Ci Ci Pizza Adventures

        It has taken a week for me to finally sit down and record this little adventure that we had. This had to be written, because SO FAR, this has been the WORST restraunt experience that we have had with children. And i am sure that years later I might just forget.
        It all started on your typical Sunday, after church. The husband was wanting to do the typical thing, go out to eat. Myself, noting the extent of childrens' fatigue and whininess decided it needs to be something quick and close by. So, we chose Ci Ci's pzza. They have buffet!
         Generel had been told by his Father to turn around in his seat. A second later, the chair and Generel, came crashing down to the ground, and of course there was a great amount of screaming. At that same moment that he fell, in my head, I could have sworn I saw his leg bend backgrounds. So I jump up and run to him, with my chair flying through the air, and clattering to the ground. (Let me go ahead and tell you, for those with your hearts beating out of your chest, the boy is okay) Of course, all eyes are on us. Generel's knee looks like it is swelling up and has bruise all around it. It was hard to tell though, because he still has chunky baby legs. For a few minute there I thought we were going to have to take him to an emergency room. People started coming to check on him. A very kind nurse came to look at him, declared that he was proably okay, but kept reminding us where the urgent care was.She then went to the manager to get some ice. He came out, whistling, did not say a word to us, and handed us a bag of ice. Meanwhile, severel little boys, notice I said boys, not little girls, came up to us and told us of their terrible chair drops, one of which even lost a toenail. Eventually, all calmed down, with Generel sitting in his daddy's lap, with ice propped on his knee. I thought to myself, ' Okay, now everyone can finish now that we don't have eyes on us." I offered to take Generel since I was done eating and Aaron needed to finish.
          Michaela was sitting next to me intent on dessert. She had already taken another slice of pizza, so we told her when she finishes she can have dessert. We had told her twice, with not very positive results. The third time was nuclear. She started screaming, "I want a brownie!" screaming and crying while she says it. While she is screaming, she is tearing up her pizza angerly, throwing it across the table. She is so mad, that she knocks her ice water on to my lap. It took all had not to throw Generel off of me and jump up yelling myself. Meanwhile, her yelling has caused the baby to start screaming, and Gavin was about to lose it because he was so tired. I got Gavin under control by giving him "The Look". This all happened in a matter of seconds. I took the little out of contol girl to the restroom to administer corporeal punishment. She screamed. I am preety sure the whole restraunt heard her. When she was finally calm, I brought her out. The manger was standing across the room, looking at us, having a look on his face that said to me, " I wish they would just leave." So we did. Aaron says to me, "Wow, that is a new experience that I hope will not be topped." And I said to him, " Yeah, we are not going back there for a really long time."

Things that I Love

   I a friend of mine recently pointed out that I am her dumping ground for my life. In other words, she is basically the only one that hears all my junk. Which is okay, she says. We discussed this in a nicer way than it sounds. Well, I was a little dissapointed in my self, apparently I turned in Debbie Downer, and I did not realize it. Now, granted, my life has benn a lttle crazy lately, but that is no excuse! So, in a effort to fix this, and to make sure that I do not look back on these early years of parenthood as merely surviving, I am going to try a running list of things that I enjoy about my children.
1. They way Shepherd looks at me excitely and jumps up and down in his crib when I come in to get him.
2. They way Michaela wakes up Generel up every morning, ' Wake up, Generel, Wake Up!" and then leads him and Shepherd in renditions of Deep and Wide.
3. When I walk through the door and Michaela says to me. "Mommy, your here!, Mommy your here!
4. Generels adoration of Thomas the Train.
5. The best hugs from Shepherd
May, 27, 2011
6. The way Michaela comes up to me for no reason and pats my cheek and then kisses my knee.
7. Gavin, for his concern for homeless people and their lack of pillow pets.
8.Generel, and his love for everything firefighter, and when he says to me," They are not rain boots, they are firefighter boots."
9. Shepherd, for his very early love of music, when he sticks his hands in the air, palms open, tiny fingers back, looks like he is worshiping Jesus as he listens to music.
10. Michaela's raspy voice.
11.The bronzened torso of Gavin from playing in the sun, and the now white "fur" that is on his back and shoulders, that was so black the day he was born, he looked like a little gorrilla baby.
12. The rosy cheekness of the twins, after playing outside, with the hair wet on the forehead, all culed up, forming a frame around the big blue eyes and long lashes.
13. Michela's comment yesterday, "Mommy, we have to talk.' " I have a bugbite.'
14.Generel's half smile, with the gleam in his eye, that reminds me so much of my little brother.
15. With that same look he exclaims to me," I am going to drive the car.' as he goes toward the driver's door.

