A Day in the Life of Me

Somedays I think it would be better if I just didn't get out of bed. Let me tell you about one of those days:

• 2:06 am Mya comes into our bedroom, wakes me up and tells me she wants to sleep in her sleeping bag on the floor
• 5:35 am Mya wakes me up and tells me she wants to go back to her own bed
• 6:00 am Kory's alarm wakes me up
• 6:09 am Kory's alarm wakes me up again
• 6:18 am Kory's alarm wakes me up again
• 7:15 am The boys wake up with diapers so full, the diaper actually explodes (not alot of fun to clean up)
• 8:20 am While checking my e-mail, one of the boys decides to turn the computer off
• 8:57 am The house is too quiet, I go upstairs to discover Mya has opened my bedroom door and the boys are in my bathroom splashing in the toilet
• 8:59 am As I get the boys dried off and out of my room, I discover Mya writing on a matte board I am planning on using to frame pictures of my angelic children.
• 9:45 am I discover the boys behind the chair, pulling all of our CDs off the holder
• 9:47 am As I am picking up the CDs I hear a crash as the boys knock our Christmas tree over (not our real one, thank goodness)
• 10:38 am My palm pilot dies for no apparent reason - I feel lost.
• 12:30 pm Mom arrives so I can go to a few appointments and grocery shop
• 2:00 pm I make a quick stop at the post office - the only parking spot available is about 1 block away
• 2:10 pm As I leave the post office a torrential downpour starts. I have no coat and no umbrella. I run one block to my car - losing my shoe once and arrive at my car looking like I just got out of the shower with my clothes on.
• 2:20 pm I arrive at my eye doctor appointment looking like a drowned rat.
• 4:30 pm I try to make supper while both boys are lying on the kitchen floor at my feet hysterical
• 5:05 pm We start supper. Mya fills her mouth with carrots, realizes there is too much in her mouth and proceeds to spew them all over herself and the kitchen floor.
• 5:06 pm The boys decide to join in the fun and throw their applesauce all over the floor as well as their spaghetti. (The comment could be made - "You could eat off of her kitchen floors.")
• 5:25 pm Kory comes home to find a wife who has just stepped off the deep end (The phrase "one frie short of a happy meal" comes to mind)!

(Lest you think I really am going crazy, I must give a small disclaimer: I have not actually had a day like this, BUT all of the above scenarios have happened to me this week, with just enough time in between to keep me sane... barely!)

As Julie Ann Barnhill says "Motherhood ushers in (often with trumpets) a dawning awareness that things just aren't going to go as we'd first planned or imagined."

To that I say, "Hear, Hear".

The Peas are Always Greener...

So the old saying goes, "The peas are always greener on the other person's tray." Or something like that.

As our twin boys ate their supper tonight, Jonah took this old adage to heart. Ignoring the many peas on his own tray, he decided his brother's looked much tastier and so helped himself. Luckily Simon didn't seem to mind... this time.

Already I am constantly breaking up fights between the two brothers, one always wants what the other brother has. Their sister also seems to have this problem. Not only does she want what her brothers, friends, etc. have, she does not want them to have what she has! The other day on our way to her cousin's house she informed me that she did not want Paige to have any of her water.

Having kids has definately confirmed to me that humans are not basically good as some would have us believe - that nasty old sin nature is ingrained in us from birth and shows its ugly face very quickly. As much as I would like to believe that I have outgrown the behaviors exemplified in my children, I would only be lying to myself and to you. Although I have learned not to go around physically grabbing things from my family and friends and am willing to share what I have with them, I have found more subtle ways to be selfish.

For example, I can be very selfish with my time. In a sense I can grab time away from my children as they would a toy from a friend. Pushing them off when I have something I want to accomplish (blogging for instance :)).

I can be selfish with my conversations - directing the conversation to things I am interested in and accomplishing; not taking time to really find out how my friend is doing because I have things to share.

I could go on and on, the "self-stuff" (as Beth Moore calls it) in my life is unending. Although the daily battle of dealing with my "self-stuff" can be overwhelming and quite daunting at times, I am thankful for a Savior who forgives me when I fail and gives me grace to fight back.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

Matthew 16:24-25

A Trip to the Dentist

I was at the dentist today. I didn't really know why I was at the dentist until they shot me up with novacaine and pulled out the drill. I knew they had to do something besides a cleaning (I had that done the week before) I just wasn't sure what.

My dentist was very reassuring. "This is the easiest thing I do all day, " he said.
A little bit later, when my mouth was numb he said, "I just had to give a new patient bad news - he needs a root canal."

Lying there with two heads peering into my mouth, the dentist's and his assistant's, I felt a little odd. When he pulled out the drill, I wondered if my eyes looked a little panicked. I didn't feel panicky at all, but I wondered what I looked like to my dentist. "It shouldn't hurt at all," he said.

They say that dentist have the highest suicide rate of any occupation. I don't know if that is true. In some ways it makes sense to me. They spend all day in these one-sided conversations. Pulling their hands out of people's mouths only briefly to allow them to respond. No one really likes being there. Do they see a lot of panicky eyes? I doubt they get much positive feedback from their patients "Great job with that filling Dr. - that was your best one yet!" - most people are probably just glad to be leaving. I think it must take a special person to be a dentist.

All in all - it wasn't too bad of a trip. He did his work fast and before I knew it he was sending me out the door with a loopy, novacaine induced half-smile on my face. "Just don't chew any food on the left side of your mouth until at least 5:00, we wouldn't want you biting your lip on accident."

Paying Tribute

Every year Easter Seals chooses a couple from the Peoria area to honor at an event they call the Tribute Dinner. They pick a couple who has given much over the years of their time and money to the community. The theme of the event usually coincides with the couples' interests. Friends of the couple speak of how giving and worthy of honor they are. Usually someone of local renown shares some thoughts, last night it was Congressman Ray LaHood, a few years ago it was U of I basketball coach Bill Self. It is a touching event that raises a lot of money for Easter Seals.

I wonder as we sit at the table listening to people talk of the accalaides and accomplishments of the honorees what it would feel like to be honored in that way. To have people publically proclaim your virtues and your giving spirit. Do they look back over their life and feel pride at what they have accomplished? What do they say to each other when they go home? Do they feel successful and worthy of the praise they received?

I wonder what I will have to show for myself when I reach the golden years of life. What will people say about me? Will I have lived a life worthy of honor? Will I have made a difference? More importantly what will my heavenly Father say to me when I reach my eternal home? The words I long to hear someday are "Well done, my good and faithful servant." If that is my goal, am I living today with that in mind?

Lots of questions - only time will tell what the answers are.