We Are Frantically Gulping Down Every Last Drop of Summer

Please pardon my continued absence, my friends, while we take care of the important stuff around here.

The Will

There, in the middle of Walmart, it was happening.  Again.  He had chosen to disobey, and when made to sit in the cart as a result of his actions, the fit began.  The screaming, the shaking, the red face.

He's always had a very strong will, but this is a new thing.  My husband and I spoke in hushed tones as we drove away from the store, frustrated and scared and unsure what to do.  After we reached our house, it started up again in full force, until he was dry-heaving from screaming so hard.

My precious boy who can snuggle up to me at the drop of a hat and lay close while I sing "How Great Thou Art" into his ear.  The one who tells jokes and laughs and finds such excitement in life.  My boy who, at 3, already wants to save the world... as long as he can take a light saber and cape with him.  HE is not this one - this boy who throws an angry fit until he's literally sick from screaming for over an hour, allowing nothing to calm him.

Feeling sorry for myself, I found myself sobbing by the end of the week.  Why is he doing this?  What are we supposed to do?  I am so desperately afraid, to the very core of my soul, that we are completely messing up this child!!

The next morning I awoke to this scripture in my email inbox:

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

 I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. 

Isaiah 42:16

My spirit soared within me as I read it, read it again, and then hurried into the bathroom to share it with my husband, getting ready for work.  He has shown me this before, my God.  Yet He knows how human I am, and how I often am lost in this "spiritual amnesia" (as Ann Voskamp so beautifully coined it).

I drank it in; let it fill every crevice of every dark place within my bones.

YES - this is a place we have not known - and we are absolutely blind.  He will lead us.  YES - this is darkness to us.  He will turn it into light right before our awestruck and humbled eyes.  YES - this is most certainly a rough place.  Yet even as I write, He is making it smooth.  He promised it would be so.  And I believe Him with all of my anguished and joy-filled heart.

Be Careful How You Celebrate A Birthday

True, your little girl only turns 5 once.  That being said, if you allow the birthday girl to think she's the star for three days in a row, you just might be setting a bad precedent.  For those of you who desire a loving first-week-of-being-five, with snuggles and kisses and gentle whispers of, "Yes, right away, Mommy!"... here is a list of what NOT to do:

Day One:  Talk all day about the coming slumber party/movie-fest with her 2 besties.

That evening, take her and said besties, along with BOTH Mommy and Daddy, to the theater.

After sodas the size of their heads and an extra-large bag of candy at the theater, proceed to your house where you allow them to eat a giant piece of sugar with extra-fattening sugar added onto the top,

Allow her to model new clothes as if she is the focal point of the evening.

And let her choose not only where to sleep (a giant fortress built by Daddy in the basement), but also at what time she would prefer to travel on to Slumberland.

Day Two:  Awake the Sleeping Beauties to the wafting aroma of birthday-girl pancakes.  More sugary goodness in a whole-wheat pancake disguise.

For a birthday t-ball game that is ridiculously being played while it is 104 degrees outside, be sure your child shares her developing diabetes with the entire t-ball team.

Leave the t-ball game and venture to the grandparent's house where more spoiling awaits.  

*Here is the most fun part - do not miss this step!*  Do not attempt to put the birthday girl in bed before 10:00.  As she was up until midnight the night before with another little chatterbox, this is the moment when you will finally recall, with deathly clarity, the words of your own mother ringing in your ears, "Well if you're going to act like this after you go to a slumber party, then you're just not going to the next one!"

 Day 3:  Detox, detox, detox.  And then when a package arrives from the Utah family brimming over with more presents than the Obama kids have, you can detox all over again.

Oh yes, and make sure to do one more thing.  When, in her delusional and exhausted state, she comes to you 10 times a day and asks you to hold her... put down your laundry, sit down on the chair, and snuggle up close.  

And just try. not. to. blink.

Independence

Remember the Dora bedspread? That girl dresses herself now. I realize what a hypocrite I will be when I

admit this, but she actually wore her Disney Princess pajamas to Kohl's with me last night.

To all the moms I judged pre-children for allowing their kids to look like this when out in public, I sincerely apologize. I now realize how important it is to help them build confidence through making their own choices.

On the agenda for tomorrow: hiding all of the character and holiday clothing behind the sweaters on the top shelf of my closet, followed by fervent prayers that she'll forget all about them.

