Mousetrap

So, what do you do when you THINK you've been obeying the doctor's orders, doing absolutely NOTHING, and get told by your doctor that you're overdoing it? 

This, as a side note, has been my primary issue with having a cesarean. Supposedly, I'm not supposed to do much for the next 6wks. If I'm still sane at that point, I'll let you know. :-P  

Anyway, back to my question - what DO you do? 

You play Mousetrap with two little boys, one who has been begging to pull out the game since Christmas, and another who thinks all those bright pieces look VERY exciting. 

That's what we did yesterday afternoon. We didn't actually play the game, but we built the whole mousetrap, then the boys took turns turning the crank to start the process ending with the 'mice' getting trapped. It was a great cause/effect learning experience, and thrilled my precious Peter to no end. 

Timothy was most delighted with it all as well, although I had an easier time getting pictures of complete concentration than the huge grin that was also part of his face most of the time. :-D

Apathy, Fear, or Trusting Obedience

I have recently become aware of some concerns regarding the new Education Bill which is scheduled to be passed soon in Alberta. 

For those of you who aren't aware of the current concerns you can read about it here - my focus in this post has more to do with our response than the actual content. 

I have been pondering three different responses that we can have to any issue of this nature, responses I've seen both in myself and in others. 

Apathy.  This is the simplest response to anything. It can be easy to brush off threats to our freedom as fear mongering, look at a huge issue like abortion and think 'what good can I do', or even more insidious, 'plan' to do something 'someday' - but never arrive at that day. 

"If you say, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that ponders the heart consider it? and he that keeps thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" Pr. 24:12

Fear. Probably the most wide-spread and natural response to an article like this, as our minds have this fascinating habit of lumping every possible outcome into one impending outcome. Fear can be a strong motivator to actually do something, but is ultimately more debilitating than helpful. Fear can lead right back to apathy as we think, 'it doesn't matter what I do, it won't change a thing'.

Trusting Obedience. Ultimately, as Christians, this should be our response to every issue that arises, every potential threat to our freedom. 

Obedient, because we have a Biblical mandate to stand for truth, for righteousness, and to defend the weak. 

Trusting, because we know that God has clearly warned us of persecution through all history, and specifically in the final days before His return, yet has promised a reward that far surpasses anything we may experience.

The combination of these two were what triggered the bulk of my thoughts on this subject. 

We have a responsibility to speak out against unrighteousness in our government, in our country, and in our communities. How can we protest against laws that are wrong or unjust if we did nothing to stand against them? How can we come into the presence of our God with a clear conscience when we have closed our ears to injustice around us and done nothing?

However, obedience without trust leads back to a fear based motive. If our goal in speaking out is to protect ourselves, or to prevent persecution, we are deluding ourselves. Yes, by speaking out we may delay the inevitable, and certainly, there is more chance of changing our culture by speaking out than by remaining silent.
The Bible is pretty clear though that persecution WILL come, that we are living in a sin-cursed world, and that salvation will NOT come through our government or society. If our goal in taking a stand for right is any form of a 'utopian society', we are striving for the wrong goal, and setting ourselves up for disillusionment and eventual apathy.

No, once again, the driving force behind any stand we take MUST be obedience coupled with trust, doing our part to stand for justice, trusting God with the outcomes, and ultimately looking ahead with great anticipation to eternity and our promised reward for faithful service.

How are you taking a stand for justice?

Isaiah 59:4  "None call for justice, nor any plead for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity."

Basement Transformation!

One of my goals before the baby came was to completely organize our basement. 

This included going through all our 'storage' boxes from moving - you know, the ones that got stuck in the basement because there was no other place for them? Yup, those ones. Plus, of course, legitimate storage items, and a great number of boxes marked GARAGE SALE. That was finished last week, and makes my feet do happy dances whenever I look into that side of the basement.

