Looking forward to the friendship of my 6 year old

So a couple days ago I had a rough day and came to a point where I broke down to tears. I haven't done that in quite awhile... especially in front of the kids. My dearest mother-in-law came over and scooped up the three older kids for the afternoon so I could get caught up on life and put my head back on straight. That evening my Mom spur of the moment decided she wanted to take my older two kids with her down to Tracy, MN to visit my Grandma over night. As they were traveling home I got to talk to them on the phone. My kids sounded like they had a blast. But boy did that have news to share... Grandma got pulled over by a cop!! I got quite the ear full about that! They have never seen that happen before. HA! Anyways, as they were traveling home Isaac wanted to tell me about everything. Then after he got done sharing all his stories with me he moves on to ask how I'm doing. Here's our conversation below:
ISAAC (real chipper and cute): So Mom...how are you doing?
ME: I'm doing good Isaac. How are you doing?
ISAAC: I'm good. So...are you handling Lukey ok?
ME (trying to hold my laugh in): Yep. We're doing great.
ISAAC (still real chipper): So have you cried at all today?
ME: Nope. I'm doing good.

And then at this point I burst out laughing. I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with my 6 year old. It was great! It was so cute to see my little boy's heart of concern for his Mommy and trying to be an equal peer to me! I wish I could express to you just how he asked it because that was half the cuteness of it! I look forward to his older years where we have more conversations like this and actually become friends! But for now...I like that he's still my little boy. :-)

Seeing the Stars

How can I not start a blog entry off without sharing what Luke's latest adventures have been. :-)  About two weeks ago Chris figured out a way to keep Luke from being able to go outside at will. He used bungee cords to keep the patio door shut. Well, last week Luke figured out the bungee cords as I was trying to get the dishes done.

As I went over to the door to tighten the bungee cords to see if that would help. Within a minute the little stinker had pushed up the bench to “help” me with dishes.

Right then, Jonathan started to cry and the other two started fighting all at the same time. It was pretty intense.(And some of you saw the pictures I posted on facebook the other day of him getting into my lipstick as well as pulling the keys off my keyboard while I was in the shower...of course.)

 I know some day I will probably miss this but on days like that, I really can’t possibly imagine how I will miss the craziness and intensity that my children can sometimes bring to my life.

Although my life can be intense and crazy at times, when I take a moment and see pictures of my kids (from even a month ago) it melts my heart and I feel so incredibly blessed. I’m so blessed to have four beautiful, healthy children who will some day grow up to love God and change this world.  I’m so blessed to be married to an awesome husband who loves to laugh thru life with me. (AND LAUGH LOUDLY WITH I must mention) I’m so blessed to have friends to enjoy life with. Yes, we will have our trials…but they are nothing in comparison to how richly God has blessed us. People are so precious and I am truly, truly blessed to be able to have the relationships I have in my life.

When I was growing up my Dad and I did not get along. He would pick on me more than the other kids and call me terrible names that I won’t mention along with much more. It’s all in the past now and I’ve completely forgiven him... and our relationship has been reconciled. But one thing he used to tell me over and over after I was saved and filled with such joy from the Holy Spirit as a teenager is, “You’ll never make it in the real world. You just wait. You’ll never make it.” My dad thought that once real life hit me I wouldn’t be able to survive. I think he thought that once “real life” hit me my joy would be gone and it would be a slap in the face or something…that I was living in a fairy tale world.  I was just thinking about that for some reason today. I haven’t thought about it in years. But I do believe that I can now say that “life” has hit me. Real life with real problems…and you know what? I’M MAKIN’ IT! AND not only am I making it, I’m LOVING IT! Ok let’s be real…loving it most days…heehee.  I believe life is what we make it. There’s a quote that says something like this, “Two men looked out prison bars…one saw sand and the other saw stars.” I can choose on days to see sand or stars. I pray I will continue to always look to see the stars because some days it’s hard to get my head out of the sand. My heart is so full with how blessed I am. Although we must make the choices in life to get to where we want to be, and have the life we want to have, I must give all the glory to my Lord, Jesus Christ. Because it is only through and by Him that I am even able to have the strength, joy and peace throughout each day. He is the one who guides us to make the choices we make. He is the one who deserves all glory and praise. I am so incredibly humbled by my Father God and His mercies on my life. For His patience and faithfulness to me even when I am not. I am just so blessed. Can I say it again? I’M BLESSED!!

Anyways, I better go get my dishes done before my kiddos wake up.  I just wanted to take a moment and express the fullness of my heart. Love you all! ~Danielle~


P.S. I reorganized my "line of the day" page. It will be easier to check back on to see new ones now with the latest posts at the top of the page.