Need Washing?

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.

It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.. We all stood there, under the awning, just inside the door of the WalMart.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day.

I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, 'Mom let's run through the rain,'

she said.

'What?' Mom asked.

'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated.

'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.

This young child waited a minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain..'

'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.

'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?'

'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ' If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything! ' '

The entire crowd stopped dead silent.. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one left. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.

Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just need washing,' Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They got soaked.

They were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did.

I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday.

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

What were they thinking??

I'm no wine coneseur but this looks disgusting!

Not now, I'm Pinteresting!

I finally got an invite to Pinterest.

Oh boy.

Being a visual person (with no decorating sense at all), it is almost a mind blowing find for me! I do not have the ability to think of a decorating idea in my head or see an item in the store and visualize how it will fit into my home. Beyond that, being able to pin something you see on the internet that you hope you will always remember (but, let's face it, I've got too much Nick Jr. and Call of Duty stuck in my head to fit any more). What I have the most fun pinning are Favorite Places and Spaces. I love to look at what others' have done with the spaces in their homes.

Imagine waking up in this every morning, especially with all the sunlight through those spacious windows.

This just says cozy to me!



O.M.G. Need I say more?!

This would be my dream vacation, waking up on the blue water every day, just step out to swim in the morning light. Heaven!

What are you Pinteresting?

Thankful Thursday

I've decided to do Thankful Thursday, mostly because yesterday was so hellacious I really need to remind myself of a few things.

I'm thankful for all of my babies, even with the teens' trash talking and babies', I'm not going to sleep, I'm going to scream all day. They all still let me cuddle and kiss them, even though they may give me baby snots or wipe off my germs.

I'm thankful for my husband, who comes home and immediately helps by making dinner or taking the babies. Even though we may argue about bedtime, I love you and appreciate you!

I'm thankful for my friends (have you visited my bestie's blog, Raising Home? GREAT decorating tips!) Even the ones on Facebook that I haven't seen in 20 years, I appreciate you making me laugh every day!

I am thankful for my family, my home, and for God giving me all these blessings in my life, and I pray that I will be a blessing in these special people's lives this week!

*I saw the clipart on another blog, Training Happy Hearts, but I couldn't link it to the original page, Women Taking a Stand

My baby is a night owl

He's been staying up until 10:30.

When you get up five times in the night with various children 10:30 is too late!

Then there's the locking up, getting bottles ready, setting the coffee, bringing everything to bed routine.

I've always been a night owl, so he gets it from me.  But getting up with the babies is really kicking my butt and changing my habits.  If only he knew that.  Poor Rick went to bed in a huff because he has to get up at 6:30.  Let the record show:  Honey, I'm sorry.  

A bath doesn't help.  Waking him up earlier from his last nap doesn't help.  He will lay down and have bottle and a binky but then when we fall asleep my body hurts so much from sleeping in one position.  You know the one, arms around him so he doesn't move/get squished/feels loved.  Once my shoulder or hip hurts so much it wakes me up, he sleeps fine in his own bed.  If he doesnt' change his sleeping habits Santa will be one tired guy.

How do you get your baby to bed at a decent hour?

I need my nanny back

I got to take a shower.  A real shower, not the, hurry-up-and-wash-before-the-babies-cry shower.  I was so giddy, thinking of witty Facebook statuses that I could post.

Like, "I finally got to take a shower.  All you mommies, you know you're jealous."

And, "I was wondering what that smell was in the house, but now that I got to take a shower it was me.  I think the smell of baby poop is permeating my skin."

I turned on the water to its normal setting:  to where I always is.  I get in and its lukewarm.  Did I pay the water bill?  Well the water was on but what if that was leftover water in the heater?  Did I pay the gas bill?  I start to panic and rush to wash my hair, thinking of the gas bill, that couldn't be it.  

I just didn't know which way was hot and which was cold.

At the end of the shower I finally tested it and took a minute of glorious hot water, but I knew the joke hubby would say.  "Well maybe if you used it more often..."  Ha.ha.

We had a nanny for a few months over the summer when I was put on bedrest because I couldn't pick up Aidan.  I think she needs to come back occasionally so I can shower.

Two sick babies

I actually thought this was kind of easy. Not in the sit-around-and-eat-bon-bons kind of way, but in the I-haven't-pulled-my-hair-out-yet kind of way.

Was I wrong.

How do you keep your hands clean while holding a baby in one hand and wiping a snotty nose with the other?

Not to mention its raining outside so I've resorted to peepee pads for Lola. She is rather smart, when I locked her outside in the rain she would run to the other side of the yard and back so I would think she peed.

Here's to a speedy recovery and hoping I will have five minutes of baby-free time today.

Yes, I typed this with one hand while holding Gavin...