The other part of my basement organization was the side that contains the boy's play area, our office, and the laundry area! Since we're working with an unfinished basement, but plan on spending a decent amount of time down here, I scoured KIJIJI for carpet and baskets, and was rather tickled with what I found. 

Today was the day I finally finished what I wanted to do on this side of the basement. I don't have pictures of the office/laundry area, but was so tickled with the boy's area I had to take pictures. :)

My picture taking jumped the gun a bit, still a bag of garbage, a toy that is departing to other lands, and a few books to be removed... The boxes you see along the left side of the picture is my recycling - a neat and tidy system that makes me most happy. I am considering covering the boxes with fabric or paper to make them more attractive - we'll see how bored I get before the baby comes. ;-) 

I am SO thrilled with this carpet! You can't see it very clearly, but it has a very nice pattern, tight weave, and best of all, makes a much warmer play area for my little men! There was about a 3ft strip that Josh cut off which goes very nicely in front of my washer/dryer/laundry table as well. :-D

 

Now, to the left of the freezers is a very special place. Most people know it as Under The Stairs, but I prefer to refer to it as The Cubby Hole. 

To dabble down a bit of a side trail, I've been taking a personal journey this year to find a place between utilitarianism and interior designism... I love things that are beautiful, but often don't think of all the ways of beautifying, and in the past have seen a lot of decorating as a waste of time. On the other hand, I have a hard time watching people spend exorbitant amounts on interior design, only to change it all over again when the whim seizes them - specifically when this takes resource that may not really be available. As a result, I've erred a bit on the side of utilitarianism, a view God has been challenging this year, with the concept of making everything beautiful - just as He did. 

My sister-in-love, Breanne, has been a great inspiration to me in this area, as she does such a great job of making everything she touches beautiful, within limited resources. 

The crowning touch on this journey so far is a book I have been LOVING - The Hidden Art of Homemaking, by one of my favorite authors - Edith Schaeffer. Basically, she challenges us to make an effort to reflect the nature of God in our homes through many little art forms (music, gardening, decorating, flower arrangements, etc). She gives a lot of ideas of ways to do so without spending extra, or even taking a ton of time, and gives many thought provoking reasons for surrounding our children with beauty, and for using this avenue to reflect the nature of God as Christians. 

Aside from some of my personal reactions, I have always seen it as important to help my children see beauty, and especially (having only sons at this point) to instill in my boys a love and appreciation of beauty. 

All that being said, the following pictures may not be beautiful in every sense of the word, but were inspired by my reading of Edith Schaeffer. I have always loved the Telus animals, and Peter will sit for quite some time looking through their calendars. I'm one of those people who will save calendars, or cut out beautiful pictures, and then not know what to do with them, and after a bit, the practical side of me kicks in and I throw them all out. 

While sorting through the toys (another thing that made me happy - throwing stuff away, putting some into the cupboard for a change of toys, selling some, and neatly arranging the rest) and looking at the nasty walls, I was inspired to see what I could do with the calendars to make it a fun and more attractive little cubby for the boys. 

There is no doubt that doing something breeds more creativity, as just doing this today has spawned a number of ideas that may or may not take flight down the road... :-D

The basket between the Bear and Mr. Frog is one of 6 I found on KIJIJI for a great price. They are beautiful, scoocum, and work even better than I expected for sorting toys/etc. My next project is the boy's bedroom and nursery where I'm using more of the baskets, and rather excited about that as well...

Don't you love these salamanders? I do... :-D

 Peter loves elephants, so this is one of his favorites...

 I wasn't crazy about this wall - feels a bit messy, but Peter really likes it, and I do like the words that go with each picture.

 These adorable little bunnies made me especially happy - you don't see the tape typically, and it keeps them a bit safer from prying fingers.

 

My satisfaction was complete when Peter came home from an outing with Josh, took a look around the transformed play area, and said, "It's NICE mommy!" :-D

Of feelings and the mind...

I've found that projecting how I am currently feeling over infinity, especially if how I'm feeling is not so great, is second nature.

