"Lucy wants to see you"

So I am going to be really honest. I am having a loser day!! You know one of those days when you feel like a loser but don't know why. I think it has something to do with getting online and being able to see what everyone you've ever known is currently doing which causes you to start comparing your "boring life" with people whose lives are very different. Let me just say that mostly I feel very positive about my life and accomplishments but we all have days like this right? I had to work today and I am a big baby about working my 12 hours a week, so I seem to always feel like this on work days. I don't envy Bryan! When I got home from work tonight Bryan said "Lucy wants to see you, I don't know if she is still awake". So I went in their bedroom and Jack was out, nothing wakes him up, but there was Lucy at 9:45pm almost 2 hours past bedtime waiting for me. As soon as she saw that it was me her face lit up and she hugged me so sweetly and said "I love you mama". We sat and talked for a few minutes then I told her a bedtime story and she fell asleep right away. She was just waiting for me! When you are dealing with snotty noses and poopy pants it's really easy to feel unaccomplished. I am really thankful for moments like this one with my Lucy that remind me of what a job I have been given in raising my kids. It is really nice to be Lucy, Jack and Calvin's mama!

lucy, jack and calvin: the three best kids!

Here's an update:

Lucy: She is still my most challenging child, maybe it's just a first kid thing. She is soo much like her daddy. She is funny and outgoing. And still demands constant entertainment. I am trying very hard not to let her walk all over me, but it is a challenge. With her you must be ready at all times for new things, again I think that goes back to her being my first. She is a sweet girl but she is also needy.
She likes to swim, watch movies, hang out with bunny in her room, have friends over, go places, play outside, she LOVES to read! She is very good with structered lessons and art projects, I think she do really well in school.
Right now her favorite toy is Jessie from Toy Story 2, which she likes to recite when she plays with her.
Her rules that she knows by heart are 1. be nice to your family 2.don't whine 3.Listen 4. don't lie, that last one is new and she is still learning exactly what that means!
One of the cutest things she does is that when anyone leaves they must get a hug and kiss and it is very upseting if that doesn't happen! This applies to EVERYONE.What a sweetie!


Jack: My challenges with Jackie are his fit throwing and determination. When he puts his mind to something you can't stop him. But most of the time he is VERY happy. He is finally making progress potty training but we are taking it slow!
Jackie likes to play with his cars, play outside, go outside and scream (can't take it inside), swim, tear things up, jump off things, wrestle... you know boy stuff! He can tolerate reading but can't sit still long which may be challenging later on. but for now it works to my advantage because he is so good at entertaining himself.
He is still working on learning to talk it is slow but steady. He's added a new "Jack" word to the mix bideet. All in all he is a weird kid, really I say that to him several times a day!

Calvin: He is my bouncy, baby boy. he is fat and happy and super friendly. He is still the best baby in the world, although he hates naps, he sleeps fine at night. He is totally fascinated by jack and lucy. He spends alot of time watching them play. He hasn't started big food yet and still nurses every three hours, Which is why he is so fat.
At naptime he gets all sweaty and stinky, its my fav!

love those kids!!!!!

Jesus + America

I hate to break my blogging silence with something like this but I am going to anway. warning this will be offensive to some, so if you don't feel like being offended please don't read this! Today I heard a man at church (not mine) talking about the "the good old days" back in the 40s when people didn't go to the movies on Sunday, and he was hoping/praying that we could get "back to God". It reminded me of something Mark Driscoll said "Jesus plus anything ruins everything". I felt like for this guy it was Jesus+ America. And that seems to be a lot of Christians additude. They think that somehow this was or is God's nation. Particularly many seem to think that because of things like homosexuality and abortion our nation is "worse" than it once was. But have they forgotten about slavery or how in the gloriuos 40s black people were expected to literally take a back seat to white people and that bi racial children were considered vial!! How is it that those atrocities are more godly than our national sins of today! Let me say I am very thankful for my national freedom but my emphasis and hope is in my spiritual freedom and that has never and will never come from any country. There is no such thing as a christian nation just christian individuals. If you need something to fight for fight for the gospel of Christ.

Life update and Mom tribute

Well we have been so busy lately. I don't really know how it happened maybe it's just due to how long everything takes when you have 3 kids under the age of 3. I was reading in Ecclesiaties the other day, that famous passage that says "A time to..." well when I read "a time to be born" it really made me think about God's timing in my life and how He has chosen to bless me with three beautiful kids. I am trully thankful! Having said that I know that my patience is on high demand and low supply. Lately my sweet Jack has been asserting his own free will a lot. Especially in the area of food. I think he's just using that though as an outlet for stubborness, because he's even refusing to eat things like PB&J that I'm sure he likes. Plus the lack of mommy time , since calvin was born, is catching up with him. Lately he's been throwing a fit when I have to nurse calvin and has even asked to nurse a few times even though it's been about 7 months since he last did.

I feel like I have a lot on my plate, but that's way it goes one week you feel so totally fulfilled by all these things going on in your life and the next thing you know those very same things have you feeling overwhelmed. Lately I've been dwelling on peoples sin instead of on Christ's love. Don't get me wrong sin living in people's lives has to be dealt with but if that's all you think about you will feel defeated, and I have. I need to just give praise to my sweet Jesus who loves me and all others with unfailing love that I don't yet comprehend!

