My privileged blessing

Motherhood is an amazing adventure. There truly never is a dull moment around my home, nor around my heart. I cherish my time with my kids. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are moments of “mommy melt-down” where I need a break from all the togetherness, but even then, I realize that there is really nothing else I’d rather be doing than spending time with my kids. The first moment I held my newborn Jadan in my arms I knew that the world had changed and that it wasn’t about me anymore.

I take parenting very seriously. I see it as an act of stewardship – taking care of precious resources. God made the concept of caretaker very clear to me when I first went back to work and was no longer the solitary caregiver of my children anymore. I cried all the way to work feeling guilty about leaving “my babies”. That still small voice spoke loud and clear, “They’re not yours, they’re Mine - and I love them even more than you do”. God has given me a charge to keep, lives to protect, teach, and love. I, of course, have hopes, dreams and aspirations for them, but as the years go by, I am reminded that they don’t need to be molded into my ideal for them, but into HIS.

When my kids were old enough to be accountable for themselves, I made one thing abundantly clear, they were not to do anything to embarrass me – act as nutty as you want at home, but when you are in public, you represent me. I still have to remind them of that from time to time. They always look at me like I’m crazy, but they get it. I guess it harkens back to the old adage that you may be “the only Jesus someone ever meets”. Everywhere they go, I want my kids to represent their Savior, themselves, and our home in a positive way. I had a teacher tell me what a joy it was to teach my kids. What words for a mom to hear!! I thanked her and said that I try to remind them to be a blessing and not a brat.

Sometimes I feel like my kids get the raw end of the deal being the children of a teacher. I admittedly have come home from a rough day at school and warned my wrath if they ever started to act like the kids in my classes. It has provided some good character education, though. Don’t be disrespectful, be responsible, don’t roll your eyes at me, do your homework, don’t be a bully, no means no. When asked if she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up, Esther promptly replied, “No way. Have you seen the way those kids act?” Child of a teacher, what can I say?

Every stage of their childhood has been enjoyable and memorable, but I am loving where we are right now. Jadan is almost eleven and in the fifth grade. Esther just turned eight and is in the third grade. I am so blessed to be able to work where they go to school. It enables me to be a part of their lives throughout the day, even if it is only at a distance at times. I make an effort not to intervene, interrupt or make exceptions for them at school. They need to go through the motions of growth just like everyone else. Forgot your homework? Oh well, face the consequences. Bully trouble? Deal with it (while I pray and cringe in the shadows). Got caught talking instead of working? Run extra laps and remember what you represent.

Jadan is my poet child; my sensitive eccentric. He walks to his own beat. Entering the preteen years, the pressure of peers is upon him. The funny thing is, I think it worries me more than it does him. He is an easy target for bullying, because he won’t retaliate. He had a boy physically bully him once. I told him to sock the kid if it happened again. “Violence is not the solution”, replied my sagely son. He lives in a very ethics driven black and white world; he pretty much keeps himself “in check”. Jadan is a friend to all, but he is cautious about who he chooses to spend time around. He uses good judgment when it comes to gauging character. His heart is big and his imagination even bigger. His wheels are always turning; the child even talks in his sleep. He wants to be a film maker when he grows up. When listening to him tell a story, he paints word pictures and I can almost visualize what he is saying frame by frame. He speaks with very animated language and is highly entertaining. Jadan is an auditory learner, so everything he hears (and listens to) is logged in his mind. He can recite entire movies, complete with dialogue, sound effects and musical score. We often hear this play out when he is imagining out his next epic episode. He is also an amazing engineer. The creations he makes out of Legos, and more recently modeling clay, are amazingly detailed and very well thought out. I smile at the wonder of what God has in store for him. I pray for encouraging friends to come beside him, for inspiring ideas to motivate him, and for him to be rooted in his faith.

