Future..

Sometimes the tasks gets overwhelming...

The dishes

that never end..

the accidents that

need to be cleaned..

the noses to wipe..

the tears to dry..

the voices

to quiet..

the beds to make

All the tasks

sometimes make me forget..

for a moment

that I am not called to parent

"tasks"

I am called to parent

little wonderful people..

with a future..

a purpose..

A whole life ahead that I can't even begin to imagine...

When I remember that..

The tasks

become significant..

They are all little ways I am preparing them for their future..

Their wonderful..

amazing..

God given..

future.

And I get to be a part of it.

"You've been handed a piece of history in advance- a gracious gift sent to a time you will not see"

-Tim Kimmel Grace Based Parenting

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Picture Perfect

I tried to take the kids picture.
Together.
All 3.
I could write about it.
Instead here is a picture..
that captures the essence of that experience.

I am framing it.

My prayer....

Dear Gibson,Aria and Jackson

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,

  the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 

 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 

 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

Not mentioning any names...

Some one had a party..
Some one couldn't stay away from the cake..
Some one may have kept sticking his fingers in the icing..
Some one might have said, when I asked him to clean up..
"What did you say, Momma? I can do whatever I want because it's my birthday?"
Some one is too quick for his own good..
And I love him..

I am on a mission...

When I was around 8..

I won poem writing contest..

for mother's day..

Impressed right?

OK here is the truth..

by win..

I mean tied for first..

and by poem writing contest..

I mean a contest with like 6 other kids at our church's mothers day banquet..

Still impressed aren't you?

With such prestige surrounding the poem..

surely you can see why almost 20 years later..

I still have it memorized...

A Mother's mission never ends..

In Fact it just begins..

Each day of a mother's life..

from cooking to cleaning to making the beds..

A Mother's mission isn't the easiest..

but perhaps it is the best..



Here is the thing 8 year old me didn't realize..
that my mission as a mommy..
has nothing to do with housekeeping and culinary skills..
My mission is to love on those kiddos..
(even though having a clean house and feeding them is loving them)

It's to find patience when I have none..
To be understanding when my lip gloss has been used to create a masterpiece on the wall..

To get on the floor and play with them..
when I have a sink full of dishes and rooms to clean..
because they are more important than tasks..

To always speak kindly of their Daddy...
To be on my knees lifting them up to the Father who loves them more than I can fathom...

That is my mission..
to raise kids to know the wonderful love of our Saviour..

So today..
there are many tasks to do..
But only one mission..
To Love God, love others
in everything that I do..
It is more important for me to have a loving house..
than a clean one..

Happy Birthday...

Dear Gibson,
Today you are 4.. You might as well be turning 18, because here I am holding your pink blanket.. crying like you are going off to college.

You were the first.
The first one to have me wrapped around their tiny finger..
 The first boo boo I every made better with a kiss..
The first little person who thought I could do anything..
The first one completely dependent on me..
The first one to take their first wobbly steps towards me..
The first who I woke up with in the middle of the night to change a diaper for.
The first one to call me Momma.....

I love being your Momma.. I love how sweet and caring you are.. How sensitive you are to others.
I love how you think so deeply.. I love your questions.. I love your silliness.. I love your gentle spirit..
I love you my firstborn, my little big man.

Happy Birthday, Gibson.

Love,
Your Momma

Oh Happy day..

Gibson..
has decided 2 things
1. He no longer wants to be called Gibby Gibby Gum Drops....
:(
2. He wants to pick out his own clothes..
which results in the awesome combo of flannel and camo.
:)
One of those choices makes me sad.. the other smile..
But both show me my little boy is growing up..

Aria
has always wanted to pick her own clothes..
and by always..
I mean every since she could vocalize..
so basically always..
Today she got to pick out several outfits because..
well,
 today was one of those potty training days..

Jackson
Well,
 he can't pick out his clothes..
But he thinks his siblings are the best...
And I think so too.

Have a Happy Weekend!!

Teenage Gibson..

Gibson: Momma, do you know some kids get to watch TV EVERYDAY?!?!

Me: Really?

Gibson: And video games?!?!? EVERYDAY not just for Special.

Court: Buddy, the less video games you playand TV you watch, the more special it is.

{Big Ole Gibson sigh}

Gibson: I just want to play video games. Can you just let me do that, please?

Seriously,

at 3 years old he is giving us the

"You are ruining my life"

speech?

Old tableclothes..

Old Tablecloths make the Best Fort/Tent/Boxcar/Spaceship

The Best Playtime.

Day 13: Something you would like to change about yourself for the better.

Aria is (almost) fearless..

She is the one who tries to drive her tricycle down the stairs...

Not Gibby,

even though I am pretty sure she is the test pilot

to see if these things are dangerous..

and then he jumps on the bandwagon if it is safe..

which usually it isn't.

She is the one who believes..

that you really can be a Princess and an Astronaut..

as a career choice...

but yet she is afraid of the dark..

Afraid that she just might get sucked down the bathtub drain..

I remember when I was like that..

When I thought anything was possible..

Then you grow up

and reality sets in..

