Random Stories for Friday Morning

Life is good.

Not perfect – but I have a feeling that if it were perfect we wouldn’t have any reminders to be thankful. Or even more importantly… to seek God.

 

I am almost done with photo shoots for the year! The last two months seemed slightly crazy at times. Like, what am I thinking, my house is a disaster, my kids just had cereal for dinner, when was the last time I bathed the baby, crazy… But I’ve had some seriously amazing sessions and I’m excited about some upcoming plans!

Scott kept taking pictures of me at a wedding we shot together this year.

We are also caught up on homeschooling! More than a quarter of the way through the year. It seems to be going more smoothly than some past years. Other than Keona and Algebra… but that’s another story. We may be ordering DVD’s for highschool math from now on. I know people think that I must have some super power amount of patience… but I don’t! Ha… If teaching Jed to read didn’t break me (or him), and we made it through teaching the triplets fractions and converting percents to decimals, surely we can make it through Algebra! Or not… time will tell.

Ella is one spicy little elf. (Her new nickname) She is incredibly smart. She could be done kindergarten and be reading books by now, but she has NO drive. She would rather go and play with Lily. Sometimes I just wait until naptime to do work with her because it’s so much quicker than when Lily is up. I kind of kill two birds with one stone that way too… Lily is happy with Ella, and they both let me get the work done with the bigger kids! Well, the other day the boys were done school early and Ella wanted to go play with them at naptime. When I told her, “No, we have to do your reading practice first.” She was not impressed. I asked her to give me a minute to finish checking the triplets’ work and she disappeared. Not 30 seconds later, I heard a big BANG! Then another. I’m trying to figure out where it’s coming from, when I hear another, and another… She slammed my bathroom door over and over again. Eight times to be exact. I counted… Now I was not impressed. I don’t even know where that came from. None of the other kids slam doors. Needless to say, she sat at the school table for a VERY long time after that.

On a happier note- we got our Christmas cards in the mail!

And just in case you were wondering… This is what Scott does while I’m trying to wrangle 8 kids together for a picture…

 

I forgave him because he saved the day by cheering Lily up when I thought she was toast.

Christmas is just around the corner. Scott and I are coming up with some fun events for the family in December. I have not even started my Christmas shopping. I take that back. I bought 2 very small gifts. I’m in trouble. I hate going to the mall in December. Every year I vow to be done before then, and every year I still end up running out for a few last minute things. The kids have started working on their memory verses for Christmas. I guess Lily felt left out, because she grabbed a blank piece of paper and lined up with them!

I’m sure I have other stories to tell, like how Eve and Prayer wanted the same haircut so they could “be like twins!” And how they tried to convince Charity to get the same haircut too, so they could be “like triplets”… And how they Eve and Charity plan to get the same glasses as Prayer so no one can tell them apart.

She actually got this style… but in brown. :)

Or how Scott and I drove around for an hour and went to 6 different stores looking for 3D glasses for the kids to use to watch a movie. After finding everything in 3D except for the ACTUAL glasses (how are people seeing all these things in 3D with no glasses!?!?) I found a YouTube tutorial on how to make your own. After making 7 pairs of them, I went upstairs and found the kids watching the movie on the normal setting, with the glasses all on the floor. Apparently they were too blurry… Or how Lily’s new favourite saying is, “Too bad!” (Actually it’s more like “Do bad!”) She still says, “Mo!” Instead of “no”. And she can now sing several songs perfectly in tune. It’s scary actually. You may not be able to make out the words, but the notes are there. My baby is turning 2 this month!

 

Speaking of my baby… she was rolling back and forth across the couch tonight just laughing her head off. I kept telling her to be careful, which was met by an, “Otay, Mom!” Every time. After about 20 minutes of it I pulled out my phone to record it and send to Scott at work. The very next roll, she completely misses the couch and somersaults on to the floor… I can’t bring myself to post it. The thud is… disturbing. She was fine. She cried for a minute and then watching the video on my phone actually cheered her up! She must have watched it twenty times while saying, “Punny! Again?!” Every time she rolled off the couch and hit the floor.

