Tonight's thoughts.....

What I want my kids to see.....

Jesus with skin on. What does that mean? It means loving boldly (those who wouldn't regularly experience love), giving generously (going without some wants so others can have some needs), and living in peace (amongst other things).

Who can we love boldly? And how? We can love our friends and meet needs, known and unknown. We can share meals, our time, our space, our stuff. We can put others before ourselves. We can love Jesus, and submit to Him. What does this look like to a 3 year old? Well, how do you show a friend you love them? We get to know them better by spending time with them, by learning more about what makes them happy and what they don't like, and by giving of ourselves and our things. Jesus wants us to show this kind of love to everyone, including widows and orphans. 

What does this look like to us? We can invite people over, share a meal, get to know them better. We can listen to them and see where we can get our hands dirty in order to help them and show them they are loved. The girls need to see me learning more about Jesus through reading my Bible, by sharing with them. I can model submission to them, obedience, and freedom. We can spend time with one other family each weekend. The girls and I can have playdates with other moms and kids during the week, making sure no one is lonely. We will dig deeper into kidmax lessons during the week. I will spend time with Jesus everyday in front of the girls, and by myself. This may mean getting up earlier (Vi is up around 5 each morning - this might be tough) or doing it right after they go to bed (way more doable at this point).

Our time as a family is sometimes the hardest thing to share. We don't get much family time during the week, but we sometimes get 30 minutes before Ben goes to work. We could do a better job capitalizing on that time as a family, by relaxing together, praying together, loving each other unconditionally, instead of trying to get something done and worrying about what the day may hold.  After all, a to do list is just another list. 

A 3 year old can get their head wrapped around sharing toys (though they may not like it and may not want to do it all the time). We can start to dialogue about sharing money also. We could brainstorm different ways we could help others with the things we have (time, money). We can show Ro how we support different causes (our local church, Compassion, MCC, etc.) and ask her what she would be interested in learning more about. We could talk about sacrificing a meal out and giving that money, instead, so people can have clean drinking water. We can talk about forgoing individual gifts and having a family experience, or giving what we would have spent on gifts to another worthy organization.

Peace is something we strive for in our words and actions. Peace begins in the home and is modeled by our behaviors - proactive and reactive. We need to be ever mindful of that, regardless of how sleep deprived we are. The words we choose and the tone we use to deliver them can be used to build up or tear down. We always need to build up. No one else is going to fill this role in our children's lives. We need to show forgiveness and reconciliation. We can show what it looks like to ask forgiveness and grant it. 

As a parent, I have much to ask forgiveness for - selfishness, laziness, worrying about things that don't necessarily affect my daughters' characters, being impatient and harbouring resentment in my heart, not being intentional enough about modeling love, generosity, and peace. The cool thing is that I know I am loved and forgiven by those I call my family and by Jesus. I am imperfect, but I know in my weakness, Jesus will show His strength. 

Determined to run the race with joy and a thankful heart,
Tam

who can keep up with her?

No, it is not a rhetorical question. I am actually looking for an answer. For those who know me, I was called "person most likely to power a small city with my energy" in my master's program. Well, joke is on me. My daughter is "person most like to power a large city with her energy".

There is so much to love about Ro. From her contagious laugh to her smile that lights up a room, Ro is pretty incredible. She knows what she wants, and is learning to clearly communicate that at all times. Ro can vocalize her concerns, her dreams, and her loves. We talk about everything from Jesus to food in one conversation! Ro's biggest stumbling block right now is also one of her assets - her passion for life. She is learning to harness this in a positive way. It has been a trying experience at times to gently guide her...

Ro would be quick to tell you she loves books, food, watching movies ("Mary Poppins", "The Sound of Music", anything Disney), and playing...anything...with anyone. Her best friend is Gracie Lou, who is moving to Winnipeg. This will be a tough situation to digest, for all of us. Gracie Lou's family are our best friends. But that is for another post.

Here is Ro with Gracie at a recent playdate, watching "Mary Poppins" (a favourite for them both). 

I am a changed woman for knowing Ro. She has touched my life beyond my wildest dreams. Continue to dream big and love wildly, Ro. We love you!

Okay, on with her day. I woke up at 7:45 this morning. I wasn't sure it was morning yet, so I verified that with Mom.

Dad had just gotten home from work, so I was able to have a nice snuggle with him. I gave Mom the heads up that I wanted to wear something different than the outfit I picked out the night before. I told her I would find it. I picked my most favourite dress of the moment, a new acquisition from the One of a Kind show. Mom and Dad told me I could get a dress, and this swing dress from Redfish was what I chose. It is soooo comfortable!

