Children - Our Reward

What do you think of when you hear the word REWARD? 

To a kid, maybe a treat, a surprise... to us, a trophy, a pat on the back, "well done!" you did great, here is your REWARD. This is how I used to think. I mean, it's legitimate. So when I read in the bible how children are a REWARD from the Lord... this is what I thought. You did good, God gives you a child. YAY YOU! :) Simple, right? 

Well, I'm learning, I've been thinking, for some time now, that's not exactly what God meant when you read this verse...

"Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him." -Psalm 127:3

I think He meant REWARD as in... the Eternal Reward. 

Children sanctify us. They GET us to heaven. HOW? 

By making life REALLY hard. Yes, you read that right. By making life really hard! 
They are amazing, loving, beautiful, smart, funny, adorable, entertaining, kissable, lovable and naturally compassionate, oh the list goes on! That's just a bonus.

But they are also difficult, whiny, sticky, fussy, gross, demanding, obnoxious and completely exhausting. 

With each child, and every one (if there are more) after that first one, life becomes a little different, a little more demanding, a little more exhausting. God gives you the grace to handle each and every one... each and every change that comes your way. (You have only to ask!) You adjust, you grow, as a parent and more so, as a person. 

In having children, you will learn so many virtues that can only be taught when you are forced into the situation that DEMANDS them... patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, you know, all those Fruits of the Spirit! (Galations 5). 

Children Sanctify us! They are what makes us choose.... to become a Saint...

...or to go completely insane. 

Well, hey, it's true.

At least that's what I've found! Each and every day I strive and am trying to choose the path of Sainthood. (Oh believe me, I fail at this! That is what the Sacrament of Confession, and God's forgiveness and grace is all about.) 

Pope Saint John Paul II said, "Be not afraid, Open wide the doors for Christ" Did you know that you are called to be a Saint? YES,.. you! 

Speaking of the very recent Saint-with-a capital-S of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II, he made this his motto: 

"Totus tuus" which means "totally yours"  

Shouldn't we all have that motto? We should be Totally Gods. 

Anyway I'm getting off topic a little, but we are all called to Sainthood... and our children are the way the Lord gets us there. Certainly they are a reward in this life... but MORE-SO I think, they are a way the Lord gets us to our Heavenly reward. And ultimately, isn't that where we want to be? Isn't that the reward we all long for? 

Thank you, God for each annoying, difficult, frustrating moment with my children today. I know you are drawing me closer to you! 

Girl's Night Out!

A friend of mine once introduced me to the idea of "special nights." This is when one child gets a special night/time alone with Mommy and Daddy, all the attention-- all to themselves. We have found this is very helpful (and motivational) and wonderful for our kids to feel special and loved, and remember that we love each one of them individually. It also really helps with their behavior, sometimes kids just need to feel the attention on them! Usually we tuck each kid into bed, and the one who is having their "special night" gets to stay up another half hour or so, and pick something to do with Mommy and Daddy- it's very simple, but they think it is absolutely THE BEST THING EVER!  We have only rule- no TV. We read books, color pictures, chat, do puzzles, play with play-doh or moon sand, paint, do crafts, or in Josiah's case, play scrabble. Sometimes one of us stays home and the other takes the kid out for something fun.

Tonight was Lydia's "special night" and she wanted to have some "girl time!" She's been wanting some girl time all week. Seeing as I'm nursing, Susanna has to come along, but we don't mind! ;) She really just comes along for the ride. Tonight Lydia and I went shopping at Target, and boy was she in hilarious happy form! 

First we stopped at the accessories, I wanted to look at their infinity scarves. I didn't get one- since they were so expensive, sheesh, but Lydia and I had a ball trying on scarves and hats, etc... she is such a nut! She had to put down her hot pink purse and hold one of the "store bags" just for a picture. hahaha

SO so cute! 

Selfie! Us both in hats ;) 

"Mommy, send this one to Daddy!" (I did)

BTW, Susanna sat happily in her car seat in the cart playing with her little toy the entire time, so Lydia and I just had a ball "window shopping" together. Next we chuckled at goofy huge earrings and necklaces together, also fun. 

After that we went to the little girls section, tried on sunglasses (adorable!) and Lydia passed a long dress, probably for about- a ten year old? and she held it and went "ooooohhh.... Mommy, I think if you ever go to a ball with your girlfriends? You should wear THIS."   LOL. The first of the hilarious quotes from the evening! (I said, "ooh that'd be nice, but I don't go to many balls!" ... not to mention I'd love to be that skinny!)

