Bolthouse Brother Bonds

We’ve been spending Friday nights in a hotel in the mountains, which greatly increases the probability of arriving on-time to the boys 8:30 AM ski lessons on Saturday morning:-).  It’s been fun to break our normal routine and get away, if only for 24 hours.  We go out to dinner, swim, and then settle the boys on the pull-out sofa for a little TV before lights out.  There are always shenanigans after lights out, which prompts Darin or I to give them a firm warning.  The shenanigans then turn into five minutes of whispers before the exhausted trio give in to their individual dreamlands.  

These boys and their shenanigans bring me to my breaking point nearly every day.  I can only take so much silliness, wrestling, and talk of butts.  I’m not in their little club.  I’m their mother.  They love me dearly and often profess that love, but I’m still an outsider.  This makes me a little sad, and increases my yearning for a daughter (because that would fix everything—HA!).  Strangely enough, it also thrills me.  I long for my boys to be lifelong friends, and I’m old enough to realize that the strongest friendships are ones with plenty of shenanigans creating the foundation.  So I’ll relish the night time whispers, try to steel myself for all the butt jokes, and pray that my three Bolthouse boys remain as thick as thieves.

A Christmas Dare

I’m reclined in a chair with my feet up and knee iced (thanks to a skiing incident over the weekend).  My favorite Christmas CD is playing.  The lights on the tree are twinkling, enhanced by the morning sunlight reflecting off of the new-fallen foot of snow.  It’s December 16, and I’m reclined rather than running and I’m at peace with it.  WHAT!?  

I wrote in our Christmas card this year that I want to be more like Mary and ponder things in my heart.  It’s pretty hard to ponder if I’m running around like a crazy person, my typical M.O.  So I’ve cut back on the baking and entertaining this year.  I could care less when the Christmas cards get mailed, something that used to cause heart palpitations.  I’m thinking God is on-board with my plan, blessing me with a knee injury that has forced me to slow down.  

It’s been a wonderful December.  We’re skiing on the weekends, and filling the weeks with playing games, transforming Amazon boxes into forts and robots, watching “performances” choreographed to favorite songs.  I even breathed easy for most of the snow day yesterday….only freaking out once when the lamp became a casualty during indoor foot races.  I’m pondering December in my heart, from the excitement of my children to the chaos of the world around us.  But despite all of this the words, “Be still and know that I am God” keep making their way into my mind.  “Be still”……I’ve got that part covered!  “and know that I am God”…..Oops!  I guess God has the war on terror covered.  I guess I don’t need to worry about my kids’ school being put in lockdown because a crazy person is on the run nearby.  “Be still and know that I am God.”  

I went to Psalms to read more,

“He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.  Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”  Psalm 46:9-10  

It is such a relief to know that God’s got the chaos of this world in the palm of His hand.  And it challenges me to know that rather than worry about the stories leading the nightly news, my job is to exalt His name.  There’s no better time of year to put this into practice.  Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the Hallelujah Chorus all have prominent places on my play list.  So I’ll gladly delete the Republican Debate focused on national security from my DVR and join my children in a dance party of joy. 

“Be still and know that I am God”.  I dare you:-)