When your called to open your doors wide

When Drew and I made conscious effort to start opening our doors to our neighbors, never would I have imagined how wide the LORD would ask us to open them. 

We opened them a sliver, and soon we had neighbor kids knocking at the door.  The door opened a little wider and we joined some of the moms at the park.

Then the single mom of 3 down our street had to rush her 5 year old to the hospital with a burst appendix.  With no-one to help her care for her other 2 she called a friend from our church, a contact she had a slight connection with.  A phone call and two hours later we shuffled rooms and opened our doors even wider for her 2 year old to stay with us for a night, until she could arrange something. 

One night became 5 nights, until her Mom was able to fly in and take over.  Just as I thought I couldn't keep going, by day 3 a phone call came through.  Another friend from church was able to take him for the day, and then another friend the next day.  He played well with their children and our home became his home base.  Then a meal was dropped off at our house.  I was at the receiving end of the help from our church family while normally I'm the one organizing it.

The LORD reminded me last week of the communion of saints, the family and friends who rally around and help those who need help.  He reminded me to not take for granted the support that we have, the relationships, the constant reminder that we are not alone.  I was reminded to not become bitter at the busyness that this can make, the busyness of family gatherings and church functions.  If I'm honest I will admit that when I got that phone call I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to have the responsibility of another child, I had a large to-do list that week.  It wasn't about what I wanted, it was about a need that had to be filled, and you know what, it ended up being a huge blessing for all of us.

It was beautiful.  This little boy who stayed with us tugged at our heart strings, he followed Drew around and copied everything he did.  We saw Jacob in a different light, a boy who is quickly growing and who so willingly and eagerly moved his stuff around to give up his room.  My sister-in-law stepped in and took Kaylin for a day so she could get out of the house and enjoy some time watching her cousins' swimming lessons and going to the library. Time away from the chaos that our house was last week.  Kaylin came home with one book, a book she found for Jacob, to include him in her day out.  We saw the kids serving eachother.

It was not an easy week, it was tiring and yesterday was a bit of a melt-down day for all of us.  A day of quiet and nothing going on, a day that gave us a chance to stop.  Its not easy to open your doors for those around you, and yet the whole neighborhood witnessed something special.  Of a whole church community coming and going, picking this little boy up and bringing him to his mom and to see a doctor the morning after a croup attack.  They saw a whole team rally around this little boy, a child they had never met and I've had neighbors asking, why?

Actions speak louder than words and I was reminded of this last week.  Suddenly the list of things I wanted to accomplish last week really didn't matter.  It didn't matter that our house was a bit of mess, that I was behind on laundry, that I never choose the paint for our bedroom, that I never made it to the store to find something new to wear to church.  What did matter was giving this little boy a stable home to sleep, what did matter was showing our children that to serve others was not only when we wanted to, or when it worked for us, but when they landed on our doorstep and we had to make it work.

I'm thankful this week that life is back to "normal", that over the weekend we were able to celebrate my brother-in-law's 30th birthday, the baptism of my new niece.  I found myself surrounded by family for two days,  I cuddled with both the new babies in our family and I was thankful.  So completely and wonderfully thankful for the family and friends around me.

Brendan Jeremiah

We welcomed a new nephew into the world on April 14th.  My youngest sister gave birth to her second boy, Brendan Jeremiah.  One week after my brother and sister-in-law had their baby girl.  Such fun to have two new babies in the family, and my older sister is due in the summer and Drew's sister is due at the end of the summer.  I'm rather surrounded by babies these days and it is wonderful!

Meeting this little guy was pretty special, never do I get tired of the miracle of babies.  She's my youngest sister and at times its hard to believe that she's old enough to have 2.  I used to steal her clothes and then when she got mad that I didn't give them back I would sneak them back into her room.  When I got home from a date night with Drew I would wake her up and tell her all about it.  I missed our late night chats the most when I got married and moved out.  We shared a room for years and when I finally got my own room, I secretly missed sharing. Funny how that works.

