a box of chocolates

In the memorable words of Sally Field,

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." 

That's how my days are; like a box of chocolates. It would seem that I have more control over my days than the average person. I mean, I'm the grown-up, I don't have a boss, and I have an open schedule. 

The truth is, and it's not news to any mom out there, the girls sorta decide how the days go. If they don't get enough sleep, we don't try to do too much that morning. If they get really into a game of "feed the babies", we put off snack for awhile. We might be at a store with 10 things on the list, but if they're "losing it" and we've only 5 things in the cart, we cut our losses and bail.

And then there are those things I try to teach them - things I try to accomplish. I might be trying to teach them something new, or point out something I want them to see, but they're more interested in the bow in their hair, or the booger in their nose. And at these moments, until I acknowledge whatever it is they're interested in, I have little chance of shifting their focus to what I want.

We have spent a lot of time the past couple of weeks not doing things we planned to do, because one of the three of us was sick, or the girls slept late, or woke up too early. We just haven't been able to get into a groove.

Today, however, we picked a great piece of chocolate from the box. The dark chocolate kind with the yummy truffle filling in the middle. 

It was just a great day.

 

Bell

Bean

  . The girls (despite a shorter than normal night of sleep) were in a great mood. 

As was I. (due mostly to a good night of sleep)

 We went to chapel where we got to hear beautiful singing, a djembe drum, and see puppy dogs. They are doing lots of awesome things for mission week and we enjoyed being there. (as always) 

We had a special, and generous gift from the wondeful people of Lutheran Church Charities.

We got home and the girls enjoyed lunch, had a great nap, played outside and painted with watercolors. 

Bell

Bean

 

There were good conversations with wonderful friends, and it just felt like a gift.

Thank you, God, for today.

The laughs from today:

Bell - "Mommy, look at my picture!"

Me - "Wow! What is it?"

Bell - "It's you."

Me - "What am I doing?"

Bell - "Just dancing around and making chicken."

(a great life, huh? just dancing around making chicken.)

~~~

Bean  (describing her picture) - "There is the man with the yellow hat and this is the other man. He went to heaven."

Me - "Why did he go to heaven?"

Bean -"'Cause he miss his daddy."

(it hurts a little, but it's beautiful too. i 'm always glad to hear when they are thinking about him)

~~~

at bedtime tonight, i'm getting ready to tell them the story of Jesus asking Peter, "who do you say I am?" I start out, "There was a man named Peter..."

Bell - "NO MOMMY! NO! Peter is a rabbit!"

Me -"Well this is a different Peter. This Peter was a good friend of Jesus"

Bell (yelling now)- No! Peter is a RABBIT!

Me (trying not to laugh) - "You're right. Peter is a rabbit. But there is another Peter too. This other Peter was a friend of Jesus."

Bell - "No! He's not a friend of Jesus! He is a rabbit in Mr. McGregor's garden!"

Me - "okay, okay... so there was this random unnamed friend of Jesus........"

(she was almost in tears... i figured we'd approach the subject at a different time when she wasn't exhausted. I mean, I'm really glad she knows the story of Peter Rabbit, it's a classic and all, but not quite as important as knowing about Simon Peter. We have time.)