 

Of course, as I'm sure you can imagine or have experienced, this can be either exhilarating or discouraging, depending on how you're currently feeling. 

In these last couple months of pregnancy I find this tendency can be very overwhelming if I don't address it. I start feeling - not even necessarily thinking, just feeling - like I am going to be miserable/uncomfortable/tired non-stop for the next two months at least, if not longer.

The delightful thing though, is that when I start to actually think about the facts, not just feel, I realize how untrue this really is! How I sleep, how I feel, whether or not I am overwhelmed changes from moment to moment, day to day. The baby may adjust positions slightly, I may find extra energy I didn't expect despite a lack of sleep, a sound sleep may come when I'm least expecting it, and how the boys are behaving plays a large factor into how I'm feeling. 

I'm finding a lot of freedom in realizing that how I'm feeling at the moment is coloring my perception of the future, and it's probably not accurate. Having been through two previous pregnancies, I also have the experience to remind myself that there will be good days right up until the end, and can anticipate those in my not so enjoyable moments. 

This lesson has been so very beneficial for me in every area of life. I guess it's rather simple at the crux - our emotions/feelings aren't an accurate representation of truth. I knew that before, but seeing how my mind just automatically reverts to that tendency unless I am proactive about re-training it has been very encouraging in those moments when any area of my life looks bleak and dark. 

I was reminded of this a couple nights ago. It was during that 'crazy hour' of last minute supper preparation. Timothy was crying and hanging off my legs, Peter was playing hockey behind me and peppering me with excited questions and "look at this mommy's" that were not helping me remember what I had just put in the biscuits, I was experiencing some rather persistent braxton-hicks, and to top it all off, was feeling rather exhausted. The thought that came to mind at that moment was "it's going to be a long two months." 

But, 10min later, the contractions had passed, Peter had moved to the livingroom and was playing with Timothy who was laughing happily, the biscuits were in the oven, sitting down for a few minutes before supper relieved the exhaustion, and life suddenly looked shiny again. It was then I remembered my feelings of a few minutes before, and laughed at my tendency to project the intensity of some of the wildest moments of my day onto the entire remaining months of pregnancy. 

Really, it's what I'm allowing to live in my mind that defines my perspective on the future. Join me in striving to focus on the bright moments, the peaceful pauses, and the joys of each day, rather than the overwhelming moments, hectic happenings, and miserable sections of the same day! 

2 Corinthians 10:5 - "... bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ..."

Cookie Making!!

So, I am breaking my blogging silence to post about our recent cookie making adventures. I had found a gluten-free sugar cookie recipe in December, which made me rather excited, as sugar cookie dough and decorating Christmas cookies has been an important part of my life up until now. 

The dough was made and stored in the fridge mid-December, but it somehow just didn't happen during that month... 

Actually, lest you think I'm one of those amazing moms who does stuff like this with their kids all the time, no, it is not my first strength. It is something I'm working to do more of, but I tend to be more of a "let's work together" type of a mother, than a "let's craft together" person. 

The plan was to do cookies with a couple of neighbor kids, but they ended up not being able to make it on the actual day of the great Cookie Event. However, knowing that they were expected was the motivation I needed to run out and actually grab cookie cutters/sprinkles. 

Peter was very excited about the prospect of cookie making. 

Timothy wasn't thrilled that he wasn't allowed to devour all the cookie dough in sight. He did an admirable job of devouring a lot of it before I realized what was happening... hence the clean tray below:

Peter is into the stage of 'fake smiles' for the camera, but I managed to get a more realistic smile out of him here. 

Timothy was too cute with the rolling pin

Here, he is sprinkling little bits of flour - just like mommy! :-D Actually, he's showing it to me, but I digress... 

Trying to see the picture I just took

And, watching the cookies bake!! 

