in the car, this morning...

Brynn: Mommy, you know my friend Lauren?
Me: Yes.
Brynn: Well, did you know that Lauren had an elephant? In her house?
Me: No, I don't think I did know that.
Brynn: Yeah. And it went stomping all over the whole house in all the rooms, wrecking everything!
Me: Oh no! Mrs. Jennifer must have been very upset.
Brynn: Yeah. Cause it stomped all through the kitchen and broke everything and ruined all their food and they don't have anything left.
Me: What are they going to do?
Brynn: I don't know! Everything is broken and there is no food!
Me: Maybe we could help.
Brynn: We should give them some money.
Me: That's a good idea. Or we could find out something that the elephant broke, and we could get them a new one, like a toaster.
Brynn: (studying my face) Mommy, are you teasing?
Me: It's not really teasing Brynn, more like pretending. Aren't you pretending?
Brynn: No! There really was an elephant! A mean one that broke everything.
Me: I like this pretending, so I know about the elephant.
Brynn: (somewhat satisfied) I think they should get a smaller, nicer one next time.
Me: You tell Lauren that.
Brynn: I will.


In other news, Katy is talking up a storm. Every day she uses new words I didn't know she even knew. Window. Backpack. McDonalds. Sunday night when Jim got home from a church meeting she asked him politely: "Daddy, fun at church?" She talks as much if not more than Brynn did at the same age. And folks, that is saying something. Crazy. And so fun.

Circle Time 1/15/09

Our Bible story today was on the good samaritan. I got some little people out and used them to act out the scene... bad robbers beating up the jewish man, priests and Levites coming by but looking the other way instead of meeting the man's need, and finally the man's own enemy showing compassion and making personal sacrifice to provide care for this victim. I talked about our Bible verse, "Do good to all people," and explained that Jesus wants all his children to do good things to our friends, our brothers and sisters, our parents, our teachers (oh yeah, I went there), and especially people who were different from us, even enemies. The children seemed more engaged than usual, probably because of the visual aids I used to explain everything. So I was feeling pretty good about getting this important message into their hearts. I summed up by saying something like, "If we love Jesus, it is so important that we obey him, and try to do good to all people, whoever they are, and even if it seems hard to try to help them. We don't want to be like those priests who said they loved Jesus but just walked by the hurt man because they didn't want to help. Do you understand?"

Sweet Hannah looked up at me with big eyes and said, "Mrs. Lori.." I hoped I would be able to answer whatever question she might ask about the story. She smiled big and said so slowly, "I have..." She lifted the cuff of her jeans. "...bunny socks!"

Holiday Highlights

(in chronological order)

1. Brynn's preschool Christmas program. We were one of many families juggling small siblings while trying to record video of our young performer (easily the cutest on stage) singing her heart out and ringing bells. We eat this stuff up!

2. Christmas at my brother's house in IL. Jenny made her famous lasagna (my favorite)--not to mention delicious sides and appetizers--and we all sat down together for a meal before letting the kids tear into the presents. Grandma got back into town just in time to join us, and it was a great night being with family. It ended too quickly. I also got to spend a lot of time with mom...dipping pretzels and rolling Oreo balls, so that was an added bonus.

3. Christmas Eve Open House at our place. I wasn't sure what to expect this year, but we had our largest attendance so far, around 27 people. Most of our Mt. Freedom regulars were there, and some new friends came by too... it was just wonderful to be with friends and celebrate the season and the hope we have because of it. We are so blessed by the friends God has given us.

4. Christmas morning. There is just nothing like it. Our girls had a ball, but we probably had even more fun than they did. Katy's favorite was her $5 Pooh stool, just like her sister's Dora one. And Brynn loved her bike (thanks Hewitts!), and is still riding it around the kitchen table several times a day. Watch out, or you will get run over.

5. Christmas with the Wells. We have a tradition of joining up around noon for homemade pizza and lots of holiday laying around on sofas. It's awesome. This year was certainly different, without Christy. I knew it would be hard, but it was much more difficult than I expected. So many times, its like I can imagine the things she would have said, the laughter, how she would have enjoyed giving her gifts and watching the kids open theirs. The silence can just be deafening. Not that the rest of us are silent, but its the space her words would have used up. Nothing else seems to be able to fill them. We went to the cemetery, and I was glad we did. As hard as that afternoon was at times, there is no where else I would have rather been.

6. Christmas with the Barkleys. We rode to PA in style this year, with a beautiful blue (rented) Toyota 4Runner. The sound system was a beautiful thing, and there was space enough that we didn't feel the girls' feet at the back of our necks. We appreciate our car (it's paid for!), but this was just a nice treat. We had a fun gift exchange with Jim's parents, and then Aunt Helen came down (or is it up?) for the big gift exchange we do with the extended family. This is always a fun time, especially for me as my family has never had a tradition like this. Jim's mom made a special Christmas dinner the next day and the Steelers shut-out the Browns... so that was a pretty perfect day all around. :)

7. Home. As great as everything has been, its so good to have the Christmas stuff put away and the house in order (well, for us). Jim had another four days off here at home, and that was really wonderful and relaxing for all of us. He's back to work today and Brynn was back at preschool... so we are slowly getting back into the regular routine, and recovering from all the travel.

