It's My Choice

The alarm clock hasn't even gone off yet, but I awake with adrenaline when My Beloved wakens from what must have been a bad dream. He goes right back to sleep, but I'm still trying to figure out what just happened. It's not even 6 o'clock.

I watch the time go by, dozing off and on throughout the next hour or so until 7. The alarm sounds. I hit the snooze button and roll back over. I know I need to get up and wake the kids, at least Tornado, if I want to avoid a tough nap time, but I don't quite feel rested, and the bed is so warm.

At 7:20 I force myself out of bed. My day begins. I don't have time to shower, for that I should have gotten up at 6:30 or earlier (nothing for some of you, but we tend to be up late over here). I don't have time to spend alone. I'm already 20 minutes late getting Tornado out of bed. Nope, this is the start of my day.

No matter what the beginnings of my day (which today, in all honesty, are pretty good compared to other days), I have a choice. You see, I get to choose what kind of day I'm going to have. Today, I chose to have a bad day... and it's been awful! I chose to drag my feet, be easily annoyed, avoid joy. I chose to become frustrated when things weren't going right, to be dragged down by clutter and toy covered floors instead of picking them up. I chose to sulk and pout, to despair and depress... and yes, it makes for a terrible day. I might as well have woken up this morning to announce that I would be having a bad day.

Forgive me Lord!

Just as I had the choice to make as I rolled over this morning, I've had the same choice with each moment since. And each moment I've made the wrong choice, the bad choice, the hard choice. Why is it that we think holding onto a bad attitude is the easy thing to do, when in actuality, it makes everything harder, less enjoyable.

Beginning now (though it may not be easy), I'm determining that this will be a great afternoon. I want to cling to joy, to worship, to Him.

A week or so ago, a new friend shared with me her challenge for the day from Debi Pearl's book Created to Be His Helpmeet: "Write three new things that you will add to your life that will cause you to become more precious to your husband."

My response to that was the following list:

1. Choosing (with God's help) a worshipful spirit instead of a complaining spirit.
2. Set aside tiredness or discouragement and get up to do the next thing in this sea of busy-ness (again, with God's help).
3. DO NOT take everything as a personal attack from him as I know he never means it that way.

I didn't want to write the list... it meant I would need to actually try to do it, and I didn't feel like I had the energy... I don't feel it now. But I must remember that God's yoke is easy, His burden is light! (Matt. 11:30) I don't have the energy NOT to work at the things on this list. It will make me more precious to more than just my husband... and just think of what kind of day I can have!

Labels: As it happens..., Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:45 PM 2 Comments

An "Aha" Moment

I was working on cleaning up our bedroom (being as that our little home has become "too" small for us, our bedroom becomes the catch all for everything I don't know what to do with and don't want to trip over anymore. This said, it's more than a tad out of hand.) when I stumbled upon something I really wish My Beloved had handled better.

[Note: Please understand, in sharing this, I do not mean to be speaking badly of my sweet husband. In fact, I was convicted at my attitude and had the following aha moment that I felt I should share. In reality, he deserves to be irritated by how I handle much of the house on a regular basis, not the other way around.]

My first instinct was to be annoyed (I'm sorry My Love, please forgive me for this bad attitude) at the mess. I rearranged something and everything came toppling over. Ugh!

Then I had a thought. I had some options... I could be annoyed, I could complain, or I could bless my husband by taking care of it for him.

Only one of those sounded like any fun at all!... and that one sounded like a lot of fun!

It never ceases to amaze me that the right heart attitude makes life so much more enjoyable!

Labels: As it happens..., Life Lessons for Mommy, Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:37 PM 2 Comments

The beginning of the expressions era

It's the beginning alright. Replies to just about everything I say get either an "I don't know" or an "oh" or an "ok". Sometimes they are combined. Like some of the following...

..."Oh, ok."
..."Oh, I'm sorry."
..."Oh, (I don't remember this last one, but it's cute!)

Then there are some other favorite expressions, like...

"That sound good?"

and...

"Let's goooooooo!"

and...

oh golly, I'll have to keep you updated, I can't think of more, but I'm sure he'll say them again.

Labels: Have to Laugh, Little Moments, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:54 AM 0 Comments

Adding color to my day

Ok, let's just pretend my feet aren't dry and uncared for. Let's just pretend I'd done a neat, longer than just a couple minutes, job on the nails. Let's just pretend, ok? I'm just excited I got to polish my nails for church yesterday morning. (By the way, aren't these little sandals cute??? They're new! My old pair has a hole in the bottom.)

Oh, and for the record, a picture of these same toes would probably contain this same nail polish come August, only older and more chipped and grown out... don't think for a minute I have time to do this sort of thing on a regular basis!

