Weekend Everyday Occasion moments...

We were all hangin' out in the living room yesterday afternoon. The Steelers, at that moment, were winning against the Bengals with the Hubs cheering them on and the boys were sprawled out on a comforter on the floor. The Bubs was watching Thomas vids online while next to him the E-man was happily chewing away on one of his toys. After the mess and upheaval of last week with all the continued construction, my being laid low with a nasty stomach bug, and all the usual craziness that goes on with having a busy family we needed to just BE. Be in our house, be together, be at rest...BE.

I happened to glance down and catch the funniest expressions on E-man's face as he tried to figure out what his big bro' was up to. And, as most of you have guessed, the camera came out! The Hubs snuck it to me so that neither of the boys were distracted. We needn't have worried. They were both so intent on what they were doing that neither of them noticed what we were up to.

Oops! I hear the E-man waking up from his nap...I'll leave you with these pics. Thanks for stoppin' by!!

Epiphany while wearing P.J.'s

Rocking, rocking, rocking......

E-man's slowly going limp on my chest, drifting into dreams and rest. I'm covered in baby messes and wearing the same p.j. pants I wore yesterday, not yet having had a chance to change out of them...and it's going on 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

The Bubs is in his bed having disobeyed me about something we'd already had many talks about. No big scene or useless yelling, just a few words to remind him of the rule and why he's being punished. I don't hear anything so I think he's gone to sleep. That's probably what he needed anyway. The memory of his little face falling when I told him that he was too good and too smart to have pulled the stunt that he did is still fresh in my mind.

The house is even messier than usual. Furniture shoved here and there, boxes scattered in the kitchen waiting to be filled before the demolition begins, patches of plywood here and there waiting to be replaced with finished flooring, along with the usual air of unkemptness that accompainies the middle of the week. Here I sit, lacking the energy and motivation to dive in and tackle it all.

The Hubs woke up this morning with pain, as he does all too often these days. His appointments have been postponed yet again. I can't help but feel frustrated on his behalf...these appointments are a big part of figuring out why, slowly and painfully, his body is betraying him.

In the middle of all of these things, I have an epiphany that quiets the frustrations, worries and distractions: I am blessed.

Yes, I said blessed.

I have a wonderful family that, even though we have our struggles, I love and who love me in return. I have a home in a world where having one has become a precious thing and not just the accepted norm. I have a Saviour that, no matter my many failings, stumblings and wrongdoings, continues to faithfully and lovingly forgive me.

Such simple, wondrous things that I know are infinitely dear, but I had begun to lose sight of their value as I let myself get caught up in distractions that come with the process of living life.

There you have it, my big epipany while wearing baby puke covered p.j.'s.

Looking, asking, listening....

When I worked as a teacher's assistant (among other things) in an elementary school a few years ago, I quickly learned that you literally had to have eyes in the back of your head. Not only could you easily miss the big things in a classroom full of 25 to 30 kids who all come from different backgrounds and are at different levels educationally, the small details that sometimes matter the most, particularly to a child, can be overlooked. The usually laid back kid who comes in grumpy, the child who sleeps through parts of the class or even the child who eats so ravenously at lunch you can hear them down a noisy table.....sure, all of these circumstances have the potential to be aggravating or even a concern. I've worked with each of these kinds of children and I learned from a few wonderful educators to look beyond the aggravating behavior to the cause. How to do this complicated thing? Simple. Just ask.

Ask the gumpy child what's goin' on. Maybe a child on the bus or in the hallway on the way to class is being a bully to them.

Ask the sleepyhead what time he/she went to sleep the night before. Maybe there is a family crisis happening and the child isn't getting good rest.

Ask the noisy eater why they eat so ravenously. Maybe they don't get to eat when they get home.

With children you never quite know what their answers will be. I've heard every reason for unusual behavior from being abused in some way to a simple, "Mom didn't give me my favorite cereal this morning!".

