Working on a Heart of Gratefulness

My life is CRAZY right now. Can I say I wouldn't recommend serving on the board of the school's PTA, chairing the room mom committee, being a liaison for 4 other committees AND running a lunch program? I am insane. I did it to myself and right now the only valuable lesson I've learned is that at least I am making these mistakes early in the girls' lives so hopefully they won't remember too much of this. I hope, I pray. I keep telling myself (and Tad) that even though I'm technically working 40 hours a week for free, I at least have current work experience just in case I choose to go back to work anytime soon. I do think the girls, especially Sarah-Grace, find comfort in the fact that I'm pretty much at the school or involved in almost every aspect of the school everyday. At church on Sunday we were asked to try and pursue a heart of gratefulness each day by writing down 10 things (small or big) that we are thankful for that day. So even though I cringe every morning when my alarm goes off and my stomach aches when I look at my calendar I choose to have a heart of gratefulness today. Today I am thankful for…
1. A husband and 2 precious little girls.
2. A calendar that is full of activities.
3. The opportunity to serve at my children’s school, to be involved and have a voice for my children’s needs.
4. Being able to stop by and watch my girls in class. Sarah-Grace usually invested in some detailed math problem and Charlotte eating snack for the 3rd time that day!!
5. The benefit of forgetting snack the second week in a row and no one really saying anything to me because they are too worried I might snap.
6. A mother-in-law who calls out of the blue because she misses seeing her grandchildren since last week and wants to know if she can pick them up any day or if I need to drop them off to run some errands. A mom who is willing to drive Sarah-Grace home everyday so Charlotte can get a good long nap (even though today she was at JeJe’s house).
7. Cousins who call or write an e-mail out of the blue with encouraging words for no reason – just because.
8. The fact that as of this very moment I only have 3 loads of laundry to get “caught up”.
9. Friends to pray for over days, and months and years.
10. Answered prayers, especially for those expecting little miracles of their own!

Grace-r-osity

Well, it was that time again on Saturday. I measured Sarah-Grace's hair last week and she was begging me to take her to get it cut. So on Saturday, after she convinced her daddy to get online and donate $10 from her piggy bank to the 'Nothing but Nets' program for Africa she insisted we get her hair cut and donated. I took her to a children's hair salon I heard about and below are the pictures from our trip. I must say that Sarah-Grace is such a generous, thoughtful, sensitive and compassionate little girl. Everyday she just amazes me with the things she says and does. I am so blessed to be her mother and I can't wait to see what an amazing woman she grows up to be!! I've listed just some of the little stories about her below. I love her so much!!


- So on Saturday Sarah-Grace had Tad count up all her money (over $100) from her piggy bank. We had NO idea she had that much money. She really doesn't get that the money is for her - she thinks it is all to give away. She really wants to sponsor a child in Africa because she was up late one night and saw a commercial and hasn't stopped talking about it. In the mean time we all agreed she could donate $10 to the Nothing but Nets campaign that sends nets to families in Africa to use when they sleep and protect them from mosquitoes that carry dangerous and fatal diseases. This she also saw on TV. Their logo is "let's cover Africa". Anyway, while Tad and Sarah-Grace were online trying to donate the money Charlotte kept yelling for Sarah-Grace to come play with her. Sarah-Grace finally frustrated with Charlotte screamed back "Charlotte just wait a minute I am trying to cover Africa right now and when I'm done I will come play with you". Priceless.

- We had the Discovery channel on the other day and a special on tornadoes was on. Sarah-Grace asked me if God created the earth and loves us all then why would he let a horrible storm come destroy things and kill people. I told her that her daddy was the one who turned the Discovery channel on, he's the science guy in our family so go ask him!

- I thought it was genius of me to "pass the buck" to Tad on the whole tornado conversation. However God "one upped" me the very next day! I was reading the new princess Bible that Sarah-Grace received for Christmas. We were reading the story of Adam and Eve's fall. I finished reading the story and was ready to put her to bed when she asked, "Mommy, I don't understand. If God wanted to be with Adam & Eve in the garden then why did he put the tree there in the first place, why did they have to have rules?". Are you kidding me? What child gets done with the creation story and asks this question? Maybe lots, but no one ever asked this question in my Sunday school class. We asked questions like, can snakes really talk, why didn't Adam stop Eve or not listen to her. It ended up being one of the most amazing conversations she and I have had. We talked about free will and how the only way that God could show Adam & Eve that their obedience to Him was their choice and Him not forcing it upon them was to have a rule, this tree. I was so amazed she actually understood what I was trying to say. She has been so excited about our conversation she begs to read her Bible with me every night. I was so amazed that when she asked such a deep question at her age God gave me the words to explain an answer to her.

- Last story, this one I'm sure everyone but Tad & me will think is funny. So, Sunday we went to church. We are in the drive through (at Starbucks of course) afterwards and Tad and I are having a discussion in the front seat. Tad decided to reprogram all of his seat settings and radio stations on my keyring and I was simply pointing out that he was wrong in doing so. He begged to differ. Sarah-Grace was sitting in the back seat and said "Um, Mommy & Daddy you know what we studied in church today?" To which we responded "No, What?" And she said, "Peace". Tad and I busted out laughing. She then went on to say that we needed to decide if we wanted to be "peace makers" or "peace breakers". Nice, real nice.

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Christmas Morning

We have a million pictures, but I think this video sums it up. The girls had a great morning - we still don't know what Sarah-Grace told Charlotte.

International Night 2007

International Night is an event the girl's school hosts each year. Each child dresses in a costume (preferably a from a specific culture), each class stands and sings a few songs and the parents bring food from the region/country of their heritage. The girl's class studied Africa and the songs they sang were I'm Proud to be an American, Put a Little Love in Your Heart and Lean on Me. What these have to do with Africa I have no idea - but it was adorable. That is until Charlotte decided her belly was more interesting than paying attention and singing like she was suppose to. Nope, instead she thought pulling a string from her skirt and then insisting someone come take it from her was far more pressing to accomplish. Tad didn't happen to video the part where Sarah-Grace finally tired off Charlotte's antics grabbing the string from Charlotte - which ensued a small tug of war until the teacher came to get it. Sarah-Grace never stopped singing or looking forward like she was suppose to when she grabbed the string or when Charlotte went looking for it once Sarah-Grace grabbed it. Mind you my 2 children were at the CENTER of the line of children on stage. It was hysterical.


This video was when they were singing sweetly...




OK, and here is the beginning of the debacle...