A worthy mission

Anne and David Trufant, the owners of the summer camps where Michael and I met are the co-founders of a small organization called Change Lives Now. Michael and I were truly touched by the end-of-the-year letter we got in the mail this week from Change Lives Now, which related a few of the stories of children the group was able to help this year...very powerful.

If you have a moment, please check out this worthy organization's website and video. These are good people who saw a need, heard God's Call to help, and are doing something about it now, stuffing envelopes at their kitchen tables, working one-on-one with the people they help, and reaching into their own pockets to make sure they don't have to say no to someone in need.

A special donor is matching all donations to Change Lives Now through the end of the year, up to $10,000. Please consider supporting this worthy mission in faithful prayer or by a donation. 
Precious smiles! Such joy--and all of these children have seen more ugliness and death than we can imagine. 

Just enough grace for the step I'm on

My friend Trey called me on Gabriel's 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago and wished me a happy birthday--for my entrance into motherhood. Such a wise guy. :) It's been a wonderful two years, but motherhood definitely keeps me on my toes.

Gabriel is my darling love (and I tell him multiple times a day, usually accompanied by tickling and a bear hug), BUT he's such a handful lately.

I had the best chat today with my friend Katie at My life as a domestic diva. Before our conversation was abruptly ended by my 3-month-old deciding she was so-hungry-she-might-die-if-she-didn't-eat-RIGHT-THAT-SECOND, we had one of those fellow-mother-in-the-same-boat conversations. We talked about love, marriage, family, money--and discipline. All the fun stuff. But in an uplifting way.

We probably talked the longest about discipline, and what is working and what is not working with our toddlers.

Like so many phone calls of my life these days, I didn't have time to really finish the conversation today. But that's OK. It's not like we were 10 minutes away from figuring out the secret to disciplining two-year-olds r anything. Not even close. But I think we both walked away with an uplifted heart. So thanks for that my friend. :)

I've been struggling the most with patience lately, with being more lovingly persistent, more kindly stubborn, than an irrational, emotional little guy who is very good at persistence and stubborness. And whose whining (and running away, and hitting me, and throwing things, and dumping his milk cup on the couch) so easily triggers my nerves every day right now.

I've also been struggling with knowing which battles to choose, and where to set my standards. One one side there is the real-or-imagined pressure of "He's only two!". On the other side there is the thought that my two-year-old is now old enough (and has demonstrated so before now) to be expected to do or not do certain things he is directed by an adult in reasonable, discerned, appropriate situations.

So, yes, wisdom is quite a multiple-times-per-day prayer request for me. :)

I really believe that God will always give me enough grace for where I am in any moment--or any season--of my life. So when I trudge to daily mass, knowing that I'll stand in the back of the atrium the entire time and probably not hear a word of anything and will forget again to say "and with your spirit," I pray that God would either give me a cheerful, well-behaved toddler, or He would give me just enough grace to handle Gabriel when my son is acting less angelic than his heavenly namesake.

(Just so you know, I also pray that He'll help me work on not writing so many run-on sentences. My old English teachers would be horrified if they read my blog, I think. I'm surprised that my sweet grammar-loving friend Katie at Let my soul flower in thy sight hasn't dropped any hints yet. She's too nice for that though.:)

Amidst my struggles with parenting and marriage and whatever else I'm agonizing over at the moment, I am still trying very much to keep things in perspective; as they say, let's not make a mountain out of a molehill. Not that I'm always successful. :) If disciplining my generally-sweet-and-docile toddler is the biggest challenge in my life right now, then I need to stop and remember that (a) I'm super blessed in so, so, so many ways to even have that precious problem, and (b) If I'm truly agonizing over that, I'm not keeping my life, my faith, and the scope of eternity in proper perspective.

Easier said than done. Except when I get wake-up calls like the year-end letter from an organization we support, Change Lives Now. What good work, what needed work, what there-is-a-human-being-who-would-not-be-alive-right-now-without-their-help kind of work. Please check them out. :)

Gabriel's birthday party and some other photo goodies...

