Mary

You know who I think about a lot?
Mary.

I mean this with the utmost respect and reverence. Mary is one of my heroes.
I know the popular phrase is "What would Jesus do?"
But personally, I often think, "What would Mary do?"

I wonder what kind of mother she was to Jesus when he was young. Was he a typical boy when he was two years old? How did she discipline him? Was she confident in her ways or did she ever doubt whether she was a good mother or not? Did she ever cry from "mommy guilt"? Did she ever get frustrated or frazzled? Did she ever long for "me" time?

When I reach the end of my rope, I think, "What would Mary have done with little Jesus in this situation?" Sometimes, I wish Mary had penned the second "Guide to Parenting". I know God wrote the first, but sometimes I wish I knew more about the practical ways Mary raised Jesus.

Raising a boy is clearly way out of my league. 80% of the time I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. The other 20%...I'm so busy cleaning up after his messes (physical, mental and emotional) that I'm not thinking at all. Just praying for strength.
I don't want you to think that Will is a bad kid. In fact, most people think he's fairly well behaved and sweet. But I'm his mother, and I am with him all of the time...not just when he's on his best behavior.

Take this morning for instance. Everything was going pretty smoothly. Breakfast was fed and the kids were playing. I was trying to write some emails when Will walked up to me and I noticed that horrible smell.

Me: Will, do you have poop?
W: Uh-huh
Me: Ok, lay down. (As I unbuttoned his little short overalls I noticed that they were soaking wet. Oh, and there was NO DIAPER on him) Will! Where is your diaper????!!!??
W: ummm...
I wiped what was left off of him and went looking for the bomb. I found a little trail of poopoo leading back to where he and Mallory were playing. (then my blood pressure started climbing)Me: You've got to be kidding me!

There were little poops all over the kitchen floor and carpet. I also found a yellow wet spot on the carpet where Will had been playing. Oh, and I found the poop filled diaper. My morning went from peaceful to stressful in about 1 minute. I started barking out orders to both kids to bring me various cleaning tools, chemicals and trash bags. My schedule for the day suddenly included mopping the kitchen floor and scrubbing the carpet. Neither of which did I have a very happy heart about. I ordered the kids to go upstairs and leave me alone so I could clean up the disgusting mess.

In the middle of my cleaning I began to think about Mary. Did anything like this every happen to her? What would she have said? Would she have freaked out and gotten angry like I did? Would she have yelled at Jesus? Would she have spanked him? I wish I knew. I wish I had her on the phone to calm me down and say something to the effect of, "He will turn out wonderfully. Despite the daily, or even hourly, chaos he will grow up to love God."

Then, I started thinking silly things. Like, is Mary watching me now? Is she giggling at my obsession with the moment? After all, she has perspective that I don't have. Is she thinking, "Well, if you had dirt floors, you probably wouldn't have gotten so upset." I can't wait to meet her someday. And, honestly, that is what keeps me going a lot of the time. I can't give up and give in to the devil's temptations. I have to control my temper and force myself to be at peace. I have to force my thoughts to focus on God and what he wants of me instead of dwelling on the tyranny of the moment.

I want to get to heaven someday, for a lot of reasons, one of which is to talk to Mary. And hug her.

He's lucky that he's just so irresistibly cute!


A rare moment of peace

Just two new

Two new layouts, but I can really only take credit for the first one.

This one was created by someone else, and I just added pictures and words.

Sweet Sunshine Black & Blue

New layouts. That's all.

Mallory hearts Will

Two layouts to share:and I'm happy to report that Will did not create another masterpiece while I worked on mine :)

Sledding is awesome!

You'll have to forgive how far apart my Colorado posts are and will continue to be. I'm getting them up as fast as I can, but I took about 400 pictures, so that will take a while.

On our first full day in Colorado we decided to go hunting for snow. We were all raised in Houston, so we rarely even see snow, let alone get to play in it. The house we stayed in just happened to have a small sled parked in the garage. We loaded it in the car just in case we found a place to use it. It didn't take long:) Our first stop was Loveland Pass.

