Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day was low key (just how I like things). Timothy's teacher had the kids make the most amazing mother book (she never stops), and it even had seeds in the back for us to plant together! Timothy & Samantha received this loving email from their Daddy:

Hi kids! It's Daddy!

Today is a special day for mommy. Did you know that today is Mother's Day? That means it's a day to celebrate what a great mommy you have! So please tell mommy you love her today! Say, "I love you mommy!"

I love you both.

Yesterday I contemplated my children and treasured them in my heart...

Timothy-Everywhere we go, he takes his hands and crashes them together in different ways. Most people probably think he's crashing cars or trucks. But I know that he is imagining Super Smash Brothers Brawl. In this game, there are "stages", and they have levels (imagine a 3 story house). Two characters battle. When they hit each other, they knock each other off the stage or sometimes a character jumps high in the sky to avoid dying.

WE DON'T EVEN OWN THIS GAME.

I die when I think about the germs, and I spend a lot of time, telling Timothy not to touch or "You can't do Super Smash in here!". But yesterday when we were on the canned food aisle and canned corn became the most recent stage (with varying heights-it was ideal), I just couldn't help but smile at the fact that this is my son. Something inside of him continually imagines these battles and choreographs them! I'm his mom, so I get that.

Samantha-this is my outdoors girl. I grew up in the suburbs, and really my idea of being outside is walking down the street. Not Samantha. She wants to be IN the dirt, IN the sand, picking flowers, climbing hills. Nothing is too messy for her (unless it's spilled liquid-then cover your ears!)

God is good like that knowing I need tons more outdoor time than I get, and love for my child is the best means of getting me to do something unnatural. So, this weekend we went on a short hike on the Tecolote Canyon. This is a giant canyon here in San Diego, and has tons of trails. It was simple enough that Samantha could walk it herself, and even Timothy & I enjoyed it!

Quotes from the hike:

Timothy-I've never seen a cactus THAT close before.
Samantha (crying)-I want to walk MORE!

We could have walked for hours, and she still would have cried when it was time to stop because she loves being outdoors. I get that and love it about her. I'm her mom.

The Bathroom Door Letter

Our MOPS Speaker this week shared this, and I thought anyone can relate!! How many times have you wanted to say this...

Please do not stand here and talk, whine or ask questions.

Wait until I get out.

Yes, it is locked. I want it that way. It is not broken, and I am not trapped.

I know I have left it unlocked and even open at times, since you were born, because I was afraid some horrible tragedy might occur while I was in there, but it’s been 8 years and I want some PRIVACY.

Do not ask me how long I will be. I will come out when I am done.

Do not bring the phone to the bathroom door.

Do not go running back to the phone yelling “She’s in the BATHROOM!”

Do not begin to fight as soon as I go in.

Do not stick your little fingers under the door and wiggle them. This was funny when you were two.

Do not slide pennies, LEGOs, or notes under the door. Even when you were two this got a little tiresome.

If you have followed me down the hall talking, and are still talking as you face this closed door, please turn around, walk away, and wait for me in another room. I will be glad to listen to you when I am done.

And yes, I still love you.

Mom

What is your dream in life?

I can swallow w/o pain, and I'm only wiping Sam's nose every hour, so I think we're on the mend.

Dan is reading a book about dreams/hearts' desires. Monday night he told me the part he was reading was saying that even though we have little dreams here and there, if we thought about it for a while there is probably one central dream that we have through our lives. These little dreams are probably outgrowths of the big dream. Then he asked me what my dream is. I knew immediately. What I want to do is encourage/teach/lead women on a regular basis, either as a small group, SS class, anything! So, then he asked me what obstacles were preventing me. That was painful to sort through, as some items are more "insecurity" than "obstacle". Probably the biggest obstacle in my mind is that I often have 1 sick child, which prevents me from committing to something on a weekly basis. Dan agreed this is a challenge (combined with the fact that he is gone almost every Mon-Fri), so we prayed about it. I went to bed asking God to show me creative ways to love on women that I can do whether my kids are sick or not!

Yesterday I got an email from the leader of the MOPS I go to. Little background: I LOVE my MOPS group. I only have had 1 other experience, and I think the fact that it only met once a month made it not super successful. This group meets weekly, has great speakers, and has a military moms table. This was such a blessing because I never seem to meet Christiam military wives. Until I went to this MOPS, I had 1 friend who was both a military spouse and a believer. I met her from church, so it's just coincidental that her husband is Navy. So even though I have met several people at MOPS who aren't military, it really helps to sit around and discuss what we all know we go through, with the added perspective of eternity.

This semester we've had this huge explosion in military moms. We were already the largest table with about 10, and I think we've almost doubled! We had to combine 2 round tables last time, and that was awkward! So Kelley called me because of this new dilemma. The leadership feels the need for 2 military tables, and she wanted me to pray about being table leader. How cool is that-just the morning after the night Dan & I had this conversation.

I told her I didn't need to wait because I had already asked God for the opportunity. I shared with her my whole conversation with Dan, and even my concern about my sickies. She wasn't worried about that at all and was on the look out for a Mentor Mom for our table anyway who could fill in when I'm not there. What's great about this too is it's so easy-I just lead the discussion questions that have already been printed and yet I'll get to more directly talk to each lady. Thank you, Lord! And I'm going to keep praying for more opportunities!