Hope you all had a good Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas

I just want to wish all my blog readers a very merry Christmas. I hope it brings rest and peace and celebration. Toward that end, I encourage you to click on my friend Brandy's blog (over there to the left) and read her post called "God is for you." It draws into clarity what this whole Christmas thing is all about, and I want to share it with you. God bless each one of you and thanks for reading.

Will

I was talking to my brother on the phone tonight, and he put my six-year-old nephew Will on the phone to say hi. I hit the jackpot; he was very chatty. We talked about Christmas, what Santa might bring him, that we would see him next week, etc. Then the following conversation occurred:

Will: All our presents are wrapped and under the tree already.
Me: They are? That's great, but don't open them or anything. You have to wait till its time.
Will: I know. I'm not really thinking much about those presents. I've been thinking about something else that's way more important than that.
Me: (surprised) You are? What have you been thinking about?
Will: (with wonder) Jesus! I just can't stop thinking about him. We are doing a Christmas program and I just can't stop thinking about Jesus and all the songs we are singing...
Me: Like what kind of songs?
Will: Songs about the baby Jesus!
Me: That is so great, Will. I'm sad we can't see you in your Christmas program.
Will: Well. You can come if you want!

We are going to Will's house five days too late to see the program. But I will be considering the thrill in his voice when he was talking about Jesus, and how much more he's thinking about that baby king than he is the presents under his Christmas tree. Today I'm taking a lesson from a six-year-old, and trying not to be distracted by material/earthly things. I want to be like Will, not able to stop thinking about Jesus. Wanna join me?

Today Katy started calling me Mommy instead of Mama. Very upsetting development. I tried coaching her back to the other way, but she was having none of it. (She can be a bit pig-headed, not sure where she gets this.) This is way worse than the Elmo fiasco though. Mommy is big girl talk. I dread the day I become just plain old MOM. This is the day I will officially be old.

Brynn did something really cute today that I just have to share. This morning before preschool, I overheard her giving Katy a "who's who" lesson on the nativity. "This is the baby Jesus, and this is a shepherd--he takes care of the sheep." That kind of thing. Then she said, "And this is the pretty angel--her name is Chorus." I tilted my head and gave it some thought. And I couldn't help but giggle when I connected the dots. Figured it out yet? She has almost certainly heard a version of the account that reads, "and there appeared in the sky an angel chorus..." That's good stuff, people.

Tidbits

As of this morning, Katy is saying Elmo correctly. Please observe with me a moment of silence as we lose more and more of the sweet babytalking. Sigh. It happens too quickly. Never again will I see her walking around the house calling, "MO-mo! Where are you?"

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I am stressed out. I hate that because I am usually way into all the Christmas hoopla--baking and decorating and shopping and the whole nine yards. But I am just worn out this year. I don't know if its all the traveling, or just how crazy things are going to get with our schedule starting in about two weeks, or the financial strain so many are facing... but I am really feeling overwhelmed. And I hate that, because Christmas is my favorite. I need to read Luke 2 before I sleep tonight and try to get some perspective in the chaos. I may also make some lists. Things are manageable when I pace myself. Theoretically.

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I went into a store the other day with both of the girls, and a woman held the door open for our little parade to pass. I thanked her and she said, "I know what its like. You're doing manual labor right now, honey. This is the hardest time physically, but the real hard stuff is yet to come." Now, I appreciate her helping me get inside and I like that she validated the fatigue I experience all the time. But why not leave it at that instead of tacking on the gloom-and-doom pronouncement of future difficulty? Why do moms do this? Think about it and you will realize how often people offer you empathy in a situation and follow it up with a grim-reaperish, "Just wait." I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm going to offer encouragement and then shut my mouth instead of bumming people out. Every day is hard enough as it is, without adding the burden of tomorrow.

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I miss Christy. I was putting up decorations and came across a gift she gave me a couple of years ago. It's this cool, old-fashioned sign made out of painted boards that says "Sleigh Bells Ring," complete with jingle bells. We had seen it while flipping through a magazine and both loved it. The next thing I know, she & Josh gave it to me for Christmas. If I remember right, Julie and Chris gave her the exact same one that year. Anyway. It was weird hanging it up in its usual spot this year, but not as weird as it would have been to put it back in the box. If that makes sense. So since I have Christy on my mind, I decided to share something I wrote on her facebook wall (now a memorial) a couple of weeks ago...

I've been thinking about you so much, Christy. Maybe its the holidays coming and all the memories I have of special times with you at this time of year. I was thinking about the time we (stubbornly!) went shopping on Black Friday when no one else wanted to brave the early hours or the crowds... it poured all day! We were cold and wet! I remember you were shopping for your new family, the inlaws to be. You so wanted to get them gifts they would love, but you didn't know them very well yet. We ate lunch at Fridays and had mexican-type appetizers. I was craving it because I was newly pregnant with Brynn. My doctor had grounded us from travel that year for Thanksgiving because of some complications I was having. I was so bummed about that at the time, but now I am so thankful because we never would have had that day together otherwise. What a sweet gift from God that is to me now. Yay for complications--seriously. Love you, Sweet. Miss you.