The Mothership

Prayer works my friends.  It really does.  I have seen firsthand how it works time and time again.  I know this is not a revelation to a lot of you, but I am still amazed every time it does!  As a mother, I have been using prayer for things that I never would have thought I would. "Lord, please help me find my keys!" "Lord, give me patience for cleaning up the pee from the floor for the third time today." "Lord, take his boo-boo pain away right now!" "Lord, help me to be on time this morning." "Lord, please calm this terrorist of a toddler!" There are millions more, but another one has most recently been so effective for my children... "Lord, take away their nightmares..."  My children are really good sleepers.  They sleep through most nights, in their own beds, and fall asleep fairly quickly.  They sleep well at strange places, as long as we are there.  But, if someone is sick, all of that goes out the window, and...

My church is a wonderful place.  There are so many different people in so many different places in their walks with God.  They focus on love and truth and right now, the Holy spirit is moving.  All the while, my children are witnessing and watching adults and children serve and love their Lord with great zeal, intensity, and yearning.  I am so proud of this!  I am so overwhelmed in the way God works through the hearts of all the volunteers and leaders and I only hope that my children continue to have seeds planted in their hearts.  This week the church is REALLY focusing on worship.  Worship is such a precious time for me.  I feel so close and so engaged with God.  I am always overwhelmed with the love that He shows me. I'm not sure why, but just the thought about His love being unconditional, no strings attached, just floors me. He wants me to want Him and I do...I so ever do.  I feel the closest to God when I am in deep worship....

Luke's character qualities become ever more apparent as time flies by. It also becomes more apparent that we have the same qualities, good and bad:) Every morning before dropping Luke off at his preschool classroom, we go over what his behavior should vaguely look like for the day. It usually goes something like this: Me: "What are supposed to remember when you're away from Mommy?" Luke: "I need to make good choicesssss...listen to teachers...and not pinch my friends when we dance."  Me: "Ok, those are all good things to remember. Also, be kind with your body and words" Luke: "Ok mommy!  Have a good day!" Carolyn and I leave and do amazing things while he is away, you know like grocery shopping! When I return to the school to retrieve my son he almost always comes out of the room happy to see me and is yelling, "Hi Mommy!  I'm so glad to see you. I made good choices today!" Sometimes his teacher nods and agrees and other tim...

I don't know how, but some people are born with this ability to completely quote movies.  Word for word, no faltering, they can remember exactly how it was said in the movie.  I am not one of these people.  Even the girly movies that I have seen a bazillion times, I can never seem to quote from them when appropriate.  And when I go out on a limb to try and sound funny, I stumble all over myself and it ends up coming out as word barf!  My son, however is able to quote movies, and even applies the quote to a situation that relates.  Here is how a conversation at breakfast went this morning: After asking Luke three separate times (of course while I'm making lunches and emptying the dishwasher all at the same time) what he wanted for breakfast, he finally answers with a growl and pursed lips, "Strawberries and eggs."  So what do I do, I make eggs and a side of blueberries.  That's what he said right? I bring his plate to the table.  He finall...

****** MORE POTTY LANGUAGE.  If you are not comfortable with it, get over it, it's my life right now.**** Luke has done and AWESOME job with potty training.  He really hasn't had very many accidents to speak of and pretty much decided on his own that he was going to go diaper free.  I was expecting him to be very stubborn about the whole process, but he really has done a great job.  All in all, I'm impressed with my son.  He is a tremendous potty trainee.  However, there are a few things that make me say he's not 100% potty trained: he's 2...I mean there are not many 2 year old boys, in my career as a teacher, whom are perfectly potty trained.  Since he's 2 he is also very unpredictable/unreliable! because he's so young, his little arm does not reach around to his bottom to wipe.  So he still needs help with wiping. he also is not tall enough to stand and pee nor is he able to get up onto the potty without his pants falling off....

With Luke's new vocabulary questions have come.  He doesn't even stop to listen to the answer I am giving him and he's already asking another.  He also makes the most random comments and remarks out of nowhere.  Here are just some of my favorites: While watching a show about dinosaurs, "Mommy, what dat species?" "No, dat silly mommy.  I'ma sillwe monkey." "dah-hah, me feet stinky!" while running to an air-show, "Me LOVE see aiw-panes fly! Phshuuuuuu on a phone call with Mammie discussing what he saw at the air-show, "Me see jets, aiw-panes, racie cars, super guys, helwecopters, and SPACESHIP!  Phshuuuuuu!" if he seems absent mindedabout anything he snickers a little smile and says, "Ha, me forgot!" like it was such a surprise to him. after a long walk with with G-pa he came back and said, "Mammie, me walk weallwee farrr.  My legs so tired!" and my favorite: whilst playing or being corrected...