Some snapshots from Gabriel's birthday party at the park: 

Little Andrew is such a special guy :)

Beautiful Audrey Therese

The swing is a favorite

A noble profile

Gabriel's godmother, Lucy

Maya wrap mamas at Gabe's party (me with my friend Karen and her adorable baby Rachel)

Some random home silliness: 

Gabriel is big on snuggling these days, especially with his baby sister

We're doing better with a spoon! He loved my white bean and rice dinner that night

It's a bishop, it's a pope, it's St. Nicholas--NO--it's my husband! Michael dressed up as St. Nicholas for some friends...and he looked awesome!!

Me and my sweet baby Faith

Our beautiful Christmas tree. When this picture was taken, the Star of Bethlehem had not yet been rigged up on top with a big rubber band.:) 

Gabriel's great grandmother, Mema, sent his this adorable fleece cap with matching gloves. We opened the package the afternoon after his birthday party, though. I wish I would have had them for him for the party, since the party was outside and it was quite chilly most of the time! 

Eating a chocolate monkey cupcake

Our new friend Alyson and her two-year-old, Pio Gabriel

Michael and our new friend Jesse, with little John Paul

Audrey and Gabriel

From Gabriel's godfather:)

Adam Trufant, Gabriel's godfather, emailed us this poem for Gabriel from Thailand, where he has been traveling this fall. I couldn't help but share this with all of you...

Adam is the dapper guy in the bow tie on the right :)

 Tremendous Two's!

Little brother, little one,

child growing in the Son,

in little ways does love begin,

little smiles, little friends.

Help these little loves to gather steam, 

let them bloom in joy and peace,

grow to the little man you're meant to be,

Wild-Hearted, friendly, free!

And in your friendly freedom find,

the gift of giving heart and mind,

to help others in their lives

to have beauty, goodness, love divine!

Oh Yes! there is such room to grow!

Such laughs to laugh! Such friends to know!

You'll find the things worth dreaming of,

are little things done with great love!

I pray my God-Son be a Godly man,

that his life be guided by God's Hand,

So don't be scared as you turn two!

Our prayers help angels walk with you.

Gabriel's birthday breakfast

Pancakes, bacon and fruit salad, oh my!

Confessions of a former mommy know-it-all

Lately, I've been looking back on my not-married-no-kids self, my married-no-kids self, and my married-one-kid self. And I alternately have to laugh or cringe at some of my self-righteous, uncharitable assumptions about parents, and--I'm ashamed to say--plain old snobbery at times. Of course, I didn't dream I was any of those things at the time. 

I realize now how hard I used to be on parents in general. Before I had Gabriel, I had spent all of my quite relatively young life observing parents, and I had all listed out in my head what I was going to take from them and what I was going to throw out with the trash. I felt "enlightened" by the parenting books I read and was also boosted by plenty of conversations with like-minded people. 

But having Gabriel changed everything. And then having Faith changed everything again.

Now I'm the mom with the toddler pitching a temper tantrum in Walmart and randomly hitting other children in the face at play dates. I'm the one with the kid who throws food across the aisle and under the bench of the table beside us at the restaurant. I'm the one with the kid who loses his mind over not being able to bring his toothbrush outside. Not that he's like that every single day. The frequency of these kind of episodes is probably around the average for kids his age. 

Because there IS an average. Because every single toddler does these things sometimes. 

I am so humbled. Now, I understand that despite my best intentions, my late nights staying up reading parenting books and poring through blogs, my agonizing over the form and structure and consistency of my discipline, my ever daily prayers--despite all of that--toddlers will be toddlers, and babies will be babies. And no two are alike.

We parents and caregivers are all trying to do our best, and sometimes at the end of the day, we've done a great job parenting our children if they are alive, happy and healthy.

Every single child is different, and every family is different. Whatever works for your family, whatever keeps your home peaceful, your marriage strong, your children healthy and growing in grace and stature into the men and women God created them to be--that's all there is to it. 

