Wednesday

The Real Meaning of Christmas

Chris (4): "Jane, do you know the real meaning of Christmas?"

Jane (2): Shrugs.

Chris: "Is it about the toys?"

Jane: Face lights up! "And Santa!"

Chris: "No! It's about Jesus! Jesus!"

This is the conversation I overheard on a recent morning. I'm so glad my little man is beginning to understand that Christmas is about much more than Santa and toys. However, I do think he might need to work on his message delivery a bit. On the other hand, I think Jane got the point!

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday

At Least it Wasn't Because of a Stinky Mess!

I truly thought I'd go more than two days before I broke my blogging streak. Internet Explorer had other ideas. It refused to work and since Tony was out of town and I'm a bit clueless when it comes to the computer, I didn't have internet for two days. I almost had to break out the phone book to check an address. Of course, I would have had to find it first. Does anyone still use those?

So, I should be painting a bathroom that should have been a weekend project, but in typical Lizz fashion has almost stretched into six weeks. (I know!) Instead, I'm letting the kids watch a Christmas show while I finally get showered and get ready to spend the afternoon with a friend at a bookstore. We have to most amazing childrens bookstore nearby and I was shocked to find that my friend (Hi A!) had never been. Time to fix that!

A friend and books, does it get any better?

Saturday

If You Promise to Count Your Blessings...

So, it turns out if you publicly declare to count your blessings and more frequently record your life in writing, you will wake up to a crappy morning. (Sorry about the word choice, but it fits.)

Rather, you will be woken up in the wee hours of the night by the 2 year old who isn't happy that the cat is playing in her room while she tries to sleep. No sooner will you get back to sleep, then the old dog will wake you up so he can go relieve himself.

Early in the morning, you will again hear your 2-year-old because it's raining and she's "scared of the rain." So, she'll move to your bed for the remaining 45 minutes until wake up time. Not 15 minutes later, your children will go downstairs and you'll be happy to have a few minutes to wake up slowly before heading down to make breakfast.

As you savor the semi-quiet moments in a warm bed, you'll hear your 6 year old scamper upstairs to inform you that the dog has made a stinky (read poop) mess on the family room carpet. So, you'll spend the first half hour of your morning cleaning carpet.

The children will whine as you get ready to take them to different fun activities. After one event, you'll give them lunch and then take them upstairs for separate quiet times in their rooms. Then, you'll sit down to try and put a positive spin on the day's events, because, you know, you've promised to faithfully record you're blessed life.

As you open the laptop, you'll hear little feet running around upstairs, most certainly not having quiet times and most definitely play together. You'll sigh a tired sigh, rewarm the morning's coffee, and smile.

You're not sure how it works, but somehow, despite the crazy start to the day and the promise of cranky kids in the afternoon, you know that your life is still very, very blessed. Stinky, but blessed.

Friday

This Little Blog of Mine...

I'm going to let it shine...

Okay, that really has nothing to do with anything, but it keeps going through my head. (Yes, I'm a dork and I'm okay with that!)

I miss blogging! Three years ago, I started out blogging frequently even through the birth of my third child in a little over three years. Almost daily posts helped me to see the sweetness in my crazy life filled with diapers and sleepless nights. Slowly, the novelty of both this blogging thing and my new life wore off.

At night or in the early morning, I found myself worn out, unable to view my life through rose-colored glasses. This made me so sad because my life was and is truly blessed. That lead to guilt which didn't lead to motivation to blog!

Late last spring, we dealt with behavior issues with one of our kiddos that consumed our life. In August, that kiddo started a school program where our precious little one is thriving beyond my expectations! Yet, adjusting to school schedules and Tony traveling quite a bit made for a crazy late summer and early fall.

Then, right around Halloween, I noticed my cold seemed to be lingering. Once I was hit with a stomach bug, I knew it was time to take myself to the doctor. I had pneumonia and a stomach bug! It was a wake up call to me to not take things for granted. I spent four days doing nothing but watching television and reading while my wonderful husband kept things afloat. Funny how four days of not being able to do the daily grind will make you want to do it!

The thing that really made me miss blogging was wading through more that 1200 pictures of my family. I'm in the process of putting together digital photo albums for Christmas gifts for our extended family. (Procrastinate much?) As I edit these pictures, I smile and laught and get a bit sad that time is moving so quickly. I want to capture life as best as I can and for me, that involves writing here.

I'm not sure who still comes around to check what is going on in our lives, but I'm glad you do. It's been a crazy year, for sure, but looking back, aside from the severe lack of sleep, I don't think I'd change a thing. My hands are still full, though not with the same things as three years ago, but my heart is more than full, it's bursting!

This will be one of the places I share some of that joy.

Happy Friday!