Ten Years and Better Than Ever

Ten years ago today I married this man.  He is the love of my life; the one my heart loves.  I never could've imagined where the last ten years would take us and I wouldn't change it for the world. I especially never knew how watching him be a tender, loving, so-much-fun Daddy could cause me to fall more in love than ever with him. I am looking forward with great anticipation to all the new adventures God will bring us together!

Little Booger

We have many terms of endearment for Seth:

1. Little Booger!

2. Seth, No!  

3. Don't You Run Away From Me!

4. Seth Jeremy Tyson! 

5. Seth, Listen to Your Momma!  

6. You Get Over Here, Little Booger!

What am I learning from this little fireball?  Never tell God what you can't do.  He will prove otherwise to you.  And He will teach you how to absolutely love evcry minute almost every minute of it.

Inheritance

While some kids eagerly await a monetary legacy, our children have more exciting things prepared for them.

1. A love for decades old science fiction movies that they will probably never fully understand (yet even the 19-mth-old knows "Star Wars Guys" when he sees them).

2. An addiction to caffeine so strong they would rather be playing with coffee pods than watching cartoons.

We just may have played a small part in this insanity. We've tried very hard to back off and let our children be whoever they want to be. We are so proud. *sniff*

We Caught the Fever

Yes, I saw The Hunger Games. And I was not the least bit ashamed to have Sophie and I both sporting Katniss hair to church the following Sunday. There is absolutely no shame in a 32-year-old woman whose body bears the marks of 3 babies in 3 years attempting to look like a 19-year-old movie star who can wear skin tight burning leather flawlessly. After all, when that waiter at lunch mistook me for 30 instead of 32, it was all worth it. Yeah baby.

Have I mentioned just how much I love that girl?

Perseveration

It's a big speechie word. It means being stuck on one idea and you can't stop talking and thinking about it. After this weekend and Will's "traumatic" elevator experience, I've now lived the full and complete perseverative experience through my son. Let's just say I am currently looking up ideas on how to grow my hair back quickly.

In his defense, I have to admit one thing. When we went running like mad rabbits from the Holiday Inn, I was envisioning 30 men dressed in black, swinging down from ropes off the top of the roof with a helicopter hovering overhead, ready to take us to our "new home." But I have no idea where Will gets his crazy notions.

*Sigh*

I want so stinking badly to blog more often. Somehow it escapes me night after night. Before I know it the date of my last post was weeks ago and the picture that stares back is becoming increasingly irritating, like the skipping DVD player that wasn't so bad at first but gradually grew to a point where you wanted to pull the DVD player from the wall, cord and all, and smash it to smithereens against the floor. Of course I've never felt that way, I can just imagine that some people have.

Tonight it was Continuing Education that almost stole every minute away. Tomorrow it will be more of the same, along with some bills to pay. The next night? Laundry. Or dishes. Or perhaps laying in my husband's arms for a stolen few moments to chat.

Yet then I see this picture. I see them. This is truly what God has called me to: to love them during the day, not me. To see them and be with them - in the moment with them. Not working on another chore, not at my computer, not reading my books, NOT focused on ME. I am thankful, I am blessed beyond measure, I desire to be full of His love. Because He chose to love me, I choose to love them. And if that means blog posts are rare, I can live with that.

(Anyway, who really cares about updating my silly blog, when you can gaze at this picture for weeks to come?)

Turning 3 In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Learning how to make a 3 with your fingers is tough work:

The evil Ben "Darth Vader" Tyson was no match for the Jedi-Padawans:

Light saber cake pops and Death Star cake pops (insert chuckling):

To say I love him is just not nearly enough.

What a fantastic adventure the last 3 years has been with our Will!!

What Winter Blues?

Today Old Man Winter actually thought he would try to claim this season as his own again. Who knows where he came up with that idea. Before he decided to bring his ugly face back to these parts, we took prime advantage of his absence.

God's Mighty Warrior Will cannot get enough of this swing. Or playing his guitar to the song Iron Man. We are praying he forgets about that song long before he's old enough to realize it's all about a crazed time traveler who ends the world by killing everyone.

We didn't have the heart to say, "No, honey, you can't draw on our porch because we are trying to sell the house and people who are looking at it may not think it looks pretty." So instead the chalk remains on the porch as a sort of foreshadowing to all who enter: Children live here. Don't expect much.

Yes, folks, his hair is very red. And yes, it is true what they say about redheads. Someday when I'm 50 and he's away at college I will laugh. Today I will just gaze at this picture and remind myself that at least he is cute, and I will never have to worry about him sticking up for himself. And he's cute.

Everything Is More Fun With Cousins