Can't We All Just Get Along?

As some of you know, I babysit my neighbor's daughter pretty much full time. And most days here lately, it has just been overwhelming. Not that this baby is such a pain, it's just one more drain on me and my time and my time with my kids. Trying to balance homeschooling, other activities, three kids, not to mention attempting to keep a clean (okay, the appearance of clean) house has been frustrating.

However in the past week I have noticed that my older two are picking up on my negative vibes toward the whole babysitting-thing. It's taken me a few days to feel convicted about this, but I do now. We've had a few days off from having the baby and it has been so nice.

But today we had her back and I was determined to set the attitude off for the day in the right direction. When the kids responded with a chorus of "oh not J" when I told them she would be over right away, I reminded them that baby doesn't get the chance to learn much about Jesus at her house and that this was a chance we had to share Jesus' love with her. Immediately after my little sermon-ette, I got tested. The phone rings it's the baby's mom, apparently she over-slept and is now running late. I felt my blood beginning to boil, all of my kids slept in today, but because I knew that she'd be over right away, I forced my tired body out of bed and got going much earlier than I wanted to! After a stern self-talk and a quick sarcastic "must be nice" to myself I moved on!

So now as I type, I can hear a chorus of "love your neighbor" (from Veggie tales) being sung to our little guest. God is good. He can even work through a sleep-deprived, frustrated mama!

Best Friends Are We . . .

. . . my sisters and me!
Here are some sweet sister photos.
Enjoy!

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A Day of Firsts

Today has been a day of firsts. A and G went to ECHO (a homeschool co-op) today for the first time. Both of them loved their classes! G had a great time in the preschool class and A had fun in Music, Science, Sign Language and PE. I am excited for them and for this opportunity.

M and I took R to Lowe's and met with a kitchen designer. She will come up with a design and cabinet suggestions for us hopefully as soon as next week. We'll see how that goes. I hope she can come up with a good design.

R and I were snuggling on the couch watching "people" as she puts it ("Little People" video), when she put her head on my lap and said "I wuff you". It took a second for me to recognize the words--she's never said them before. So of course I gave her a big hug and told her I loved her. What a sweet and special first!