I truly strive now to be generous in thinking the best of people, in believing in their goodwill and their best intentions as parents. I don't give my thoughts or opinions readily unless I'm in the trenches kids' ages-wise with that person. I especially take care to do this if my opinions contradict views held by the person I'm talking to. Just like I'm not going to tell someone the best way to discipline a teenager (since I don't have one yet) I'm not going to give my two cents on how to potty train, since I'm not there yet either. Before I actually had a two-year-old, I never imagined how much patience, how much self-denial and sacrifice it takes to be the mother of one. A bad day for a two-year-old (and they all have bad days sometimes) can be a soul-refining experience. 

Another rule of mine these days: I try not to be too sensitive about criticism of my parenting--real or imagined. This is a spiritual battle as well as an emotional one, since the line between sensitivity and pride is always a little fuzzy. :)

In the end, though, I hope that God permits real criticism of me once in a while. Or at least plenty of embarrassing temper tantrums in the middle of Walmart. (Did I really just type that?!)

Because no matter how many books I read or tapes I listen to or techniques I borrow from all the great parents I know (my own included), I will always need the reminder that I'll never have perfect kids or be the perfect parent.

My little boy turned two years old today, meaning I've been a mom for all of two years. What do I know?

Enough to know I don't know much at all. Enough to put my two babies to bed happy, healthy and (usually) clean. Enough to pray simply that the Lord will permit enough parenting challenges in my life to keep me humble, and enough grace to keep me going. 

Birthday trip to Toys R Us

Gabriel picked out an orange truck that launches a ball and a set of wooden musical instruments.

Overall not a terrible experience for our first trip to the toy store;)

Happy 2nd birthday Gabriel Adam!

This Week

What's touching my heart and going on in my life this week...




I'm still working on training for my 10K race next spring. I am up to running all the way around my block and I've been doing walk-jog workouts 2-3 days per week. I am up to running a mile and a half. That's huge for me considering I couldn't even jog 1/6 of a mile to our mailbox when I started!


Michael dressed up in an amazing St. Nick costume on Monday night to deliver some surprise presents to the children of a friend of ours. Pictures coming as soon as I get them! 


This Wednesday is Gabriel's 2nd birthday! We are taking him out to eat somewhere I think. On Saturday morning we are having a low-key cake-and-ice-cream party at the park behind our house. The weather should be lovely, so we're excited. 


I haven't purchased a single Christmas gift yet, but I've picked out a few gifts and written them down. Gift-giving is one of the weakest of the love languages for me, so I'm ashamed to say that I tend to procrastinate for gift-giving occasions. (2012 New Year's Resolution: work on that!). 


I'm trying to return to more discipline in my daily life. With two children under two, though, I've fought the realization that I need to give myself some more leeway. I still can't decide how much I'm willing to give myself. The fact is that I can't do everything cleaning-wise (and blogging-wise?) that I did before I had Faith. I just can't. I don't know what can/needs to take a hit though...


Just for fun, here's a delicious new white bean dish I got from my mom. I am not a huge bean fan, but I love these! Serve over some fluffy rice for a great winter meal :)


Colonel Vincent’s Southern Style Baked Beans
1lb Camellia Brand Navy (Pea) Beans or Great Northern Beans
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 ham bone
12 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash paprika
Dash garlic salt
3 Tbs tomato ketchup
2 Tbs Worcestshire sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 lb sliced bacon

Directions:
Rinse and sort beans. Cover beans with water, add ham bone, onion, bell pepper, paprika, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Cook over low fire about 1-1/2 hours, or until tender. Remove ham bone. Add ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar, mixing lightly. Spoon half of the mixture in a baking dish, cover with ¼ pound sliced bacon. Spoon remaining half of the mixture into the baking dish and cover with remaining ¼ pound sliced bacon. Bake 1-1/2 to 2 hours in 350 degree oven.

Geaux Tigers!