I am Perfect...

Ha!  Bet that title caught you by surprise!  Or maybe you just thought it was par for the course if you read my Facebook status when my sister hacked it... Whatever the case - I can state without a doubt that I am perfect in one area of my life... being IMPERFECT.

For instance, yesterday: we were out of town and driving to Mass.  It was foggy and there was snow on the ground and worst of all, we were cutting it close to get to Mass on time.  We found the church with relatively little trouble, but finding a parking place was a problem.  We missed the first parking lot - a miscommunication of sorts.  We figured we'd just drive around the block, but we found a parking lot, so we started pulling into it only to realize it was private parking only.  We had to back out, which was difficult to do as there was another car following us.  We turned into another parking lot only to find it overcrowded with cars double and triple parked.  You could, however, drive through that parking lot into the parking lot we'd missed the first time.  As we got within 20 feet of the driveway to that lot though, another car was coming up the driveway and couldn't get through unless us and the 2 cars behind us backed out.  Nightmare! 

The whole time I was being WAY less than patient (cursing in my head, crumbling up our directions and throwing them on the floor, huffing, etc.)  I was disgusted with myself, but also didn't do much to change my course.  Andy (the kind, patient one) volunteered to drop the kids and I off at the door.  Instead of being grateful, I huffed about having to get both kiddos out and coated as well as the diaper bag.  We rushed into Mass as the Opening Hymn was ending.  Then, rather than getting myself in the mindset for Mass, I was fretting (and stewing) about where the heck Andy was.  He finally arrived during the beginning of the second reading (which I later found out was because he had to park a good 3 blocks away and walk.)  Ruby was squirmy and blowing raspberries/making elephant noises at the people behind us.  Ira, thank heavens, was pretty tame. 

Obviously, I was more than distracted throughout the first part of Mass.  (Also rolling around in my head was the job offer that Andy got from his company on Friday - which truly is a whole other blog post in itself, but the Reader's Digest version is that he got offered a job in a lower position with a 40% pay-cut because they just aren't getting any projects for him to run.)  Then the priest reads this gospel passage from Matthew 6:24-34:

"... Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 

what you will eat or drink

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky;

they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,

yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are not you more important than they?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

Why are you anxious about clothes?

Learn from the way the wildflowers grow. 

They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor

was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field,

which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,

will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?'

or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'

All these things the pagans seek.

Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given to you besides.

Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself.

Sufficient for a day is its own evil."

Wow, God, I did hear that message loud and clear.  And I was in tears at the overwhelming love of a God who cares so very much for his perfectly-imperfect children.  And I was struck by the fact that despite all of my numerous imperfections, God still loves and cares for me as though I've never sinned.  And I was humbled to be told that worrying, when it comes right down to it, is just not trusting in God.  Because you see, I worry a lot, and I've never really looked at it as not trusting in the goodness of God.

And as much as I wish I could say that it changed my whole life and I stopped sinning - I haven't.  Because I am perfectly imperfect, struggling each day to be "perfect" as our "heavenly Father is perfect."  And I am not even close to there yet.  However, God doesn't want us to throw in the towel, throw up our hands, and say, "what do you expect, I'm HUMAN?!"  He wants us to strive each day to be more like Him.  To quote an article on the matter: 

"By telling us to 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,' our Lord is saying that we have an opportunity to become fully human by imitating the loving qualities of God.  Such a conversion has many implications.  It cannot be an individual affair with God.  If we are to emulate the type of selfless love that radiates from God, the true hallmark of our conversion will be our ability to conduct ourselves in ways that allow our words and deeds to show others the love of God."

So I'll keep on keeping on - and I'll invite you to too. 

Little Beenie Weenie

One of Ruby's favorite foods (as well as Ira's - especially when he was that age) is black beans.  Despite draining/rinsing them - they still tend to make a bit of a mess.  Like this night when it looked like Ruby had a black bean beard.  Shiver me timbers!  (Wasn't there a pirate named Black Beard?  Maybe I made that up?)  I couldn't pic which photo was my favorite.  I like them all for different reasons.

What we're up to

Ruby has finally hit that stage of getting. into. EVERYTHING.  She would get into things before, but it's taken on a WHOLE NEW LEVEL lately.  This has caused me to not be able to get ANYTHING done (or so it seems to me.)  I don't even get one "getting into" taken care of before she's moved onto another one (pulling videos/dvds off the shelves, getting into Ira's "desk" with crayons/markers/paper/stickers/etc, her hair bows, basically anything that she's not supposed to do - she just crisscrosses the house from one "no-no" to another.)   She's also started shrieking when she is trying to tell you something.  The problem is, I don't speak shriek... So although she is very adamant about what she's saying, I can't understand a word she says.

