Archive for September, 2003
Mother
This has been my title of late. Yes, I know that my oldest is almost 9yrs so I’ve been one for that long. Rather than being “Mommy” any more, this is what my daughters having been addressing me as. I noticed it a couple of months back but it is still new and fresh to me and quaintly nice so I’ve been more concious of it and thinking on it. I glad to not be “Mom”…that just sounds so blunt and slangish. “Mother” seems warmer, old-fashioned (which I lean toward ;-))…just nicer to me. My girls are growing thus the transfer to a more grown-up term for me. I’m happy with the transition. It’s a natural one too in that the literature we’ve been reading the mothers are referred to as “Mother.” In my opinion, it holds more of an aura of respect as well. I like that very much too. 
Bothersome Blessings
“In the Bible, having many children is a blessing from God. But in our society, if a couple has more than two children, people sneer, ‘Haven’t they heard of birth control?’ Babies are seen as a frightful invasion to be halted.
Babies are an invasion, all right. They are an invasion of love into our selfishness, an invasion of joy into our dullness, an invasion of mystery into our predictability, an invasion of purpose into our aimlessness, an invasion of wonder into our boredom, an invasion of life to carry on after we die. Babies are God’s invasion of blessing, promise and future.
Why would such a wonderful invasion scare us? Perhaps we’re scared of babies because we’re scared of the God who creates babies. Babies have a mind of their own, and so does God. Babies make demands on our time and energy, and so does God. Babies aren’t convenient, and neither is God. Both are bothersome. We don’t want too many babies, and we don’t want too much of God. We want complete control of our own lives, not unplanned interuptions.
Planned Barrenhood tells us that the world has too many people and that babies are problems to be prevented. But God tells us that babies are blessings to be welcomed and celebrated. The best way to reduce stress is not to have fewer children but to have more of God. The Lord builds the house and gives rest to those he loves.”
–D.F. The Christian Leaders Family Journal pg. 94
Oh, our baby boy is getting so big. I went downstairs to get him up this morning as I heard him cooing and “talking” quietly to himself. I like to take a few minutes to observe him sometimes when he is intent and calm by himself. What did my wondering eyes see? My baby boy up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. Then he’d pause and look around and then flop down burying his face into the bed and blankets. That’s when he would coo and kind of giggle/squeak/squeal with excitement at his new found prowess! It was sooo sweet! Amazing to me too as he isn’t even 6 months yet. He will be in a few days but he’s been working on this since he turned 5 months. Most of the time whatever he was laying on was too slippery and he’d just end up push himself backward across the floor or whatever. He has it now though! I watched long enough to see him actually drawing those sweet pudgy knees right up under him several times. sigh. This child is bent on growing up as fast as possible. He’s been “talking”, giggling, and teething since birth. “Lap standing” since a couple of months old, developed his eye/hand coordination early too…and now this. Bittersweet. Slow down baby! I don’t know how many more, if any, of you I’ll have…
FIRST SNOW!!!
Ack! The tiniest of little white flakes are falling from the steel grey sky!!! The children are standing watching at the sliding door…did I say standing? Jumping up and down and shouting in a sing-song voice, “It’s snowing, it’s snowing, hurray, it’s snowing!!!” Ahh, the blissful ignorance of youth. The shed isn’t finished being cleared out, the ‘Burban still needs work (although it does have new-er tires), I have to empty the plant pots into the garden box and turn the soil, etc. Ack, ack, ack!!! =8-0 I’ve been pressing these last couple of weekends to have winter preps done… My husbands off at work… These “hatches” were supposed to be “battened down” a while ago!
As I’ve been typing it’s gotten harder too! Oh me, oh my…
It’s another beautiful day…70F or so and sunny. The breeze has that Fall chill though. The girls and me have been working harder than we have all summer on housework. The kitchen in particular. Getting rid of all those cobwebs that cropped up while we “lived” outside and all the dust that blew in due to doors and windows being opened. I’m quite pooped (boy, do I have a funny story to tell about that phrase!) but still have to teach academics yet. It’s 2:00pm by the kitchen clock which is when I told them we’d go into the school room. Except for a small portion of the counter that has some clutter I need to deal with (mail and what not), the kitchen looks great! Well, except for the orange countertops, false ceiling that was torn out and still not dealt with, unfinished flooring and a few other fixups… Sigh. But, for me who lives with it every day, my kitchen is a picture of domestic bliss! Ahhh. I have the Forget-me-nots and geraniums lined up behind the polished stove w/ the shiney tea kettles. A shiney silver bowl full of green 
tomatoes is off to the left and my white canisters, favorite teacup/saucer, etc. lined up on the right… But, academics must be done. The rest of the counter later while I’m preparing dinner I think and then I can sleep well feeling very accomplished! Funny how hssahms are so busy with so many things and yet something that’s pretty mundane and expected anyway can make one feel so good…
Guess what we had for dinner this evening? Zucchini Soup. It received mixed reviews…I gave it a “thumbs up.” I’ve been thinking of adding a new page to our site (like I don’t have enough to do on it already!!!) so perhaps I’ll post it (the recipe) there. Look for a link in the future. It’s a good recipe for those avoiding gluten as well.
