Unwrapped Gifts

     Next week is my birthday and I got a wonderful gift this morning. A wonderful, but unwrapped gift.  Let me rewind just a little it to last night.

     I picked up my little girlies from school like I do on most days.  I needed a few groceries so I took them with me to Walmart where I was dangerously close to being "MAMA'D" to certain death.  We could surely retire and live a life of leisure if I got a dime for every "MAMA!!!" that entered my eardrum.  Anyway...from there it just turned into a whirlwind evening.  Nothing overly dramatic, just the non-stop end of the day events like dinner, homework, baths and bedtime, etc, etc. 

     At around 9:30 the girls were clean and happily entering into dreamland so I returned to the kitchen to finish cleaning up and begin making lunches for the next day.  Brian came in and asked me if I was almost done.  I had to snicker as I said, "not even close."  He sweetly asked if he could help.  273 things instantly popped into my head in regards to the preparations for the next day.  As nice as it was for him to ask to help it is honestly just easier for me to do it because I have the necessary "inside information".  (you moms know exactly what I mean by this)  Here is why.

     Brian is a wonderful dad as well as an attentive dad....but he just doesn't know what I know.  Making lunches is not just throwing a sandwich and some chips in a bag.  Nope.  Haylee loves a pepperoni sandwich....Kerrington does not.  You can ask Kerrington what she would like for lunch and she will tell you, but Haylee enjoys being surprised.  Both girls like a bagel with cream cheese for lunch, but with Kerrington's loose tooth I cut the bagel up into little pieces so she doesn't have to bite into it and hurt her tooth.  Both girls like yogurt, but Kerrington likes strawberry and Haylee likes key lime.  Kerrington likes both kinds, but Haylee prefers the "whipped" kind.  Both girls like carrots, but Haylee won't eat them without a little ranch dressing to dip them in....Kerrington doesn't like ranch dressing.  Kerrington like chocolate milk in her lunch occasionally...but she still wants water in her lunch too.  Haylee just wants water.  If a pouch of something goes into the lunch it needs to be opened and then closed so that they can get it opened in the lunch room without struggling.  Both girls get a snack for the afternoon, but Kerrington's needs to have her name written on it.   Also, they like to have a different snack everyday....not the same snack 2 days in a row.   Most importantly....both girls get a little love note from Mommy every day.  (one day of forgetting the note quickly made me realize that these mean more to them than I ever imagined...I had 2 girls close to tears telling me they couldn't find their note in their lunchbox.)  The note has to go in the little pocket in the front of their lunchbox otherwise the cold water will mess up the paper.  A little sticker goes on the note....and they enjoy having that as a surprise too. 

     Have I created demanding little monsters?  I don't think so.  I've been packing their lunches since they were babies and I have learned along the way the things they like and the things they don't.  If a little attention to detail makes them enjoy their lunch more why wouldn't I do it? 

     You might be thinking I have gone off on some crazy tangent (which I'm fully capable of), but I assure you I have not.  The gift I got this morning was the gift of perspective and appreciation.  When you are a stay at home mom the right perspective and appreciation for the tasks set before you can change your day....heck....it can change your year.

     I'll be the first one to admit that I do not always appreciate being a stay at home mom.  I have a bad habit of looking at all the things I DON'T accomplish in the course of a day and tend to look at myself as a failure.  WHY oh WHY can't I keep up with the laundry???  I just did the dishes...how can the sink be full again????    This morning I realized that all the little things that I am able to accomplish in the day do matter.  Cutting a bagel into little pieces to accommodate a loose tooth seems really small....but it's not a small thing to a 5 year old  that opens her lunch and sees that mommy was looking out for her.  I'm able say "I love you" to my little girls in 30 different ways without saying a word.   

     I don't know exactly what God has for me in the future....but today as I sit here typing I'm sitting up straight with my shoulders back and my head held high.  Today I am enjoying a new perspective on what I do and I have a renewed appreciation for it.   Today I'm exceedingly thankful for how intimately I know my little girls.  I am extremely fortunate to spend the time with them that I do and knowing the little intricacies of their personalities is a gift that I will cherish.   

Happy Birthday to me. 

Calling It Like It Is

     I was listening to the radio the other day and was struck by the wording in one of the commercials.  It was talking about being "credit challenged".  It didn't talk about having "bad credit", but rather "credit challenged".  For years and years I had stellar credit.  I paid my bills on time, paid ahead on my mortgage when I could and reaped the benefits of those decisions on my credit report.  Conversely, when the economy took a turn and I lost my business it took a huge toll on our financial world and my steller credit was no more.  I have to say though, I was not "credit challenged"....straight up, I then had BAD credit.  I wasn't challenged.  We were forced to make heartwrenching choices that for credit purposes were BAD.  There are a lot of people that have BAD credit.  Some are just not responsible enough for credit and let things slide resulting in bad credit.  Some people lose jobs or have health issues that result in mountains of medical bills that unfortunately result in bad credit. 

The problem here is that we aren't calling things what they are because we are afraid to "offend" with a word.  Somehow we are assuming that to call someone's credit score "BAD" we are calling the person bad.  Bad credit doesn't automatically equal bad people. 

I know full well that not everything is black and white.  There isn't always a pretty definition that things neatly fit in, but why are we so paralyzed by fear of offending with truth?  The truth can hurt, sometimes the truth doesn't need to be spoken, but there are times that it does need to be spoken and that's when we need to mix truth with wisdom and courage and discernment.  It's a good mix. 

As Christians we are called to speak the truth.  Specifically we are told to speak the truth in LOVE.  We aren't to use truth to hurt, but to help.  It's our job and there is no room for fear in that.

Sitting here I am thinking about a few examples of truth that I will need to explain to my daughter soon.  To be honest, I'm not looking forward to it.  Speaking and teaching truth to a 7 year old in a world that rejects God's truths is not easy.  I'll be asking for a lot of wisdom and an extra serving of discernment, and of course, a dallop of courage. 

Let's not be afraid to call things what they are when it is truth.....let's do it in love. 

"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-15