So Big!

 Can you believe she is almost 18 months old!  :-O 

 Such a joyful, sweet expression. Here anyway ;)  She saves the stink eye for when she isn't getting her way or for people she doesn't know. ;) LOL

I like this one a lot.  She was telling me about everything she saw... I didn't understand most of it, but it was quite interesting I assure you! :)

Beautiful Day Out

We got to get out of the house! Yea!
We were sick for some time and starting to really climb the walls from cabin fever, but with the beautiful weather we've gotten lately, we all went out for a picnic. :)

"Dad, you aren't really taking a picture of me eating...again... are you?"

Singing as she goes. :)

And I just thought I'd share some sunny, smiley pics :)

Monsters

My son and I were talking this evening, him relating a story to me of a friend who used to tease about monsters.  My kids have not feared monsters for the most part, we have talked about them not being real, but never really had anyone upset about them anyway.

So I ask him, "What if I told you there really are monsters."
He started to give me the "then you'd be wrong" line, but hesitated with a "what are you trying to pull mom" look.

I continue, "There are real monsters that reside here (pointing to his heart) and here (pointing to his head.)" 
Pause, and let it sink in a second.
"The bad things that pass through those places, can change you into a monster if you let them.  Some monsters hurt their kids by beating them black and blue, or by hitting their wife.  You have to decide to watch carefully those thoughts that are in here (motioning again to inside) to make sure you don't become a monster."

He seemed surprised, and contemplative, at the turn in the discussion, but he understood.  We've talked many times about anger, and acting in it.  About treating his future wife the way he has practiced treating women in our home... his sisters and mom.  Or about how he would feel seeing another boy treat his sisters the way he just did.  But using this term monster seemed to sink-in in an new way.
Hoping this new little analogy will help him to think before he acts. :)

Little Things

We may never know the impact of what we do on someone else around us.

Good or Bad.

Words sometimes cannot express the place someone else holds in our hearts, or minds
Actions that may only be seen by others can make an impression that lasts a life time
                                                                                                                even on a complete stranger

I had the pleasure of praising a couple of my kids for actions
           they didn't even realize were so big to someone else. 

Little things.

           Good things.

And like little seeds they take root and develop a bond between the person blessing and the person blessed...

and somewhere in my own heart that line is blurred as both persons are blessed 

whether by the action received or by the action given.

A card

        a note

              a call

 a meal

        a visit

 a game 

     a snuggle for a little one...

it's all so small

and yet so huge to the one that hears in that small gesture

"I mean something."

"I'm loved."

"Someone cares."

And don't we all want to mean something, to be loved and cared for and remembered?

Remember the Little Things.

views

I iron *the* pink dresses. 
   The ones I learned to sew just so that I could make them. 
The pink satiny fabric always looks better freshly ironed;
    as I watch them change from wrinkly to smooth and from dull to shiny
                                                                                                                  I think.

I see in them the mistakes. 
       the imperfections.
The stains I could never get out and the snags that have come.

I also see two little girls excitedly trying them on for the first time.

I see the last time they fit their own dress.

I now see the two little sweeties who are so excited they have grown into them!  They want to wear them anywhere and everywhere!  It is for them that I work to unwrinkle, smooth and shine them tonight.


And yet all they see is the shiny ;) 
                                 and the love that went into making them.
They see the rarely used iron out just for their dresses and can't wait to get into them.
     They see them as special, not noticing the little ink stains, the snags or the sewing mistakes!

It kinda reminds me of another view.

The view I have of myself... my constant failings as a Christian, as a wife, and as a mother... my failings as a friend, or a daughter or a sister... 

                  I view all of my short comings, while maybe others see my strengths or successes.  

The view that really matters is that of God.
    He says that I am no longer condemned if I be in Christ.  
          He says that I am loved by Him.  
                He says my weaknesses are my strengths for His power is made perfect in them.
I'm trying to teach myself to view His view. 
I'm trying to learn to replace my own condemnations with His affirmations (of course I can tell me that I *do* need to make sure that He doesn't have any criticisms for me as well!)

Wish that were as easy as smoothing the wrinkles from those little pink dresses!

wow I've really been a slacker here

I knew it had been awhile since I last wrote, but I did not realize I didn't post a thing in 2012 yet!

Not that I haven't thought about posting, and not that I have anything profound or important to post now. ;) 
I've been sick for a few days and that really leaves me with the thinking skills of jello... so even if I tried to be enlightening or encouraging or inspiring... I'd probably just bounce about from topic to topic never making into anything solid.

This is just a post to say I didn't fall off the planet ;) which you probably already know.
I am hoping to get some of the things I've been thinking down here to share, but for now they are not ready, so I'll keep them a bit longer and see if they turn into anything worth-while.

Hope you are well!
~Blessings!
Monica