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Love and Wisdom

Emmett made a new friend in Great Grandma Mary's full length mirror

Sometimes I get caught up in myself. My busy schedule. My busy kids. My busy calling at church. My desire for a date with my husband.My thousand things to do. My, my, my....
Then sometimes I stop, and when I give myself enough time I recognize that my life is everything in the world I would ever want. Everything I do is exactly what I would want to be doing. My life is very busy but my joy is so full. This is the season in my life that I am in and I am growing.
There are others in different seasons who I am loving and being loved by. Two of which are my grandmothers. They are both mothers of 5 children. They have both been and lived through my season. They are both widowed now and they are both wonderfully wise and gracious women. Better yet they both live near. Yesterday my family was again blessed by their love and wisdom.
Great Grandma Mary is my dad's mom. She just turned 81. She has the most beautiful flower beds I've ever seen and she always has. She loves to work in the yard and to cook. Two of my favorite things to do as well. She is also really busy (maybe I inherited that too?) I have wonderful memories of eating dinner at Grandma Mary's my favorite of which has always been fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. When Jeff and I were dating I remember inviting him to Grandma's house for dinner and telling him it would be the best meal he'd ever tasted.
Grandma Mary's birthday was last month and the kids and I had stopped by her house 3 times in about 3 weeks and she wasn't home any of the times. So we scheduled a date for yesterday. Easy for us, all we had to do was show up and be served.
Grandma's house always has gold fish crackers for the kids. Adelle is usually the first to remember and ask for her little dish. She has toys and stools that the kids love to sit, stand, play with. Emmett loved the full length mirror in the hall. Grandma made us lunch of huge, grilled, gooey, cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets and fries for the kids and pie and tapioca for dessert. She always insists, "eat up you guys," and we do. Yum! Then before leaving I was able to whip out my skirt that had a tear and within about 30 seconds she had sewn and reinforced the seam. Good as new. Grandma Mary loves it when we come over. She loves visiting with us and hearing all about our lives. She loves the children and how fast they are growing. We love to be at Great Grandma Mary's.
Gramy is my mom's mom. She is 72. She is an amazing woman with so many life experiences. She got married really young and her husband, my Papa, was a truck driver and was gone a lot of the time. I've heard stories about her surviving winters in Montana and having to go under her house to unfreeze pipes with a blow dryer. She also loves to garden and this past spring she was the one to bring over cases of seeds that she had purchased for my little family to have our own garden.
Gramy remembers everything. She knows every birthday, anniversary,...of all of her loved ones and always recognizes when it is someones special day. I wish I would have inherited that trait but I did not. I think Braxton may have:) My Gramy also loves to cook and is a wonderful homemaker and mother which I hope I have inherited. She loves children and teaching them. I remember when Braxton was a baby. He was a bit fussy and one time Gramy kindly asked me if I ever tried reading to him to get him to sleep. I had, and it had been frustrating and I told her that it didn't work. I may have said something like, "nothing works except laying down with him." Shortly after that she stopped by one afternoon and was reading to Braxton. I looked over and he was sound asleep in her arms. Gramy had the special touch.
Yesterday after Jeff had gotten home and we were getting ready to eat dinner there was a knock at the door and it was Gramy. Bearing goodies. She had her arms full of apples, apple-cider and caramels for our family. This is the most recent of many gifts we have been recieving from her. All out of pure love and all such a blessing to our family.
One night a few months ago, shortly after Jeff had been laid off, I was gone at a church activity and Jeff was home with the kids. Things were really tough then and Gramy stopped by with her arms full of groceries enough to bring my husband to tears with her gracious prompting. We all love it when Gramy stops by. She always has warm open arms and I can feel the love she has for all of us.
I love both of these women so much. They inspire me and help me to not just think of myself all the time. I think of their lives now, living without their dearly beloveds and I feel sorry and lonely for them. I can't imagine what life would be like by myself. For me, they do so much. For them, I am able to take time out of my day and visit with them and share my precious little ones with them.

