Lessons to learn

Today we took our kids sledding for Paul's second birthday. Poor Paulo, he hated it. I mean, he was okay with sitting at the top of the hill and watching everyone else go down but going down himself was not his cup of tea. He went down with Ben once on the promise of getting hot chocolate if he did and he screamed and cried the whole time.

Lesson learned: sledding is not too much fun for kids under four years old.

I thought it was just a Simeon thing because Simeon is so sensitive and our other two never had a real snow/sledding experience as two year olds... but legit, Paulo did not enjoy it.

I tried to bring Jethro but that lasted all of 15 minutes and I tried to zip up my coat over him while wearing him. The only thing I succeeded in was breaking the zipper on my favorite coat.

It's okay it was only $10 from Savers. But I still loved it. :(

Ben and Aria went to a father daughter dance this evening. I love getting to dress her up and send her with her daddy to feel special. What a blessing to have a husband who loves her and takes such good care of her.

I also got to share the evening with my four boys, my plan was to take them out for ice cream after dinner. Thankfully we had our surrogate grandparents along for the ride, I don't think I could have made it to Culvers without them.

Paul was a bit of a mess all evening. He didn't want to eat his dinner, he didn't want to put on his boots or his coat either. It reminded me of when Simeon turned two and he cried the whole time. It felt like such a struggle.

Ben and I call it the year of deep dark sadness. Communication is difficult, they get into so many things, there's lots of crying and you telling them "no" and them telling you "no" ... it's basically a really tough year or so. I remember when Levi turned the corner and became a pretty agreeable little three year old and it was such a relief. Now with Paulo being our fourth two year old I feel like I have hope that this is just a season and things will get better. For now I'm praying for patience.

Please Lord, help me to choose my battles wisely, help me to nurture and love and be creative. I need Your guidance Holy Spirit, I need wisdom from You. Thank You for leading me.

It's Been A While

Hello Blogesphere (I don't even think that's how you spell it or if that's truly a word... whatever)

I can't tell you how many times I've thought about blogging lately. It's just hard to find the time to sit down and write. 

We are on child number five now. 

Five kids. I used to be overwhelmed by two, then three, then four I felt like I was catching my stride. But then we had all kinds of issues with Simeon and his speech (he didn't really learn to talk until he was almost 3). Then we became elders at our church. Then we took a disciple into our home. Then we bought a house adjacent to our pastor, more like friends and had three more people living in our house with us. Then one moved out and two more joined the crowd. Believe me, it's a crowd. :) We like to laugh and stay up late and have early morning Bible studies and basically run on fumes. Then we left for India while I was 6 weeks pregnant with our fifth child and left three of our kids with our disciples (two 21 year old girls who got a crash course in being a mom/homemaker). 

India was amazing y'all. You don't even know. I still don't even know and look forward to going back. 

Fast forward to having our fifth child. We have a huge house but because of having 12 people in it hardly anyone doesn't share a room. Dan, our 76 year old adopted grandpa has the basement and Jethro our newbown occasionally sleeps in the closet (but mostly in bed with me because that's how he likes it). Our four other kids are in two bunk beds in one room. Mostly I love it that they all sleep together. It was tough teaching little Paul to be in a big boy bed at the age of 22 months (I say that because he felt super young and had no idea what was going on. He mostly wanted to share a bed with Simeon and didn't understand why he had to sleep alone in this huge bed with a railing, no one else had to have a railing and why did he have to sleep on the bottom? He wanted to be on the top.) Also, he puts himself to bed by banging his head on his mattress and making loud "ah" noises. 

Paul's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. He's also the most exasperating of all the kids. Two year olds are like that aren't they? They grow out of it eventually. I just try to enjoy what I can about him. 

This week was a huge lesson for me. 

I enjoy housework. I like cleaning and doing the dishes and sweeping the floors. I feel like the Lord has put that in me. I like having a clean house. I don't like leaving things left undone and the dishes in the sink and all that. 

However, the other day I felt like the Lord was telling me (and Ben had said this earlier) to focus on the boys. The three youngest are 4 and under. So instead of diving into cleaning the kitchen after the older ones left for school I decided to sit down and play with Paul and Simeon. We got out the cars and set up the race track and just played for a while. I enjoyed them for a good 20-30 minutes and then I started cleaning the kitchen. I tell you what, they got along so much better after that. I used to get so frustrated with how much I had to stop cleaning and go settle fights or discipline. 

I also had another moment that morning when I was in my room cleaning and they were playing on their bunk beds and had thrown the comforter on the ground. Normally I would be upset at the interruption (because I have a tendency to be selfish like that) but instead I threw it on and started tickling them. Soon we had a stuffed animal fight, throwing stuffed animals at each other because that's what you do with little boys. 

After a bit I told them it was the last time and they were ok with that. Wow. 

I mean, the morning wasn't perfect and I still had to discipline and stuff but God really showed me how to enjoy my kids and still get things done. 

Lord, help me. I continue to be in need of You and Your Holy Spirit to lead me. Help me to listen to my husband, help me to love my kids and take care of our home. I want to do my best as unto You.