Presidential Election 2012

I was determined to break the myth that voting with 3 kids could be dangerous to your health and the patience of others.

 

Election time was always bitter sweet growing up. The debates were at times heated in the kitchen as my parents split the great divide with one being a devoted Republican and one being a devoted Democrat and both of which who typically always voted within their party. All I could decipher as a young child was that one party certainly did not agree with the other party and by the end of the night the conversation was mute because it always ended with the statement, “we cancel each other out anyways.” My head was spinning and confused so much so that when it came time to preregister to vote in high school, I wasn’t sure which party to jump into so I registered as an Independent.

 

I would be wrong though to say that any of it was a negative or horrible experience and not because both my parents read my blog (wink, wink) but rather because I always looked forward to the actual voting experience. I couldn’t necessarily explain it other than that there was a certain tension and excitement in the air during election time and while waiting in the voting lines with my parents. Truth be told, I was an easy sell for voting process because of my favorite part of the whole experience…the sticker. Oh come on, you have to admit the power behind that one little sticker and the pride of those that wear it. Even if I missed the vote itself, my Dad would dutifully hand over his “I voted” sticker the moment he walked in the door. That sticker held so much power for me and still does to this day.

 

Fast forward a few decades and another election… I wanted to pass the same “sticker pride” to my children. I knew that my 2 oldest were at a good age to start laying a positive foundation for the whole voting experience. They were both coming home daily with different facts and statements about the impending election and they both had formed their own convictions on opposite sides of the aisles. So much so that I was reverting back to my childhood.

 

Cooper came home with a paper from school the day before the election with a drawing he had done himself of a women standing at a polling booth with a taking bubble that said,

 

“hmmm, hoo shud I vote for Met Romnee or Obom”.

 

Schools were closed on Election Day so I was determined to not let the day go by without some involvement in this great privilege of voting. I started the night before feverishly getting ready for the big day buying red, white, and blue food to eat throughout the day, crafts, posters, and ended my night with hanging red, white, and blue decorations.

 

I waited as long as I could to hang the decorations as I wasn’t quite sure what Blane would say about another one of my crazy gimicks and taking things just “a little” too far. Finally at 11:00pm when I realized he wasn’t going to bed anytime soon, I decided to pull out the crazy card and started  decorating. He was a good sport and joined in and helped somewhere in between his laughs and comments like, “how many other people do you think are doing this right now?” Good question….but I plugged on determined to make something of our election day with the kiddos.

 

 

The morning arrived and even the kids were a little shocked to see the decorations. We started our day with running for president ourselves. We each made campaign posters with promises of what would happen if we were elected. Then we each took turns with a speech.
 

Cooper was a man of many words, “because”. Ok, so first one out the gate was not as enthusiastic about the activity as I had hoped.

 

 

Parker’s promises involved “no school, eating one healthy food a day, birthdays would last a week and Christmas would be everyday”. I appreciated her enthusiasm.

 

 

Parker also made a poster for Berkley and apparently Berkley would promise to “give Mommy milk to all people and extra smiles and giggles to people that voted for her.”



And Mommy’s idea of a good campaign promise was 3 days at school and 4 days off each week, sweet treats would be required, snuggle time is mandatory, a Day of Jubilee just like Biblical times to erase everyone’s debt, and Mother’s Day would be changed to Mother’s Week.” I was really trying to go for the younger vote with the sweet treat promise.

 

 

After our speeches, we filled ourselves up with all the red and blue dye a person could handle complete with our lady liberty cupcakes the kids made themselves.

