Jodilightful!

What an incredible blessing it has been to have Trevor home for four whole days!  If it were up to me, I might be more inclined to spend most of a four-day vacation doing not-very-much at home, but thankfully, Trevor is not wired that way, and gets us all motivated to have fun family outings whenever possible.

So, at 8:15 AM on Thanksgiving Day, we had all kids strapped into the van and were on our way to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade (not Macy’s anymore… Ikea now.  Who knew?)  My family tradition growing up was to watch the parade on TV each year, so it was exciting for me (and I’m sure for the girls as well) to be there in the flesh.  Romilly was brave enough to go out and meet some of the Sesame Street characters, but Pippa didn’t work up the nerve until just a bit too late as the parade started moving on.  Her favorite thing was the marching bands – that’s my girl!

We also saw Justin Guarini and Mario, who are apparently quite famous, though I confess I had to YouTube both of them after we got home to find out who they were (click their links to see for yourself).  I’m glad to report my girls were more excited to see Tinkerbell and Ariel than these guys, especially since there were similarly pint-sized fans lining up to get autographs from Mario.

After the parade we made our way down to a huge tent that the lovely people from Campbell’s had set up to give us lunch for free.  Seriously!  We had no idea what we were standing in line for, but it seemed like the place to be so we thought we’d check it out.  Inside, we were given samples of everything from nachos and chicken dip to turkey pot pie to Christmas cookies.  It was just the thing to keep us going until a huge early dinner later on.

Afterwards, we spent a lovely afternoon visiting with Mary’s family (yes, Mrs. Magee, you *do* deserve a mention on our thankfulness garland, and the situation has been remedied!) and meeting their newest addition, Mary’s nephew John Nestor.  Beatrix attached herself to Mary’s youngest brother Tom, and all three girls had a fabulous time playing with the cat toys even though Mrs. Magee had gone to great lengths to avail them with plenty of human toys.

Finally, we ended up at my mom’s house for a quiet Thanksgiving feast.  We each chose one person to share something we are thankful for about.  Pippa and Romilly had chosen Trevor and me respectively, and each actually shared something original and relevant!  It was a sweet time of being together with family, and throughout the day we were so aware of what a precious blessing it is to have family and to have them nearby.

On Friday we got another early start and took the girls to the Please Touch Museum.  We bought season tickets a few weeks ago when we were going with friends, and we’re off to a flying start at making the most of our 15-month membership. Do you know what I find hilarious about watching the girls play there?  Their absolute favorite things to do are the things my life is filled with every single day.  You know, the ones I might sometimes be tempted to call mundane?  Watching them change diapers and grocery shop with such delight makes me think my job must be an awful lot more fun than I realize sometimes.

After naps, we went to my dad’s house to enjoy a second Thanksgiving feast of our combined leftovers.  The girls got to see their great grandparents and great aunt and uncle, and it was another sweet time together with family.

Yesterday and today, we have mostly laid low and let the girls recover from a whirlwind couple of days.  We did pay a visit to my mom’s thrift store yesterday for lunch, which is always a treat for us.  Last night I finished off the Thanksgiving leftovers by making turkey noodle soup for dinner.  Thanks to a secret ingredient (oh, alright, I’ll tell you: it was Trevor’s homemade bread sauce – yum!) it was like eating Thanksgiving from a bowl – delish!

Unfortunately, something in the soup seems to have disagreed with Miss Bea, or else she is having a reaction from a virus, since she woke up this morning with a swollen top lip and hand.  We spoke to the doctor, who is not too concerned, but we will take her in tomorrow if she hasn’t improved.  The only thing I can think of that she had for the first time ever is the clove in the soup last night.  If anyone knows anything about clove allergies, please send that info my way.  I have to admit, I’m chuckling to myself at the prospect of having to report on every medical form I fill out for her for the next seventeen years or so that she has a known allergy to cloves.  Weird.

Busy-ness and bizarre medical conditions aside, as I consider what I am most thankful for in this season of Thanksgiving, I keep coming back to God.   James 1:17 reminds us that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father…”  I feel so richly blessed to have a wonderful husband and three precious girls, another sweet little one on the way, dear friends and family, good health and all of our daily needs met.  I am thankful for His peace in my heart, and above all the precious gifts God has bestowed upon me, it is this one I am most thankful for today:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

(I’m sure it’s not an exhaustive list, but check and see if you made it! And don’t be offended if you’re next to apple juice or crayons, they’re not in order of preference.)

For more fun, Fall-y crafts to point your kids to the Truth of God’s love.  Click here.