I was really over-joyed meeting this little guy.  Seeing him and my new niece together yesterday was really special.

Time is flying and I promised Kaylin a puzzle on this rainy day:)

Happy Monday!

Recommended

I enjoyed THIS article today.  I encourage you to read it.  Drew jokes around that women give eachother homework, that whenever I come home for a girls thing I have a list of projects that I want to tackle, a scrapbook that needs to get done or a room that has to be painted. 

He's not wrong.  In a world that seems to have forgotten that being mom is a busy job I find myself feeling discouraged when I look around at the end of the day and my floor is dirty and my laundry has been squashed into drawers in a hurry.  I convince myself that I should have time for these things, every day.  My linens should be organized just so, my house should be spotless and my room really should have been painted a year ago. 

And because, sometimes others just say it so much better, I recommend this read, its a good reminder to us all!

My newest niece!

This weekend we welcomed our newest niece (cousin) into our family.  My brother and his wife had a beautiful daughter over the weekend, Mikaela Casey.  She is named after my uncle who passed away last year and I know that when we heard her middle name it was a bit emotional for all of us.

My younger sister (who is about to have her second any day now!) and I were able to meet this little one in the hospital on Saturday. Today the kids were able to meet her.

The miracle of life never ceases to amaze me.  My mind turns to Ps 139 every time I hold a newborn, and I feel so completely and richly blessed. 

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made: your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." 

On Keeping it Real and Simple

I love pinterest, I love the Internet, I love blogs and I love kids toys.  Sometimes I think though, that we make things complicated and its easy to feel overwhelmed.  While its great to sit down with your kids and help them with a complicated craft its important not to forget that really, simple is just as good.  Its about balance.  If your feeling overwhelmed with the grocery lists and meal planning, you don't have to wait until you print lists and make a home binder before you can start.  Although if I'm honest, making a home planning binder is on my to-do list, but the reality is its been on that list for over 6 months.  What I've been doing for the past 5 years? I sit down once a week and write out my meal plan.  In my note book of everything, or on the back of an envelope, in a pinch its even been on the back of a ripped piece of paper.

When I get overwhelmed with the workload that needs to get done.  I sit down and simply scribble in my notebook.  It never seems so bad when I see it on paper.  And when the list is long, I just work through it slowly, checking things off as I go.  This book is full of random thoughts, grocery lists, to do lists, projects.  Its not going to get a prize for best organizational tool, but for me it works, and in the danger of only sharing the complicated in blog world, I want to share the simple as well.

Almost every morning we do a craft.  Crafts in our house ranges from painting to colouring to cutting to making necklaces to making forts out of marshmallows and toothpicks.

A favorite these days - cutting out pictures from magazines and gluing them to paper.  A craft that allows me to work in the kitchen and help when I'm called.  The kids learn to cut, they pick out "themes" which means for Jacob - its anything that moves, and Kaylin's is always pictures of everything.  From kitchens to flowers to people.

We turn the music up and they make an art of covering every inch of the table in paper and glue.  I love these times.  The simple crafting that is done while I'm getting an early start on dinner, or organizing a cupboard or baking, sometimes I just sit at the table and read.

I help Jacob with his cutting, but he's getting there.  He searches the magazines for anything that has a motor in it.  I do preflip through magazines and pull out any pictures that I find not suitable for kids.

We did this craft last week, found on pinterest.  The kids loved it, and I did have to plan for it.  When the paint is out I need to hover.  Jacob tends to get too excited and starts waving brushes around.  Maddie stretches up on her tip toes to try to sneek a little finger in the red paint for a lick.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, I love Easter.  Tomorrow we spend the day with family and we start our egg hunt using the resurrection eggs to teach.  The kids saw them on the counter yesterday and were excited.  And soon, the Lord willing, we'll meet two new nieces or nephews.  The miracle of new babies always makes me stop and marvel at God's handiwork,  I can't wait to get my hands on them:)

Wishing you all a blessed Easter weekend!