From never lasting to everlasting

Tonight's Cubbies verse: "...I have loved thee with an everlasting love..." (Jeremiah 31:3 ) Evie's initial version: "...I have loved thee with a never lasting love..." Say 'em both out loud: they pretty much sound the same, right? It made me smile. I explained the actual verse, and what it means when God says He has loved us "with an everlasting love." Evie got it, and it felt good as we both reflected on the eternal quality of God's love. Later, I started thinking about the never lasting love again, though. Pretty much, that's me: the giver of a never-lasting love. Of course, I always love my husband, my kids, my family, my friends, in my mind. But my actions often prove the conditional quality of my love. Sometimes I demonstrate love when I feel like it: if I'm not too busy (unfortunately, I seem to be busy a lot, so my love tends to be "never lasting"). Sometimes I demonstrate love if I feel like it: if it seems "deserved" (and quite often, I don't deem people deserving, so again my love is "never lasting"). Sometimes I demonstrate love only after I've been shown love first (and sometimes people are much less than loving to me, so my love is also "never lasting"). I am called to love others with the love of Christ--the everlasting love with which He loves us. Tonight I am feeling challenged to put aside my never lasting love, and take up His everlasting love. I am struck by the opportunity I have to show Christ to the world, and saddened by how many times I have forsaken this opportunity. I am holding onto the lyrics of a song as a prayer: "Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with You." Specifically, I long to be filled with His love--His everlasting, unconditional love--so that nothing but His love flows out of me. Speaking of loving, do you know what happened fifteen years ago tonight? Mr. B asked me to be his girlfriend. He also asked me to the prom. I said "yes" to both. And do you know what happened ten years ago tonight? Mr. B asked me to marry him! I said "yes" then, too.

will you marry to me?

Since Valentine's Day is approaching and love is in the air, I thought this might be a good time to share a little tidbit Evie recently shared with me: Evie: Mom, I know who I'm going to marry to. [Yes, this girl is a preposition-dangling queen (or at least princess)!]

Me: You do? Who?

Evie: I'm going to marry to Tristan. The next time I see him, I'm going to ask him if he wants to marry to me.

Tristan (around 6 months?) and Evie (around 2 years), scowling about their forced western wear

Me: You're going to marry him the next time you see him??? Evie: No! I'm just going to ask him if he wants to marry to me. When we're grownups. When we're thirteen. Me: Ah. Thirteen. Evie: Yeah. I know where we're going to live, too. Me: You do? Where?

Tristan (around 1 year) and Evie (around 2 1/2 years) snackin' outside

Evie: In Minnesota. I mean, if we don't have kids we're going to live in Minnesota. If we do have kids, we're going to live in...where's that place where they lived in The Sound of Music? Me: Austria? Evie: Yeah. Austria. If we have kids, we're going to live in the house where Maria and the Captain and all those kids lived in Austria. We're going to need a big house if we have kids. Me: Hmmm. That was a big house. Evie: Yeah. Can I have a snack? I'm not sure if I should be worried or not about Evie proposing marriage. The first time we had a talk along these lines was when we were reading the Little House on the Prairie series, and the book talked about Laura Ingalls having a beau. Evie was curious about what "having a beau" meant, and after I explained, she told me she thought she knew who she was going to marry (or, of course, "marry to"): Peyton. Her cousin. Before I go on, you must know that when I was around Evie's age, I was pretty sure I was going to marry my cousin, Matt, and when I told my mom about it, I distinctly remember her laughing. She laughed pretty hard, in fact. I wasn't scarred for life or anything, but I really didn't like feeling ridiculous. So, when Evie told me she was going to marry her cousin, I forced myself to keep a straight face, and said something nondescript, like, "Oh. Yes, Peyton is a nice boy." "Yes," she replied, "I was going to marry to Laurel,"--Laurel is Peyton's sister, by the way--"but she is a girl, so I picked Peyton because he is a boy and I have to marry to a boy." At least she has that part figured out, right? Anyway, Tristan is a non-female, non-blood relation, so we're on the right track. He's also a sweet little boy and the son of a very dear and long-time friend, so that's a definite plus. But can't we wait a few years before we start thinking about these things???

Evie (4 1/2), Mr. B, and Tristan (3) at the beach

Not Me! Monday

Here we go again...it's time for Not Me! Monday, my opportunity to share some of the things I did not do this week (and certainly would never admit if I had done them!)

1. Upon returning home from Walmart this week, I did not neglect to bring in the bottle of fabric softener I'd just purchased, instead leaving it in the van for a day or two of freezing temperatures before realizing where it was. I am not now softening my laundry loads with Downy the consistency of that nasty vending machine slime...