 

 

 

The day was filled throughout with random dance parties and chants of "USA, USA, USA!". We sat together and watched some news coverage to try and drive home just how important voting was for our country. We snapped and few pictures…

 

 

….and then jumped on our bikes and headed to the polling booth. I was very grateful for all the early voters and our small voting precinct right here in our neighborhood. A long line could have been disastrous with 3 children. We walked right in ready to make our mark and both kids were anxious to see how this all really happened. Luckily they had tables and chairs to sit down at as an option rather than just the tall booths. I gathered everyone around the table like little hens and pointed to the different names. In fact, it was Parker that caught my mistake when I voted for the wrong congressman. After grabbing a second ballot and starting the process again, I was grateful that they can both now read and had caught my mistake.…or was I? I started marking my choice and Cooper using his best “outside voice” with tears filling in his eyes kept saying, “Obama, pick Obama. Why are you not picking Obama? He’s our president”. The looks from the nearby booths were mixed and I just smiled politely hoping to communicate the “oh isn’t he just so cute” response. I was pretty sure his Pa-Pa put him up to this one.
 

We survived the experience and we all walked out of there proudly displaying our “I Voted” stickers. Overall it was a great day and I know that it will be one they won’t forget.

 

Regardless of the final tally of votes, my number one hope is that their true conviction will still be the same conviction as they continue to grow. For Parker it was simple when trying to talk through the candidates, “Is he a Christian?” And for Cooper, after watching a news clip on TV when we returned home, he leaned into me while I was talking to my Dad on the phone and wanted to know, “Do you think Obama has Jesus in his heart?”

 

So simple….so true….so fun…Love it!

 

Kelly

xoxoxo

 

Dear Lord,

Dear Lord,

 I hold my sweet new baby and my heart swells with overwhelming love. What a gift she has been and a renewing of spirit for our family. I see her big blue eyes shine and I am transported back in time to holding my first born. She could do no wrong, the nights seemed so long and each stage brought with it a new challenge. If only I knew that those challenges at the early stages were just a mere warm up for the stages that were to come later.

I lost my cool this weekend. I know that's putting it lightly Lord, especially because it was over a brush. I know, I know it seems petty but I had plenty of evidence to back my explosion, or at least so I thought in the heat of the moment.

Parker loves my brush and uses it every morning and every morning I find myself on a scavenger hunt to be able to use my own brush. My broken record begins everyday with the same tune. “Parker you are more than welcome to use my brush anytime, just return it when you are done”. This particular morning, I was tired of playing with the record player… it has played the same several messages every day for some time now. I wonder often if everyone else in the house is just as tired at hearing the same tunes played again and again. And really it’s not completely my fault because this time was different. This time she couldn’t find where she had left it, which left Mommywith no brush to get ready for the day. I think my case has been made and now the explosion is justified…right?

Yes, I know Lord, but it’s not just the brush. It’s the homework, it’s the forgetting to return the papers back to school again and again, it’s did you remember to turn your lights off before you left, did you brush your teeth, where are your shoes, don’t get out of bed again, are you sure your hair has been brushed, did you tell them thank you….

And did you see her pull away from me? I grabbed for her hand as we crossed the street to the Fall Festival and when I reached for it, it passed quickly through my hand liked trying to grasp sand as she skipped ahead of me so as to not have to hold my hand. The irony of holding one of my girls so close to my chest in the baby carrier as my other girl pulls away. “It’s just embarrassing” she said.

 

What about the time that she….

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly…..can you hear your own words? My broken record plays for you daily as well my child just as you are doing for your own children. I was the one tugging at your heart saying, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14) when you raised your voice and spoke such venomous words to your daughter. I was the one urging you to “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) and allow me to help you with the joys and the struggles of parenting. After all, I would like to think that I have become somewhat of a pro with the number of children I am raising on a daily basis.

And the hand thing….chin up. She’s showing you her independence and the good job you have done. And if you watch ever so closely, you will see her look back because she knows she doesn’t want to go too far without you by her side. And, yes there are times she says she wants to do it without you but truth is she wants you to be there waiting in the wings because she can’t imagine not having you there cheering her on. Be careful to not get too discouraged about her hand slipping through yours. There are plenty of days that your confidence gets the best of you too and you pull your hand away from mine and run ahead trying to take on the day without me. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4).

 I know it makes your heart hurt because it makes my heart hurt as well. “Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady; keep a firm grip on you” (Isaiah 41:10, The Message). “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exodus 9:16).

Point taken....Thank you Lord!

Kelly
xoxo

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us” Ephesians 3:20

 

 

Lice & Other Blessings!