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

I really thought I had this Christmas card photo thing all nailed down this year:

• Take photo in a comfortable setting with a photographer that is known to the family.  (Check.  In our home, with Ken-pop – what could be better?)
• Feed children first to avoid crankiness.  (Check.)
• Dress children after feeding to avoid dinner on fancy Christmas dresses.  (Check.)
• Have extra people around to distract and entertain during the shoot.  (Check.  Grandmom, no less.  What more could I have done?!?)

Apparently, there was one thing that I overlooked.

Sure, we all took at least a turn or two at ruining a picture:

But as we looked over the finished product of 39 potential Christmas card photos, there was one recurring theme in what made most of them sub-perfect.  See for yourselves.

We just didn’t account for the Romilly factor.   I guess there’s one in every family.  We sure do love the one in ours!

Amanda‘s crafty blog Impress Your Kids has been featuring the Fall Impressions Theme for a few weeks now, and I’m finally jumping on the bandwagon.

I have a few crafts I’m thinking about doing next week in the run up to Thanksgiving, but when I saw this hands and feet turkey, I just couldn’t resist it.  I realize it is just like every construction paper turkey you’ve ever seen, but I think it was the clever marketing of it that got me.  Not only are the feathers made of actual-size little person hands, but the body is made by tracing two little feet (with shoes on) as well.  As soon as I started picturing an annual tradition of pulling out last year’s turkeys to see how much our hands and feet (and family, for that matter!) have grown since last Thanksgiving, I was totally hooked.  (Follow the link above for directions, but it’s really pretty self-explanatory.)

Pippa was actually not that interested, but Romilly was up for having her sweet little hands traced as many times as I would do it, and she loves her a glue stick, so she was happy.  After the little ones were napping, Pippa decided that finishing her turkey might be okay, and meanwhile I made one of Bea’s hands and feet (note: I traced one hand once while she was pinned in her high chair after lunch and cheated on the rest, and I didn’t trace her foot at all, just her shoe.  Sixteen-month-olds?  Not that into crafts.)

I do think they’re the cutest, don’t you?  Now the question is: where on earth am I going to put them so that I will be able to produce them effortlessly next year for size comparison?

Man, is it Friday yet?!?  Oh, it is.  Whew, that’s good.

You know it’s been a crazy whirlwind of a week when I don’t even get to post a picture on Wednesday (and I had so many good ones to choose from, just no time!)

So, in roughly chronological order since my last post, here are a few things that have kept us busy this week:

• Saturday.  The girls and I put together our shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse‘s Operation Christmas Child.  We’ve done this in the past, too, but this was my second year doing the shopping and boxing up with the girls.  (This year we did three.)  It gets us all in the Christmas spirit and (I hope) reminds us all how incredibly blessed we are in this part of the world.  I explained to the girls that we needed to give dolls to the girls we were sending our shoeboxes to because they probably had never had a doll before.  Then with each item we put in, Pippa asked, “Mommy, she doesn’t have any crayons either?…  She doesn’t have a toothbrush?”  Then after we’d packed up all the things we had bought, she asked me, “What can we send for the Mommy?”  (Have I said how much I love this kid?)
• Sunday – Trevor was at a training course in New Jersey all day.  Blech!  Having him away for a weekend day throws me off worse than missing a Wednesday with my mom.  He was actually at a conference at the same venue all week, so it’s been an even crazier week for him than for us.
• Monday… Tuesday… no idea.  I know we were busy and also that the internet was inexplicably crazy slow.  Oh, that’s right.  I had a crazy clean-a-thon (crazy for me, that is, probably just normal weekly cleaning for the average housewife).  I think maybe I’m nesting.  Or maybe that was it.  I’ve nested, and now I’m done.  We’ll see.  I even gave the dog a bath before Trevor got a chance to tell me how bad he smelled.  Then Paige and her friend came over for SAT-prep tutoring.  I’m going to be doing this every Monday afternoon while the girls are napping/resting until the new baby comes, which, handily, should be just a couple weeks before the SATs.  It was fun, and will hopefully slow the effect of all these pregnancies turning my brain cells to mush.  Don’t laugh: it really happens apparently.
• Wednesday morning.  Pippa’s 4-year-old well visit with the pediatrician.  All is well with my girl except that she is now officially terrified of shots.  She seemed a little nervous that there might be shots involved today, but I could never have prepared her for the fact that there would be *five*!  She was crying before the nurse even started, and on the very first one, she reached around with her other hand and *RIPPED OUT THE NEEDLE* as the nurse was giving her the shot.  There was blood right away but it looked worse than it was.  It ended up bruising pretty badly, but there was only a scratch on the skin.  Both the nurse and I were totally blindsided – neither one of us could’ve guessed she would try something like that from her demeanor moments beforehand.  I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.  Of course, for the remaining shots (still five, since the nurse didn’t actually get to inject the first one), I had to hold every single flailing appendage while she wriggled and wailed.  It was awful.  I might start having to read up more on these vaccination conspiracy theories and see if I can be convinced that they’re actually super-dangerous anyway, because I don’t know if either one of us will be able to endure something like this again for a long time.
• Wednesday all day.  Paige’s 16th birthday!  Happy birthday, baby sister!  We went shopping with my mom after Pippa’s traumatic morning (she cheered right up once she found out she got band-aids, princess stickers *and* a lollipop), and ended up back at her house where Trevor was able to meet us after leaving work early.  The plan was that we were all going to go out to dinner after Paige and my Grandmom got home, but it didn’t quite go that way.  Pippa was devastated when I told her she’d be missing Awana to go to dinner, and although she conceded that she would go to dinner after much peer pressure from all of us, she was still so visibly sad about it that Trevor decided just to take her to Awana.  It worked out for him to meet us at the restaurant later, so all was well.
• Thursday.  Ladies’ Bible study followed by trying to squeeze in all the school we missed while playing with my mom on Wednesday.
• Friday.  8:40 AM: Trevor and Pippa go to the dentist.  Apparently, she was a star for her first official check-up and cleaning.  I was sorry to miss it, and would you believe Trevor flat-out refused to take a picture for me?  I know! While they were gone I scurried around to get the other two dressed and fed (and me, too) so that we could drop off the van to be serviced as early this morning as possible.  As soon as they were back, the girls and I piled into the van, took it to the servcice place and walked home in a beautiful (if very odd for November…) winter wonderland.  Rest assured, we were sufficiently bundled for the occasion, so it actually was a lovely walk home.  We also picked up some construction paper while we were out, but you’ll have to wait for my next post to find out what that’s all about!

