I was thinking how it's been difficult to have conversations while you've been gone since we both have different things going on in the evenings different nights, and you only have 10 minute breaks during the days. I thought it would be lovely to write you a letter and send it to the hotel, but I wasn't sure you would get it in time at this point. So, I thought I'd surprise you with a letter on our blog (if you find it):)
I've been very blessed by our peace (especially mine) since you've been gone. I know this is in answer to many prayers, and I definitely feel like it is a testimony to God's grace, as I've not always felt this peaceful while you're away. (Just to be clear, I still want you to come back) :)
I've been noticing a few things about myself this week. One humorous thing is that I do not like to empty the dishwasher. We know this, right? I have no problem loading the dishwasher, but there's something about waking up in the morning and feeling like there's a job waiting for me to do. I am realizing the extent of my distaste for this task in that I have yet to use the dishwasher the whole time you've been gone. Every dish has been washed by hand, neatly stacked in the dish drainer, and as soon as possible put away in the cupboards. I feel so happy going to bed knowing that the job of emptying the dishwasher is not waiting for me first thing in the morning, showing me how behind I am...
The kids received an unexpected package today. It was our usual 5:00 walk to the mailbox, and it was Bro's turn to open the box. To everyone's delight, there was another key inside the box. After much squealing we discovered a package from Missy J. We treasured the package on our walk home, and sat down together to open it. Inside was a sweet letter thanking Songbird for her Valentine's cards, and then three (I'm assuming hand-knit) stuffed animals - one for each of the kids. Well, that pretty much made their day and they spent the rest of the evening making / finding clothes for their new friends to wear and serving them "dinner" on the dress-up box.
Today Songbird chose Green Eggs and Ham as her book to read, and she read it to me while I worked on our June calendar. I was struck with how far she's come with her reading - so much less dependent on my help. It has taken so much work to get to this point, and today she asked if it could be time to do her reading, and even said that reading was her favorite thing. I couldn't help but cast a hidden smile.
Yesterday Elsbeth came over so I could go running. She worked on puzzles with Songbird and Bro while Raindrop took a super nap. When I came home I took Songbird running with me. She was so eager, saying how she was going to make it all the way to the power lines this time, how she felt so wonderful, how she wanted to go running two - no three times today - how she was feeling soooo great. I had to remind her that it took a lot of breath to talk so much and she might want to conserve her energy for the run. She was running faster than me (quite proudly) and at one point said, "Mom, I go in front, remember. I'm faster than you." She puts her all into whatever she is feeling :)
Bro has been wanting everything to be "just so." He really wanted to go running with me, too, but he couldn't get over the fact that his shoes did not look exactly like mine, and his shorts did not look exactly like Songbirds. It was quite paralyzing for him - so much so that the run never ended up happening. On the other hand, I've been noticing some softening in his heart with some of the areas we've been talking over with him. He's been quicker to listen and respond, and checking himself with some of the complaining and whining. He's also been praying at every meal something like this, "Jesus, help me to love my Mama and Papa and Sisters, and please help baby Nate to gain weight." He still wears his kilt every day and night, in case you're wondering :)
Raindrop has been cutting two teeth and chewing on her hand a lot. She's been really fussy at times, and hilarious at others. She's been walking around the house saying, "hot" and "oh deyor" (oh dear) and wo,wo,wo,wo,wo all day long. Today while I was making the calendar she was sitting across the table from me "playing" with all the ink pads and stamps she could get her hands on. When Joy arrived for lunch Raindrop was pretty much covered in green and silver ink, naked form the bottom down, and stamps were strewn all over the floor. I looked up and smiled, "welcome into our beautiful chaos." She was so gracious to offer to come and be with us for a while, and I really enjoyed her company and getting to know her better. Speaking of Raindrop, she is with me as I type, avoiding an impending poop. :) She also has a cold, or else it's part of the teething issue - who knows. Hopefully she'll go to bed early tomorrow night when I'm hosting Bible Study.
For me, I've really been soaking in James' words via this week's sermons on communication and worry - especially the communication one. Have you listened to it yet? There's a lot of good stuff there that I hope we can talk about more, but it's interesting how Keller says slander is not a form of lying, it is a form of murder. I especially found his description of a "judging spirit" to be helpful. You know you have a judging spirit when you have a fault-finding habit of mind, when you criticize someone and they are destroyed or crushed, when you enjoy telling people about their faults or hearing about them second-hand, and when you go beyond the facts and impute motives all the time. I am hoping to spend more time dissecting this. As Galatians 5:6 says, "we are to speak the truth in love." His encouragement is this: on the cross the truth and love meet.
Aside from this I've been spending my time at night (and sometimes into the early morning hours as I haven't been settling to bed well) on little organizational tasks, paying bills, reworking chore charts, watching Call the Midwife. I know we shut it down after the first episode, but people keep recommending it to me, so I thought I'd give it another go. I'm actually liking it.
Tomorrow we're off to a picnic at Wolf Neck with the Williams. I am hoping for glorious weather and visible Osprey :) Oh, and today we discovered Forget-me-nots growing in between the yards. We were all excited to spot a new wildflower...
Much Love,
Wifey
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