Thursday, April 23, 2015

You Shouldn't Have So Many Kids

Not long ago, I had to make a trip to the grocery store. An errand like that used to be simple. Now, with three children four and under, it is anything but simple!

After I made sure the diaper bag was stocked, sippy cups were filled, and shoes and coats were on, I strapped and buckled each child in their seats and we made the 20 minute trip to town. Once there, I unbuckled each child, grabbed a cart, settled my 18 week old in the carrier against my chest and we walked into the store. I noticed plenty people staring at this semi-young woman toting three very small children into a building chocked full of food, toys, and candy where disasters were very, very possible, and I felt like a circus show.

Even more recently I endured a very offensive verbal confrontation in the store which left me rattled for hours. In the spirit of pure selfishness, I was approached by a complete stranger who stared at my kids and then said that one child is bad enough; that by having SO MANY (it's only three, y'all...hardly worthy of the Guinness Book of Records), I'm one to be pitied. How thankful I am that my little ones are too small to understand the complete lack of value our world has for their precious lives!


It's funny when I think about it. Years ago, it was completely normal for women to have five, ten, even fifteen children! And yet, here we are in a society that gawks in disgust when a young woman has three small children. More often than not, they are treated like an annoying disruption to the norm. Pro-choice seems to be only for the ones who want to kill their babies, not for those who want them.

I've blogged about the pill. I've blogged about the blessing of children and how much I love being a mom. Of course, it's exhausting. Of course, there is precious little time for many hobbies that I enjoy. Yes, there are moments when I want to pull my hair out and moments when I would love to just walk out the door without having to fill a diaper bag, load up three crazy kids, and make sure seat belts are tight, a stroller is in the back, and I have extra baby wipes should a crisis occur. But those things pale in comparison to the joy my kids bring. My little boy told me last week that I was "the good-est mom he's ever seen!" My two year old little girl regularly asks me to hold her and randomly gives me the sweetest hugs and kisses. She joins me in the bathroom each morning and brushes my hair while I'm getting ready. My baby girl greets me every single morning with the most precious baby grin and happily falls asleep in my arms every night after a feeding.

To all the nay-sayers, these little miracles with peanut butter smudged on their faces and dirt under their finger nails are eternity with skin on. They're little souls whom God has designed and each of them have a special calling upon their lives. I don't have too many kids. I have exactly what I'm meant to have; exactly what the Creator Himself has given to my husband and me. And I wouldn't trade it for anything.


Monday, April 6, 2015

Silly Bunny, Easter is About Jesus



I find it very sad that Christian parents are having to constantly fight the world to keep Christ as the center of our holidays. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny seem to be the two we struggle with the most as they are at the forefront of our two most important Christian celebrations.

My little boy is currently in love with all things Bible - and I absolutely love that. He is always some Bible character or telling us a Bible story or, more recently, asking questions about Jesus and His death on the cross. This Easter in particular, he is very interested in the story of Jesus and His resurrection which made me all the more excited to do some fun things with my kiddos to celebrate this special time of year.

On the Tuesday before Easter, I gathered my two oldest and we made an Empty Garden Tomb! First, we went outside with a bowl and our garden shovel....


We found a nice patch of grass and dirt and dug it up and plopped it into our bowl.

....we found a pretty flower too

I was too busy keeping little hands away from the knife to document, but once inside, we took a semi-large potato and I cut off one end, then made a small hole for the inside of the tomb. We took the tip of the end I had cut and used that as the stone door to cover the opening.


Nathan ran outside to gather some rocks....

Then he ran up to his room and got his toy Jesus that He HAD to put beside the empty tomb.

Very proud of himself!
Our spunky little helper, all covered in chocolate

To get these great paper banners, you can click here for the free PDF file
over at FreeFunEaster.com

Our finished work! 


Once we finished, we settled down with our favorite Easter DVD, He is Risen, from the Nest Family Series. I used to love this DVD as a child and now I am very happy that both my children love watching it as well.

**On a side note, we also love the new Superbook DVD's.

On the Saturday before Easter, we brought out the Resurrection Eggs and had a wonderful time teaching our kids more about the significance of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. They gathered up all 12 eggs in record time, then we ran back inside with our Bible and Resurrection Eggs pamphlet.

As each egg was opened, they discovered a special symbol inside that told the story of the last week of Jesus' life, ending with his resurrection. I highly recommend this great alternative.






It's so important to saturate our children with the things of God. I encourage you to do all you can to make each day, especially our beloved Christian holidays, completely and utterly about Jesus.

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