If you have a dream, please comment about it. What is it? What are your obstacles? Were you able to accomplish it more easily when you weren't a mom? If you have more than one dream, please share!! You can even post "anonymous" if you don't want to give your identity or write me privately. I would love to hear about!

Mother's Day Ideas

The managers of the housing we live in are very good about planning events at different holidays. This question about a Mother's Day event is on their website right now: Mother’s day 2008 is just around the corner and we would like your input on what kind of event you would like to see. Do you want an event for just mothers while your children are in child care? Do you want a shopping day with or without your children? How about mothers, sons, and daughters together? Are there any places or attractions that you haven’t been to that you are dying to go? Any idea is a good idea!

I wondered what moms would think is a good Mother's Day event, as well as what they personally would want for Mother's Day, so I emailed several moms I know (mostly non-bloggers) for ideas. They came up with some great ones, and I put them all together in one email which I thought I would share...

Ideas that mom's had which included being with their kids:

1. Professional pictures made with just mom & the kids. I don't think most moms would splurge on themselves and go out and get photos of just themselves & the kids. And in my home I'm the "camera girl", so even most amateur shots don't include me.
2. Pajama brunch with a bunch of your other moms and have the kids/husbands do all the cooking while the group of moms just gather and chat, trade stories, kids tips etc.

Ideas that mom's had which involved being away from their kids:

1. Shopping (one mom asked, "will they chip in the money, too?)
2. Conference
3. Spa day (massage, manicure, pedicure)
4. "Mother's Day In"-that's my term, but basically getting a day at home w/o the kids-cleaning the house, putting pictures away in photo albums, or listening to whatever music we want, watch OUR tv shows, and stay in pjs, all in the comfort of our own home
5. Getting to eat yummy snacks that you don't usually eat in front of your kids (because they can't or too time consuming to fix).

I really liked all these ideas. I thought these moms were creative and practical! I always think Mother's Day is this weird conflict of feeling the desire to be recognized for what we do, but wanting a break from it all at the same time! I think I would love a big party where only moms are invited, and childcare is provided. We get to play, eat, & talk about anything we want (even the freedom to talk about our children if that's what comes up). Oh, to have an uninterrupted adult conversation with another mom! Without our children there, we may actually accomplish that!

So what do you think? Does an idea on this list strike your fancy or do you have another idea? Please tell us about it!

YMCA Part II

We started driving to Dan's work, and Timothy asked if he could have cookies from McDonald's (there is a McDs right by Dan's work that we typically get cookies from). Dan and I are trying to be aware of the things that we run to for comfort that are not Christ. Food is a big one from me, and as I learn to stop living in denial, I am admitting it out loud! It was pretty obvious to me in this moment that Timothy was using food to comfort himself from Daddy going back to work.

I told him that we could get cookies, but that before we ate them we were going to pray. I explained that Jesus was the only one who could really comfort him when Daddy is gone. He said okay. Well, about a mile down the freeway, he said, "Mooooommmmmm, I'm ready to pray." I was totally shocked, and explained that I needed to get to a stopping place (I was driving). I don't normally care about closing my eyes, but this was especially emotional for Timothy and I wanted to be focused. Again, he said okay. We finally exit off the highway, and at the first red light he yells, "Mom, let's pray!!!!"

So I said, "Jesus, thank you for loving us and caring for us and wanting to be the one who makes us feel good. Please help Timothy and Mommy not be sad while Daddy is at work. Amen." Timothy said a resounding, "Amen" afterwards, and by the time we got to Dan's work he said good-bye easily. He has not argued with me about one thing all day today. I've had to say no to several little requests, and he has said, "okay" to every single one.

I don't think the story really communicates it well, but there was such a desperation in his voice to be able to pray. I want to be like that!

YMCA Part I

This morning Timothy started tee ball for the 1st time at the YMCA. (Info for later in the story: Dan got special permission today to leave work for 3 hours for this.) There were 5 boys (ages 3-5), and it was a purely positive experience. Timothy hit the ball very well, listened to instruction, and even learned a bit about fielding a grounder. Since we were starting Timothy in this, I thought it would be a GREAT idea to start Samantha in gymnastics right after tee ball. I was wrong.

First of all, she doesn't even "want" it like Timothy wanted baseball, and Timothy wanted to join her gymnastics class! Second, she wanted to keep climbing on the original obstacle course set up-she didn't want to have to change activities. Third, she doesn't like people. She's gone through serious times of separation anxiety, but even when she's not dealing with that she does NOT like other children in her space. Usually I only see this when bigger kids want to pick her up and carry her around. I always thought that was a pretty logical reason to be mad someone was touching you! But no, she doesn't want the other little 2 yr old girls even on the same gym mat as her!!! It ended a little on the bright side with her liking this really cool trampoline they have. It's already paid for, so I've got 3 more weeks of that torture.

When we met up with Dan & Timothy, Timothy was already upset that he was having to "leave YMCA". We tried to console him, but he was crying uncontrollably. Finally, on the way to the car, he got out his entire feelings, "I don't want to leave because daddy has to go back to work". Oh, it ripped our hearts out. He loves his daddy so much.