NC sledding

We have a great hill in our back yard for sledding, but I think this is as close as we'll get this year.  And I'm not complaining.

house of boys

With a husband and 3 sons, it is sometimes painfully obvious that I am the one and only female in this house.  I must constantly deal with gross smells and sounds, lack of attention to detail, lots of sports on tv and in my living room, loud mouths, rough-housing, pee all over the bathroom and conversations/comments like these:

Nate:  Look, my penis. (He's standing there with his penis out of his pants, proudly.)
Justin: Put your penis away.  I told you about that.  (We'd both told him about that many times.)

Nate:  Basketball players not grab themselves.  They not take their penis out.  They keep it in.
Me:  True.

Nate:  I need tissue.  I got a bug in my nose.

Nate:  There, much better.  (As he pushes my hair in my face.)

Luke:  If I'm going to be in kindergarten next year I can't be grabbing myself because kindergarteners don't grab themselves.
Me: That's right.  (Sure, whatever you need to hear to make you stop grabbing yourself!)

Me: (Looking at a picture Luke has drawn of a man.) And what are these things?
Luke:  Those are his boogers and ear wax.

Me:  Get your socks and shoes on, we're leaving.
Luke:  There are no clean socks in our drawer.
Me:  Well, get some out of the laundry basket with the clean clothes in it.
Luke:  ok.
Nate pulls out socks from the dirty clothes basket and I just go with it.

Luke: (after being in the bathroom for at least 45 minutes wiping his bottom) Is my bottom clean?

Nate:  (after being in the bathroom for 10 seconds) I done, I done, I done, I done (gradually getting louder each time.)
I go in to wipe and he says: I not done, I go more.
1 minute later: I done, I done, I done, I done (gradually getting louder each time.)

So, my life is certainly not rainbows and flowers or hair braiding and ballet classes, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Because as much as these boys gross me out sometimes, I love that this is my life.  I love all the ways they surprise me every day.  I love the cuddles and I love you's I get in between the tackling and yelling.  I love the drawings I get of me winning the obstacle course and a heart around my name.  I'll cherish these moments until the memories are all I have because that love and affection will be fixed on some other girl (who I really hope is worthy of my boys.)  And I look forward to each stage my boys will go through, even the smelly, grumpy teenage phase when they are embarrassed to be seen with me, because it's all part of the blessing of being a mom in a house of boys.

And for good measure, I'm including a visual aid.  This is what we found after a particularly spirited bedtime in Luke and Nate's bedroom one night recently:

They had been "swimming" and were both wearing swim trunks and no shirts.  Nate fell asleep on the floor (or is that a life raft?). 

And then there's Colin.  Not quite as obvious, but still "all boy" in his own ways.  Here he is impatiently leading his horse friend, Oreo back to the stable.  He waits for no one.

Whether you have a house of boys or girls or both, I hope you're able to enjoy what God has given you!

etsy update

I took a little production break during (and after) the holidays from my new-ish Etsy business to replenish my creative energy.  Now I'm back to work and have learned how to make a new kind of flower that I just love and added shoe clips and soft elastic headbands to my list of items.  I have lots more items made than are listed on the site, so I'm hoping to be adding more regularly now.  To see the new listings, visit my Etsy site, In the Sun.

yes, really.

Yeah, I have to brag on my pastor for a second.  See, being a Christian doesn't mean you have to be solemn and serious all the time.  Sometimes it means enjoying this life we've been given and my pastor, Mark happens to be a good dancer.  I first saw this at our own wedding when he showed off his MTV dance skills to the delight of everyone present.  Now, several years later, he's still showcasing his moves as captured by another cool guy from our congregation.  Click this link and then scroll down, click to play the music and check out the moves.  That's his sweet wife, Holly next to him joining in the fun.  I love it!

"I bree"

Nate is 3!  He got a new basketball hoop and we had an unofficial birthday party with some friends at Plaza Fiesta where the kids ran, climbed and slid until their little hearts were content.  We only took a break for lunch and monster cake balls (yes, just like the ones I made for Luke).  For some reason, Nate was quite a bit messier this time:

Then he had his class birthday party where he wore this great birthday hat and didn't want us to sing happy birthday to him.  He surprised me with this objection to attention.  So against his wishes, we sang anyway.  He LOVES watching the video I took of that, so I guess he was just having a modest moment!

Now he tells everyone that he is almost 5 because he wants to be just like Luke. 
He says, "I bree (3).  I almo bive."  He is still so hard to understand.  It's getting better little by little but articulation is just not his thing.  He says so many words, but I have to ask him to repeat himself constantly.  He patiently obliges until I get it.  So I'm trying to patiently wait for him to speak more clearly!

He's my little charmer; he's able to keep up with the 5 year olds on the playground despite his small stature; he's persistent and opinionated; and he's just the cutest little thing ever.  I'm grateful once again that God knows better what I need than I do, because I sure do need Nate.  Happy 3rd birthday little Nate!

Merry Christmas!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Love,
the Benders

Christmas prayer

Dear God,
Please help me to feel in my heart what I know in my head to be true about the season.  It's so easy to get caught up in the seemingly never ending checklist this time of year (while staying within a reasonable budget that is more than we should spend before we even begin).  Here are a few of the things on my checklist this year:
decorations (currently only partially completed),
Christmas cards (take suitable picture, order cards, address cards, get stamps),
letters to Santa (make sure that some things on Santa's list are here on Christmas morning),
homemade Christmas cookies,
gifts for teachers,
gifts for family (shipped in time),
gifts for kids (not under the tree because I only want to wrap them once),
then there's the ever present laundry, dishes, toilets, floors, random piles of papers and holiday crafts that have piled up in the meantime,
and so on...

Then as I'm attempting to complete the holiday checklist I have to deal with crowded stores and parking lots filled with people who don't seem to be in any rush at all, same with the heavier than usual traffic all over town.   Then there is the post office.  I'm not picky, I'll use any of the self-service stations or stand in line to deal with an unpleasant postal worker.  Either way, I wait forever as people weigh single cards for postage stamps and again, appear not to be in any rush at all. 

All the while, my patience grows thin and my irritability bubbles to the surface more quickly each day.  Even when I try to find a small bit of peace in my car, my options for music are reduced to cheesy Christmas songs that I can't even try to like or one of 3 non-Christmas songs being rotated that I'm so sick of hearing I turn the radio off altogether.  Then, inevitably one of them is stuck in my head so I try again to find something to listen to that won't make me want to crawl out of my skin.  I know I could just make a CD with music I love right now, but I have the checklist and the irritability and so I don't do it.

So, Lord, help me to feel in my heart what I know is true in my head.  Help me to leave behind the stress of a budget and all my have to's in order to embrace the opportunity for joy and peace through love that is available to me.  Help me to look at my children with love and laugh with them.  I want to soak in their youth as I know this stage won't last long.  Help me take time to love my husband instead of taking his presence for granted.  Help me enjoy time with friends as we celebrate the season in community.  Help me to have a heart for serving others who are struggling during a time when it would be easy to focus only on myself and my family.  And help me, above all, to know in the core of my being that none of it means anything if Jesus hadn't been born as a man to live on this earth and give his life to save me from my sins.  When I focus on that treasure and the hope it gives me, all else melts away.  Help me celebrate the birth of Jesus with a heart like His.

¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
 ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
 ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
 ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luke 2:6-14

Merry Christmas!  And may the joy, peace and love of this season be with you and yours.