Random Junk

There are always so many things I wish to write...I write them in my head. I hear them...how they would sound if read aloud, but I so rarely make it to the keyboard.

So, as I walked past Faith's bed a few minutes ago and heard her snoring away in her loud cute loud sort of way that only she can do...I thought perhaps I'd write a bit. Faith always likes a few extra kisses and hugs at bedtime and she usually tells me who to "send up". Tonight, as I left her bedside she called after me, "Send up one of the boys!"

So, I sent up one of the boys (Matthew I believe) and headed off to write...

...to write a hodge-podge of random thoughts...


Thoughts on Tiny Peoples being attached to Larger Peoples

Faith and Mitchell. Their relationship entertains me to no end. She follows him around like a little chihuahua nipping at his rather large heels. She follows him around everywhere talking incessantly and asking him a million questions. She lies in wait for him outside the door when he is in a room. I think she is going to have a hard time when he heads to school this fall. We won't even talk about what kind of a time his Momma is gonna have!!!!

Anyhoo...Faith has a ritual when anyone is leaving the house, she stands in the bay window and knocks on the window till they wave at her. She always says, "I'll wave to you at the window.". When Mitchell headed out the door today, she yelled (loudly) after him while making a mad dash for the bay window:

"I'LL WAVE TO YOU AT THE WINDOW! YOU CAN CALL ME, TEXT ME, OR FACE-TIME ME!".

Faith has been in the habit lately of leaving notes for Mitchell. She slips them under his bedroom door at times.  She leaves him notes that say sweet, loving things like: "Mitchell, a big momster is cuming for you. You MUST RUN!" He usually is not frightened by these "love notes".

Faith made Mitchell this NECKLACE for his 21st birthday!

She adds this indescribable facet to our lives that I cannot imagine not having. I'm so grateful.
.
So, it's a blessing beyond words when your "big peoples" are loving enough that your "littles" want to attach.


Thoughts on Being and Ambassador


My mother says Faith is our church's little good-will ambassador. She is always making pictures or bead necklaces or something for folks at church. The other week, she wrote a letter to a young woman in our church during the opening. When children were dismissed to children's church, Faith ran over and handed it to her with a hug. The note simply said, "I haven't seen you in a while and I missed you." (of course it was all spelled wrong.) After church the young woman came to me and said, "You know, I've had a really hard week and this just made me feel so good."

So, small good-will ambassadors do an important work.


Thoughts on Thankfulness

Matthew says Faith's prayers always make an impression on him because she is always so thankful for everything. She thanks God for everything in her life.

"Thank you for we give our offering and then Jesus gives it to the poor, and thank you for the poor and thank you for the rich."

So, it's good to be thankful.


Thoughts on Poetry

Upon flipping through the 5th grade English teacher's manual looking for a writing project for Gracie, we came across one and a half Limerick's apparently written by Christian when he was in 5th grade. I wanted to share them here because they are such high quality poetry:

So, it's good to expose one's self to the works of great poets...like Christian.


Thoughts on Loving

It's funny how you grow to love people. I guess what I really mean is, if you really stop and think about it, it's incredible. It struck me a few weeks ago as I looked around our growing church and saw all these people that I'd never known before. A brand new church, as churches go. I guess it's hard to put into words what I wanted to write, but, I was struck by the love that I had for these people. People I never knew. People who came to be a part of a body that would love them......and we do.

So, it's funny how you grow to love people.


Thoughts on Hearing vs. Telling


A few weeks ago, we were blessed to share our adoption story at church. It was a special time for us. In a way it brought peace and closure to something deep inside me that was always needing a time like that. And that love, that love that I spoke of earlier...it came back around, and got poured out on us...and it was something I had needed for a long time.