This blog has been kinda random but that just shows I have a lot on my mind. I do want to recognize that it's Mom's day tomorrow and not only am I a mom who's really hoping to take it easy tomorrow, but I have to say I trully have the world's greatest mama and mother-in-law. I couldn't do have of what I do without my mom around! I have never a day in my life paid for a babysitter. I'm so glad that both my mom and Bryan's mom are always positive with me. They never give unasked for advice and respect my decisions with my kids. I love you both!

Things are so different the second and third time around wouldn't you say mamas. I know it would seem that I'd be more stressed out with three kids than I was with one but I'm really not. Don't get me wrong I am super busy and soon something has to give, but at least I have more info this time around and don't feel so clueless. And there's not so much pressure to do things someone else's way.I mean so what if Jackie isn't pottie trained yet or doesn't talk that great, if you spend two minutes with him you know he's smart and clever and sweet. He has made his mind up to do things in his time and since I am more laid back now I am okay with that. As for Lucy, she's still my first baby everything that happens with her is still new to me, so I am still guessing half the time with her. Poor first children with untrained parents.... But I have to give props to my third baby, Calvin. He must be the world's easiest baby. I have to give some of the credit to myself though, I am his mama, go me! Well there's no time left for me to blog afterall I do have three kids!

orphans and widows

I've had a heavy heart lately. The Lord has really been working in my life lately and Satan is doing his best to thwart His work in my life. Seriously we must not forget that Satan desires nothing less than to make us ineffective in Jesus' world. I find he always uses things very close to home. He brings up things in my marriage or distracts me with my kids. And lately I have felt the Lord's pull to reach out to others more but I find that even in that I have had selfish motives.But Christ is stregthening me with His patience in dealing with me and His truth to combat Satan's lies. I've been reading in James lately and the last verse in chp. 1 has been on my mind. It's the verse that says to visit orphans and widows. I've been trying to think of pratical and realistic ideas of how to actually do that verse. "But be doers of the word"... I've been considering visiting at the nursing home once a month. I know there must be plenty of people there who rarely get visitors and I could take my kids occasionally. They love to see little people. When I took Lucy around Christmas time to pass out cards, everyone made a huge fuss over her and I just thought about how heart breaking it would be to never see a precious child. I seriously take for granted the fact that most of my day is filled with little people. Plus I really love to visit with older woman, I used to have two ladies in highschool I would go and visit occasionally and I loved it! I have also been thinking about needy children in our area, but I don't know what my role in that is going to be yet but I definately want to get involved. That may be something for the future, maybe being a foster parent or adopting but I know there must be something I can do right now. Any ideas?

Lucy and Jack Update

Lucy and Jack's birthdays are right around the corner. I can't believe they are going to be two and three years old, that's crazy!! Here's an update on both,

Lucy: She has mad communication skills and uses big words like interesting or ridiculous like she's 30, which I am pretty sure she thinks she is. She's still very independant, which helps me out most of the time. But she has FOB (fear of boredom) syndrom like her father. So most of the day she follows me around asking me to read her books, or let her watch TV, or get her a craft to do. She has trouble playing on her own, but she's been doing better and lately has been pretending to be Penny from the Rescuers. It's such a kid thing to do, so cute! She loves to play outside. It seems to be the only place she's safe from boredom. She is really sweet sometimes and likes to take care of her baby brothers. She's the only 2 1/2 year old I know that can change a diaper all on her own (except for her aunt Hede when she was that age). Whenever anyone in the house is sick she will stop what she's doing every few minutes to check on them. Sometimes she will say the most random things that will make me laugh so hard. She's crazy and loves to be surrounded by people. She's also very clever and persuasive. Now that I read that back to myself I realize that this is a description of her father if he was almost 3 year old, I think the only thing she didn't get from him is that she's a girly girl. I love you little girl!

Jack: He's a little behind on his verbalization, but here's the words he can say mama, daddy, sis, bubba, mine, ball, bye, stuck, duck, no, I did it, poppi, boompa, dog, Dane, monkmonk (monkey), wee, ouch. He's said a lot of other words but those are the ones he says regularly. He also has a few words that belong just to him that he uses at his own discrection nano, locka, bucka, buck and I am sure there's more I can't remember. Still he's very good at communicating without words. Most of the time he makes sure I know what he's wanting through gestures and nodding his head yes or no. He's my snuggler and most of the time is very sweet and considerate of others. And he can be very sensitive. But he likes to wrestle and play rough, he can't wait for his bubba to get big enough to rough house.He's very determined so he has very good motor skills because he simply won't give up. He's also very stubborn and can throw a fit that you would not believe! I haven't started potty training him yet (I've been a little busy can you believe it) but he has been telling me when he goes to the bathroom so I think he's about ready. Even though he doesn't speak very good he understands everything you say and for the most part takes direction pretty good. He is very good at entertaining himself, which is a huge blessing for me. He can find something to play with anywhere, outside, inside, in the kitchen, in the bathroom it doesn't really matter. He is very creative.Sometimes he gets really goofy and just lets loose of all his inhibitions. I love it when that happens. He's kinda like being a policeman most of the time it's not that much work but every so often a situation arises that your not sure you can handle. I love you Jackie! ( I said before he was born I would never call him that now that's all I call him)