Wow.  A whole week in one post.  Just think how much time I’ve just saved you.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

(Spot the Child Behaving Badly: Scroll down for answer*.)

Two weeks ago, I arrived at my Thursday morning Bible very nearly in tears (and the “very nearly” didn’t last long after I got there).  We had been all but ready to walk out the door in plenty of time, when Miss Romilly decided she didn’t want pigtails.  Or shoes.  Or her carseat.  Ro is, for the most part an easy-going sort of child, but when she does get in into her head that she doesn’t want something, she can be the most fiercely stubborn (and dramatic) little girl I have ever met.  This was one of those days.

We finally arrived at church 20 minutes late with pigtails and shoes that had been reapplied at least three times each, and an inconsolable Romilly who was in no fit state to be handed over to Miss Ginny.  As I sat on the bench outside the nursery and just held my puddle of a little girl and told her over and over how much I loved her, I wondered how on earth I had gone so far wrong.

Yesterday, at the very same ladies’ Bible study, I finally got an answer, or at least part of one.   We were studying Galatians 4:12- 5:1 in which Paul pleads with the Galatians like a parent in anguish over a child’s bad decision to turn from the dangerous false teachings of the Judaizers and back to the true gospel of Christ.  One of the questions in our study guide was “How is Paul different from the Judaizers?”  On the surface of it, it wasn’t the simplest question.  Both Paul and these false teachers were urging the Galatians to “become as I am.”  How should they know whom to listen to, whom to trust?  Yet everything about Paul’s tone and purpose was completely different from that of the false teachers.

The difference boiled down to this: Paul was serving God’s purposes *in love* while the Judaizers were serving their own purposes for selfish gain.  Paul’s heart was fixed on lovingly restoring the Galatians to a correct view of God and the only true gospel that saves.  They were no longer sure that Christ’s death had been sufficient to earn their favor with God, but had begun to believe the lie that their own works were also needed to secure their salvation.  Paul knew that a gospel of law and works was no gospel at all, and his heart ached for their error in judgment.  The Judaizers on the other hand, sought to make themselves look better by training disciples to follow their list of harsh rules.

Ouch.  Conviction struck as I realized how often my own parenting comes from a place of trying to make myself look good rather than of accomplishing God’s purposes in my children’s hearts.   I’ll admit it: I love it when I take the girls shopping and they sit perfectly in the cart and smile at everyone.  What Mommy doesn’t?  Likewise, when I’ve planned things badly and we’re running into lunchtime and three starving, tired  girls are all making their dissatisfaction with the sitaution known to the world, I feel the weight of the stares of those around me as if they’re saying, “And you’re having another one?!?  What on earth were you thinking?”  It hurts, but what I need to remember is that what’s hurting is my pride.  The girls will get fed and be napping in due course, but to those strangers in Target, I will forever be that-mom-with-all-those-out-of-control children.  I am not truly concerned for the girls as I feel frustration and body temperature rising; I am concerned for me.  When God allows me to be humbled in those moments, He can use it for my good if only I will check the motives of my heart and rely on His strength to get us through those sticky moments.

