The kids in their costumes

Wow...I think one of my very first blogs was Halloween last year, so I guess that means I've been blogging for a year now. Time flies!!!

We offered Halloween costume portraits in the studio this year with a "sitting fee" of non-perishable donations for the Athens Food Pantry. It wasn't as successful as we'd hoped (of course, it was raining all night!), but we enjoyed ourselves and met a couple of potential new clients. My kids were less than cooperative for photos...what's new, you might ask!

Fear

My writings for our MOPS newsletter on the theme day of the haunted house (remember...this year's theme is Adventures in Motherhood, Mothering...something like that!)

My firstborn was yet unborn when I discovered that a close friend – who was probably about 30 – had just learned to swim. Big deal, you might think. Except to her, it was.
She is the most fearful person I’ve ever known. In fact, I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would fear crowds so intensely that she had never been able to enjoy a professional sporting event for that reason. She is also terrified of heights, elevators, storms, spiders, dogs, strangers and the list goes on. But water frightened her more than anything, and yet when her son turned 5, she signed them both up for swimming lessons.
Later, she and her husband let him pick out a dog – a big one, even. I know that my friend was really stretching beyond her comfort zone. I think we all do it, sometimes not by choice, as parents.
Abby knows no stranger, and so my bubbly then 2-year-old forced me out of my shell. I’ll never be the extrovert she is, but she’s nudging me along nicely.
Because I love my children and want them to see the world with fresh new eyes, I try very hard not to influence them with my own fears. I bet neither of them knows that the sight of a snake makes my heart race and my palms sweat. They can fear snakes on their own, but hopefully not by my design. Who knows – what if one of my kids holds the key to medicinal cures for poisonous snakebites, and I rob them of the opportunity to better the world because of my fear? OK…far fetched, but you get the point.
Even my husband, who’s admittedly VERY freaked out by spiders, isn’t letting on. In fact, Abby has a very interesting and rather large spider living in her window. We’ve studied it all summer, its habits and life – both online and through observations and of course, photos.
It kind of has me wondering – why do we fear? What did God have in mind when he designed this emotion? I’m not entirely sure what the opposite of fear is, but I would suspect it has traits of faith – confidence, peace and purpose. Fear must be a lot like hate. If we didn’t know and experience these negative emotions, then how could we possibly understand and appreciate the depths of their opposites. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in a life without all the fruits of the spirit.
Besides, God is the solution to fear in Joshua 1:9 What a comfort and joy to know that with God, I can face all my fears. When we have those lump-in-the-back-of-the-throat, stomach grinding fears all parents get, we can always seek Him for a dose of peace. It is so amazing to me the “peace that passes all understanding” when we simply go to Him in prayer with all our worries. Yes, God helps us overcome fear!

Clowning around

Thought I would share the first column I wrote for MOPS this year...

I grew up with two younger sisters, but we often had another playmate -- especially when we were quite young. Before my dad started working long hours, he often attended our tea parties, played with dolls, came to “school” when our bedroom was transformed into class and let us fix his hair and paint his toenails. I particularly remember my mom’s horror when he let us do the latter on our beach vacation. “Larry, everyone will see that!!” But our opinion (which was that our cool and goofy dad lets us give him pedicures) mattered way more to him than what any perfect stranger thought.
He also rode amusement park rides with us, barked at dogs out the car window on our way to church and teased our friends when they telephoned. We thought he did it all to embarrass us sometimes, but the truth is he was always searching for a laugh or at least a smile. You might say he liked to goof off or clown around. He really has a child-like spirit (still does!), but most of all, it was an easy and natural way for him to express his love.
Goofing off isn’t so easy for my more serious-natured personality. Thank goodness I married a child-at-heart. But now that I have children of my own, I find it much easier to be silly. At my kids’ ages, they think it’s hilarious when I sing the wrong words to a song…. “Twinkle, twinkle little nose. How I wonder what you chin. Up above the mouth so high…” and so on. They laugh until it hurts, and it makes me laugh, too.
But I really have to take it to the next level…um, the physical level with my son. There’s something in a boy’s rough-and-tumble nature that requires wrestling and running. Recently, I grabbed him and put him on my belly while I laid on the floor. I recalled aloud how he used to lay on my belly when he woke in the middle of the night until he was 20 months or so. This time, I flipped him over so his back was against my belly and “fastened” him in with my arms and legs to see how long it would take until he could work his way free. I used all my strength to keep him buckled in -- a good workout for mom, and he was laughing as he used his developing muscles to break through the chains. “Again!” he shouted as soon as he was out.
I don’t always have the time to get on the floor and play like a kid with my own. But when I do, I know I’ll always be rewarded with laughter. And they’ll a lot of mileage out of the silly memories of mom pretending to be a baby, tickling them like crazy until their laughter turns to tears and letting them fix my hair and even makeup (I actually posted a photo of that one on my blog…very scary!).
I admit it’s hard to leave behind the kitchen sink of dishes or set aside the already intimidating laundry pile for a rousing game of house with the little ones. Still, ten minutes can go so far, and I believe it’s an activity that God honors. Why else would God give us children if we can’t enjoy the silliness and carefree nature of being very young? If we don’t enjoy it on occasion now, we’ll regretfully realize our next chance is when we have grandchildren.

Busy, busy, busy

Wow....I can't believe how hectic our schedules have become. I have tons of clients calling suddenly after an arid September. Plus, I took a job outside the home two days a week at the hospital in Lincoln. I didn't really want to, but the offer was too good to pass up. It's a temporary position for a year, so it will really help us pay off debt while my business grows. If all goes well, we could be entirely out of debt (except the house) in one year. God is so good!!!

OK, onto a couple other things:

Funny Ryker story--
I was picking up things around the house and tossed a "puppet" that he made at preschool (a paper plate taped to a popscicle stick) into the filing cabinet, uhm-hum garbage. Not long after he stomped into the room, flipped up the garbage lid while saying in the funniest tone of voice, "No, no lady! I made this at school." He closed the lid, and walked by me saying, "I still love you." Oh, I just about pee'ed myself crying!!!

Tonight--
Abby has a rotten cough that just seems to get worse instead of better this week. She couldn't breath out of her nose and was just crying about trying to sleep, so I laid on her bed and stroked her hair while she fell asleep in my arms. Does it get any better than this!!! I absolutely love these times, even though I don't have time for it all the time, but it's like God is shaking and me and saying, "Enjoy the peace with your child." I marvelled at her while I laid there...she was so congested and yet she crashed because she was safe, secure and loved in my arms. Sometimes I think I need that. I can't think or function or sleep. Life is a blur. My schedule is chaotic. And when I seek my Father's loving arms, I find peace and mercy and grace. I'll be needing a lot of that in the coming months, so I hope I don't forget to first go to the security blanket of prayer!

Enjoy this BEAUTIFUL weather!!