Snow and Children

Cleaning the house while the children are growing is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing. Erma Bombeck

 

Yep, we've tried both.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Saying, "Yes"

I could hear him running from sister to sister begging them to go outside and play with him. I looked up from my reading as he approached me with sad eyes. He whined about their negative and busy responses and then it suddenly dawned on him that he was conversing with as good a playmate as any right before him. His face lit up, "Mommy, will you come outside and play with me?"

 

I was taken aback for a moment. I was all cozied up in my "comfies" with no desire to wrangle on all kinds of outerwear for the cold, or trudge through knee-deep drifts in the backyard. But his brown eyes blink-blinked at me and I laid down my reading and said, yes.

Best choice I made that day :)

 

Gratitude:

1471. saying yes to playing with my son

1472. Oma's beautiful life example (she'll be heading homeward soon--please pray for her comfort)

1473. a fun and fast-paced Christmas presentation by our kids' choir again

1474. we finally found a new lead pastor!

1475. sudden healing of a woman our Bible Study ladies have been praying for!

1476. my lovely single-mom cousin and her constant search for helping those in need

1477. an amazing visit with a dear, long-lost friend and her little girl (so thankful she's back in my life)

1478. for ballet stretches all over the living room each day

1479. for hip-hop thumping and jarring practice that makes us laugh

1480. my husband's eagerness to fix things up around the house lately

1481. heaps and heaps of beautiful snow

1482. how the birds wait on the branches just above the feeder for me to fill it in the morning

1483. counting snow plows as we drive

1484. telling the tale of each ornament as we hang them on the tree once again

1485. for my sister's 18th anniversary today!

He Plays

So many activities, so little time. 

Oliver played and played and played every sport and activity he could find while we were camping. Such a pleasure for this momma to watch.

Stable Love

Every year I pull out the humble stables and the various sets of nativity figures. And every year I have to add another angel, whose wing was chipped when he flew over the cattle (and crashed into the stable), or a new baby Jesus, because his little foot was broken off with all the kid-love. Poor shepherds and gallant wise men don't fare well in this home. They're battered with use. But that's okay with me.

Our little collection of stables is growing and I pray that as small hands send angels flying and Mary and Joseph kissing, that the greatest story ever told is penetrating hearts. That's why our nativity casualties don't bother me anymore. I want my children to remember how they played with those intricate pieces and re-enacted their Saviour's birth again and again.