When Life Hand You Lemons.............Laugh?

Yesterday was a day that everything just went wrong. My oldest daughter had a dentist appointment for a small procedure to be done. I had asked a friend of mine to come and watch the other children. We headed out to our appointment on time (which is always a pat on the back if you know me) and as we got about 4 miles away I heard this grinding sound. At first, I thought it was the road, alas, it was not. My front tire went flat. Sigh. I called my awesome husband and he was on his way over to help me change it. I rescheduled her appointment and we waited. As we waited I couldn’t help but laugh. The night before Jason had asked me if I had plans at lunch. I had said no and he decided he was going to get our right front tire fixed because it was pretty worn. Well, the tire died about 2 hours too early. We got the tire changed and headed back home.

My friend stayed for lunch, so I was busy making chicken nuggets for 6 kiddos. I carefully pulled out my hot pizza stone from the oven. As I removed the nuggets, I was chattering away to the kids. I put a pizza on the stone and picked it up with my bare hands. I held it couple seconds before the pain registered to my brain that the stone was HOT! I ‘tossed’ it onto the stove. Sigh. My fingertips were burned. While holding them under cold water I couldn’t help but laugh. I was thankful I hadn’t dropped it on the floor or that the little ones weren’t around when I did my stone toss.

This summer I had decided I wanted to work on little projects around the house. So during baby’s nap I pulled out the can of paint that said Pure White and decided I would start the baseboards in my kitchen. I opened the can and thought I saw a hint of blue. I checked the can and it said Pure White. I called Jason just to make sure he hadn’t mixed anything in that can. He confirmed he hadn’t. I began painting one baseboard. As it dried it became VERY evident this was blue. Sigh. As I stared at the base board against my now dingy looking cabinets. I couldn’t help but laugh. I had a blue baseboard!!

I loaded the kids up and decided we were ditching the crazy day and heading to our friend’s house to swim. I got everyone changed plopped baby girl in her little pool and my phone starts ringing. Jason calling and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, his car’s timing belt went out and he was at a shop (where he was picking up our tire) and they were needing to keep it overnight. He needed a ride home. I couldn’t help but laugh. What was going on here Lord?

We got home and I decided to end this crazy day we would throw chicken on the grill and make dinner nice and easy. Jason was busy with work so I decided I would go ahead and get the grill ready. I’ve never had much success with our grill. For whatever reason it takes awhile to ignite and I become impatient. However, today I was turning a new leaf and was going to light the grill whatever it took. I should have known by the events of my day that HE just needed to light it. I had my left hand holding the grill closed and my right hand pushing the ignite button. Click, Click, Click, Click, nothing. I let go and started again. Click, Click, Click, Boom! Fire comes out of the lid and completely burns the top of already burned fingers of my left hand. Sigh. How it didn’t catch my swimsuit cover-up on fire I owe to the Lord’s protection. As I ran my hand under cold water I couldn’t help but laugh. What a crazy, comical day!!

All too often I get frustrated when the lemons come. I know that yesterday’s events weren’t true lemons, but I felt like I had learned that things could be so much worse. In fact, I knew they could be! Sometimes it’s so easy to get bent out of shape over the little things that go wrong, however, I’m going to just laugh and learn not to take myself so seriously! Maybe I’ll keep the light blue baseboard under my sink to remind myself to laugh more!

Who’s Behind the Mustache?

Dress up is a favorite of most girls. My girls particularly enjoy putting on flowing dresses, big hats, sunglasses, and crowns. Recently, we held a Junior High girl’s activity at my house. We had a screen set up with some dress up items for them to wear. My fellow leader, Kylee, created these mustaches on a stick for us to use for fun during the picture taking. Everyone enjoyed the mustaches and later we found ourselves using them just to talk to each other. Everyone began chatting in their own fake accent that they would use while asking questions or commenting throughout the brunch. Everything seems funnier when said with a big mustache over your mouth!

Later that day, as I was cleaning up from the brunch my mind thought about the mustaches. First of all, I’m horrible at any type of accent! I cannot get a British, Irish, Indian, or even Spanish (which I AM!) to sound right. I never even attempt them. However, I was talking in an accent-it was probably a conglomeration of quite a few accents-most of the brunch. I felt comfortable because I had this silly mustache over my face and it seemed ok.

Often as a Christian and a Mom I wear my fake mustache. I don’t want to show my shortcomings to my children and I want to look like I have it all together to those around me. Lately, I’ve really been trying to become transparent to my children, this is extremely hard. As I was discussing sin with my son, I began to share an evident sin I struggle with. It was amazing to see how he leaned in very attentive to each word I said. I explained that as an adult I still will struggle with sins in my life. I’m still so in need of the cross. However, as I strive in my walk with the Savior I know I can overcome this sin. With His help, my spirit will over power my flesh. After we talked, he gave me this hug and said, “Thanks Mom, for sharing that with me.” It was truly humbling to take off a mustache and admit to my 11 year old that I sin and am VERY far from perfection. I didn’t inform him of anything new, he’s seen my sin before-all I did was show him transparency can go a long way.

*Above pic is my dear friend Kylee and I with our mustaches. :)

What is a Mom?

A Mother Is…

*able to function on minimal sleep

*has the ability to turn a frown upside down

*addicted to coffee to help us function

*a nurse for all boo-boos, scrapes, insect bites, and heartaches

*a taxi to sports practice and games

*the paparazzi

*beams over our child’s latest accomplishments

*a referee

*the champion of multi-tasking

*a family planner

*is burdened for her children’s soul

*is a prayer warrior over her children’s future and their hearts

*loves them more than they will ever know (until they become a parent themselves)

I never understood the discipline, restrictions, or deep love my mom had for me until I became a parent myself. I am thankful for my mom who raised me to love and fear my God. My father was in the military so there were many months (up to a year) that she was by herself with us. She never complained about how hard it was to be alone with 3 little kids. She just continued along in her duty of motherhood. She is a prayer warrior and has a verse on her lips for each of our trials. I am grateful my children call her “Grandma”. Mom, I love you and appreciate everything you have done for me!

I hope you feel loved and honored this Mother’s Day!