Lucky

I will lift my voice...

Some songs drift into my head quietly...and linger.
Others jump in and refuse to leave.

This is one that jumped.
it jumped hard.



I will lift my voice...

She fought the Tooth....

Mini-Me is a complex individual.
She's 11. She's a bit gender biased.
All the characters she plays on games - she prefers them to be girls.
Can you say "Girl Power"? Barbie has nothing on my Mini-me.
She's Logical to a fault.

She actually sort of reminds me of Temperance Brennan - Bones - from the show "Bones". I'm really quite tempted to teach her to say "I don't understand" in that tone of voice. but anyway.. I rather hope her future husband will be like Booth - bring a little fun into her life.

She can be overly sensitive..but at the same time - VERY direct.
Very by the book.
She has a sense of humor, don't get me wrong...but sometimes the things we say that are funny - she just doesn't get. And that's okay, too. Someone has to be willing to tell me I'm not as funny as I think I am.

Even if they're wrong. I"m quite funny.

Last night, she told me that one of her molars was really quite loose.
Know it was quite loose made her want to pull it out.
She struggled for 30 minutes. Calmly tugging and pulling. Tilting and spitting.
It hurt when she pushed it in one direction.
Her teeth have a tendency to have ONE side with a very sharp edge or point.
She cried at one point because it was aching and poking.
I suggested she give it a rest.
She just wanted the tooth OUT!
She did point at me. A very direct finger point, and a very direct tone of voice to tell me she did NOT want me to mess with it.

Smirk.


So she went back to work. She managed to twist it - which managed to poke.
She hopped up and down and cried. Not tears of sadness. Frustration and anger.
"Do you want to wait until morning?"
"NO! I just want it out!"
I sent her to swish with warm water.
She came back much relieved, telling me that it helped tremendously.

It was bed time, so I left her to swish and I think she was watching Zack and Cody on the internet. (See? She does have a sense of humor!)

I was at work in the kitchen...when she came to find me --- ALL SMILES!!

"LOOK!! I did it!!!"

She showed me the gap and the tooth.
There it was the very thin, very pointy jagged side that was causing the pain.

All smiles. Jubilation!! Evident on her 11 year old face.
She persevered!!!

"It feels so great to have victory over the tooth!"

I love that kid.

Hope for world peace after all...

I think every mom - or at least every mom who will admit it - would say that they live for those moments where the children suddenly understand something... suddenly express a thought you've taught them ... or ... those moments when the SIBLINGS are actually nice to each other.

I'll admit it.
My kids don't like each other all the time.
Sometimes I look at them and wonder if there will be peace on earth.
or at this house.

EVER.

many days I'm not quite so hopeful.
Which is why I'm glad I've got Jesus...you know, hope of the world and all that.
If he can be the hope of the world, I'm sure He can do something to the mess here in the landry pile.
Not the laundry -- the other messes.. .. you know what I meant.

Then comes those moments when one of them just runs up and gives me a hug to warm my heart. (I know when they're sucking up, don't get me wrong)...

Yesterday was one of those moments that made my heart overflow.

Bubbles, who can be oh so whiney, came whining at me. "I want to play wiff someone."

"You do? You want to play WITH someone?" said I, trying to correct speech.

"Yes."

"Then tell them! Hey I wanna play!"

J-man pipes in and says "She can play with me. I need assistance." (He was playing Lego: Star Wars on the PS2.)

She was THRILLED!!! With a capital THRILL and I was touched.

Constantly in a battle of -- whatever. Sibling rivalry is an extreme sport.
To see this exhibition of a love that has to be deep (Buried deep) it gave me my own thrill.

There is hope, after all.
A hope that our species will live. and  peace in the laundry pile can be achieved without UN sanctions.
For that, I"m very glad.

Sickness, Emotions and facing the past...

We had ice. We had snow.
The way everyone was carrying on ... the weather people, the newscasters, the facebook statuses...I fully expected to wake up on Thursday morning, the last Thursday of January, to find that Hell had frozen over.

It hadn't. I was almost disappointed.
We didn't get rain until noon ish. Then it started freezing. Then it started snowing.
I like snow. I'm not such a fan of the ice.
Along with the snow storm, came a cold.
I thought we were done feeling poorly or at least on the mend. It was rather poetic, for the ice to melt and us to feel better.

My brother is getting married...and we're thrilled.
As a gift, I thought I'd paint the bedroom for my niece to be. My brother lives in my parents old home. My niece to be - Princess M - will actually be sleeping in my old room. I knew the room hadn't been painted in a long while.

I know because I painted it. Sigh. Nearly 20 years ago.

In the process of prepping the room for paint, my brother helped me clean it up.
We were faced with the "we can't get rid of that - we might need it."
These thoughts really are rooted in a poverty spirit. Saving junk instead of getting rid of it because we might need it -- and then letting it collect dust and mildew. It's rather an interesting visual picture..

it could preach.

So as we cleaned out that ONE room - and I made several trips to the other rooms, I was struck by how much stuff had been saved. And how much really, truly needed to be tossed away. It was a good thing I stayed there to paint a wall, because if I'd come home then, there's no telling what I might have thrown away.

I'm not one for saving sentimental things. I don't a lot of knick knacks. I don't like them They collect dust.

What I do have, though, are books. Lots and lots of books.

And children who have lots and lots of toys.

And today, I don't feel good.
I'm more tired than normal. I don't know if it's because of painting and trying to rush into activity too fast.
But really, facing the past has given me a glimmer of how the future has changed.

The poverty spirit will not continue through my family line -- and by gum, we'll throw out parts and pieces and not save them. I'm also convinced we should paint. And paint soon.

but not until I feel better.

Otherwise, we might have more boring, maudlin posts like this one - and I'm not sure how much either of us can take.