Of course, the best part is decorating the cookies! Again, Timothy thought the main goal was eating them, but he did quite enjoy putting on sprinkles. He also enjoyed it when I helped him frost the cookie. It was just that part when I put the cookie on the plate with which he wasn't so impressed... :-P

He was so cute - would hold out his hand for the sprinkles,
and then shake them on his cookie

Peter was going for the "entire bowl of frosting on one cookie" effect before I demonstrated how to do more with less.

Our finished products! As you can see, our colors were pretty basic, but it was still fun. :-D

It was a lot of fun, and something I was so glad I made the time to do. I find it very easy to get caught up in a 'goal oriented' mind set, and often forget to take time to make memories like these. These precious little men are a reminder to make moments like these ones a priority, where we enjoy doing something together just for the sake of doing it!

Joys of having 3yr old!

I knew I would love having a 3yr old, but I didn't realize how MUCH I would enjoy it! 

Don't get me wrong, I love the baby stage, where they snuggle, coo, smile, and are completely dependent. 

I love the birth-to-one-year stage where they change SO much every month. 

I love the 1+ stage where they are taking wobbly steps all over the house, becoming little people with very distinct personalities, and so demonstrative in their affection. 

I love the 18mon-2 yr stage where they are trying out so many new things, becoming even more of their own person, trying to talk and communicate, exploring, discovering, and delighting in the world around them. 

But there is something extra special about that time (different for every child, but seems to be pretty much for sure by that 3rd year) when you suddenly realize it's been quite a while since you couldn't understand what was said. 

When suddenly all you've been trying to teach this basically unresponsive child comes spilling back out at you and you start hearing what all is going on in that little head. 

When they suddenly see themselves as little adults, laugh with the adults (which is usually REALLY funny), copy everything you do with grave seriousness, and carry on semi-stimulating discussions. 

This morning has given me a couple of smiles along this line, and I thought I'd share them with you.

Me: "Peter, please don't wipe your hands on your pants."

Peter: "I not!" 

(this is a regularly used phrase, said with surprise and a slight bit of affront at the suggestion)

Me: "Well, where are you wiping them them?"

Peter (in a matter of fact 'duh' voice): "I wipe them on my chair!"

Peter just came up to me a few minutes ago, "Mommy, we forgot da Bible time!" Me, "You're right, we did! (ok, so I was procrastinating, not forgetting), should we do it now?" Peter, "Yes!" 

(so, I'll be back in a bit... ;-))

Peter, speaking to my middle: "Baby! It's Mommy's birfday today! Mommy's getting bigger!" 

"Mommy, are you turning Free (3)?" (This question has been repeated many times in the past two weeks, as he tries to understand how he turned 3 on his birthday, but I'm turning 29 on my birthday...)

"Mommy, are you getting bigger?" "Yes, I am" "Mommy, is the baby getting bigger too?" Perceptive child. :-P

"Mommy, I love God. And Timothy loves God too." 

"Mommy, did God make the trains?"

"Mommy, I want God. And Timothy wants God too. And Mommy wants God too." 

"Mommy, is Jesus alive again? Is God alive?" 

"Mommy, does Jesus drink water?" 

"Mommy, I love you!" 

Yup, I'm enjoying this little man of mine, and loving the fact that he's talking so much! 

Timothy's 1st Birthday

Birthdays growing up were, as a general rule, family affairs, a tradition that I am wanting to carry on with my children. 

My goal for each birthday is to make the birthday person feel special, to put more of an emphasis on spending special time with that person rather than on a big shebang (not that I have anything against parties! :-)). 

Timothy's birthday was extra special because Aunty Chavonne was able to celebrate with us! 

Presents! He figured out pretty quickly what to do with the wrapping, and how to get the gift out of there...

My polite little man saying "please" for more cake! 

Big brother completely approves of dessert! 

We decided, in the name of less sugar consumption, to do cupcakes instead of a big cake... Timothy LOVES the barn cat, Misty, so I did a few of the cupcakes as kitty faces. 

Well, this post is waaaaay overdue, but I did want to put something here to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my precious sunshine! :-D