Clean-up in Pew #13

I'm not really a "churchy" kind of gal, and my "religion" is an amalgamation of many beliefs, tolerance, and agreements. But my heart is in the right place, and for the most part I try to think about and do what is right. When I slip up, and I definitely do, I try to apologize, reap the consequences, and learn the lessons.

I started taking the kids to church a couple of years ago. They like it and I am grateful that we have been very welcomed by our little church family.

I have taken my son to "big" church three times. ~Flashback to about a year and half ago...

The first try... As I was searching for my money for offering, he grabbed the little change purse that he and his sister had been playing store with all weekend. How cute, I thought. Now, I also thought this contained their fake money. I could not have been more wrong. He had taken an opportunity when I wasn't looking to replace that fake money with the brand new marbles that he received from his Pappy the previous evening.

As the service began, he opened up the bag and dumped the marbles onto the floor. Until that very moment, I had never realized we had wooden floors underneath the pews. We sat in the back so we could leave if need be without causing too much commotion. "WeeeeLL><isn't that speeecial?" The Church Lady's voice rang in my head as my good intention just flew right out the window! Even the preacher ended up returning a marble and I'm pretty sure I expressed all the shades of pink I could turn within 30 seconds.

The second attempt, I knew better. He stayed for a little bit. I brought something paper, crayons, etc. But the singing got him (which I get, it was a bit dramatic), and we made a calm and casual exit. Ten minutes later, one of the mothers from the nursery came to get me. Evidently my darling little heathen had decided to hide out in the bathroom and then suprise-flash the girls when ever they came close to the door and total chaos had ensued in the childcare room. GRRRRReat! "...like the FRU-IT's of the DEV-IL," the Church Lady echoed in my head.

At this point, I was kind of waiting for a call from the preacher. It never came. My guess is that maybe the thought was that we probably really "needed" a little more churchin'.

Flash forward to yesterday...

A year has passed and we've made some progress. He was the shepherd with a somewhat devilish grin in the Christmas program, and we've been to the early morning, smaller service with success and no major interruptions or loss of clothing.

So yesterday we went to "big" church again to watch his sister perform during the Children's moment. All was well until the director asked if there were any other children who wanted to come forward, and up he went. Now, I thought he would be ushered to just sit and watch. But, noooooo! He hopped on the stage wasn't directed to the steps or front pew or anything. "Oh! This is bad," I thought.

Well... he proceeded to perform his own version of the song and sign language. I began squirming and blushing, the congregation began laughing, and he HAMMED it up all the more because of the prior two facts. At some point, you just have to smile and go with it, and fnd yet another lesson of humor in humility.

Thank Heaven, for little boys... and easy-going steeple people.

@ Dana Carvey(aka- The Church Lady), eat your heart out while you perform your "Superior Dance!"
-And if you don't know that I just referred to, I'm totally judging you, so look it up on youtube ;-)



Weellll, isn't that special?



Hot Lips

Lip balm, anyone? I keep Burt's Bees in business.

My son can't stop kissing. He is an affectionate little bug. He loves to cuddle, must have a good snuggle before retiring in the evening, and gives fantasic hugs. When I leave him in the mornings, two goodbye kisses and hugs just will not do. We have a minimum of three. I know the time will come when he will no longer want to give me a hug or a peck on the cheek if anyone is around, and I truly dread it.

However, we may have a small problem. Apparently he loves all the girls and he is the kissing bandit, stealing sugar left and right as he swings his way through the monkey bars. He has pulled cards at school because of his insatiable urge to smooch.
We have talked about this in length at numerous times during his life and he just can't esssplain himself, Lucy! He will resist for a short time when scolded, but then he is back at it within a day.

He has always luurrvved the ladies. When he started walking, he would follow my more apple-bottomed friends around to pat their bottoms as they had just become reachable. It was like he had just been waiting to walk for that purpose. A cassanova to the core, or perhaps a better description is a pint-sized Pepe le Pew!

So what does this say about the man he is to become? Perhaps he will be a lover, not a fighter? Maybe he will be a fantastic husband one day, the kind that tells his wife how beautiful she is and really means it. Hopefully his heart-openness will serve him well in life.

I keep telling him that, "Son, no means no, you can't just go around kissing people that may not want to be kissed!" My friends say he will learn and maybe it will just take that early experience of trying to steal a kiss from the little girl who lays him out on the playground.

For now, I'm issuing a warning. Parents be warned... Pepe is on the loose and he may try to kiss your daughters. He means no harm, he is just full of affection and likes to lavish it on those who happen to be within a vicinity of a playground near you. I'll do my best to help guide him towards being a good man, but honestly, I'm just grateful that he is past his biting and flashing stages(fingers crossed at I type that).

Moving On

I have kids doing yoga in my living room RIGHT NOW! They asked to do it, they put in the DVD, and they are doing it. This is soooo cool to me. The smell of crab, feta, spinach quiche and pumpkin bread is seeping from my oven. We spent the afternoon playing soccer and climbing jungle gyms in the park. This was a good day. Maybe good doesn't cover it. This is stellar in my book.

Yesterday I was blotting my eyes to see if anyone could tell I had been crying before dinner at church. It is simply amazing to me how quickly life can change directions.

I saw a little quip today about a comedian who told a joke and the whole room laughed. Then he told it again and again and again until no one was laughing. And the moral was... if we don't laugh at the same story so many times, why do we cry over the same thing time and time again?

So, why do we? Those kids in there doing yoga are not holding onto the things that upset them at the park. They move on. The don't remember the times they have really had their feelings or pride crushed. They move on. They keep trying new things and trusting themselves and others simply because they have to do it in order to grow and growth is ultimately what childhood is all about.

My hope for myself, my family, and my friends is that even though pain can feel as though it will never release it's grip sometimes, that we will have that knowledge of growth, that choice of moving on, and that promise of the next day.

...Cause when you stop dreaming, it's time to die. -Blind Melon

From The Start

One of my favorite quotes is,

"You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,

  Love like you'll never be hurt,

  Sing like there's nobody listening,

  And live like it's heaven on Earth."  William W. Purkey

I'm sure you've heard it before, and it's one of those that you either really resonate with or you just don't. These are words that come into my head in moments of pure glee and joyful wonder. Granted they are not always at the front of my chatterbox of a brain, but somewhere even through some of the thickest muds, they are there... waiting for the chance to come through and bring that little playful part of my soul back where it wants to be.

So, that's my start. I'm just a woman on that path towards light, towards laughter, towards joy. It is not easy, but I know it is worth it.

While a lot of my Joy comes from within, my surroundings definitely have influence. My daughter and son surround my thoughts often, so I'll just give warning, if you read this blog, you're gonna hear about them. So, here is the brief intro... Daughter is a fun little girl who loves to read, learn, and try to boss her little brother who does not want to be bossed in any way and does want to climb, jump, splash, and spill and never clean up! They are both pretty typical and true to themselves and like to wrastle me to the ground so they can try to poot in my face! Make a "life is good" shirt out of that!

As for the other facets in my life, I will surely elaborate. Don't worry, I'm gonna blog like no one is reading.