Jesus knows the Insanity

   
     Let me tell you about my last couple of weeks. First of all, have you ever potty trained twins? It is not for the faint hearted. It is like living in a swirling vortex of poo and pee. And then there is the one year old. Poor child... he does not handle pain very well at all. He is teething his molars. Every night for the last two weeks, he is awake for two hours straight, in the middle of night. He is half asleep, moaning, banging his head agaisnt his crib. No amount of pain medicine helps. My husband sleeps right through it, which is good. After two weeks of this, I feel like I have a newborn in the house again. Amongst this insanity, the stomach bug decides to visit myself and the three eldest. Four days of vomiting, diarrhea, and messy area rugs that are so bad that they have to be dragged out to the back deck so that they can be hosed down. No joke. My husband was blessed with a new full time job. Which is fantastic, but means that he is also in the process of wrapping up jobs that he had already commited to. Let me translate for you... he does not get home until after dinner time and bed time. I am on my own. For some people, this is no big deal. For me, it means, ummm... we can hold off on baths for another night. To add to the non-stop mini trials, I have a horrible chest cold while trying to care for the four blessings under four.    
           With that being said, one morning, I was cleaning urine off the floor, again, listening to my four year old say," Look at me mommy, Look at me me" for the 10th time in a minute, while trying not to throw up. Wanting to scream and cry, I reminded myself that Jesus had to endure even more insanity than this. Than the little devil on my shoulder said, " Yeah, well, he did not have four small children. " Now don't judge, I quickly flicked him off my shoulder. So, I was retelling this story to a friend of mine, when she reminded me of the story of the women who had the issue of blood in Mark 5:25. Something interesting happened to Jesus. This made me curious to see how his day started. I was a bit amused at what I had found.
    His day had started like many moms, in the middle of the night. It starts in Mark 4:35. There was a storm and Jesus was asleep. His disciples were freaking out. Look familiar. I used to love thunderstrorms. The bigger, the better. Now, the question is, which of the four is going to freak out. Or you may be up, because of throwup, teething, or nursing a newborn.
      So they land the boat, and, "immediatly a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him." This man was demon possessed. In verse 5:5 it states that, "Constantly night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains." When I get up in the morning, the first child to greet me is my 4 year old. And there are days that I have had to reestablish my authority. And sometimes it takes all day. It drains me physically and mentally. And there is great screaming and yelling from him. And there have been times that it seems the child is possesed. Now... don't deny it, you have had those moments, too.
       In vereses 21-43, he is met by a lage crowd, who had many needs that involved healing. When I am surrounded by my "large crowd" it is also for healing. This toy needs to be fixed. batteries replaced, or boo boos that need to be kissed. And, as Jesus experienced many times through the gospels, the large crowd needed to be fed.
        Not only did Jesus have four children, he had thousands of children he was ministering to in one day. The love I have for my children is indescribable. The love that Jesus has for his children is unimanginable and unmeasurable. He knows how hard my days are, his understanding is perfect. He was fully God, but also fully human.He never stopped being God, but he was totally submitted to the will of his Father, and completly depended on the Holy Spirit. That is why in verse 5:30, when the woman touches him, Jesus felt, " the power proceeding from Him had gone forth." He was being drained, and he still had a full day ahead of Him. This was the power of the Holy Spirit. Because He was fully man, he was depended on the Holy Spirit. He often went away to the wilderness, or to the garden to pray. He needed this time to ask the holy Spirit to refresh Him with this power, so that He could seek and do the will of the Father. Luke 4:1 and 4:18 speak of the holy Spirit filling Jesus to do his Fathers work.
       We are not God, but we are fully man. And just like Jesus, our power is also drained. So we, even more, need to steal away to be with the Father, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us to do the Fathers will. Believe me, I know how difficult it is to find time to be with Him. But there are many days that I have thought to myself, "Thank you Lord, that I am your child, because without you and the Holy Spirit I could not minister to these children and love them, and not lose my mind."

