Good morning

Today is not my favorite kind of day. It is a day of vacation aftermath: tired kids, tired parents, utterly disorganized house and life, hundreds of little things demanding my attention...

I stayed in bed a little bit after the kids got up this morning, assuming they were happy with cartoons. They were quiet for a bit, but then I started hearing Eldon screaming about this and that, and knew I could not stay in my warm bed forever. Another scream, and I take a deep breath, pray for patience, and roll out of bed. I opened my bedroom door and almost tripped over a small box on the floor. It rattled as I kicked it. I sighed at the messiness of my house and continued with Peter towards the sound of kid conversation.

I walked out down the hall and found the children seated at the table instead of watching cartoons. Lorraine was in the kitchen, wearing her new apron and smiling, "Mommy, I am serving everyone breakfast!" Seth was on the kitchen counter looking for the bread and cheerfully taking orders from Lorraine. The others were happily drinking Lorraine's most excellent chocolate milk and telling me what a great job she was doing with breakfast.

The cocoa pebbles crunched under my feet as I approached the table to join them, but I really didn't mind this time. "Mommy, did you look in the box?" Lorraine asked. I had not, so I put Peter down and returned to the hallway where the box was waiting.

Inside the box were two small plates. On the plates, arranged just so, sat two granola bars, a pile of M&Ms, and a peppermint.

Breakfast in bed for mommy and daddy.

Oh Lord, when these kids drive me crazy today, help me remember this moment!

Hey look!

"Hey look it's BABY GOD!"

Marcus yells every time he sees a nativity scene. It is a striking phrase, one he pieced together himself.

"Baby Jesus" is something we hear all the time, but "baby God," actually more accurate, is really quite startling. It is bizarre, really, to put the words "baby" and "God" together. One brings up ideas of weakness and vulnerability and neediness, the other strength and power and authority.

Yet God, our God, has put these two things together. He is the God whose apparent weakness is strength, whose vulnerability and death is power and blessing.

A great mystery is here.

Merry Christmas.

I can't make this stuff up.

This is the girl with the wild hairdo.

This is a ball that hit the head of the girl with the wild hairdo.

This is the nose struck by the ball that bounced off the head of the girl with the wild hairdo.

This is the blood that dripped on the floor that came out of the nose that was struck by the ball that bounced off the head of the girl with the wild hairdo.

This is the boy that puked in the gym when he saw the blood that dripped on the floor that came out of the nose that was struck by the ball that bounced off the head of the girl with the wild hairdo.

And this kind of thing, THIS is why teachers need breaks!

Here's to all those teachers out there who survived until this Christmas break!

Thank you all for putting up with days like this!

Sleeps through everything!

When I say Peter can sleep through everything, I really mean everything! :)

Inheritance

I think the children are inheriting some of mommy's sentiments...

The other night Seth prayed, "God, please make Peter stay a baby forever!"

Oh honey, I like him as a baby too, but God didn't make him to stay a baby forever! God has plans for him as He grows up, just like he has plans for you. We love and enjoy him as a baby now, and God will help us love and enjoy him when he's big too!

(I lecture him and myself!)

"What would you say if I prayed to God that you would stay four forever, would you like it if He said yes?"

"No mommy! I want to get big and go to school!"

So he understood the lesson, and better than the giver of the lecture, who would be perfectly happy if God allowed her to stay 30-something forever.

But God has plans for me as I grow up too, so I'm told.

what's more insane than having this many kids?

Putting them all in roller skates!

Brave Aggie, not afraid to fall..

Almost as much fun as getting on the snow clothes and boots..

Seth feeling brave... preparing to jump, yes, jump!

We enjoyed safe travels to Michigan and back again...

but will there be safe travels in our basement tonight?

Isaiah 26:17-19

Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth
so were we because of you, O Lord;
we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

Your dead shall live;
their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Isaiah 26:17-19

Heavenly Father,
Apart from you we can do nothing- we know this because we have tried, and we have either failed completely, or watched our "accomplishments" topple over in the wind. All our works are filthy rags, yet in your mercy you forgive us and graft us to the vine that bears lasting fruit, your Son. When we are discouraged by the trials of this world, comfort us and uphold us, and preserve us until that day that we see these words fufilled before our eyes. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Snow fun for me!

It is looking very Christmasy here in Indiana!

And I can't help but feel down right frolic-y when we get snow like this!

It is good to have kiddos who feel the same way!

Sledding fun!

I tried to give them a running push a few times, fun but not always easy!

The bigger hill by the pole barn was a bit steeper than this one and so my pushes were less graceful there.

Once my feet would not stop running and my body would not pull back from the downward momentum..and so I fell right on top of the children!

(It was totally worth it for the Aggie belly laugh that spread to all the others!)

Between the sledding, the snow balling and the snow wrestling,

this definitely counted as my workout.

Eating snow...

Really, is it such a big deal?

Because I just don't have the heart to pick this battle...

Even princess Lorriane is willing to get her hair messed up and her clothes dirty to wrestle around in the snow!

a few of my favorite things...

Cozy Christmas traditions!

(Like daddy's Christmas train in the picture above)

Full body smiles!

Apologetic smiles...

Older siblings loving on younger ones

But my most favorite thing today:

Watching my tough-guy Marcus attempt to Turbo Jam along with me!

He was balancing on the couch doing knee lifts and giggling,

"Look mommy! I'm doing it!"

(There was a "daddy" in the background on the dvd, which is what apparently allowed him to consider that this might not be just a girl thing. His daddy will convince him otherwise as soon as he reads this I am sure!)