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 3:20 PM 1 Comments

Exactly how do you get potting soil out of a 1 year old's mouth?

Really, I'd like to know.

I suppose it's one of those "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" moments, but too late now.

She's clean now... and just to finish the job I pushed the rest down with a sippy cup. What doesn't kill her will just make her stronger, right? I hope. :)

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:55 AM 1 Comments

Another crazy thing

Well, after a late night last night, I'm letting the kids sleep in. Crazy, I know! After this post, I had been sticking to a schedule a bit more (something someone said inspired me to do so, and we had some more luck at better nap times). So why am I changing things now? Well, I'll tell you...

I'm going to skip some naps today! Can you believe it. Sweet Pea will not be getting a morning nap, but an earlier afternoon one... and since she's still asleep at 9 am, I think that will be ok. And Tornado's normal afternoon nap will be more of a on the couch with books quiet time. I'll needed more than he will, but it will be good for him. All this will be followed by an early (7pm) bedtime so that My Beloved can get some work done in the green house before it gets too late.

We'll see how it all goes! :)

Labels: As it happens..., Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:52 AM 1 Comments

We did a crazy thing yesterday

Some of you may not think it's very crazy, but it was to me. Yesterday morning we visited a different church! I know, shocking isn't it? I found this church online several weeks ago, and I've been curious about it. I found it through this website which lists family integrated churches.

The families stay together... the whole time. There is simply a worship service, no Sunday School classes where everyone goes their own way. There is no children's ministry staff, no nursery workers, and no worries if your baby drops a toy, or needs to be changed in the background. I know these things because they happened... during the sermon... and no one batted an eye lash at it. Another aspect I really loved is that the men do everything, each father/husband for his own family. The men all gathered (all 6 or 7 of them plus the older boys too) for prayer just before the service started. The men all gathered to serve their own family communion. And the men each let their own families in family prayer time before corporate prayer time. They have a goal of leading men to be better leaders of their families... and it was so great! It felt wonderful to be in such a situation where we were clearly sitting under the spiritual leadership of My Beloved! I think he really liked that aspect of it too. I loved that we were such a part of the service, especially him, instead of onlookers.

We're still discussing what we thought of it in depth. We really enjoyed a number of aspects of it. Jury's still out on whether we will visit again. In the mean time we are praying about and discussing what we are going to do "next".

I don't think I've mentioned that we are questioning our next step in ministry and church. We've stepped down from teaching the Children's Choir and are no longer on the nursery schedule. I've been telling people that we are evaluating where the Lord would have us serve next, and that's exactly true. I just didn't know how vast that statement was. We are evaluating whether we will stay at our church, or do something else, whether we will seek a new Sunday School class, or stay where we are. It's a lot to decide... and we love the people in our church and would hate to offend anyone. I don't know how long this process will take, but we're definately in it.

What are your churches like? I'd really like to know, especially if you keep your children with you.

I'll try to share more about our search as we get to it... it goes deeper than even I imagine at times. :)

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:09 AM 5 Comments

The bedtime prayers of a 2 year old

Dear God,
Thank you for this food... for this day. Help [Tornado] and [Sweet Pea] sleep good. Help [Tornado] stay in bed. Fix Doggy's (stuffed dog he sleeps with) nose and toes and tail. ...long pause... In Jesus Name [with a bunch of other words after it that we can't make out yet], Amen.

I hope I never forget little things like this!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Little Moments, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:46 PM 1 Comments

New Cloth Diapering Accessories and a giveaway

Do you use cloth diapers on your little ones but struggle with going out in public? What do you do with that wet diaper until you can get it home. Well, Soft Cloth Bunz is now offering a new product to help you out: Planet Wise Wet Bags... and they are PVC free, eco-friendly, and waterproof.

Hop on over to the Feed Your Stash Friday Giveaway!

Labels: Passing it On

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:51 PM 0 Comments

Monologue

Last night Tornado had the following conversation with himself: (My Beloved was staking out the closed bedroom door to make sure he stayed in bed and heard him through the door.)

Tornado: Hey Daddy are you in the greenhouse?
Tornado: (being Daddy) Yeah.
Tornado: (as himself) Can I come out?
Tornado: (being Daddy) No.


If only I'd written out all the funny things he has said this last week... I'm sad to have forgotten so many little things!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Little Moments

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:03 AM 0 Comments

"Carrots"

Tornado and I took a quick break in our morning activities today to watch a big township truck (with some of those orange cones on it) drive by our house. I could tell he was lost because of his slow speed (we are toward the end of the public portion of our road), but that makes it perfect for us to watch.

After it had passed and we could see the back of the truck out our side kitchen window, Tornado said, "Carrots!"

I just love free association!

Labels: As it happens..., Have to Laugh, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 11:58 AM 0 Comments