Not Quite Five...

  We went. To the doctor. It was a horrendous adventure. One that I care not to repeat. It was a come to Jesus meeting for all involved. I made the descision not to bring the double stroller. Bad idea. This was not the first time. Other times it went well. They were instructed on their behavior beforehand. No wrestling, no fighting, and when the doctor is speaking and when I speak to the doctor you are to be as quiet as possible. Gavin was instructed in his role as big brother. Then apparently aliens swooped down and replaced their brain with children who did not know the wrath of this mama. It was embarrasing, so then I had to admit the sin of pride. They wrestled, they talked while the doctor talked, they crawled under the chairs. I played the daddy card when we were finally in the van. Your daddy will speak to you when he gets home. When we got home I asked Michaela, "What did you do wrong?" Her big blue eyes wide, and in her still baby voice, " I dun no" as she shrugs her shoulders. I turn to Generel, the same question. " I had bad a'tude?"  with a perplexed look on his face. Surely they remember, or did the aliens return my children just in time? And then there is Gavin. He knows. He is already apoligizing. He  also had apoligized for the same behavior he did yesterday. So I told Gavin, if you are really sorry, then show me, change your behavior. He is in his room now. It is unusually quiet. I told him to speak to Jesus about this. He says he does not want to. But it is so quiet. I have to remind myself that he is not quite five. There is hope for him. I have not ruined him yet. Said with a giggle and a sigh. I want him to love Jesus with a never ending passion, but I can't force it. So I pray for the Lord to give me wisdom, and remind myself that he is not quite five...

My Shepherd

     I have a little man named Shepherd. At 4 a.m. last night he lived up to his namesake for the first time in his short little life. I am exhausted, frustrated, and stripped of all MY strength. But this is exactly where HE wants me. It has been a long six weeks. Shepherd has a very LOW pain threshold. He lets everyone know that he is teething. For two weeks he cries every night for two hours straight. Every additional day of this leaves me in a deeper fog. While this is going on, three of the children and myself come down with the stomach bug. 2 a.m. vomiting sessions that require deep cleaning. Do I need say more... Meanwhile gym sessions, playdates have been cancelled. Which I think most moms would agree that this is crucial to a mom's sanity. I am alone for days on end with 4 children under 4 in a sick, fatigued fog. Just when I think life will resume to normalcy, I come down with the most horrendous cold ever. seven days. They say God will not give you anything that you can not handle. Well, I guess I can't handle being that sick with sleepless nights, because he had mercy on me, because for 6 nights everyone slept through the night. Yesterday, I was finally starting to feel like myself, even worked out. Shepherd has a fever, cough, pulling at his hear. I slept an hour. At 4 a,m, I am crying. How am I going to do this? On one hour of sleep. Take care of these 4 small children without losing my mind? So frustrated. Just want my life back. Shepherd is screaming. I rermember, he loves music. I put in my WOW hyms C.D., and he relaxes. He falls asleep on my chest. My little Shepherd takes me to my SHEPHERD. As I listen to the music, HE calms me, HE reminds me, He reassures me, that yes, there is no way one I can do it, but HE can. So here I am, in a fog, I can hardly talk, about to take 4 little people to the docter, reminding myself that the SHEPHERD can do it.

Introduction

This is my first blog post. I would love for my blogs to be filled with wonderful words of wisdom, humor, and moments that will lead you to Christ. And perhaps, sometimes, that may happen. But, I want to be truthful, and sometimes I have very human moments, when I am just trying to survive. So I tried writing my first post, three times. and then I realized that I just need to write. This is really for me, then anything. I want to remember the wonderful things that my little people say, and do. Also, I would love to look back, and hopefully see, how Jesus has changed me in these early years of motherhood. So lets see what happens...