Prayer for my Babies

Dearest Lord,

Tonight, as I turn out the light and slip under the covers, I pray that you will be with my precious babies Claire and Gregory, as they are sleeping over at their Nana's and Big Daddy's house. They called at bedtime (a couple of hours ago) and were bawling, Lord, because they wanted me and you know how much my heart broke at the sound of their tears. It took every ounce of self-control not to jump in my car and drive the 45 minutes to Abilene to rescue them from their sleep-deprived, sugar-induced, not-hearing-the-word-"NO"-in-24-hours-stupor, but Father, I pray that you cover them with Your peace tonight as they sleep. I pray that they will rise in the morning, refreshed, and ready to run their Nana ragged another day. I pray that they will be blessed by Your Word at Vacation Bible School, and that they will be a blessing to those they come in contact with. And Lord, if they act like heathens instead of little angels, I pray that no one from the Southern Hills congregation, my childhood church You know, will say to one another, "That's Ginger Paty's kids...go figure."
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Adventures in Motherhood

Every night before Cody and I go to sleep, we usually lie in bed and talk. We discuss an assortment of things, most nights the topics include the kids and I's plans for the next day. Last night, I told him that I was looking forward to taking the children to the "Art Adventure" at the NCCIL (sometimes pronounced "nickel"), which is the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, located in Abilene. I moaned a little about the fact that I had to have myself and the kids dressed, fed (does heading to the donut shop count?) and in Abilene by 10:00 am...you see, at the beginning of the summer, I went online looking for some fun activities for the babies and I to do together this summer. On the NCCIL website, it advertised that they did an Art Adventure on the third Friday of every month. It included story time and an art activity to go along with the story...sounded right up Claire and Gregory's alley...so my alarm was set for the crack of dawn and we were ready for the adventure...

We arose this morning with the sun (sorry for the whining, people, but my babies usually ALL sleep until 9:00 most mornings, so excuse me for being a little spoiled about my sleep) and headed out to grab breakfast. We arrived in Abilene with about ten minutes to spare, and we talked all the way there about what our Art Adventure might be about...

The kids pile out of the car, Meredith is safely fastened in her stroller, and we walk briskly up the sidewalk to the front door. We come face-to-face with the girl who is opening the center for the morning, and she greets us with a cheerful, "hello!" I return the salutation and Claire immediately chimes in with, "We are here for the Art Adventure!" The girl simply cocks her head to the side and says, "oh, I am sorry...we aren't doing the Art Adventure anymore..."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I immediately had a two millisecond come-to-Jesus-meeting with my face, quickly inserted my filter in my mouth and just sweetly answered, "oh...you're not? That's too bad..we were REALLY looking forward to it...especially since it looked so great on the website. YESTERDAY.

Lesson for the day: Anytime you are planning on attending an activity that includes the word "adventure" in the title...just assume that the actual "adventure" may be the actual process of getting there. Oh yea, and call before you plan your day around anything posted on a website.

No harm, no foul. We headed across the street to the Grace Children's Museum instead. The kids loved the huge tree...this mommy loved the huge tree for providing great photo opps for my kids. We all came out winners.

Have a great weekend.

Summer Fun

Summer is here and I wanted to share some recent pictures with everyone. Meredith is officially 5 months old!! She is pure joy and the light of this family. The older two are in full force with swimming lessons and their latest, greatest new toys: BIKES. If you have never seen a three year old ride a 12 inch bike, it truly is one of the most precious things. They are getting really good at controlling their turns, and their Daddy has even taken them around the block a couple of times. (I am not that brave yet)

Blessings!

Mushy Musings

This weekend I was reminded of why I married the man I married. Saturday night he took me to dinner, just the two of us, and I was so happy to JUST BE with him, that I moved my chair over to the side of the two person table we were seated at, just so that I could be closer to him. We laughed and talked about lots of different things, none of which were the children. He even took me to Starbucks to get a yummy hazelnut mocha, even though he thinks it's a crime to pay $3.86 for a drink. He is my best friend and no one on the planet "gets me" more than he does....I love that about him. We talked about the house we are getting ready to build (I'm sure the drama of that little process will be blogged about extensively later...it will either be blogging or therapy, I'm sure) and even held me while I cried about the idea of leaving the one we're in.

It seemed perfect that the next day was Father's Day...a day to celebrate the amazing daddy that he is to my precious babies. I'm not sure there are three children on the planet that adore their father more than mine do, and I am not sure there is a man more deserving of that adoration. I wouldn't want to share this journey of parenthood with anyone but him....
So, thank you, sweet Cody, for all the ways you make this family feel happy, whole, loved, and safe.

The four of us are nuts about you.

Unsubscribe

Dear Man in Charge of Junk Email,

I am writing to tell you that I am no longer interested in receiving your emails. It seems like every time I open up my email account, anxious to receive some note of value and pertinent information, I am aghast to see that I do not have anything in my "inbox" besides Victoria's Secret emails...and I assure you, it's NOT because they need my just-had-my-third-kid-in-four-years body to model for their semi-annual sale. I do not need anymore GNC vitamins to kick in the energy I once had and have recently decided to try in the pill form, and FunJet Vacation emails are just cruel and unusual punishment for this slave-to-the-gasoline-bill,-Suburban-driving mama that can't bring herself to buy a minivan. If I had time to entertain, then yes, your Crate and Barrel ads would be of benefit as I decorated my outdoor furniture with matching utensils and dinnerware...but my backyard has been taken over by all the stuff I've bought from One Step Ahead, as I receive their emails almost daily. Apparently, they have worked. So all this to say, please unsubscribe me from your email list so that I will not be tempted to buy the nursing bras you just sent in your last ad...I'm not of the opinion that I need to nurse my baby until she's three, but I appreciate the option.
Sincerely,
Claire, Greg, and Meredith's Mama

Winding down...

Ahhh...do you hear that? Silence. I am sitting here listening to the sound of my words being typed because my children are all sleeping...all three of them at the same time. For those of you that do not have multiple children, especially three under the age of five, you have no idea what a tremendous accomplishment it is to get them to sleep all at the same time. I rarely watch tv anymore simply because I have gotten to where I love the quiet....so peaceful. Nothing warms my heart like the sight and sound of my children sleeping.

The reason they are tuckered out is because today was the last day of Cornerstone Christian Preschool for Claire and Gregory. They sang in a little music program and then had a big luncheon. Gregory wasn't too keen on doing the words and the motions...in fact, there were a couple of moments when he looked kind of like a deer in the headlights...I think he was still mad at me for making him wear his "church sandals" instead of his "shoes that make him run fast". It's the little things in life that will make a boy happy....and not so happy....

Claire, however, was in full force...completely in her element. I honestly do not have any idea where she gets her drama from! (haha) She loves to sing and dance and most importantly, loves to sing and dance when lots of people are watching with camaras! I was so proud of both of them, and even found myself becoming a tad bit emotional. Thankfully, I was able to hide behind the camera....

We are officially out for the summer! Pray for this mama as she strives to keep three children fed, clothed, played-with, and cared-for in the coming days. I can't promise that if you see me in the next 10 weeks that I will have on a clean shirt or be wearing lipstick, but my kids will be having a great time! Let the games begin..............!



Blessings to you for a great week.