Safety First

CA came and banged on the bathroom door, hollering out a most important question to me earlier today:

Mom! Can I play with the choking hazards?

But of course you can, my dear! Sometimes I just laugh and laugh over the unexpected and weird things I hear my children say. The question makes more sense if you know that the girls have 659 Littlest Pet Shop bits and pieces and that 131 of them are choking hazards that I keep in a ziplock bag out of Dimple Wimple's reach. They can play with those while Baby naps. Thank God for laughter!

Mom makes beauty: she used mostly things I already had to make this pretty fall arrangement on the front walk. She's always decorated so nicely for each holiday and season. Me, not so much. Thanks, mom! It looks great!

We are enjoying having my parents here since last Tuesday. We all went to the Texas State Fair last Thursday, which was a memorable blast, of course!

I can never blog even close to the speed of life, though I'd love to be able to. I will post the rest of Las Vegas in coming days.

For now, it's all about MaMa and PaPa being here. Today, PaPa detailed my....oven! He cleaned and cleaned. It's too clean to use now. Guess we'll just have to eat out tonight! Actually, that's the plan. Kind friends have offered to babysit so we can go on a double date with my mom and dad!

Mom morphs into the Laundry Fairy when she is here and also accomplishes a lot of little cleaning tasks for me. Such a blessing. It's nice just seeing their faces in the morning.

Saturday, they'll fly home and we'll look forward to seeing them again at Christmas.

The other day, I asked God to help me choose humility in a particular situation. I did not anticipate how thoroughly He'd deal with me on that subject! Within a couple of days, I had the opportunity to eat not a slice of humble pie, but several whole ones, I'd say.

One example: I seriously flubbed a chance to honor my husband well, all because I was focused on my own agenda, which, in this case happened to be the kids' school. It was a careless and selfish sin, to say the least, and it brought with it the pain that sin always brings. I did not put him before the children/school. God showed me my own self-centered heart and reminded me of my desperate need for Jesus and the necessity of always being more and more conformed to His perfectly loving, unselfish Image.

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4 Yep, I have a lot to learn.

The next day we all had a rocky start. Tuesdays are our most challenging homeschool day (the big 4 go to school on Monday and Wednesday - we homeschool the other days, and on Tuesdays there's a bit more pressure, since things are due the next day. It's good to get started early, but we rarely do). I was still in a funk over my own failing and before breakfast was cleared away I was having to confront one of the children for lying to me. Never a fun thing, that kind of correction.

When we finally gathered ourselves up to begin our group review time, we started by tidying our school area. In the process, I saw one child respond in an ugly, impatient way to another. I called her on it. But I was harsh, still not walking in step with the Spirit like I should've been.

I took the offender to my room so we could talk it all out. This is where I saw Jesus answering my quiet cries for grace in the moment. I was able to openly confess to her my own failure to love their daddy well, and pray aloud about my weakness and need for Christ's power in me. I told her I was sorry for my harshness and prayed for both of us to walk under the Holy Spirit's control, demonstrating those Fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (which, lately, I'm liking the long-suffering translation of the word patience).

When I finished praying, my girl was crying. I asked her what was upsetting her, and God held out another helping of humble pie, because her response showed me I need to do better about focusing on each child when she speaks to me. I told her I was sorry for not listening well enough to her and we had a big hug. I am praising God today for the blessing of that situation and how He took in-a-funk me and the offending daughter, lavished His grace on us, bringing us both around to quiet obedience to Himself...and how on top of that it became a great communication moment for mother and child...and how He was victorious. Oh, I was so tempted to act in the flesh in that whole situation (especially as I inwardly cringed - oh, me of little faith - about another late-start homeschool Tuesday). But Christ was victorious in our hearts.

So, this week, I am thanking God every day, nearly every hour it seems, for the blessing of being humbled and reminded of my need for Jesus. Yep, it stings, but I know it is right and good and that it's evidence of His love for me.

And, oh the mercy of God: we finished school earlier yesterday than we ever have on a Tuesday, giving us all plenty of time to let down our hair and enjoy the grandparents. What a joy that was.
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Only a few of His countless daily mercies...

1123. I heard church bells today!

1124. I saw and heard a hawk circling above our neighborhood - wonderful!

1125. Funny little evidences of the kids' creativity - when I tidied the schoolroom after school the other day, I found doodles and mini-crafts they'd each created during the schoolday at some point (AH = a funny stick drawing about early birds getting the worm; EG = elaborate doodles; MK = a homemade envelope; LC = a snowflake cutout).