Eli: “Mom, I’m not the Tooth Fairy. I’m not Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny. I am the Soap Spartan!!!”

Me: “Ohhhkaaayyyy….”

Eli: “My good deed is that I sneak around and refill the soap bottles when no one is looking!”

(Have I mentioned lately how much I love that kid?)

Me: (Laughing) “Well, I think that is awesome. I sure wish the Soap Spartan would drop by the kitchen today.”

Eli: “OK!” (Running off to get the refill bottle from the bathroom.)

I knew that I would love being a Mom, but I had no clue how utterly entertaining it could be!

What happened when Eli rushed through a math review assignment because he wanted to get outside to play with his friends…

I guess one could say that each number was cool, big, nice and “graet”.

When asked about the misspelling of “great”, he said, “Mom…you always taught me, ‘When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and says it’s name.’ So, it can’t be spelled ‘g-r-E-a-t’….then it would be pronounced ‘greet.’”

I just love homeschooling!

~This column ran in Wednesday’s edition of The Covington News.~

Through the month of November, many of my friends have kept track of things they’re grateful for through daily Facebook posts. It’s been rather amusing to see how the deep gratitude for spouses, children and siblings mentioned at the first of the month trickled down into meager appreciation for things like coffee and rainbows last week.

I can’t wait to see what people are listing on November 30^th—I fully suspect that some will be reaching for straws and I’ll see things like septic tanks and egg salad listed.

Not that those things aren’t worthy of gratitude.

Anyway, it made me start thinking about some of the odd, random things that I’m thankful for. I doubt any of these things will come to mind when we’re praying over our turkey dinner tomorrow, but I’m grateful for them just the same.

1. By the time he starts college, my son Jonah will be sleeping in his own bed. Granted, he’s not given me any concrete reason to hope for this in the two years he’s hogged my bed—sideways—but friends tell me I can be fairly confident that by college, this co-sleeping stage will, indeed, come to an end.

Read the rest of this entry »

Several years ago, my family started the tradition of having a “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” themed meal on Thanksgiving Eve while we watch the classic special together. If you’ve not seen the show, poor Charlie Brown is inundated with last-minute, self-invited dinner guests. His plans were to eat Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother’s house, so he has none of the traditional foods to feed them. He can’t cook anyway, except for cereal and toast, so he and his faithful beagle, Snoopy, prepare a kid-style feast for their friends.

They serve toast, popcorn, pretzels, jellybeans and ice cream sundaes.

My dinner plate with slightly burned cheese toast — just as I like it — on a fun, turkey-printed paper plate. They only had plain buttered toast in the Charlie Brown special, but I figured we could use a little protein!

I’m always busy cooking the night before Turkey Day, so having something so simple and fun for dinner is ideal to me! And the kids just love this little tradition. This was the first year that Jonah really knew what was going on. When he first saw his dinner plate, he did a double-take, as if he couldn’t believe his good fortune to climb into his chair and find a plate heaped with popcorn, pretzels AND candy! I couldn’t even get him to sit down for a while — he just stood there, happily shoveling popcorn into his mouth.

I love my family! And I love Thanksgiving!

And yes, I love my crazy husband with his totally goofy expressions!

In other Thanksgiving news, just for fun, I had the boys fill in a turkey poem prompt as part of their schoolwork this week. (Each sentence began with phrases to describe the turkey, such as, “It needs….” “It moves….” and they filled in the rest.)

What they came up with just cracked me up! Disturbing? Maybe if you aren’t accustomed to the ways of boys. And these sons of mine are utterly, totally, testosterone-charged BOYS!

Here is Zach’s:

It sees the gun in its face.

It hears the pump cock.

It feels the shiver down its spine.

It understands that it’s going to become dinner.

It moves left to right.

It needs to get out of sight!

It likes to get an adrenaline rush.

It wants a chase through the woods.

It eats one last berry, for good.

It dreams, asleep forever. It’s dead.

And Eli’s, with a rather humorous twist:

It sees the bazooka from far away.

It hears the bazooka fire.

It feels scared.

It understands its death.

It moves out of the way.

It needs pie.

It likes man.

It wants the man.

It eats the man.

It dreams good.

The end.

Look at those beautiful faces, so full of joy.

You wouldn’t know that each of them has experienced more loss and pain than most Americans ten times their ages. They’ve known not just what it’s like to miss a meal, but the painful gnaw of hunger from going days on end without food. They know what it’s like to battle illness daily, to see their siblings and parents suffer from body-ravaging diseases most of us never face. They lack access to medical care that could alleviate their suffering.

Sadly, they all know what it’s like to lose one or both of their parents to death.

And still, they smile.

Through connections orchestrated by God himself, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know these children and the one who looks out for them, Pastor Ronald Lufafa. He has a heart as big as Africa and has dedicated his life to doing all he can to help the widows and orphans in his community. I want you to get to know them, too. So please take a few minutes to visit the website we had the pleasure of helping them create: Blood of Jesus Ministries-Uganda.

We’re going to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, and then the busy Christmas season is full-force upon us. I lamented to some friends recently about how there are so many needs being presented to me, so many good causes worthy of financial support at this time of year, and yet I cannot contribute to all of them because my own resources are limited.

So part of me feels guilty about presenting to you yet another need when I know I cannot be the only one feeling a bit squeezed in this economy.

However…(there’s always a however, isn’t there?) these precious people have stolen my heart, and their need for support is so great. I wouldn’t be faithful to myself if I didn’t tell you about them and ask you to find a way to help reach out to these beautiful kids and Pastor Ronald…even if it’s not until January or later that you can do something.

Even if all you can do at this time is pray.

Because in 2012, they will still be there. These children will still have physical and spiritual needs that you and I can prayerfully help Pastor Ronald to meet. I’d love nothing more than to see several churches around this nation “adopt” this ministry and fall in love with them the way that my family has.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to organize a missions trip to go build that house they so desperately need? Or raise enough money that the 25 of them could enjoy food security, something they’ve never experienced before? Wouldn’t it be great if Pastor Ronald could mark every item off of his “The Way Forward” list and become self-sufficient in a country where that isn’t always possible?

Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

I believe in a God who has shown me His faithfulness in doing “exceedingly abundantly above” all that I’ve asked or even dreamed of. But one incredible thing about that verse lies right in its middle: “According to the power that works in us…”

It’s His power, but it works through us. It’s His will that his children’s needs are met. But we are the hands and feet that do the work; through Him, we make it happen.

Isn’t our God big enough to meet all of this ministry’s needs, and more?

I say He is.

And now that you know, what say you?