Esther is my free-spirit. Life is a party and an eternal conversation. For a long time, she wanted to pretend she was shy and quiet, but in the last year, her true self has begun to shine through. There is a lot of personality in that little package. She has a quick wit which can border on the sassy side. We have to discuss when to say when on the sass from time to time. She makes friends easily; everyone loves “Essie”. Even though she is the youngest and the smallest in her class, she is more often than not found leading the rest. She, like her brother, is very sensitive to the needs of others. I love to listen to her pray when something is on her heart; it gives a glimpse of her sincere faith. Esther is very artsy. She loves to draw and paint, create craft projects, help decorate the house, learn to sew, take pictures, write, sing and dance. The tomboy in her likes to keep the dancing thing “hush-hush”, we have to refer to dance lessons as “karate class” if anyone else is in earshot. Esther is a bit of a tomboy or maybe more of a nature-girl. She loves to catch frogs and lizards, play with worms, collect rocks, ride her bike and dig in the dirt. A kitten joined our family out of the garden this summer and Esther has taken on the role of keeper of the cat. She feeds him, bathes him (every Wednesday after school), takes him for a ride in the baby carriage, plays dress up and all-around babies him. And, believe it or not, she is his favorite person. My prayer for Esther is that God will use her charisma and compassion to His glory, that she will continue to be a positive leader, and that her creativity will continue to spark.

It’s easy to see why I love my job, my charge, my privileged blessing of raising my two amazing children. I am in awe of them and how they are growing and developing into their unique selves. Lord, grant this steward wisdom and strength in the days ahead. Help me ever point them toward You and the abundance of Your love. Help them find their purpose in Your grand design and may their lives bring glory to You.

"Simple Pleasures Found During a Hurricane" or "Our Adventures with Ike "

As the winds began to pick up on Saturday morning, it became clear that we would be spending the day at home. Weldon was on call to help hook up generators and portable showers for the evacuees at the Civic Center. He was called out early Saturday morning but returned before the first blasts of Ike made it to Marshall. After checking on his family in Houston, who were doing fine, in spite of 80 mph wind and no electricity, Weldon made multiple trips outside to check on the weather and was monitoring it on the internet, as well.
We went about our day in our normal weekend fashion - the children watching cartoons, playing video games, Esther treating the cat to a ride in a baby stroller, Jadan staging Lego battles all over the house. I busied myself with a mound of laundry. Esther begged us to make some potato soup, her favorite fall comfort food. So, she and her Daddy busily cut up the tubers and set them to boil.
After lunch. the gusts became more significant outside and I was nervously awaiting the wail of the dreaded "duck and cover" siren. I curled up on the couch with Mr. Biggs, my faithful snuggle companion, a stack of magazines and crossword puzzles and tried to keep my mind off of the storm.
Without a flicker to warn us, the electricity was suddenly gone. We heard a yelp from Jadan who was in the middle of an epic battle with a Wii enemy. Once it was determined the power would be out for a while, he shrugged his shoulders and proclaimed that he was going to take a nap. No sooner had the lights left than Weldon's phone rang. It was "the boys", our "extended family" members, Grant and Jordan. They were alone, in the dark, at Grant's little house and apparently wanted to be with "family". Within minutes they were at our front door with sheepish grins. I'm glad my home is viewed as somewhat of a haven.
We headed to the kitchen, the hub of our home, and sat for a moment staring at each other, as if to say, "What do we do now?". Weldon was the first to speak, "How about some coffee or hot tea?". There was a room full of takers. As the flames flickered under the kettle, I was grateful that my dear husband had insisted on buying a gas stove instead of an electric.
My dad came across the street to check on us and Esther begged to go keep Grandma company. There was a lull in the storm, so we bundled her up and watched as she crossed the"river" to Grandma's house. The house became quiet with Esther away and Jadan still napping, so we sat around our round table and began to play a game of cards by candlelight.
Before too long, a bleary-eyed Jadan awoke and was drawn into the candlelit kitchen. We had just finished a hand of cards and were beginning to get hungry. None of us wanted to prepare a large meal, so we broke into our dry-good snack reserves. Peanut-buttered saltines, dry cereal by the fistful and the coveted Hershey's bar from our Smores' camping stash - perfect fare for a storm-induced candlelight dinner. What happened next was my favorite part of the evening and a memory I will forever cherish.
Grant gave Jadan his favorite childhood novel, a fantasy book called Redwall, for Christmas. Jadan had yet to read it, so we, still sitting around the candlelit table, opened the book and passed it around the table, reading it aloud, chapter by chapter. Each reader interpreted the story and characters with animated voices. Before we knew it, an hour had passed. The kitchen chairs became uncomfortable, so we withdrew into the living room and read by candle and flashlight for another hour or more. We closed the book as the mantle clock showed the midnight hour and Jadan had already began to doze off to sleep. The "boys" began to head out, then realized that the windows of Grant's house were painted shut and that they would not be able to have any air circulation. We insisted that they stay with us and we made up our couches into beds. The cross-breeze from all the opened windows was pleasant enough and we were all quickly asleep. At one o'clock, we awoke with a start because the lights all flashed on and our appliances started beeping and humming. We gratefully turned off the lights and drifted back to sleep.