2. Even if I had left the Downy in the van, I definitely did not leave the case of Diet Coke in the back of the van, too. The 24 pack was not reduced to a 19 pack due to five cans freezing and bursting (and I was not forced to be very thankful that the mess was contained to the unopened case and the paper grocery bags on which it was sitting!).
3. I did not accept a challenge from my sister, Molly, on Tuesday night to do at least 20 miles of cardio before Saturday. If I had accepted such a challenge, I would not have gone back to bed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings instead of going to the gym, even if I had a sore throat. I did not have to admit to Molly that I did absolutely zero cardio since Tuesday morning.
4. I did not let Evie play games on my computer Thursday afternoon so I could try to take a little nap: I never would even think of using a "screen" as a babysitter.
5. I am pretty careful about how my kids look, especially when they go out of the house. I like their clothes to be clean and matching, and their hair combed. That said, you can be sure that I never let Eloise go over to her Aunt Sisi's house looking like this:

What about you? What didn't you do this week? Check out MckMama's blog carnival to see what she--and a whole host of others--didn't do, either!

Don't look at me, Dad!

We had a good laugh when Evie found this video on the computer the other day, and, although it is nearly five years old, I thought it was blog-worthy. Enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE: No children were harmed in the filming of this video; the distressed baby was picked up and given lots of love from her mommy promptly at the close of the recording.

A day in the life

In the past day (or so), we...

...threw a few more pitiful fits (this is almost the savage beast look...not quite). ...discovered how to use a spoon (if Mommy would put something on the spoon, it would be even more fun!).

...had fun at Awana!

...ate an extra-special lunch of sandwiches on white bread!

...reminded Mommy so many times why she loves being our mom.

Picture this...

I wish I could tell you about the huge fit Eloise threw yesterday. Recently, she has begun--on occasion, not all the time--to tell me "NO!" very forcefully when I ask her to do something. She knows she is not allowed to talk to me like this, but she's testing the boundaries. Yesterday she began the "NO!" thing, and I calmly repeated what I was asking her to do. Again, "NO!". This time, she pulled a bunch of her long blond hair over her face, as if to make the statement, "I am going to act like a savage beast AND look like a savage beast." I reminded her that she needed to say, "Yes, Mommy," with a smile. Result: another "NO!" and more hair over her face. This time I said, "What happens if you talk to me like that?" and she responded, somewhere from behind all that hair, "Spanking." I repeated my request once more. The hair was pushed away from her face to reveal a big, sweet smile, and she said, "Yes, Mommy," as if she had been compliant all along. I wish I could tell you about it, but it would best be told with a picture of the savage beast Eloise standing there obstinately with her hair over her face, and, alas, I have not learned to have my camera handy at all times. Had I kept the camera handy at all times, I also would be able to tell you about Evie and Eloise slowly walking around the upstairs with blankets over their heads and hands clasped together, humming "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound of Music. They were supposed to be nuns, I think... And if I kept my camera handy at all times, I also would tell you about Miss Audrey's stunt yesterday. I set her in her bouncy seat in the kitchen and not more that three seconds later I glanced back at her and saw her sitting straight up. When I leaned her back into the seat, she immediately sat up again. Yikes! I think our bouncy seat days are ending!

Not Me! Monday

It's Not Me! Monday again: time to share with tons of people (or at least a few...) everything I did not do this week:

1. I did not just move baby Audrey out of her cradle in our room and into a crib this week. She is five months old, for Pete's sake, and should have been totally has been sleeping in her own room for a long time.
2. When straightening up the kitchen the other night, I definitely didn't throw away the Christmas cookies from the tin we had put together for our next door neighbor. Those cookies were delivered before the holidays just as they should have been: we did not keep putting it off due to inclement weather, because she lives right next door.
3. I am not planning to have the girls bake some Valentine cookies for the neighbor to make up for the fact she never got our Christmas cookies, because, of course, she, um, did.
4. Taking my three girls and my friend's twins out and about was a piece of cake. I did not panic about not having enough time to feed them all lunch between our library excursion and getting one of the girls to preschool, so I for sure did not run through the McDonald's drive-thru and feed the girls in the van down by the river, (Matt Foley, anyone?) to be sure we made it to preschool on time. I don't feed my kids McDonald's, and we don't eat in the van, so you know that never could have happened.

And what about you? Anything you didn't do this week? Hop on over to MckMama's blog to see what she and a whole host of others haven't been doing, and play along!

UPDATE: If you arrived here thru the blog carnival, please visit this week's Not Me! Monday (February 9); I'm pretty new at this and somehow linked to last week's with Mr. Linky.