This Little Light of Mine

As Thanksgiving approaches I've been purposefully thinking about the things I'm thankful for. It might be a little bit motivated by all of the facebook posts, but let's be real here- we are supposed to think on things that are lovely, noble and pure right?

I'm thankful that my children's principal and office staff at their public school who know their names and genuinely care about them. 

Yesterday I was in the office checking my son in late for the school day because of a Dr's appointment. The nurse came up to me and congratulated me for having two "WOW note" winners in the same family in the same week. (The WOW note winner program at their school rewards good behavior with public recognition and small prizes.)

 She said there had never been two kids from the same family win all in the same week. I was kind of caught off guard and just kind of stood there and said, wow!
Is that really all I could think to say? 
 I give myself a little bit of grace here because I am a slow processor. My brain just takes more time than others to process and respond. So finally, this morning I have processed and calculated a response. What I really want to say to the nurse is Praise the Lord. 
I mean seriously, what I wish I would have done is given the credit to God. Somehow said something witty, or thoughtful to bring Him the praise for my children's good behavior.   Really I have no place to take credit, nor do I want to. It's the Jesus who lives inside of my kids' hearts that makes them different... Jesus' character, the Holy Spirit's guidance, God's love that changes them from the inside out. So as I catch up on all of my processing, I selfishly use this blog to finish the conversation I had with the Nurse yesterday. One of the favorite songs being cranked on our radio at home lately is 
We Are by Kari Jobe.

"So wake up sleeper lift your head, for we were meant for more than this.
We are the light of the world. We are a city on a hill."

First Day of School 2011

My two oldest kids are 16 months apart. It was rough when they were younger because they were so close in age. Ainsley was walking when Ashden was born, a little gift from above I think, but the summer he was born we stayed inside and watched Sesame Street... A LOT.

I remembered those days as I was walking away from their classrooms. I remembered that when they were still babies, the thought of this day, TODAY, brought me comfort. And then I laughed at myself because I was bawling.

How could I have been so wrong as a new Mom?
Well, I give myself some grace because I was sleep deprived and hungry and nursing and well, you get the point here. But somehow, the thought of my two kids going off to school brought me comfort and now it just brings lots of tears.
I'm sure this post is way too mushy for most people, but I love my kids and now that I'm past all the sleep deprivation, I really miss them and it's only been 2 hours. It's like my heart is just totally exposed in the big world.

 I understand now that the things that I thought would be helpful, really weren't at all helpful. Just when we think the grass is greener on the other side, we learn that it really is not.

 Anxiously awaiting three o'clock,
D