I know that many of you would think that my first blog back would be about our newest addition Ms. Berkley Taylor; however, as I gather my messy hormones and my up and down baby emotions, this morning’s God trinket was just too good to not share.

Letting go and releasing my children into each new stage of life has never been a strength of mine. I could quit possibly be the reason why the term “helicopter parent” was even invented. I like to hover.

When our daughter Parker started Pre-K, the level of stress and worry escalated. Why you ask? Well because she was only one year away from Kindergarten of course. I know, silly….one whole year of worrying about letting her go and seeing her grow up too fast. We survived Pre-K with a terrific year and a wonderful summer to follow but then it inevitably happened. The day I dreaded for so long was upon us and I thought I might just completely come unglued. There was something that happened though the day before that took me from dreading the day of drop off to fretting that she may not even get to go to school.

While brushing Parker’s hair, I discovered lice…..and when I say lice, I mean….LICE EVERYWHERE!  Feeling like mother of the year for not noticing it and allowing it to get so bad, I went into immediate panic mode and called my wonderful partner in crime, Becca, to come over and make sure this truly was what I thought it was. After all, she was a former Kindergarten teacher and had seen plenty of lice in her days of teaching. She confirmed my worst fear not just for Parker but also for Cooper and we immediately went to work.

Shaving Parker’s head was not really an option the day before school even though it would’ve been the easier choice. Instead, Becca and I set up shop in the kitchen with our lice kit, 2 children and a movie playing on the portable DVD player to distract the unhappy customers while we attempted the impossible. We tagged team each child and worked for 3 hours straight going through each and every strand of hair. I have truly never seen anything like it. I was no longer fretting about Kindergarten, in fact, it was no longer even on my mind.  

Talk about a distraction!

 Needless to say, Parker made it to school that next morning and I still giggle when I see pictures of her first day of Kindergarten because her hair was the cleanest and most beautiful hair I had seen. For some reason, I can’t stop itching my head while I write this J

Three years later and now it was Cooper’s turn to go to Kindergarten. Cooper brings with him a certain level of humbled confidence and so the worry factor was not as high. I have tried hard not to dwell in the idea of him going to Kindergarten; however, as the weekend before school was quickly coming to an end, I could feel the stress building in my mind. I knew that it could get really ugly though with all the new baby hormones if I allowed myself the opportunity to think through the events of what was getting ready to happen.

The final distraction came when I asked both kids to layout their school uniforms for the next day so they would be ready to go. It was then that we realized that Cooper had no uniform shorts. What? How could this be? We carefully went through all of our hand me downs a few weeks before and tried everything on, washed them and put them away for the big day….or did we?

My brain cannot always be trusted and now adding a third child to the mix, it has certainly not helped my cause when it comes to doing crazy things. Apparently, Cooper’s shorts got mixed into a wrong pile and were delivered to Goodwill. Hmph! We scrambled for a pair of shorts and friends came to the rescue with more hand me downs. It was in the midst of the scrambling though that one thought came ringing through my head…LICE!

I realized that shorts were much easier to solve than spending hours combing through his hair for lice. My blood pressure quickly returned to normal with more of a chuckle and an A-Ha moment. Could this just be one more gift from God so I can focus on the important things rather than morning the necessary ending and the start a new phase of life?

We now jump ahead to day #4 of the new school year. Our school participates in staggered start for Kindergarteners so today was technically Cooper’s 2^nd day of school but first day with all of his new classmates…all 21 of them. Yikes. Blane drove both children to school and I anxiously sat and waited for the phone call and play by play of how the drop off happened for both children.

I felt the overwhelming need to go to my devotional but instead I poured my cup of coffee and started fervently praying. The phone finally rang; however, it was earlier than I had expected. Blane’s voice was cool and calm (as always) with no concern in the world as he explained to me that everybody did great and everyone walked themselves into class. What? By themselves? And so the Mommy mind kicked in quickly:

this was only  Cooper’s 2^nd day…could he find his class on his own…they entered at the opposite end of the school and he had to walk further….would Parker ignore him and walk away from him with her friends….could he possibly walk right out the other side and off the property….

