Butterfly Girl and Tootsie Roll Boy

Butterfly Girl

*We were at the playground when we saw a butterfly land on the playground equipment. Leah, Hunter, and I cautiously approached so as not to frighten it away. Soon, we were standing right NEXT to it. Then Leah extended her hand, which I thought for certain would frighten it away. Nope. That butterfly stepped onto her hand, then proceeded to “give her kisses” (her words); it stayed on her hand for several minutes, all the while giving her kisses. (I think it was eating the remnants of the fruit strip she had just finished.) At some point, she was done holding it. I tried moving it to Hunter's hand since he wanted to “hold it”, but it decided it had had enough, and flew away. What a special moment!

Tootsie Roll Boy

*Hunter was tugging on my leg, pulling me over to the bay window in the kitchen, so I asked, “What are you doing?”

“We're hiding,” he replied. He then proceeded to have me sit on the vent while he pulled his chair and the small table in front of us.

“Who are we hiding from?” I asked.

“The newt. You're Laffy Taffy and I'm a Tootsie Roll.” Hmmm, I guess the newt likes candy.

 

When Did This Happen?

Something unusual has been happening lately at our house: there are periods of time during the day when the kids are awake that I can actually sit and read a magazine, do Sudoku, or check email...uninterrupted. It's as if overnight they realized that they can play together without mommy or daddy's assistance.

Ahhh, I think I could get used to this... so long as every so often I can ask them if I could play, too.

Transition

Life is a journey, goes the cliche, but maybe it's really a series of transitions. Over the past five years, our family has transitioned to parenthood; to being a single-income family; to being a two-kid family; to losing one set of family friends (to another, and another... the downfall of living in this area, I suppose); to saying good-bye baby years and hello toddler/ pre-school years; to starting a new job. Thus, it seems as if we've been in transition... forever (to use one of Leah's favorite words as of late).

The most recent transition has been Scott's promotion. After waiting just over a year after completing the process, he was promoted to Sergeant at the end of July. He spent the month of July (and part of June) in training, and now he can reap the rewards: supervising a squad. This job is definitely a blessing from God, but I also wonder if God has something else in store for us due to the promotion.

For one, the family has to transition our schedule as a whole; some weeks Scott works two days, other weeks he works five. He works crazy hours (midnight shift), so he gets home when I'm already up and the kids are getting up (not exactly the most restful sleep). Thus his day begins around afternoon naptime (well, on the "days" he's working).

Another thing, the kids don't get to see their daddy too much; they see him for a couple hours between when they get up from rest/ nap and the time he leaves for work. Granted, they only saw him for a couple hours when he was working more normal hours, but something about him tucking them into bed made the time together seem longer. Guess who else doesn't get to see their daddy much? Gone are the nights of just relaxing in front of the TV together after putting the kids to bed. The relatively short time the kids rest also happens to be the time I can get things done (and Scott, too, now), so it's hard to just sit and relax.

Basically, all this to say that this job is a blessing, but it has certainly been hard. We're still trying to establish a new rhythm, a new routine. And that's why I wonder what God has in mind for us. This is our "crisis" moment. "Crisis" might seem a bit strong, but truly that describes where we are. This is a period of stress (even though it's good) that God has allowed at this particular time in this particular season of our lives. He is going to do great things through this, even if I don't know what they will be.

Would-be FB Posts

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm hardly ever on FB, and when I am, I rarely post anything. If I did post updates on our lives, I might mention some of the things below:

*Leah has her future all figured out: She's going to marry Ryan, they'll have four kids (Zach, Mac, Katie, and Sally), and live on a farm with their dogs, cats, and pigs.

*Two years ago June, I gave birth to a handsome baby boy... or so I thought. I was mistaken; it was a monkey.

*Congrats to the hubs on his recent promotion! I'm so proud of his accomplishment and hard work.

*Me: "Leah, what is the laundry basket doing in your room? You know you're not supposed to go into Mommy and Daddy's room when you're resting."
Leah: "Piggy wanted to get it."

*Hunter: "I'm playing the saxophone, Mommy."

*Being able to stay at home and care for our two kids while living on my husband's income is a blessing, one that I've always acknowledged and praised God for. But recently, I realized exactly the magnitude of this blessing considering where we live. To own a home while living on one salary in THIS area? Hmmm, seems almost worthy of the term "miraculous".

*Leah: "Mommy, bend down so I can whisper in your ear." I bent down, expecting to hear her whisper some actual words, but all I heard was "whisper, whisper."