Well, I posted some more pictures today and some of them need a little explanation. It's mud. Yes, the big blobs of stuff on Blake's back are mud blobs. You see... I was chatting on the phone to my mother while watching the kids play in the backyard. Blake had crawled out the back door and was sitting on the porch investigating dirt. As I kept an eye on him from the doorway, suddenly these grey-brown blobs suddenly appeared on his back. Since most of my brain was involved in the conversation with my mother, the small remaining portion was having trouble locating a match in the archives for "grey-brown blobs." The closest I was coming was to the small frog I had seen the day before leaping across the sidewalk - somehow his hop and the appearance of the "blobs" fit in the same brainfile. As I spent a few nanoseconds contemplating all this, I heard from across the yard, "Got him!!!!" Gage came running into view swinging a long stick with thick, gooey mud all over the end of it. Yes, he had flung mud at his baby brother and was so proud that he had scored on the target! As I interrupted my mother with a yell of, "No, no, NO!" (since Gage was apparently closing in for the kill!), Gage stopped in mid-swing, evaluated my meaning and dropped the stick and his head in a look of dejected despair at the kill-joy of a mother God had bestowed on him. Amazing what boys will do!  My sisters never prepared me for all this.

 

I'm also feeling a need to respond to the wonderfully clever blog by the mom of 6 who posted that ebay listing about the pokemon cards that she unwittingly bought at the grocery store because her children put them in her (chaotic) cart. Perhaps some of you have seen her site or that forward. Although I laughed 'til my sides hurt while perusing her blogsite, I couldn't help but also be slightly put out. Basically, she has 6 out-of-control children (unless she is dramatically exaggerating!). There was even a comment from one of the readers about some other woman whose children were only good because they were scared of the stick she kept somewhere I won't repeat. I instantly found myself blushing, not out of shame for her analogy, but because I thought it must have been written by someone I know. I am known for carrying a rod of some sort in by back pocket most of the time. (A guest arrives at the door. Guest comes in and takes off their shoes. Guest comments, "Why is there a large plastic tube in your back pocket?")  But then I had to check myself. My children are not (usually) a pain in the grocery store (barring the urgent cry for a bathroom just 5 minutes before I'm ready to leave the store). They know better than to stand up in the cart, put their fingers in the meat packages, or put things into the cart of their own choosing - in fact, they know better than to even request that we buy something (the acceptable question is, "Mom, is this on your list this week?"). Should I be ashamed of that? Yes, my children have their moments. I too am the mother of mud flinging children (oh, and did I tell you about Stephanie's run-in with the nail polish? not pretty). Perhaps the clever pokemon mom just knows how to highlight those events in her life and doesn't let us know that the kids really are a joy in public and at church. I'm just tired of other moms being offended by my children's good behavior. I don't do it to annoy you, I do it because it makes my children a joy for ME to be around too. Oh, and yes, because God said, "Do not hold back discipline from the child,  Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol." Prov 22:13 & 14 I think I'd rather offer that to my children than a legacy of clever blogs about their misbehavior. Don't mean to offend, but there it is.

Whew, I think I feel better now. Better get on with the day,

Hugs from me and the kids to all of you -

Well, I'm in the mood to type, I guess. Not sure what I have to say, but feeling like I need to get it off my chest - whatever it is! I'm looking forward to our ladies Bible study group starting up again this month. It keeps me accountable to my Bible reading and my journaling. It is nice to be able to go back and read up on what God has taught me. Embarrassing when I realize I've forgotten the lesson! Thank goodness for His mercy and patience.

The car huntiing is going along nicely. We are still waiting for an offer from the at fault party's insurance company; so we aren't sure what we really have to look at. We have two very nice rigs for very nice prices lined up - boy do I hate decisions. Especially ones like these where there is no black or white in them. It would be so much easier if there were verses for every occasion. "When thou art faced with the decision of buying a donkey of higher price but younger age, or a donkey of lesser price but older age, consider thou thy choice and tell it to thy brother, and whatever he tells thee to do, go thou and do it, even unto the letter." But... it is not so. I guess it is another lesson in trust. Trusting God that the decision we make will be the best for our family. I suppose that is really what life is all about. That place of trust where we pray and do our best and then go on "anxious for nothing" even when "circumstances" seem to be against us.

Better get to my dishes and laundry. Time to take off my philosophic hat and put on my housewife apron.

Hugs to ya,

KB -

 

As you may already know, Josh and the kids got rear-ended last week in the Suburban. (See picture album "poor smashded 'burb'") Thanks to God for keeping them all safe! But our "Burb" is considered totalled. When I got home that evening after the wreck, Gage solemnly told me, "Mom, the car is damaged!" When he showed it to me, he put his hand on the crunched back doors and said, "Here is the damage!" I guess this experience is expanding our vocabulary, if nothing else! Josh and I are now trying to figure out what the smartest option is in all of this. Do we a) let the insurance co have the 'burb' and take their offer of $; b) keep the burb and fix it ourselves and keep any leftover $; c) take the 'burb' to the wrecking yard ourselves and find a new 'burb'; d) let the insurance co have the burb but demand more $ for it; e) drive the burb off a cliff and take a year's trip around the world?  Any suggestions??

 

The latest on the kids: Blake is crawling!! He's figured out the advantage to mobility and is using it to our disadvantage as often as possible. This morning he managed to find a cup of water on the floor (I'm not naming any husband's names!) and pour it all over himself. That did not make him or his mother very happy. It is nice that he can now find his way to the excitement in the house rather than crying because he wasn't part of it. Katie is becoming quite a good reader and Miles is not far behind her. We digress from there as Gage is only able to write his own name and identifies the "E" as a "T". He can throw a baseball in the air with one hand, though, and hit it with the bat in the other hand! (Something quite fascinating to his uncooridinated and unathletic mother!) He is also quite talented with the baseball tee his Aunties gave him for his birthday. (The tethered ball came just in time to keep us from losing our relationship with our neighbors who were tired of returning whiffle balls to us from their yards!) Stephanie prances about here like the queen of the house and we follow her around removing her from her pedastal. It's a slow process, but I think it's working! Speaking of which, I've got to go - she's at it again!

 

Type at ya later,

KBC