Glitter, Fun Land, and Life in Limbo

For this small moment in time, I am at my parents’ house, and it is completely quiet!  Quiet!!  This never happens. This is wonderful. All I hear is the hum of the air conditioning!

The baby, who has had a “summer fever virus” for three days, is sleeping. (Last night was a nightmare!) I took him to the doctor today, just to make sure he doesn’t have an ear infection. Thankfully, he doesn’t. It cost me a small fortune to take him to the doc because Tricare (military health insurance) doesn’t cover out-of-town doctor visits. They only cover ER visits. I’m not much of an ER fan for this sort of problem. Sorry, Alan. I just remind myself that the health of our baby is worth the money.

Mom just left with the three oldest boys, to go to the local water park. They were all SO excited. Somehow Daniel’s flip-flops got lost on the road trip, so I sent him out in tennis shoes with no socks. Poor thing.

Dad will be returning within the hour from his D.C. trip. Alan’s truck has been sitting in front of our friends’ house for a month now. After weeks of trying to coordinate with a company to ship Alan’s truck, we finally gave up. Dad flew in and picked it up yesterday.

This is such an odd phase: the between houses phase. Our stuff is all spread out from here to California. Our family is split up, with Alan living in a California hotel, while we hang out with our family in Alabama. Alan has already begun classes, and he is doing well. There’s so much I’d like to be getting accomplished, and yet there is only so much that I can do while on vacation here.

We are having fun, but we are definitely ready to get to our new place.

We’ve been doing our best to keep the boys busy. They have mostly been entertaining themselves with library books, Skylanders, and Fun Land.

Ah, Fun Land. One afternoon last week, the boys turned on the sprinkler, put their swimming trunks on, and began soaking every inch of my parents’ backyard. They especially enjoy propping the thing up on the trampoline while they jump and splash at the same time. Joshua named it Fun Land, and he informed me that it’s free for members, but if I’m not a member, I have to pay $1. He keeps reminding me of this. I told him, “I’m not paying $1 to go into the backyard.” Sorry. I know I wasn’t being a very fun mom.

We’ve also done a little playground visiting, and there was one day that I tried to take them walking with me. The thing about walking is that it’s about 100 degrees here. Little Dan just couldn’t keep up.

Speaking of little Dan, you should have seen the boys’ room today. Dan found a bottle of glitter. Glitter–the horrors! Let’s just say his room sparkles now. Actually, we all sparkle. Do you know how hard it is to clean up a whole bottle of red glitter???

I also deserve a special medal for Wednesday night church attendance, with Joshua and Caleb, during the summer. Why do my boys moan and groan about going to church, as if it were something new?? They were born going, and they always enjoy it once we get there. Okay, on Sundays they enjoy it, on Wednesday nights, not so much. Yet every time it is announced, the whining begins. I can handle that, though. The hard part is Wednesday nights, as most churches do not have children’s activities on those nights, nor should they. People deserve to have the summer off from working children’s programs. They do have nursery for the little ones, but it is certainly fair to expect 7 and 8 year old boys to know how to behave in church.

Who can relate to this?  Tell me I’m not the only one!!! It goes like this:

–We find a seat, and the boys are already huddled together like bear cubs. I tell them, “Scoot over. You know you two cannot sit by each other.

Church begins.

–Me: “Joshua, sit up.”

–Joshua sits up. He sighs and hunches his back. Then he whispers, “How many more minutes?”

–Me:  shhh.  Just listen.

–Caleb: (whispering, thankfully) Mom, I’m just too tired for church. Can we go home after the shaking of the hands?

–Me:  (remembering there is no “shaking of the hands” on Wednesday nights) Yes, now shhhh.

–Me:  Joshua, sit up.

–Joshua sits up. He sighs and hunches his back. Then he whispers, “How many more minutes, exactly?”

–Caleb: I’m hungry. Can we go home right after the shaking of the hands?

…..Repeat this a dozen times, and I leave looking for my special medal.  😉

Why do I bother??  Well, I bother because I want to make sure they’ve heard the gospel message and more, not just from me, but from people who know more about it than I do. I want them to have every opportunity to soak the choice of living a Christian life into their brains, and to know what that means. I want them to learn how to sit still and listen for an hour.  I want them to learn more about Jesus and his disciples, more about God, and more about the top two commandments:

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”