Dad Day

My kids have the best dad.

They seriously have so much fun together. I love watching August's face light up every evening when Tim comes home from work. He gets a huge grin and starts bouncing, anticipating the inevitable tickling and tossing that accompanies Dad. 

Last week, P, A & Dad time was at a premium. I finally took advantage of Tim's Mother's Day gift to me—a whole day of his PTO—so I could have a day off. 

In all honesty, I wanted Tim to struggle in the position of Mr. Mom. I wanted him to have sympathy for how difficult life can be taking care of kids non-stop, and how the house seems to erupt with stuff all of the time. I passive aggressively mentioned that it was laundry day when I left, but I told him he didn't have to do it (I didn't want to make the workload too heavy for him). 

I left and didn't have to worry about life at home. I knew things were under control. Tim is not at all intimidated by manning the children. But when I came home about eight hours later with pretty, pedicured toes and shopping bags, I came home to a clean house, two clean loads of laundry sitting in the hallway, kids who had been to the park, on a walk, and who did a craft, and dinner on the grill. 

I knew things would be under control—like no one would lose a limb—but that under control!? This guy makes me look bad. What I find difficult he can manage with ease (I can count the number of times we've done something crafty on one hand). 

So I get to live in God's grace and be ok with the fact that I do not have it all together. And I get to be thankful for my incredible husband who compliments me so well. 

And look at how much fun they have together:

They really do have the best dad. 

The girl that changed everything

I hate this photo of me.

Tim thought it would be cute to snap a pic of me and the belly right before we left for the hospital before we had Penelope. I was about to have my labor induced. I was sooo scared. All I knew was that I was about to experience excruciating pain, and then have a baby that I would be entrusted to nurture and take care of for minimum 18 years. Terrifying, right?

Most women in their last trimester of pregnancy anxiously await their baby. They are fat, uncomfortable, and exhausted. Me? I thought it was easier if my body was taking care of the baby. Those car seat things that other moms lug around looked really bulky and awkward to carry. My belly was a hands-free approach.

Maybe I'm being a little too honest about how I felt, but I really didn't know if I would like my baby. I had never really liked another baby before; what would be different about this one?

So far this one was actually worse—it was more like a parasite. This baby made me sick and exhausted most of my pregnancy.

I was really honest with the baby, too. I thought it would be sweet to start a little journal to write notes to him or her. But a lot of the notes went something like, "I'm really scared of being a mom..." I also wrote about what The Lord was teaching me through reading his word. I wanted this baby to know that even though I was so scared of this new stage of life, I was attempting to trust God with it.

But then this happened:

Nothing has been the same since that moment. She was a girl named Penelope and she had all of this dark hair and a skwaky cry. They put her on my chest, and as I began to talk to her, she lifted up her head and looked toward me and stopped crying. She knew my voice. She loved me. I loved her.

The strangest thing happened later that night. I woke up just before the nurse brought her back to be fed, and I missed her. I had only known of her for about 12 hours, but I missed her. I had no idea where this love for her came from, but it was so deep and so real.

Here we are three years later.

This little girl is THREE!

There is nothing about her that's a baby anymore.

She is growing into a little kid. She speaks in full sentences. You can even understand her words.

She's so goofy.

And beautiful.

I was so scared to give up so many things that I really loved about my life before kids—mostly my freedom. But honestly, there is far more joy in my life with this girl around.

What I Did This Summer Part 2—Party Time

For three weeks, we were party animals around here. Well, more like party-planning animals. From July 18 to August 3, there was event after event after event to put together.

Event 1: Christmas in July

This was our fourth annual Christmas in July party—where we pack gifts in shoeboxes that are sent to impoverished countries through the Operation Christmas Child organization. In the past we had packed 300-500 boxes and raised some money. And the whole event is put on by our community group from our church.

This year was a little different. We had decided to do a Special Access Party, where we would pack and fund 1,000 boxes that would go to countries that have limited access to The Gospel and Christianity.

Because our goal was twice as many boxes as we had ever packed, we spent a lot of time planning how to raise the money, how to get enough gifts to pack in the boxes, and how to pack 1,000 boxes in two hours.

And then we spent most of the week leading up to it setting it up and getting everything ready.

The event was incredible. People came through by donating toys, underwear, school supplies, shoes, and more. Things ran so smoothly, in fact, that 1,000 boxes were packed in one hour! I wish we had planned confetti to drop when we reached our goal because it was so exciting.

The Lord came through above and beyond in exceeding our financial goal, as well. Nearly $9,000 was raised.

One thousand kids who I will never know will receive a gift—for many it's the only gift they will ever receive—as a result of that night. We pray that these kids will experience Christ's love through these boxes.

Event 2: August's 1st Birthday

The week after Christmas in July we thought we should celebrate the first birthday of this guy:

Isn't he so great?

The thing about having a second child is that you feel guilty for things that are pretty ridiculous. It would be impossible to give child 2 as much attention as child 1, etc., etc. But, I began to feel really bad for things that are maybe justifiable. Like, we didn't even get him a Christmas present (because we knew he wouldn't care—but it's the principle of the matter). And this party was a total afterthought. I felt horrible. I had spent all of my time and energy on Christmas in July and Beth's baby shower (see event 3) that there was little time to spend on this guy's day. Even though part of me thinks the whole first birthday craze is over-hyped, I felt really bad.

Tim and I decided we were going to host a simple, small event with our family and closest friends. We would serve sliders, cowboy beans, and watermelon. And we got him a water table for a present.

And then one night I got insomnia. I decided, since I had some time to kill, I would try making a little project that I had brewing in my head. And this is what happened:

I made these illustrations and threw his head on them for the place cards for the food. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I elaborated on the menu just to make more cards, adding bowtie pasta salad and lemonade.

The funniest thing is that after doing this I felt ok about his party. I had put in a little time and effort into making it unique, so now I could sleep at night (literally:). These little pictures may have been overlooked by those more excited about the food than some quirky illustrations, but I thought it was great.

And the party was so much fun. He got to smash a cake. He got some gifts. The other kids played in his water table, the little pool, and our sprinkler.

Event 3: Beth's Baby Shower

I could not wait to throw Beth a baby shower. It is quite an intimidating task to throw the ultimate party planner a party. But she and I have become really, really close in our adult life, and I had invested years of prayers for that baby in her belly. I really wanted to bless this much anticipated and hoped-for baby and mommy-to-be.

The whole theme was around Psalm 127:

The shower was pretty low-key. Mostly hanging out with the ladies, eating brunchy foods, and opening presents.

I made these cards so guests could encourage Beth in motherhood. What new momma doesn't need some good ol' affirmation?

I also made a bunch of laundry soap, packaged it up, and gave it as favors.

It was good that we had the shower when we did. The following Saturday, Beth's water broke and she was admitted to the hospital and proceeded to have a very long and difficult labor. But Beth and baby are safe and healthy, and I'm proud of my sister. Baby Bennett was six weeks early, so he had a short stay at the NICU. But he's a hearty boy and made it out of the hospital in record time. And Beth is a great mom.