People cried and I guess I didn't think they would. I only got choked up twice when I was speaking. ..And I didn't shed a tear when I sang Steven Curtis Chapman's "What Now" which I've wanted to sing for so very very long.
......but I brought the recording home. And I sat on my rocking chair in my bedroom and listened to what I had said......and I cried. I cried a lot. Somehow it was different when I was hearing it than it was when I was telling it. I guess because I've told the stories so many times that it feels the same when I'm speaking it. But I never 'heard' it before.

So, it's good to listen... And it's good when love comes back around.


Thoughts on Grace

We met a young man on outreach a while back, and I've always wanted to record my thoughts on that, because sometimes someone says something that you'll never forget:

I said, "Do you know Jesus loves you?"
His lip quivered. He got tears in his eyes.
He said, "Yeah, I've always loved Jesus, but I've done things..."
We talked for quite a while.

I thought about how we've all done things...

I wonder...how does a young man get so lost?
and then I wonder at the fact that, but for the Grace of God...how do we not all get lost....

So, God, shine your light really brightly on the path before me, cause I'm not always all that bright...


Thoughts on the 80's

Faith: "Mother, do you like cartoons?"
Me: "No."
Faith: "What do you like....80's music?!! "


Faith: "Mother, who's birthday is next?"
Me: "Mine."
Faith: "How old are you going to be?"
Me: "Oh, I don't know."
Faith: "I won't tell anybody."

So, it's good if your littles don't really know just how long ago the 80's were.


Thoughts on Love Notes and Scuffed Walls

My Gracie made me these lovely lovey notes. Oh, bestill my heart. So, my walls have countless scuff marks, or whole scrapes down the dark wallpaper where unnamed child carried an open box down the hall, and we won't get into all the broken things....oh dear, because at this point in childrearing it would be much easier to name the things that are NOT broken.....but I have folders and folders of love notes all tucked away in the beautiful wooden chest my husband bought me many years ago. Oh, how I love them.

So, love notes are more lovely than all the non-broken things in the world.


Thoughts on Basic Needs

Me (sitting on Christian's bedside at night): "Christian, do you have any problems?"
Christian: "No"
Me: "Anything you need to talk about?"
Christian: "No"
"Well, Yes, there is something."
Me: "What?"
Christian: "We haven't had those breakfast cinnamon buns in a long time!"

So, it's impossible to assess just how important sweets are to some people.


Thoughts on.. well, ummm...Underwear...

So Grace and Faith were packing to go spend the night at my parents (I was not home during the packing process.) My mother told Faith to go get a pair of clean underwear to pack. Faith told my mother she didn't have any clean underwear.

My wonderful mother then dug through my hamper to discover, much to my shame, that Faith had 17 pairs in the hamper.

So, .....oh,...I don't know. I can't seem to come up with a one-phrased "moral-of-the-story for this one except maybe...

..hide the dirty laundry?? No, that wouldn't be good.

oh dear Lord I get tired


Apparently Junk in my Trunk

I thought I would include a photo shoot of what they boys wrote on the marker board in the school room. I am a history fanatic of sorts and apparently (well, actually it is very apparent that they feel this way about my teaching of history because they comment on it nearly every day). I do tend to go overboard a bit with history. The boys have an inside joke that even if they don't understand something, they won't ask a question about it because it turns into an hour long lesson. They also find it amusing that when they give a wrong answer, I do, in fact, always tell them it was a good guess. They felt the need to note that on their marker-board-creation. Note that there is also one pint-sized chatterbox in the classroom at all times to add chaos to every lesson. But, here are their feelings, now captured for posterity's sake.:

Yesterday we had our first family photo shoot in much too long. So, hopefully I'll be able to post new family photos soon. A young photographer from our church took 388 photos...hopefully we should be able to find a few good ones, right??!!

And so, then we celebrated after the photo shoot with pizza and ice cream!

And I believe Faith put it best as she downed her pizza. She said, "Wow, Mother, this is everybody's lucky day because today you're letting us eat junk food!"

So, yes, everyone feels it's their lucky day when I let them eat junkfood

...especially Daddy.        :)