Could I or the teacher I worked with fix every single problem that walked through our door? No. Could we make our students feel safe, cared for and challenged while they were with us? Most definitely. For some, the simple kindness of asking if they were okay was enough.

This all came back to me in a flash when, last week, I noticed a student come in to the school's Homework Haven program (before school) with both shoes untied. This is a habitual thing for the child and I wasn't very surprised. Since I was volunteering in the laptop station with Dad, he got to the student first to tie the loose shoelaces....the shoes, at second glance, were a full size too small. Well, no wonder the child didn't want to tie those shoes! Dad, who used to work in a shoe department, checked where the big toe was to make sure. Yep, he needed new shoes.

Dad's card in hand, I made a quick run to Wally World later that morning and got that youngun some shoes. When I returned to the class, I was a bit worried that the shoes wouldn't be what the child would like. I shouldn't have worried one bit! That sweetheart "ooohhed and aaahhhed" over those things like they were limited edition Nikes, y'all! And then he said something that made my breath hitch in my chest. "Thank you! My feet don't hurt anymore."

A few days later that student's mom wrote the dearest thank you note. She explained that she was temporarily out of work and knew that her child's feet hurt, "but what was I to do", she said. She offered to pay us back and was proud to say that she had just started a new job. She went on to thank us for taking care of her baby when she could not. It was all I could do not to lay all over the desk I was sitting at and weep. I quickly let Dad know about the note and after he read it, he told the child that, "Your momma doesn't need to pay me back. Why did we get those shoes for you? Because we love you."

Says it all, doesn't it?

Sometimes in this information inundated world I think it's easy to forget to just.....ask. Ask how someone's day has been, ask if life's going okay, just care enough to ask and listen.

As I was leaving the school that day, this song came on the KLOVE radio station. It perfectly suited the occasion. My little Everyday Occasion.



Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Sometime in the 1950's a little boy was born. True, he was only one out of the millions of children born that year to families worldwide, but this one was special. He was going to be my Daddy.

A gifted little boy who played the piano by the age of 5 and then went on to play for his church a few years later, he was the first of four children. He did not have an easy childhood, the details of which I won't go into in order to respect his privacy. However, he did find refuge in a special lady named My Mama Kathleen, his grandma. To this day he still talks about how good she was to him and the different times she took up for him....and her freshly baked biscuits that they'd poke a hole in the side of and then fill up with honey or molasses. I never get tired of those stories, even though I was never able to meet her in person. She passed on the year I was born. I'm grateful to my great-grandmother that she took the time to help a little boy cope with what was going on in his life.

Dad has always been very protective of my brother and me. I think that's caused me to be protective of him, too. Growing up, I remember people not understanding him. Mostly because he was ahead of his time and very much an individual. Whether it was in his classroom or directing music at church, he was a dynamic force of nature that strove to follow the Lord's direction for his life. I'm sure it wasn't always easy for him to stand up for what he believed in, but it sure taught this little girl a thing or two about integrity and grace under pressure....even if I didn't know what those qualities were at the time.

I also remember watching my Mom alowing him to be himself and even encouraging it when others may not have understood it. When Dad wanted to start using music in his regular education classes years before anyone else was doing it, Mom was right there. When Dad wanted to start using choruses and more progressive songs for the Praise and Worship portion of our, then, home church's services, Mom was singing right along with them. Through all of that I learned that it was a good thing to be unique and try new things despite being teased and made fun of and that having the loving support of a spouse did wonders. Dad still bounces ideas off of Mom and she gives him her honest opinions...even when he may not wanna hear 'em! *smiles*

The same man that some didn't understand or considered to be odd went on to be named Teacher of the Year for his school 6 times and the county Teacher of the Year once. He was recently nominated for an award and won a $1,000 worth of classroom supplies and equipment from our local Staples store. He's released two c.d.'s and still gets calls from churches trying to entice him into directing their music. I guess it took some people a while to catch up with what our family already knew!

So Happy Birthday, my precious Daddy! You are a wonder and I delight in spending time with you and getting to know you. Remember, you're not just my Daddy you're my friend.