1,2,3

1
Child #1 has been correcting and directing me. While I'm eating my mom's delicious fresh peach pie for breakfast on Monday.
"Wow mom! So you get to have dessert for breakfast??!!"
Later that day driving him home from preschool
"Mom, are we on the freeway?" No, why? "Because you are driving really fast."
I love being parented by my 4 year old (really not being sarcastic). He tries so hard to be so obedient and to help others choose the right:)

2
Child #2 has been surprising me and humbling my parenting skills. On Monday when we got home from getting Brax from Preschool.
Adelle, where is your hair pretty?
"Oh, I just took it out and threw it out the window."
I love listening to Adelle tell me the truth without any hesitation or remorse. I also love watching Braxton witness her truths in awe.

3
Child #3 has been clapping and waving and army crawling!
I love watching my baby learn and grow.

Why do I journal?

September 17,2006

Well let’s see, another month has passed us. Fall is definitely here and that means chilly nights and mornings. I finally talked Jeff into letting us turn on the heat today because there is moisture in the windows and I don’t want to risk mold. He was reading, preparing for his Sunday school lesson when I asked him about turning the heat on and he didn’t answer me. So I turned off the light he was using to read and told him to open the blinds because then he could see again. If we can’t afford heat then we can’t afford light either. That’s how I see it at least! He laughed because he knows I’m a brat but I always find a way of getting my point across.

Today I just sat down to journal. It's been a while and I was craving it. Why bother, you ask?

I love my journal. It's so honest and I can read it at anytime and the things I've been through and the feelings I've had really inspire me and push me to keep going. Life is so beautiful and crazy and I really forget meaningful lessons I've learned if I don't record them.

Today has been a bit of a challange. One thing after another, and another, and another. I sat down to journal and I felt like I needed something. I needed to read something about the past that could enlighten me and increase my faith. Instead I found that excerpt above. It made me laugh, really hard.

Some things never change. I know I could change....not be so sassy, bratty, determined, stubborn,....but what fun would that be, really?

funny boys!

This is what I am currently listening too!
See here is the thing.
They would normally all be napping right now and I would have some "mom time."
Adelle is napping! Yay!
However, Emmett napped all morning while Braxton was at preschool.
Emmett is not tired. He will be tired right about the time Adelle wakes up.
Braxton has decided that he is not tired at nap time anymore.
This is basically true and he goes to bed better without a nap.
So boys, if you really want to be up right now.....
You get to entertain each other!
They seem o.k. with this:)

mother vs. mother

Today I went on a walk with my little ones. It was a beautiful morning, the kind that calls me out for a walk. The air was crisp and cool but the sun was bright. We bundled up, only to unbundle half way through our route. We walked our usual walk through the neighborhoods and as we were coming around a familiar corner I stopped instantly and was taken back by a mother racoon and her 3 little coons crossing the same street I was walking onto. The mother racoon stopped as well. We were closer to each other than either of us would have preferred. I was scared. She was scared too. I don't like racoons. I never have. They really terrify me and I felt violated that they were out in the broad daylight on my walk! Now, I don't know if you're supposed to make eye contact with this animal or not but I did and something really amazing happened. It was as if through that gaze we came to understand each other. In that short moment, and it was really short because I was scared, it was like our hearts were heard and I was able to beg her, "please don't hurt my babies," and she mutually agreed that if I stayed away from her coons she would stay away from mine. And so we did. I, still stopped in my tracks, waited for her and her babies to cross the road. When they had crossed she turned back for one last look and I was then able to proceed on my walk.
This was a happy learning experience for me and I found it interesting that I knew she was a mother. I didn't see any of her motherly features but the way she stared me down and the way she was so concerned for her little ones made it so evident that she was their mother. I love nature.
I still don't like racoons!

Special Saturdays

Saturday was special for me.
Jeff and Braxton were gone doing manly things so I got to be home with just the babes.
They took alternating naps which meant that I got to spend special time with each of them by themselves.
This does not happen often.
First Emmett napped so Adelle and I got to do girl stuff. We painted nails, read books, drew hearts (her favorite thing to draw lately), and she let me curl her hair. We ate Doritos. I love my little girl. She is so girly. It's perfect.
Next Adelle napped and Emmett and I got to spoil each other.
I gave him his own bath in the sink (only child style) and he loved it. He played and splashed and made funny faces.
Then he got a full body coconut oil massage. Yum!
I sometimes think, "how can I compensate Adelle and Emmett for the two years that Braxton had me all to himself?"
The answer is, "I can't!!"
That is why we have special Saturdays.

If your wondering about the picture with the crayons it's just random