After getting dressed, I immediately wanted to eat breakfast. I don't know about you, but I am famished as soon as I wake up in the morning. Pancakes were on tap this morning which was fine by me! I love my Mom's oat/spelt pancakes - delish! I don't like having to wait for them though. This sometimes stresses me out.

No wait this morning though! They just needed to be heated up. Great!

After breakfast, we finished getting ready for our day. My friend, Muriyn, was coming over for a playdate so it was incentive to get ready quickly. I sometimes don't cooperate with Mom about brushing my teeth, washing my face, and doing my hair. It means I have to stop reading or playing for a couple of minutes and that cramps my style. Mom sometimes loses her patience with me, but today I fully cooperated. I wanted to wear a hair clip today instead of my usual hairband.

I then read some books to Vi before Muriyn came over. I can't wait for Vi to sit up and enjoy books with me!

After a great playdate, it was lunchtime. We had kielbasa, cheese, and squash soup for lunch. I wasn't crazy about the squash soup, and really took my time about finishing my lunch. Mom helped me so we could "get on with our day".

I then had my rest time. Rest time is when I go to my room and enjoy being by myself for a little while. I read books, play with toys, or invent things to play. Today was an invention day. I talked with my stuffed animals and dolls the whole time.

After reading a whole Junie B. Jones book with Mom and Vi, it was time to wake up Dad. After chilling for a little while, I went outside to ride my bike so Mom could take a video of it. I just got the hang of pedaling yesterday. I'm getting pretty good! Check out the video here....

I then played with my balls, skipping ropes, and bubble toys. What a great afternoon in the sunshine!

After supper (we had leftovers tonight - pasta, chicken, and spinach in a vodka tomato sauce), we danced to music, played doctor, and read 4 Curious George books while Vi ate one last time. It was pretty cool putting her to bed with Mom. I still really like Goodnight Moon...I then put on my pjs (boy, do I love pyjamas!!), brushed my teeth and washed my face, read another Curious George book, and went to bed. I tried to get Mom to bring me a glass of apple juice, but she said no. Oh well.....Well, it's 7:30 and I'm pooped from a full day. Here's to a great day tomorrow. It's my last day of preschool until JK in the fall. I'm pretty excited about it....

Here's my school, The Chartwell House. I'll miss it, but just think of the things I can do instead of going to preschool 2 mornings/week. Yippee!!

Okay, time to really sign off.

Until tomorrow, or whenever Mom blogs again,
Ro

love my kidlets!

We were so not going to be the parents that had tons of pictures of our firstborn and hardly any of our second born. Oops. Well, Ben didn’t have the first 3 months of Vi’s life off work like he did for Ro, so we kind of have an excuse. 

I wasn’t going to expect too much of my firstborn on a daily basis. I was going to have realistic expectations for her developmental stage. Oops. I find I need to be reminded that she is only 3 years old.

I was going to enjoy each and every moment I have with my precious children, kind of like stopping to smell the roses. Oops. I can’t believe that in 5 short months Ro starts her school career and I will be yearning to just hang out and laugh with her about nothing.

Perhaps I should have called this post the “Oops” post.

Loving my family like crazy,

Tam

because it is Thursday and.....

my oldest has been sick for 3 days......
I have had lots of opportunity to show love to my family this week.....
I feel loved......

I thought I would share things I love with you.

I love......
spending time with my family, immediate and extended
soaking in Violet's toothless grin
listening to her talk to me in coos and gurgles
holding Rowyn's hand
talking with Rowyn about all different things
listening to Rowyn laugh
listening to Rowyn talk with Ben about little things and deep things
reading with Rowyn
hearing Rowyn say words I think she shouldn't know (most recent: "I don't want to wear this crappy dress.")
hearing Rowyn or Ben say they love me
a clean, organized environment
hanging out with my hubbie, watching movies, reading, snuggling, being ourselves, being vulnerable
holding hands with Ben while sitting on the sofa, walking down the street, driving the car......whenever
drinking tea and eating biscotti
walking
soaking in precious moments with loved ones
travelling (I yearn to visit Paris again. *sigh*)
eating Italian food
Marble Slab ice cream
camping
reading
talking with a good friend
the smell of fresh cut grass
trees
snow
sunshine
enjoying a hot chocolate someone else has made (like at Second Cup.....yes, please)
warm socks (Smart Wools)
being understood
being loved
being the princess daughter of the king of the universe.

What do you love?

Until next time,
Tam