Happy Thanksgiving!

What am I thankful for this year?

Too much to write.

I am thankful for my family. My precious husband and son. I am thankful for my parents, siblings, in-laws, and grandparents. I got the best!

I am thankful for chocolate! And how it lingers on my four year old students' lips!

I am thankful for a job that I absolutely love. I am thankful for the chubby cheeks of children who resemble my own:)

and I am so thankful for my healthy boy...

Last night, Austin and I had a conversation about my birthday today.

Are you going to get mommy something for her birthday? I asked.

Yeah, mum. I am going to get you a candle.

A candle? I asked. Oh, Austin, that's so nice, you want my house to smell good?

No, mom, I want you to be able to make a wish.

My sweet boy, I already have all a girl could want!

I wasn't kidding...

Last week I wrote an entry about Austin and order.

I promise you. I found him eating an orange this week.

Just like this.

"In Order"

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
I Corinthians 14:40

A few weeks ago, Austin and I went to a parade. I love parades. In just a few days, I will curl up on my couch sitting close to the t.v. and take part in one of my all time favorite traditions... "Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!" I love to sit and watch all the creativity float by me. I love that everything is lined up in order and goes down the street in an organized fashion. I love order. I love straight lines. I love all my cans in a straight row in my pantry. I love organization and by the way, I love my label maker.

The verse above talks about orderly worship, but I think that it speaks about God's nature in general. Our God is a God of order. Thank goodness. Our natural inclination sure does lean towards chaos, doesn't it?

Perhaps he got it from me, but Austin also loves his routines. Every morning, we enter the school in the same way. Austin opens the door on the right and then the door on the left

(I apologize to the nice man who tried to open the doors for us at school today. Although you saw me loaded down with my teaching bags and just wanted to help, my son needs to keep to our routines. I am sorry if he made your ears hurt by his shrieking loud NO!, but he was trying to tell you that every morning he opens the doors for himself and isn't quite ready for our routine to change.)

After opening both doors, he walks down the hallway peeking into each room.
"Is this mommy's classroom?" he asks in a sing song voice.
"No!" he playfully replies as he runs to peek into the next room.
Praise the Lord that my classroom is only the fourth door down the hall!
We peek into Ms. Aker's classroom for a big good morning to the turkey on her wall and then head in to hang up our book bags.

Order... even at 2... he wants this order... he craves order...

The nightime routine? Oh my goodness. James must help him turn the lights off and I cannot forget to hold him in the same way to say prayers.

Please give me order... Something in life needs to be predictable.

And so we watch the parades. The floats go down one at a time waiting until the other passes.

This made me laugh...

I saw this online and it made me laugh. I love things that make me laugh. Welcome to my life:

So You Want To Have Children?

Preparation

Women:

• Put on a dressing gown and stick a beanbag down the front.
• Leave it there.
• Every week, add another beanbag.
• After 9 months, remove 2 beanbags.

Men:

• Go to your pharmacy.
• Empty your wallet on the counter.
• Tell the pharmacist to help himself
• Go to the supermarket.
• Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their front office.
• Go home.
• Read the newspaper… for the last time.

Knowledge

• Find a couple with children.
• Berate them about their lack of discipline, lack of patience, low tolerance, and how their children run wild.
• Suggest how they can improve their child’s sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners and general behavior.
• Enjoy it while it lasts. It's the last time you'll have all the answers.

Nights

• Turn the radio on to some loud screaming station.
• Walk around the room from 5 to 10 PM carrying a 10 pound bag of wet goo while the station screams.
• At 10 PM, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight and go to sleep.
• Get up at 11 and walk the bag around until 1 AM.
• Set the alarm for 3. Since you can’t get to sleep, get up at 2 and make tea.
• Go to bed at 2:30.
• Get up at 3 AM when the alarm goes off.
• Sing songs in the dark until 4.
• Set the alarm for 5. Get up when it goes off.
• Make breakfast.
• Repeat for four years. Look cheerful!

Dressing Small Children

• Buy a live octopus and a string bag.
• Attempt to put the octopus into the string bag so that no arms hang out.
• Time allowed: 5 minutes.

Cars

• Sell the BMW.
• Buy a 5-door wagon.
• Put a large chocolate ice cream cone in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
• Put a peanut butter sandwich in the CD player.
• Mash a box of chocolate cookies into the back seat.
• Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Going For a Walk

• Wait.
• Go out the front door.
• Go back inside.
• Go outside.
• Come back in.
• Go outside.
• Walk down the front sidewalk.
• Walk back up it.
• Walk down it again.
• Walk very slowly along the street for 5 minutes.
• Stop at every piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead bug along the way. Inspect each minutely. Ask at least 6 questions about each.
• Retrace your steps.
• Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
• Give up and go back into the house.
• Repeat for 5 years.

Patience

• Repeat everything you say at least 5 times.

Grocery Shopping

• Go to the supermarket. Take along the nearest thing to a pre-school child: a fully grown goat. (If you plan to have more than one child, take more than one goat.)
• Buy your weekly groceries without letting the goat(s) get out of your sight.
• Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Feeding a 1 year-old

• Prepare a bowl of cornflakes.
• Hollow out a melon through a small hole in one side.
• Suspend the melon from the ceiling.
• Swing it back and forth.
• Spoon the soggy cornflakes into the swaying melon while making airplane noises.
• When at least half of the cornflakes are gone, pour the rest on your clothes and the floor.

TV

• Learn the names of every character from every episode of the Wiggles, Barney, Teletubbies, and every Disney movie.
• Watch nothing else on television for at least 5 years.

Cleanliness

• Smear peanut butter on your sofa.
• Smear jam on your curtains.
• Hide a fish behind the stereo. Leave it there all summer.
• Stick your fingers in dirt. Rub them on your walls.
• Color your other walls with crayons.

Traveling

• Make a recording of someone shouting “Mommy!” over and over. (There may be no more than 4 seconds between each shout.)
• Include the occasional crescendo to the approximate decibel level of a fighter jet.
• Play this tape in your car continuously the 5 years.

Conversations

1. Start a conversation with another adult.

2. Have someone else continually tug on your pants and shirtsleeves while playing the tape prepared above.

Get Dressed

1. On a day when you have an important meeting, wear your nicest work attire.

3. Put 1 cup of lemon juice into a cup of cream. Stir.

5. Pour half of it on your shirt.

6. Saturate a towel with the other half.

7. Attempt to clean your shirt by rubbing it with the saturated towel.

8. Do not change clothes. You're late already!

9. Go directly to work.

You are now ready to have children.

My mouse!

Oh my goodness
I am going to eat him up!
Can you tell I love this little boy?

A Different Perspective

Last weekend was Homecoming Weekend at the University of North Texas. As a part of the events, the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) hosted an alumni reception. Since Austin wasn't very interested in meeting BSM Alumni, he asked if he could take pictures with my camera. I had so much fun today remembering the luncheon through Austin's eyes. He gave me a whole new perspective on our day.

Daddy acting weird

Ryan's head

The rest of Ryan's body

girls talking

mom saying hello

looking up at dad

As I looked through the pictures I realized that life looks very different to my two year old's eyes than mine. Chair's are larger, tables are too high, adults are huge, letters are just objects.

Sure, Ryan is 6' 5", but to mom he's really not "that tall!"
But to Austin, it takes two camera shots to even get him in the picture.

As I sit at my desk tonight looking at my library books, I too feel like the world is so big. I have a paper due this week, bills to be paid, lesson plans to complete, friends to contact, birthday presents to buy... well, you understand.

And yet God is viewing our lives from such a different perspective - holding us in his hands and saying, "trust me, it's not as big as it looks."