And to end… a rainbow. Just because it was the most beautiful rainbow I’ve ever seen. Prayer and I pulled the car over and ran out into a farm field to take the picture. Then I called Scott and told him to meet me outside. I got him to hop in the car and drove him over to see it too. Prayer (my little artist) and I agree that you cannot compete with God’s handiwork!

Sometimes We Argue…

A few weeks ago, Scott and I had a little argument. Actually, it wasn’t even an argument. It went something like this…

I was on the phone with a client in my living room (my first mistake- ha!) and he interrupted my conversation to tell me not to book anything on the date we were discussing. I hand-motioned for him to be quiet and he got louder… (turns out he had a surprise 30th birthday party planned for me that day- but I thought we were just going out for a few hours that afternoon) Anyhow, then my phone call got cut off and a kid walked in and started asking for food over and over again while I basically told Scott off for interrupting a business call like one of the kids. (Harsh and uncalled for, I know…) My phone rang again and I picked it up while he got his stuff ready and had to leave for work. I booked the session for another day, hung up the phone, and turned to see Ella sitting there beside me. She had been there the entire time. She smiled sweetly and asked to use my phone to play Temple Run. I took a moment and realized that Scott had left for work. I felt horrible for the way I had reacted and told Ella that I had to call Dad first to apologize for being mean to him. She very matter-of-factly looked at me and said, “But he was rude to you when you were on the phone first.” I explained to her that it didn’t matter if he was rude first, or if he was rude at all- but that it was wrong of me to talk to him like that and I owed him an apology. She patiently sat beside me while I called him and apologized (he was understanding and forgiving- as usual) and when I hung up she said, “Can I play on your phone now that you said sorry to Dad?”

2007

We have a great marriage. One of the best. (I think!) But we aren’t perfect. We don’t always agree. We argue from time to time. Actually, we are both really good at it. Arguing that is… We get loud every once in a while – but we know how to forgive. I’ve heard people say that you shouldn’t argue in front of your kids, and I wonder how realistic that is.

I’ve realized how important it is for them to see grace. To see that mom and dad aren’t perfect, (like they didn’t already know that!) that we humble ourselves to apologize when we’re wrong, and that we show one another grace. One of their favourite “remember the time!” stories is when Scott and I had gotten into an argument about something, and he left the house and came back with flowers and a movie. “And we all had a fun night after that!”

They saw his works.

2008

They were too young to comprehend why we were fighting, the need to apologize, or the concept of grace at the time – but they saw, and remember, his works. It was such a small event. Half an hour on a Friday night, that they still remember and smile about 6 years later. We don’t hold grudges. We don’t get bitter. We may be a little blunt sometimes. Ok… most of the time… but I wonder if the presence of grace isn’t what makes our marriage so strong.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard my kids argue or fight. (Today! Ha…) But seriously, I also can’t count the number of times I’ve sat back and watched one go up to another and say, “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

Met with a, “That’s OK. I shouldn’t have… either.”

Relationship restored.

Is that a natural response? It isn’t for me! I hate apologizing. Especially when I think I’m right! I’ve been known to say, “I’m sorry that YOU felt I was wrong…” To which Scott usually laughs and then I give in with a real apology. I don’t know if it comes naturally to anyone, but I do know that once you’ve experienced God’s grace in your own life- you have no right not to show it to others.

We were driving to church one day when the triplets were babies and I was really mad at someone. Scott asked me if I was going to do something for them (I can’t even remember what it was or why I was mad) and my response was, “No. She doesn’t deserve for me to give her anything.” He looked at me while we were at a stop light and said, “Wow. Good thing God doesn’t treat you like that.” I had no response. I had no excuse. I’ve never forgotten it.

What if God only extended as much grace to me as I was willing to show to others?

1998

Having Ella ask me why I was apologizing when someone else had wronged me, gave me a chance to teach her a lesson. But I know that my example, my works, is what she’ll follow and what she’ll remember. So I’m not against our kids knowing that we have disagreements or that we occasionally argue. Would it be better if we never did? Sure. But in the mean time, hopefully they learn that when we fail (which we will), and when we’re willing to humble ourselves and make things right, God (and Mom and Dad) are always there waiting to show us grace.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
-1 Peter 4:10

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
- Matthew 5:16

i heart faces: Pets

My kindergartner and her puppy after a long day at school…