So, therefore, ergo, (I'm in a goofy mood can you tell?) by the time the kids are in bed, I am totally zonked and ready for vegging out in front of the TV or stalking people who are slightly less crazy than me on Facebook. 

And that's why I haven't been around lately.

Can I bend your ear for a bit?

When Ira was nearly 2, I was seriously concerned about his speech.  He said very few words and had only strung together a 3 word sentence a couple times.  It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, because we talked all the time.  We talked about everything.  And it wasn't like he was mute or anything - he just didn't say much.  I think he was just waiting until he could talk like us, because shortly after he turned two, he started talking in full 5,6,7... word sentences.  He's only paused to take a breath a few times since...

I think part of it is the nature of the beast of being an only child for so long.  Part of it is that I too talk a lot.  And part of it is just his personality.  He is a kid with lots to say.  We've written down "Ira-isms" since he was 2.  We keep a little pad of paper in the desk and when he says something particularly hilarious, Andy and I will look at each other and say "Write that one down."  Ira's caught on, so now when he says something that results in uproarious laughter from Andy and I he'll say, "Write that down!"  We usually include a few of them in our Christmas letters, but I thought I'd share a few of our recent favorites.


"Mom, where's that place that you give junk away that people don't need?" 

"Huh!  16 o'clock!  I stayed up LATE!"

and "How do you say konnichiwa in Spanish?"

It really is fun having a kid that talks so well and understands so much.  It does make it a little difficult for Andy and I to talk to each other though.  Because he does understand so much so well.  It's why we rarely (ever?) have the TV on in our house when he's up.  It really is good for us all though.  Andy and I were just talking this morning about how little there is on TV that is appropriate for kids to watch - and I think that's true whether you just get over-the-air channels or whether you have 200 channels (granted it's a little easier to find something appropriate with 200 channels, it's just not worth the money to us.)  Perhaps I'm just a stick in the mud though because he's our first and he's still young...

Back to the subject of talking though, Ira has been SOOOOOOO talkative lately.  And not really conversational-talkative either.  Like yesterday morning, he talked for 13 minutes straight - I was scarcely able to interject a "how interesting."  I'm not really even sure if he took a breath.  It's CrAzY!  And while funny for awhile, by the end of the day, I was glad that Andy's parents were over for dinner so he could talk to (at?) someone else!

It's only water

I have a new favorite song right now: Brandon Heath's "Only Water"  You can hear it/watch the lyrics for it on YouTube here:  It is just a truly beautiful song that is very meaningful to me right now. 

 

If you really love it (or if you love downloading MP3s for free) you can add the code VDAYMP3S to your Amazon account and you will get a $2.00 MP3 credit.  MP3s are usually $0.99 - so you could pick two of your favorite songs and rock out to them all the time.  (Amazon runs these promotions fairly regularly - it's how I've downloaded most of the music I have.)  

If you would like another song to download that will have you dancing in the kitchen (or maybe it's just me?)  There's also Mark Schultz singing "Kyrie Eleison"  Here's also a link to buy Only Water from Amazon. (FYI - if you follow these links, you can see where you add the code - to the right where it says in blue "Redeem a gift card or promotion code & view balance")

Whatever you choose to download - I hope you dance!!

And here you thought this post was going to be about the time that I was filling a pot beside the sink and I forgot about it and it overflowed all over the kitchen and my hubby said, "It's only water."  :-)

School of hair design

Whenever the bathroom door is open, Ruby seems to have a sixth sense about it.  Her favorite thing (now that she's moved past pulling up on the toilet) is opening the middle drawer to the hair stuff and playing with it.  She loves combing her own hair or someone elses.  She also LOVES to put on my headbands.  It kind of blows my mind that she knows what to do with all those things (perhaps it's inborn?) 

Ira also got in on the action the other day when Andy told him that he could do his hair.  Nearly an entire spray bottle full of water later, he was done.  (And Andy was soaked!)  What a great daddy!!

Baby goes green

One of Ruby's favorite hobbies is crawling under the desk (where we keep our recycling) and sorting through it.  I'm not sure what her system is, but she sure does enjoy sorting!