The helicopter parent in me had been grounded. There would be no flying for me today as he ventured into this new journey of growing up. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hear details of if and how he found his classroom until later this afternoon so my thoughts quickly went back to that devotional I ignored earlier when I got out of bed.

It was just like God’s style and I think He may even be showing off a little with this one and His perfect timing. Here is what today’s exert says (and the first line was of course in bold letters as to make sure He got my attention):

“ENTRUST YOUR LOVED ONES TO ME; release them into my protective care. They are much safer with Me than in your clinging hands. When you release loved ones to Me, you are free to cling to My hand. As you entrust others into My care, I am free to shower blessings on them. My presence will go with them wherever they go, and I will give them rest. This same presence stays with you, as you relax and place your trust in Me. Watch to see what I will do.”

                                                                                                                     Jesus Calling, Sarah Young (8/23)

It almost sounds like a challenge…”watch and see what I will do”. So does God give us lice or make our brains go foggy so we inadvertently give away school clothes to Goodwill?

What I do know in confidence is that He uses every situation and lets nothing going to waste to help get our attention and live fully for Him in every aspect of our life. Letting go of my children’s hands is so difficult but I know that they are not mine but rather they are only entrusted to me for a short time to care for and to raise up in the faith.

Isn’t it reassuring to know that although we can’t be the helicopter parent, God is and He is hovering in our life and the lives of our children!

Kelly

xoxo

The Land of I Would Never

I was an incredible mom before I had children. I am (gulp) humbled to admit that I looked on to plenty of moms and how they treated their children with the disapproving reaction, “Well, I would never…”.

Then I had my own 2 children and I ventured into the land of the “I Would Never…”. If you are a parent you too have made the trip into the humbling waters. You now find yourself army crawling out of bedrooms to make sure the baby’s sleep is not interrupted, you hand your child the dreaded dirty keys and cell phone, you turn off ringers, and threaten your older ones if they so much as breath heavy that they will be punished once you finally get the baby down for the long awaited nap. In the heat of the moment, you will do just about anything and everything just to make it all right.

My moment came today after receiving the disappointing news that our little girl has decided to turn breech on us. She has hung out for 38 weeks head down and real low. I swear she may have even offered me a few high fives every now and then when I go to the bathroom. Apparently the extra fluid that I have accumulated is helping her become a little swimmer in her last few weeks and she has decided to venture towards my ribs for a better view with her bum facing down. Baby girl apparently has not gotten the memo that she has to remain head down so she can come out in 12 days (but who’s counting?). And if she is anything like my first two, she will grab a hold of those ribs and plead not to come out until she is inevitably given the final eviction notice.

So the plan, turn the breech baby asap in order to avoid a c-section! I turned to the only source I could trust…Google. Ha! Brace yourself for some fun finds and even better videos when you venture this route. Now, it’s time to strap on your seat belt because you are about to ride the bumpy waves from the land of “I Would Never”. Here are a few of my favorite discoveries from my Internet search:

Place an I-pod or flashlight by your pubic bone to encourage the baby to go towards the light and/or music.

Place a bag of frozen peas at the top of your belly to encourage them to turn away from the cold temperatures.

My personal favorite…put a clothespin on both of your pinky toes squeezing the toe nail and toe together in order to apply pressure for 30 minutes a day.

I will admit, frozen peas were attempted and I decided hyperthermia was not one of my better choices as a mom. Instead I decided to focus on my own words of encouragement shared with my daughter today. I was fighting back tears on the way home from the appointment and this is what she said:

“Mommy, why are you so sad?”

“Well Mommy just feels a little overwhelmed right now.”

“I am sorry you are so stressed and overwhelmed Mommy”

humbled by my daughter and her reaction and quickly questioning my own tears…

“You know Parker, I may feel overwhelmed right now, but the truth

is God put this baby in my belly and God has taken care of her every step of the way. So now it’s time to trust that God is still in control of your baby sissy and how she will arrive safely. Sometimes it’s easy to talk about how much we love God and trust Him but right now Mommy is being given the opportunity to live out her faith and she needs help trusting Him and putting her words into action.”