It tells you the dark is nothing to be afraid of..

but it also tells you dreams are out of reach..

And fears become more realistic

fear of failure..

rejection..

I want to get back to Ari's kind of

fearless..

I want to get back that attitude of

"it is possible"

That's what I want to change..

the fear that stops me from trying..

The fear that makes me OVER THINK..

every decision.

The fear that makes dreams out of reach..

UPDATE: Court said something that really describes what I want to be like..

Faith filled instead of fearful..

The best thing that has ever been in our toy bin.

I walked into the playroom..

to see this...

I giggled at the cuteness..

which got me this response from Gibby..

"Shh, Mommy I'm reading my Bible."

Loved that moment.

And they played for a hour...

Dried beans: 96 cents

Plastic containers: in our cabinet..

Hundreds of dollars spent on Christmas toys: pointless

side note: while that is not entirely true.. they love the presents they got.. it's just funny how we sometimes forget that kids already have the best present ever: an imagination.. and it doesn't require batteries (which is great because we are ALWAYS out of batteries).. plus pointless kinda sounds like priceless... wordplay

side note part 2: I realize my first side note kind of cheesy :"the best present ever: an imagination." but it is true so I stick by the cheesiness.

The Return of the Pout...

Gibson use to do this thing..

When he was upset..

He would put his head on his shoulder..

Make the saddest little face..

And POUT like it was his job..

He just stopped doing out of the blue..

And then low and behold..

It returned in full force..

In these particular pictures

He pouted

because..

He needed batteries for a toy..

I said I didn't have any..

He asked me to make some..

I told him I can't make batteries..

and

BOOM

full on pout...

However..

Even with all the adorable pouting..

I still can't make a battery..

I am not MacGyver

(how cool would that be though?)

Here's a story......

Gibson has become obsessed with me telling him stories..

At first..

My stories were elaborate tales..

Adventures of far off places..

Heroic gestures...

Monumental events...

And then..

He wanted new stories..

All the time..

The Bath..

While I am making dinner..

Car rides..

While we are playing..

Doing crafts....

Shopping..

You get the point..

All the time..

It was getting exhausting..

Trying to make a new plot..

30 times a day..

Slowly I realized..

That if I started a story off

With

"Once upon a time"

added voice inflections..

and some awesome facial expressions..

added a name of someone he knew..

and the occasional sound effect

He loved it...

No matter what the story was about..

For instance

"Once upon a time..

There was a boy named Gibby...

(eyes wide, voice hushed)

who had a magical blanket..

That blanket gave him the power to SLEEP..

Every night he would find his blanket..

and POOF

(added hand gesture of something poofing)

He was sound asleep

(add snoring noises)

(our preferred snoring noise is HONK SHOO)

And he napped Happily Ever after"

That was our bedtime story tonight..

And it was a hit..

Bless that child.

SNNNNOOOWWWWWWW

Gibson's reaction to the snow..

Sorry for my lack of sweet camera skills..

Does it make it better that I was holding the baby?

A remix

It's easy to just sing a song..

Any 2 year old can do that.

But to remix a hit song with a classic song..

while being accompanied by your brother on a kazoo..

Talent, people.

Talent

Can you tell which two songs she is singing?

Family portrait..

Gibson drew a family picture..

There are the 5 of us...

Guess which one is me?

I am the one in the middle..

Do you notice anything

besides the fact I am 12 times bigger than everyone else...

and the red dots covering my face..

I have 5 eyes while everyone else has 2..

I ask my dear creative son about this..

to which he replied..

"Momma, it's cause you see EVERYTHING"

He also made me with an" extra big mouth"

He told me...

He must just be taking creative liberties with that one..

surely he is not implying anything..

The Bank

Gibson: Mommy, I really want a puppy.

Mommy: Not yet buddy, we will get you one when you are a little older.

Gibson: I will buy one now.

Mommy: Oh really? How are you going to pay for it?

(goes in other room)

Gibson: Daddy, can I have some change?

I am not late I am early for next year..

2 things that will shock you...

wait for it..

1. I didn't have my camera for Halloween..

gasp..

That doesn't sound like me at all...

sarcasm..

and

2. I did something to blogger..

so that it's text is really small so I can't read it.

And here is the last thing that I will add on for free..

I don't know how to fix it..

So basically I am guessing what I am writing...

So if there are a lot of errors..

or obscenities..

sorry

(I know there won't be any obscenities, but that was my fear every time I handed a paper in at college.. I mean I went to a Bible college.. obscenities... scandalous.)

Any way here is the one pic from Halloween...

Gibson had a costume change..

He was Batman for trick or treating..

And Luigi to round out the Mario Kart bunch...

And Aria had on wings, a crown and a wand..

She was going as Princess Peach..

But took some creative liberties..

Where the guilt trips are....

Gibson asked me if he could play a video game....

I said no..

Big Sigh..

"Mommy, you're killing my heart.. You're KILLING it.."

Hello, guilt trip..

We settled on reading "Where the Wild Things are" instead..

After the first reading..

He said it only helped his heart a tiny bit..

3 times later..

His heart is better...

whew..