Today was a great day. Plain and simple, it started and ended very well indeed. Funnily enough, all could have began rather unhappily were it not for my dear brother and his fortuitous phone call this morning. Let me explain...I am on the worship team at our church, and generally we practice Thursday nights, or meet early Sunday morning before service to prepare for the service ahead. This week, our Thursday practice was cancelled, so as is the norm, we would meet Sunday morning instead for rehearsal. Via text, our wonderful worship team leader let us all know the colors we would be wearing, the song selection, and this mysterious piece of info-that we would be able to sleep in an extra hour this Sunday. Hmmm, an extra hour of sleep, well that's always good, and very nice, thanks! Just to be sure though, I texted back and asked, so like, we arrive at 9:45am then??? Response-LOL yes (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). K, so honestly one might wonder what planet I arrived from, but I had no clue that this Sunday was the day we turn our clocks back. So, this morning, I awake at the early hour of what I thought was 6:30am to the sound of little voices emanating from the monitor letting me know it was time for Mommy to get up too. I pulled myself drudgily out of bed, all the while strategizing how I'd get myself and the kids fed, dressed, washed, etc so that we could arrive at church by 9:45. Next thing, I turn on the TV-side bar...the kids and I have a tradition of Playhouse Disney channel cartoons every morning of the Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse ClubHouse, Strawberry Shortcake variety. So on go the cartoons, and for some reason, the TV says it is 5:30am....I sit there wondering, hmmm, what's wrong with the TV??? Then it occurs to me, could it be, ah yes, I bet we were supposed to turn our clocks back last night. Ha ha ha, that's funny! okay, so I have an extra hour to prepare this morning, and still make it to church by 9:45am...easy as pie! I know, I know, you're thinking, HELLO AIME- wake up chicadee-that was a joke-sure arrive at 9:45am cause that's what it would have been yesterday, but today, you need to arrive at 8:45am! Yep, never occured to me that these two things should have clicked. I remained blissfully unaware of my folly. Until, let the trumpets sound, my ever loving brother who I sometimes swear should have been my twin, cause he must have known he needed to call his ding-a-ling sister and save her from abject horror and embarrasement. I will not relay the contents of our conversation, but let it be said that I was totally mystified that I should have to be at church by 8:45, and he was left wondering at my sanity.
Ah, too funny. Well, crisis averted after all.
Church was wonderful, and I left feeling totally refreshed, and actually came away with answers to prayer over parenting issues that I have been struggling with. Anyone else struggling with potty-training? Well, I am. First, I am terribly uncommited most of the time, which is completely my issue-and probably the biggest factor. Second, my son who is honestly extremely intelligent seems to sometimes not go on the potty on purpose-of course he has accidents, but the majority of the time, when he messes his pants, I am left convinced that he simply did not feel like telling me he had to go, or just plain didn't want to go on the potty. So I have been cleaning shorties, and left with the feeling that I will be changing diapers forever, and I just dont know what to do. Then our Pastor preached a sermon today in which he talked about us being free from the Law, and how the law is fulfilled by love, and we are totally empowered by love and able to do all things through Christ. Well, the bells went off in my head. I realized that by telling my son that only babies wear diapers, or big boys go on the potty-I was placing a mantle of guilt and degredation on him. Instead by telling him that we believe in him, that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is capable of learning to go on the potty, and that no matter what, our love for him will always be without measure, we would be empowering him to believe that he could actually do this thing that maybe seemed so very dauting or even frightening.
So I tried it out. Jack had done so well today, and then he had an accident, and he told us right away, and in his eyes I could read the sadness, the disappointment, and even a bit of anxiety over the fact that we would be mad at him....and my heart broke. After we cleaned him up, I took him in my arms, and I told him that it was okay that he had an accident. I told him that everybody has accidents. I told him that Daddy and I loved him so so so much, and that we were so proud of him. I told him that I believed in him, that I knew that he could get this thing, that he was absolutely able to learn how to go on his potty. And you know what, that sweet angel of a little boy looked at me with glee, and joy, and love in his eyes and he put his little arms around me and hugged me so hard.
Words cannot express what I felt in that moment...above all things, I felt a deep sense of gratitude to my God, my Daddy, who has believed in me countless times when I have made a mistake. I felt in that moment that maybe I had just had a moment with my son that we would both remember forever, favorably. I felt like a really good mother in that moment.
We spent the rest of our day napping, playing in the park amidst leaves, swings, bikes, strollers, and great imaginings (Mommy would you like a large coffee with two cream and a bottle of water?...Imagine you're a frog crossing great lily pads on a giant pond....)baby girl determined to walk on the cedar chip playground floor even though it was wet and dirty, two beautiful children with rosy red cheeks and noses laughing and playing and totally content.
And now, they sleep, without fuss I might add, and Rob and I relaxing. Does it get better than this?? I don't think so. I am so thankful, so incredibly thankful for my life, my husband and children, and above all, the Grace of God which has given me all this joy overflowing.
I hope you all are well and feeling loved wherever you are. We love you, miss you, and pray for you daily. Until tomorrow and its adventures,
Love Aime
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