Filed Under Grace - May

Prayer is conversation with God.

Sometimes my prayers are pleas for an answer or a result or a change. Sometimes they are just simple thoughts toward Him, not even fully formed, just lingering there in my brain. Today's answer was to one of the latter types of prayers.

As you may have read, Madison earned herself an American Girl doll. With glasses.

She'd not even had her doll a week when I caught her taking it outside. I scolded her, cautioned her that Kit would get dirty, but she stubbornly assured me she would be careful.

That evening, she realized that Kit's glasses were missing. I was mad. She was sad. We knew they were outside, lost in the expanse of grass that makes up our 10 acres of yard. It was hopeless they would ever be found.

To make matters worse, the next day it rained. We didn't try looking, even close to the house. The rain continued for 3 days.

Now, I know these are just doll accessories. But, remember,  a fascination with doll glasses was one of the key things that caused Madison's in-the-store change of mind, and my offer to buy Kit glasses convinced her to stick with her original choice. She could buy a replacement with her own money, but it would be weeks before we made our way that direction again. It's such a small thing, but the doll is special and there was a definite sense of loss.

Finally, the sun came out, and on a whim, I decided to check for the glasses. I headed out to the spot she had been when I warned her to take her doll inside, and began walking slowly, scanning the yard. I thought to the Lord, "I know this is a silly, stupid thing, and maybe she just needs to learn her lesson, but it sure would be nice if I just walked straight to those glasses."

I continued for a few paces, and what do you know, there they were, right in front of me, nestled in the grass!

I raced to the house, where Madison was, told her I'd asked Jesus to help me find Kit's glasses and that He had! She was pretty amazed, and I'm sure she'll never forget that God cares about the little stuff!

She has not taken Kit outside since. Smart girl!


Do you have a big or a little answered prayer? I'd love for you to share it here! Join me as I endeavor to document, and as a result, remember, times of answered prayer.

To read the rules on how to participate, please click the button. I'll have a Linky up and running for the weekend.

 

I'll make a list of God's gracious dealings, 

all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God…
— Compassion lavished, love extravagant…

Isaiah 63:7-8

The Message

The Bribe to Quit

Breaking news: Madison has decided to quit sucking her fingers!

I have often hoped she would outgrow this habit, but still worried she would be ten and still have two fingers in her mouth and one in her nose. I imagined the teasing she would receive from friends, and how she would be scarred for life if I didn't exert some motherly power over her, or at least bribe her so she would quit.

So, I did bribe her a few months ago. Then, as the conversation progressed, I felt the need to clarify that she would not qualify for the bribe unless she quit for at least a month. At that point, she said she would rather keep her fingers in her mouth.

I can only guess at what has made her change her mind. Last weekend she did have a weird bout of swollen fingers, almost as if she was bitten by something- and on those exact two fingers. She cried and cried and said they felt funny and hurt and were fat. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out what had happened to her favorite fingers.  It's still too cold here for any biting bugs to be out. I think perhaps they got cold on our maple syrup tour and were tingly as they warmed up. But that doesn't account for the swelling. Hmmmmm.

That night she told me she was done. And as much as I watch her, I can't catch her with those fingers in her mouth.

Thank goodness.

And the bribe? Remember that one thing I swore I would never buy for my girls? I did not promise her that. Nope. Not gonna admit it.

OK. Fine. I did. I broke my own rule for real this time. It's a small price to pay to avoid my daughter being scarred for life.

Heart Ring Valentine

A Birthday Party with an Ornament

What a weekend! Robb and I attended a Christmas party on Friday evening and had a wonderful time, but stayed out way past our bedtime, especially considering I had a birthday party at 10am the next morning. A birthday party for my daughter, at my house, which I still needed to tidy before it was invaded by a small army of 6 and 7 year old girls. OK, that's an exaggeration. Four nicely behaved children came.

Anyway, I awoke groggy and began to clean and prep. I planned on serving mac and cheese, figuring every kid likes that, and we always have a case stashed in the basement. Of course, when I went to fetch it, there was only one box left. Humph. Not quite enough for 6 little girls. And by that time I only had an hour before they showed up, so I quickly changed the plan. Turkey soup was in the freezer. Not the expected birthday fare, but it happens to be my daughter's favorite, so I lucked out. Big sigh of relief.

The girls arrived and we painted Christmas tree ornaments. That seems to be a theme around here, lately, isn't it? (It's day 20, after all!) Here is Madison painting hers:

And now my mother knows I let her paint in her new dress. Bad mommy! It was her birthday, what can I say? (Well, I could have said no, I suppose!)

