Baseball moments

I have been spending so much time working on enjoying the moments with the kiddos. You may wonder why that would be work. Why do I feel guilty just playing? I shouldn't, but I do. It is hard to just play and enjoy them when I know that I could be cleaning, doing laundry, organizing something or making dinner. But the fact is there is ALWAYS something else that needs to be done and I can quickly waste the day doing those things instead of loving on my kids. I find at the end of those kind of days when I reflect on how I spent my time, I cannot think of any significant time that I just cherished my moments with Caleb, Luke and Chloe. And I hate that feeling. None of us knows the end of our days. There are no guarantees that I will have them tomorrow. But I do know that God has blessed me with these children for today and I need to live in TODAY and love them today. The floor can always be cleaned tomorrow. And I know my kids will never grow up wishing the house had been cleaner when they were young.

I have been praying fervently for the Holy Spirit to help me overcome my tendency to need to get something tangible accomplished. Because tickling, reading books, coloring pictures and playing catch together is HUGELY important. Spending precious time with my kids may not be tangible to me, but it sure is to them. And the time is going so quickly. Chloe is already 3 years old, Luke is 5 and Caleb is going to be 7 in less than 2 months! How can that be?

So, today we spent the whole afternoon together. We went to a picnic at VBS, drank soda and had way too many treats. Then we went to the park where we went on train rides and carousel rides and got free ice cream (which we didn't need - and my nature would say, we've had enough- but why?) Then we came home and did some chores together (which my nature would prefer to do alone, more efficiently and effectively) and quickly headed outside for more fun. We played catch. The boys improved SO much in such a short time. We caught grounders and pop-ups and practiced hitting. Even Chloe worked on her throwing and hitting. We all had such a good time. And the floor can still be cleaned tomorrow and who cares if we have french toast and eggs for dinner tonight - we'll be together.

Thank you God for helping me cherish them today.
Praising Jesus,
Karen

Procrastinating

I should be working on a talk that I am giving to the jr. and sr. high girls on Thursday night, but I am a girl who works best with a time pressure....or maybe I just procrastinate. Actually, I am really looking forward to it. It is a for our 2nd annual princess party for the G180 girls. Last year it was all about being daughters of The King, Jesus Christ. Our focus was on purity and it was a lot of fun. This year we are talking about conduct becoming of a princess. All that said, it will be a good time, but for whatever reason I am procrastinating. And I mean serious procrastination. I have done laundry, cleaned my toilets, scrubbed my kitchen sink, filled out & updated baby books, and started a blog. Now I am trying to make the blog look pretty. :0) I don't know how to add all of those fun embellishments that other blogs have, but I am enjoying trying to figure it out.

Okay, now I have to get the boys in who are beating each other with noodles with the neighbor kids and somehow got wet from head to toe. And every ball, bat, frisbee and sand bucket is in the yard. Gotta love it.

The blog world

Well, today seems as good a day as any to start a blog for our family...so here goes. First off, it is likely that I (Karen) will be doing the posting since Steve isn't much into writing down the ins and outs of our daily lives. :o) Don't get me wrong, he will love to read it and enjoy it (and laugh at me for being so into it -LOL), but contribute? Probably not high on his things to do list.

So why a blog? You know I have become very interested in following many different blogs over the last year or so and seeing the way the Lord is working in others lives. I have been journaling quite a bit ever since we began our adoption process in October of 2007 so that I can do the same. It is funny how writing things down and re-reading them helps me to remember the wondrous works of God in our family. So we'll see how this all plays out...it may just be my new on-line journal since I am fairly certain that we won't have all of kinds of people running to check our blog on a daily basis.

That's it for today...my first official post. :0)
Holding fast to Jesus,
Karen