Multitudes on Mondays

#324-343 of His gifts...

*spiky-haired boys, freshly bathed
*wind whipping the rain to look like snow
*Lego building--a sea plane
*booklet for memorizing Colossians
*precious quilt with our wedding date embroidered
*soft, red, warm boy cheeks upon waking
*stomach problems solved!
*stainless steel coffee pot--unable to be broken by my clumsiness
*praying for a friend's son's first day of school
*taxi driver's amusement at my silly, sweet boys
*new bedtime routine--boys to bed at separate times
*"Great is Thy Faithfulness"--a wonderful hymn
*seeing the Christian community faithfully surround friends
*rearranging the furniture *smile*
*a clean house and how it calms my mind
*a car ride with a sweet friend~just uninterrupted talking
*honest conversations
*finding another homeschool family in Singapore with kids our kids' ages
*retrieving the "lost" coin my oldest swallowed 9 days ago

The Year of Here

The boys and I got a book from the library recently called Now It Is Winter. It's about a little mouse who wants to know if spring will ever come, who wonders if he will get to do all those things that spring brings ever again. His mother assures him that spring will come, but that winter has so many things that only winter brings so he should enjoy them now. Snow angels. Ice skating. Snowmen. Eating oatmeal with brown sugar.

At the end of the story, the mother says, "Now is the blessing. Now is the time to love. Now is the time to be."

Those words resonated with me because I've been thinking about what I want this year to be for me. Who do I want to be at the end of this year? What do I want to have accomplished?

This is the year of here.

"Now is the blessing. Now is the time to love. Now is the time to be."

Here. present wherever I am. thankful for where I am. not distracted. not wishing to be somewhere else. or someone else. content. with who I am. and where I am. fully engaged. present for my children and husband.

"I profane this moment when I won’t stay in it.

I desecrate now when I dismiss it in my push for the next."

-(Ann Voskamp, aholyexperience.com)

I don't want to always be pushing for the next moment. I don't want to wish my kids would grow up just a little bit faster or wish we lived in Texas when we don't. I just want to be here where God has put me. And do the things He has planned for me. Give my children the mother they deserve.

And not always be wanting things to be different.

Live in the HERE and now.

Multitudes on Mondays

#310-320 of His endless gifts...

-Caleb staying in his bed all night (not every night...but progress!)
-watching my boys be so sweet and gentle with babies
-baby laughs
-being able to hold someone else's baby
-cool afternoons at the park
-Caleb playing easily with stranger children on the playground
-old friends who check on me
-seeing a friend for the first time in weeks
-big hugs after absence
-movie time--all 4 of us

Proof Your Kid Lives in Asia

Caleb wanted to tell jokes at dinner. We went through some knock-knock jokes, and then he came up with this after his daddy told the "why did the chicken cross the road" one:

Caleb: Why did the people cross the road?
Us: We don't know.
Caleb: To chop the chicken.

Want to know how our New Year's Day went? The following two pictures sum it up...really grouchy boys.


I got bored at lunch while Justin took Levi outside to walk around (because of all the cranky!), so I took random pictures:
Then we promptly came home and put Levi down for a nap (because Caleb refuses to nap, unless he's sick).

After nap, everyone was in a better mood, and we decided to take down the Christmas tree. Superman and Batman showed up to help Daddy disassemble the tree. :-)



As my grandmother reminded me yesterday, in 25 days we'll be on Texas soil! And until then we're just doing our normal thing...Justin is working (he didn't have one day off at all during the Christmas/New Year holiday) and the boys and I are doing school.