I was awakened by Weldon telling me that he and the boys were heading across town to help our friend Cindy hook up her generator. A tree had fallen on her power line and she was going to be without power for several days. I walked outside to see the the sun shining through a beautiful blue sky. The air was crisp and clean. The only indication that there had been a storm was Mom and Dad working to clear away branches that had littered their yard. We walked around the neighborhood to check on our neighbors and to survey the damage.

Our patio

Our yard

One street north

One street north

One block east

On block west

Something completely unharmed

Looks like we had been very blessed. All our neighborhood friends fared well and were out cleaning up the mess of leaves and branches. I went home and did the same. Jadan and I collected hundreds of acorns from the limbs that fell from our beautiful oak tree. Weldon was very excited to be able to propagate them because they are so green. Weldon was called out to help at the Civic Center again but Jadan, my Dad, and I worked in our yard all afternoon, raking up leaves and sticks, busting up the larger branches and burning them in our neighbors fire pit. Mom made a dish of lasagna and called us over for lunch. As I was walking to her house, I heard a large bang one street over. I ran in the direction of the sound and found myself with a group of neighbors looking at a sparking snapped wire dangling above Merritt Street. I went into the house and sure enough, our power was out again. My parents house was unaffected, so we had lunch with them, then went back to work. Emergency vehicles came to the scene of the snapped wire, but all they were able to do was surround it with caution cones and wait for the electric company.

I soaked some black-eyed peas. We cooked up our almost thawed out ground beef from the freezer and made Weldon's delicious dirty rice. We had a down-home feast and invited "the boys" back over to help us eat it all up. We spent another evening reading by candlelight. The air was so cool this evening, sleeping without air conditioning was very enjoyable. We were even chilled when we awoke the next morning.

School was canceled on Monday and Tuesday, an added blessing. I drove to our school on Monday morning to pick up my paycheck. The main road to the school had a pine tree that had been uprooted and laid across it. Power lines were snapped and tangled in its branches. A crew have removed enough of the tree for the street to be passable, but it was scary to maneuver past it. We saw fallen trees all around town and I was glad to get back home. I spent over an hour hand washing dishes, thanking God all the while for the blessing of a dishwasher. I cleaned up in the yard a little more and was so grateful to see the Swepco eletric company truck pull up to the still dangling wire that had stolen our power. Within 30 minutes, the hard-hat wearing heroes had restored power to our little part of the world and there was much rejoicing!!

I returned to the house and immediately was aware of how noisy a power-filled house can be. The air cleaners were humming, the washing machine churning, the radio and TV talking. I almost missed being off "the grid" and the simple, quiet, slowed-down way of living we had experienced the last two days.

After dinner, we retreated to the living room, turned down the lights, opened Redwall and continued to read until the children drifted off to sleep. Maybe we can hang on to some simple pleasures for a little while longer.