“That’s ok Mommy, Baby Sissy will be great!”

She’s right, Baby Sissy will be great. I quickly jumped into panic mode of what can I do to make it “right” rather than resting in the fact that IT IS already right. She is strong, she is healthy, and she is a blessing we never thought we would have in our lives. Regardless of how she arrives on the scene for her big debut, she is a gift.

And just like God’s timing, I found this tonight in a magazine:

“There’s a special word for the baby inside a mother. It’s not a fetus or an embryo or an accident or merely a potential human being. A mother carries the image of God inside her. The child is a reflection of His love.”

I have to admit, I love to hold the reigns and call the shots. But once again, I am humbled by another detail of this pregnancy and a still small voice reminding me, “I placed this baby in your womb and knit every hair on her head. Now please step back and let the Master work.”

Thank you Jesus….now back to my handstands! Just kidding, after all, you know “I would never”.

Kelly

xoxo

Small Corners

There is a small corner in our bedroom that has been repurposed time and time again throughout our marriage. Dresser for me, armoire that no longer fits in the kid’s room, extra storage, an extra chair with the idea that mommy may have a quiet space to read or do quiet times in the morning, exercise machine, co-sleeper with baby #1, exercise machine repurposed to a “clothes hanger”, work desk where I started 1derfully Made and put vinyl on just about anything that wouldn’t move, back to just an armoire and extra storage and finally….a “nursery” for baby #3.

Once we started telling friends and family that we were expecting the unexpected, many reactions were similar:

 “Where will you put her?”

“Are you going to move?”

Their concerns were valid and were ones that we had already played out in our own heads. However, if I am learning anything during this pregnancy, it’s that small corners return big blessings.

I have often prayed for burning bushes and larger than life events when really it is in the quiet moments and small corners that God speaks to us the most. Today I was not expecting fireworks or burning bushes but rather just a regular standard ultrasound to check the baby and measure the fluid around her body. I was lying on the table trying desperately to make out anything I could on the large screen in front of me and wishing I could see more. I have felt her move and have watched my ever expanding waistline grow over these very short months. I have now even sat through more ultrasounds than I had with my first 2 children and yet I still can’t wrap my brain around the idea that any of this is really happening, especially in a matter of 2 weeks or less!

But then in a quiet moment while watching the blurred gray and white figure on the screen, it all instantly changed. There she was staring back at me! It was as if she appeared out of nowhere.

The ultrasound tech switched the image from the regular view to the 4D (something I never had done with either of my first 2 children). I am still in awe of her image and her chubby little cheeks. Where did she come from and how did she get there and what on earth was God thinking when he gave us this crazy, overwhelming, immeasurable blessing?

The small corner in my heart that always felt like my dinner table was missing someone will now have an extra chair. The small corner of our room that always seemed to be the catch all with no real purpose has been given its sole purpose. The small corners of our home that we thought couldn’t fit anymore into has now grown by leaps and bounds to accommodate another blessing. The small corner of my heart that I thought could never make room to love another one as much as I love my first 2 children has been proven wrong. The flood gates were broken and have been overflowing since the sight of her face.

So do I blame my friends for their concerns and questions? Absolutely not. Would grand gestures and a large home be the natural next step for many to assume that we would make in order to create space for this new little one? Possibly, but instead I like to think that God is working on filling the small and simple corners that are already right in front of us.

Thank you Jesus for taking the small corners of our lives and filling each of them with your presence. We know that even our smallest corners do not go unnoticed from your sight and your plan is so much greater than anything we could want for ourselves!

Kelly

xoxo

Joys & The Ugly Truths of Pregnancy

I am finally coming to grips that I can either cry or laugh my way through this pregnancy. There are highs and lows and some that most of us would care not to discuss. But how else do we survive this amazing and miraculous experience of carrying a child with an ever expanding waist line, swollen feet, mood swings that even scare us, and more exhaustion than any of us would like to admit without crying?