So on that fateful morning two weeks ago, I wanted to arrive at Bible study on time with smiling, well-groomed children (isn’t she adorable in pigtails?  Why doesn’t she get that???).  If I’m honest, it wasn’t mainly because I was worried about missing prayer request time or disrupting the nursery to drop my girls off late.  It was because I wanted everyone to see that I have it all together, that I can handle this slightly crazy life of mine, that I really do have it all under control.

I think little ones can sense when our motives are wrong.  They can smell our selfish reasons for wanting them to behave a mile off.  Mine can at least.  When I parent like Paul, speaking to their hearts and truly wanting what God wants for them and what will untimately bring them happiness and blessing, they know it.  They might not always comply perfectly, but life certainly is smoother.  But when I have a moment or a day or a week when, like the Judaizers, I want my children to behave in order to make me look good or in other ways make my life more convenient, it can get pretty ugly around here.  By God’s grace, I pray I can be more like Paul in my parenting, genuinely seeking to lead my sweet girls to the Lord that they may one day experience His abundant grace in their lives as I do.

*Answer:  You thought it was Romilly, didn’t you?  In actual fact, Aunt Paige was “supervising” this pumpkin-painting fiasco from the living room where she was glued to some reality show.  I’ll let you be the judge.

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

If there’s even a possibility that the God who made you has something to say to you, shouldn’t you hear Him out?

(Wondering why I’m so uncharacteristically short-winded?  Abraham Piper set a challenge to write a post in 50 words.  But if he can do it in 22, so can I.  Almost.)

I’ve been tagged by Amy to tell you 7 random facts about myself.  I was tempted to go in the direction of “I have two sisters who are 8 days apart in age” (Figure that one out) or “I was once deported,” but it seems that all my bloggy friends are just listing their quirks.  I’ve got a couple of those, too, so I’ll follow suit.

1.  I *love* Q-tips.  Giving my ears a good scratch is like eating a whole box of chocolates for me.  I do it at least once a day, and Trevor makes me do it while the girls are sleeping so that they will continue to believe him that you should never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear.  Good thinking.

2.  I almost never take showers.  WAIT!  Please keep reading.  I take baths.  My mom is the same way.  I used to take showers when I was in high school and college, but when we first got married, our student flat only had a bath tub and no shower and, well, it was kind of nice.

3.  I can sing the 50 states in alphabetical order, thanks to my third grade (I think?) teacher.  It’s probably about time to teach that to the girls, come to think of it.

4. Don’t ever ask me to do #3 for you, because whenever I am forced to sing on the spot, my eyes water.  It’s some sort of weird genetic quirk that my dad and I both suffer from that we get this performance-embarrassment-related tear-duct hyperactivity reaction.  Weird.  My dad also gets it when people are singing badly in church, and he feels embarrassed for them.   Luckily they just assume he’s gotten all emotional because their song was really moving.  Oddly, I’m okay if I am actually performing, like with background music.  It’s just if you were to say to me, “Hey Jodi, how does that state song of yours go?”  Can’t do it.

5.  I cannot bear to have my wrists or the inside bends of my elbows touched.  Not even by my husband.  It’s because I’m phobic about blood and specifically very protective of my veins and arteries.  As you can imagine, I’m a super fun stick when I have to get blood taken.

6.  I put butter on my sandwiches instead of mayo or mustard.  I include this only for Dana‘s sake, since all of my UK readership will be thinking “What’s wrong with that?”  Dana thought it was a very odd request indeed.

7.  I had 14 Cabbage Patch Kids when I was little (okay, so, probably collected until I was 12 or so if I’m honest), and I can still recite all of their names, first and middle.  Only one was changed.  The rest are all the original wacky given names.  (Oh, okay.  Since you asked: Virginia Dyan, Tanya Cynda, Lerrelle Marcella, Timothy Mark, Martina Lynn, Blaine Imala, Percy Isaac, Jobina Brenda, Fayme Gloria, Adrienne Cassie, Lynnette Alyce, Marjorie Genevra, Robert Alan, Jeffrey Martin – and I think I am officially going to blame the CPK baby-naming department for the rampant misuse of the letter Y in modern baby-naming.  Yikes!)  There you go.  That was, like, at least three quirky things for the price of one.

I’m supposed to tag  seven people to play now, but I don’t think I have seven bloggy friends left who haven’t already done this one.  If you decide to play, let me know you’re doing it so I can laugh at you be sure to read it!

(At the risk of not being very wordless, I have to share Pippa’s comment when I showed her this photo.  She said:

“Ro-ro’s a funny girl.  (Long pause.)   And not just when she’s sleeping.”)

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.