lovely smells that animals create. They probably had to push aside the cows and sheep and donkeys to make room for Mary. Did she lie on a nice, clean bed of hay??  No. She lay on the hay that was already being used by said animals. Dirty. It was dirty. Then Jesus was born. He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger – a manger used to feed the animals. But now it was a bed for the savior of the world. 

My Savior, my Jesus, was born in a dirty, stinky animal barn.  But, in the end, his blood was shed to clean me from something even dirtier and stinkier… my sin. Thank you, Jesus, for coming to earth as a baby, for being born in a stable, for living the life of a mortal man, and for giving the ultimate gift of your life to save me from my own life.