Here are my confessions of being a raging lunatic….I mean a pregnant woman…

1.      Coughing, sneezing and laughing requires an all hands on deck type of position or it will inevitably require a fresh pair of underwear every time.

2.     Who knew the non chaffing bar I purchased last fall while training for my   ½ marathon would also come in so handy for my pregnant thighs.  Not necessarily a marathon but it might as well be.

3.     I have finally just learned to agree with every stranger’s guess:

Stranger: Wow! Must be a boy because you are hanging so low!

Me: Yup!

Stranger: Twins right?

Me: You betcha!

Stranger: How many more weeks to go?

Me: 4

Stranger: But you’re so big. How can you grow anymore?

Me: Trying to ignore my 8 year old daughter’s looks of wonder and worry waiting to see how I will respond.

4.     The doctor requires that you pee in a cup at each visit. After about the 6^th month there is no “proper placement of the cup” but rather a conscious circular motion around the bowl as you hold your breath waiting to hear just the right sound to know you’ve hit the mark.

5.     My new best friend is my son’s “grab nabber” toy (as he so affectionately calls it) to help pick up everything on the floor level.

6.    Drying my body from the waist down is no longer an option.

7.     Normally getting out of bed (or an armchair in my case) is quite a feet each morning; however, the leg cramps in the middle of the night are enough to take you from lying down to a standing position and then right to the floor on your knees in a matter of seconds. I had no idea I still had it in me!

8.     While snuggling with my daughter, she saw my cleavage and commented, “Mommy your belly has gotten so big that it’s spilling out your top”.

9.     Any woman able to shave their legs from 8 months and beyond should be given a gold medal when they exit the shower or even a fun bumper sticker to go on the back of their mini vans. Girls, I’m thinking it’s time to replace the 13.1 and 26.2 stickers with a picture of a razor.

10. God bless the woman who created pregnancy Spanx (helps with #2). Who knew, right?

11.   The nursery for our first born was completed months in advance. The nursery for our 3^rd consists of a pile of baby items in the corner of our bedroom with only 4 weeks to go.

12.  Having to take your 5 year old son with you to an OB appointment especially while performing #4.  Need I say more?

I’m sure many of you have some fun ones of your own that you could add to the list. Isn’t it good to know that we have all been there, done that and we are all still here to talk, no wait….laugh about it. On that note, time for a fresh pair!

Kelly

xoxo

Momentary Panic!

It sunk in quick and fast all while standing in line at Wal-Mart of all places.

Today will be the last day that I will have an empty home while my children are at school for the next 2 years!!!!!

How could that be?  May not seem like a big deal but suddenly my momentary panic was coming to a full blown anxiety attack right there in the checkout line. My thoughts flooded with all kinds of emotions that started something like this:

“Today is the last day for Cooper to be in preschool before he graduates to Kindergarten. Holy crap, today is the last day that I will have an empty house while the kids are at school. Wow, how exciting to have a little one around again and my home won’t be empty. Crap my home won’t be empty how on earth am I going to be able to do this all over again? Well, at least we get to experience our wonderful preschool again. Preschool? Oh my gosh…weren’t we just getting used to the idea that we were ready to move past this stage? Graduation? Really? How could that be? Is Cooper even old enough to graduate? Surely, Parker was a lot older when this happened for her? Aw, but he’ll be at the same school as his sister. What a great experience for both of them! Did I take the time to soak up all the moments I should have? How is it possible that I am even old enough to have a 3^rd grader, kindergartener and now a newborn…..oh crap that’s right….”

And then the anxiety attack came full circle as I finished right where I started and just in time for the cashier to pull me back from my dazed, confused and drooling state:

“Crap, today is the last day that I will have an empty house for the next 2 years.”

If You give a mouse a cookie has nothing on me! So here’s to hormones, pregnant or not. Cameras are charged for the big event, tissues will be on high demand and mascara will most likely be optional. But one thing is for sure, tears or no tears, panic attacks or no panic attacks. I am one proud momma…..just don’t let the red puffy eyes tell you otherwise!

Kelly

xoxo

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you

will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6