Here we are just after getting out of the car. Thankfully, we all threw our coats in the back of the car because at this elevation it's COLD! I was struck by how quiet it was up there. All I you could really hear was the wind blowing. At first, we just played around in the snow. Snow is such a novelty to us that just touching it and walking in it was fun! We had a little picnic in the most beautiful setting you can imagine with some of our most favorite people in the world (Adam & Casey). So far, the day was perfect.
Then, we got the idea to try out sledding here. The mountain was secluded and looked safe, so the guys went back to the car to get the sled. Adam went first to try and figure out how a sled works. (None of us had ever ridden one before:) Here he is falling off:


The first patch of snow we slid down was pretty small. This picture gives you some idea of the size. If you look just past the third patch of land you can see where the mountain we were standing on drops off. Since there was a clear stopping point (the bare ground) there was little chance of sliding off the mountain. After Adam and Jeremy tried it out we let the kids have a bunch of turns. They LOVED it, of course.

Each video only lasts about 30 seconds. They're not great quality, since they were taken with my camera and not our video camera, but priceless nonetheless.
Will's ride:

The trek back to the starting point was difficult for the kids. The snow was about 4 feet deep and we weren't exactly prepared with snow shoes. Mallory did her best to help Will, but he usually ended up falling.

Here he is yelling, "Help!"
The hill wasn't that steep. However, the sled worked up a pretty good speed for Mallory which made her a little nervous. Listen to her scream at the end.
Mallory's ride:


I think she liked it!
Next, Casey decides to give it a go. I'm not sure you could actually call this a ride, though ;)
Casey's...uh...ride:


After we all got our fill of sledding down the small hill Adam announced that he wanted to try out the neighboring slope. We all thought he was joking. I forgot to take a picture of the whole slope, although it was so big I'm not sure I could have anyway. This picture was taken with me looking down towards the bottom of the slope. You can see from the way Casey is climbing up just how steep it is. If the picture continued to the left you would see that the slope continues pretty much straight up.It was MASSIVE, very steep and didn't appear to have an easy stopping point. Death was definitely an option. Or even falling off the side of the mountain. Adam was determined, though, so we all just sat and prayed...oh, and videoed.

Adam's death defying Ride



Once Adam proved that it could be done without serious injury, Jeremy just HAD to do it himself. It should be noted that it took a good 20 minutes just to climb up to the starting point of this hill. There wasn't a clear path, so we had to climb over s bunch of big boulders..with the sled dragging behind. Since we were at 12,000 feet breathing also became a little difficult. This picture gives you some idea of how difficult the climb was. Jeremy's just getting started here as he has to walk up to the far right corner of the picture and beyond.
Jeremy's ride:


Not to be outdone by my brother and husband, I got the urge to try it myself. I can't explain how exciting those 30 seconds were. I kind of felt like I was flying, albeit out of control :) If it hadn't taken so much to get to the top, I would have done it all day. Note: I was the first person to make it down without falling off.
Megan's ride:

Casey can ride after all ;) She goes the furthest and doesn't fall off either.

Casey's ride:


Casey's well deserved victory pose

It was exhausting to make that hike to the top and then out of the bottom of the snow bowl. We also had a good size walk back to the car to face. So, after a couple of times sliding down, we were ready to go home. Everyone agreed that it had been an awesome experience, though, and that we would definitely have to do again one day.

Always something

I scrapbooked tonight for the first time in months.

I was having a lot of fun until I saw Will. Then, I realized just how much that fun had cost me.

Sigh. What's a girl to do except take pictures and scrapbook about it!

It's permanent marker and I'm still working on getting it off.. Any ideas?

Ask

Will has a lot more initiative than he needs at his age. This leads to quite a few disasters each day. Occasionally, it leads to a really cute moment. This morning I caught Will climbing up (way too high) to get his hands on a box of cereal.

Me: Will get down from there! What are you doing?!?
Will: eat
Me: Do you want to eat the cereal?
Will: (shakes head yes)
Me: Well, you can't just go and get the cereal. You have to ask first. Ok?
Will: Oh (long pause)
Will: ask