We looked at cards, stickers, and picked up the only thing that was ACTUALLY on our list- sidewalk chalk! Target has white buckets of it for $1.99 ya'll- awesome! Picked up two of them :)

Then we made our way to the toys, and "oooh'd and ahhh'd" at a few adorable girlie dresses on the way. Lydia had TEN dollars of her own money to spend, so I helped her look at all her "options". 

Lydia took at least twenty minutes oogling over different toys but finally decided on a "Lambie" stuffed animal (from Doc McStuffins show!) and she was so very happy. She has been wanting one since Christmas. Later in the car she said, "I'm very happy with my choice." Too cute. I also got a few great birthday present ideas for her!

On our way to the checkout I stopped at the hair accessories to look for something, I didn't find it, in case you were wondering... :) but there was a high school girl who walked into that aisle while we were there, and Lydia whispered to me, "wow!... she's so beautiful!" I just chuckled and said, "You should tell her that!" ... the girl, who was obviously caught up in accessories and didn't notice us... kept on shopping. Lydia (like I said- in rare form this evening!) just proclaimed, "Excuse me!?" and the girl looked over like she was thinking, "umm... yeah?" and Lydia proceeded to say, "You are beautiful!" haha.

The girl melted to a puddle in front of my eyes and said "Awwww! You just made my day!" Lydia was pretty tickled with that response. :) 

At the checkout (poor lady) counted out all Lydia's change to make sure it added up (sorry folks behind us!) and was just tickled by Lydia as well. She handed her back her change and said "Awww... her hands are so tiny!" HAHA. Oh man, too funny. She told Lydia that she must be excited to have a little sister. I agreed, said that was true, and then Lydia then proceeded to tell this (high school girl employee) about how she came with us to find out that the baby was a girl and that she "did a happy dance in the elevator!" The girl thought that was so cute and funny. 

After we got back to the van, I got Lydia a milkshake for dessert and she drank that and chatted to me more up front in the passenger seat while I was nursing Susanna for bedtime. Another funny quote, she was looking up at the dark sky on our way back to the van and she said, "Whoa... I thought that was a  light on top of a REALLY big pole, but...it's just the moon." :)

Also said by Lydia this evening:

"I know this is crazy to say, ... but I think I have the best life of any kid, EVER." 

"Mommy, you are the best Mommy ever." (I hear this at least three times per special night!) 

So as you can see, I just had a ball enjoying my silly little girl tonight. I prayed and thanked God for her as we drove home. She is such a dreamer, a sweet little light in my life. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my silly fun boys... but I used to repeat the words of Psalm 37:4 in my head when I thought about having a daughter... "Trust in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." I'd say, Ok God... I trust you. 

And here she is. My heart's desire.

My Lyddie Bug :)

(taken at the BSO concert a couple months ago)

And now... to think... 

God's given me TWO little girls to love and enjoy! 

I am blessed beyond words!

NOON YEARS PARTY! 2014

Since we have young children who are too little to stay up until midnight- we decided to throw a NOON years eve party! We invited friends over to celebrate, had lunch, made homemade noise-makers, counted down to 12 noon and threw confetti all over the place, and just overall had a grand time! (Unfortunately some of our friends were sick, hopefully they can come next year...)

Couldn't resist sharing the hilarious timing of this picture.... 

Looks like she drank a little too much ;)

That's better! :) Such a cutie pie.

Lydia and her gal pal dressing up in New Years masks and beads! :)

Ben is... protecting them? 

Mrs. Michelle loving on Susanna ;)

Dancing!

Our godson wondering... what is all this about!? :)

Henry celebrating with a cupcake- really all that matters... right? 

We used left over empty toilet roll tubes and decorated them with stickers, markers, glitter, and filled them with some beans. 

Oh yes! We also read a cute book called "Shante Keys and the New Years Peas" ... we tried to have "cow peas" (black eyed peas) to put into the shakers, but apparently it really IS a common New Years tradition to eat black eyed peas for luck as the book explains- the stores were sold out!!

I secretly placed tons of colored construction paper that I cut up into tiny squares on top of our ceiling fan blades. When Michael counted down to Noon and we all yelled "Happy New Year!!" I turned on the fan and the confetti went everywhere! It was so fun! 

Kids gathering up confetti to throw again... of course!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :) Love this one- action shot! 

My new nephew!

Our new precious nephew arrived on January 23rd... what a blessing! He is so handsome! :)

Congratulations to my brother, his beautiful wife, and the very happy big sister! ;)