Luke has recently really gotten into saying his prayers at night.  I have tried to compile some of our dialog during prayers.  They usually start out this way: Me: You want to say prayers? Luke: MmmHhmmm Me: Let's do it then. Luke: Dear Godt, kay-you for me, kay-you for mommy, Cece, kay-you for Daddy, kay-you made me and my torpedos. Amen and another time... Luke: Dear Godt, kay-you for making trees, and gorillas, and my family...AAAAAANNNNDDD my CARs another... Luke: Godt, kay-you for mommy, daddy, Cece, and kay-you make me, and Dave and Jess, and Dave and Ho-hawk (mo-hawk).  Amen.  Dave do that again? another... Luke: Dear Godt, kay-you for make me, my house, my food, my cool house, and for my toads, yeah toads...they say croak, me see toads morrow? Amen. another one...(this one really gets me right there ya know) Luke: kay-you for my mommy, my daddy, Cece, and...., and..., and...Mommy you so beautiful:) As you can tell, prayers are a compil...

It is amazing how God makes himself known and quite boldly. Recently, I have had a hard time disciplining Luke and then feeling VERY guilty about how I handled each situation.  I also have been struggling with the want to CHANGE Luke's aggressive behavior and sometimes only seeing the "bad" things he does instead of focusing on what Luke does well.  This is another side-effect of being a people pleaser.  I have been praying for many weeks now that I have more peace and understanding of how to handle Luke and love his heart just the way it is, and of course to have more patience (I mean, what parent DOESN'T pray for more patience). I read a quote the other day saying, "Don't try so hard to fix your kid and forget that you already have a good one."  I believe God put that there for me to see because right after reading that some things in the house have changed...now, everything is not hunky-dory, but I am beginning to see Luke in a new light. Luke i...

Luke has embarrassed me... and I'm sure it won't be the last. We were at a friends house, a bachelor of course, where no children abide.  I'm always nervous I'm going to have to replace some expensive VAZ from Paris or somewhere exotic that is of course IMPOSSIBLE to replace.  That being said, this friend is pretty laid back and LOVES kids.  In fact he reinvites us time and time again...doesn't he remember us? The kids ate well, played well through most of dinner.  I enjoyed playing with them as Tim and said friend talked about things way over most "non-tech" peoples heads.  Luke brought lots of toys with him includig his cars.  Now, this is a VERY WHITE house with LOTS of white walls and carpet and nice hardwood in the kitchen.  At one point I got pulled into the conversation with the other adults in the room.  However, promptly before that I reprimanded Luke for ALMOST driving his cars on the walls for fear of marks on the walls....

This is somewhat of a continuation of Carolyn's Birth.  This is about when Luke came to meet her at the hospital for the first time.  This is a memory that will forever be fresh in my memory.  It touches my heart every time I think of it and almost makes my eyes tear up with delight and sadness at the same time.My mother warned me how upset she was when she came home with Sam, at how BIG Emma looked and was no longer her baby. Well, this played somewhat the same way, but in a slightly different, emotional way.  Let's go back to the day before...or couple of months before Carolyn arrived.  Now, don't get me wrong I was VERY excited to have a new baby and especially have a girl.  I've always dreamed about how close I would be with my kids, but especially my daughter.  There would be a special closeness.  Little did I know how CLOSE I would become with my little man.  He is all kinds of emotion...but he is a part of me.  Raising him h...

I have always enjoyed a good grocery run.  Even when I was a child/teenager, I would voluntairly go to the grocery.  I guess it is because I enjoy the time I get to spend with the other person while shopping.  Now having a child has certainly slllooooowwwed the trip a bit, but I still enjoy the time with Luke. I always make sure I go right after breakfast and still bring him something to snack on or a toy to keep him busy.  Even then though he genuinely enjoys the grocery, or any store for that matter.  I don't remember too many times where he acted up, and if he did, it was because he was tired. As we make our ways through the aisles the two of us just look so happy:)  I make funny faces at Luke and he laughs with his contagious little giggle.  I kiss all over him since his face is right in front of me, which is just irresistible.  He leans in to me and says, "Awwww, Momma." and wants me to hug him over and over again.  We do all this as...