Madison had been requesting a pinata for her party since last summer. She would randomly remind me, "Mom, don't forget. I want a pinata for my birthday party."  I'd always respond, "Yes, dear, but that is months away, and I'm likely to forget before then. Can you remind me in a few months?"  (I always claim, lovingly, of course, that my children have given me brain damage.) The birthday approached, however, and I remembered all by myself. Must be some kind of minor mommy miracle.

So we bought a pinata. And a $9.00 bag of candy. Ya think that's enough candy for 6 little girls? Ya sure, you betcha!

Now we had a problem. This is December and there is snow outside and it's cold. Brrr, freezing, as my husband says. And a pinata is safest broken outside. So how is one to destroy a pinata inside without destroying a house or worse, some precious girl's head? (I've seen way too many Funniest Home Videos of people getting a bat in the head.)

So we improvised. The girls jumped on the pinata. And they just tore into it with their bare hands. I highly recommend this method. The girls seemed to enjoy it, and no one got hurt. And they got to the candy much faster! Screaching and squealing and general mayhem abounded. Until Megan took over and decided everyone should be able to go home with candy they liked. She had them all dump out their bags, organize it into piles by type and then pick what they liked. It was a very organized process. She must take after her father!










Of course we had cake too. I had planned ahead on that. It didn't quite measure up to my old standards when I was making fantasticly detailed cakes, but once again, Madison was easily pleased. Cake crumbs showing through the white frosting are of no matter to her. And easily concealed with pink sugar sprinkles. Another sigh of relief.











 Pleased as punch birthday girl. Happy 6th sweet girl!













A happy time was had by all!

Alphabitty Moments

The check out what Alphabitty Moments is all about, click on the link above.

I suppose most children cut their own hair at some time. Some escape a major hairstyle change while others require more drastic measures. When Madison chose to take the scissors to her hair, she cut some very short bangs and gave herself some generous layers around her face. So I took her to a friend who fixed her up and suggested this fun hairstyle to hide her one inch long bangs. We loved it!

Alphabitty Moments: The letter E (&D)

I've missed four letters, but I think I can catch up on this project! The goal is to scrapbook one page a week and share our pages at 4theLoveofFamily. MamaBear says:

"The carnival was created as a way to record the little things your kids do. These keepsake book pages are meant to take a closer look at the ordinary and every day moments of childhood. Some day we will look back on all the little things and realize they were really the big things."

Sometimes I'm not sure I want to remember that Madison does school in her pjs with a mess of hair in her face. She actually had a bath that morning, but no one would guess it! She just threw her jammies back on. Who can resist being all cozy? And look at how she is enjoying our garage sale find!

 UPDATE: Catching up already!

I used Mixbook.com for these pages.

A new pet?

 

This is Madison and her new pet. Crickey the Cricket.

Crickey is housed in a ziplock storage container

and carried around in a Pucci Pups pet carrier.

Yesterday Crickey went to Target.

Mitchell said Madison couldn't bring Crickey in

because the sign said, "No Pets."

She did anyway.

We were lucky and the Target employees didn't notice

Crickey until we were checking out.

Crickey also got to go to the grocery store,

and the playground.

 

Today Crickey took a bath.

His home floated nicely on the water.

He watched the kids complete their schoolwork

and took a ride on the lazy susan.

I wonder if he got dizzy?

Crickey also observed Mitchell annoying Madison

and learned the meaning of time out.

 

This is Crickey the Cricket making lovely music.

We expect to have many more happy memories with Crickey.

And if something should happen to him, never fear.

We have at least 5 more crickets somewhere in the house.

What was she thinking?

No pictures for this post.
That would be illegal.
Curious yet?

Last night, Robb, in his anxiousness to restart the show our family was watching together, went to check on the girls, who were taking a potty break. He hears through the bathroom door Madison talking to Megan. Assuming she is guarding the door for Megan(the door doesn't lock), he gently opens it. To his astonishment, he finds Madison awkwardly perched over the pedestal sink relieving herself. She is just as surprised to get caught in such a mischievous act. What is a parent to think of such a thing? Very naughty to be sure. But hilarious in a bewildering way.  What was she thinking?!

And what am I to think? Have I failed as a mom? Do I need a childproof sink? I never could have guessed I needed to instruct my children not to EVER pee in a sink. Well, I may have mentioned it to my son once. I just never thought it was necessary to tell my daughters. I thought only boys did crazy, gross stuff. Guess I was wrong.