Category: Family

I have ornithophobia.

I freely admit that I suffer from an irrational fear that I will be attacked by a bird.  I will spare you the details, but let’s just say a red-winged black bird that lived at the end of our road when I was a kid…well I have never been the same.  So when my eldest son came home from a play date with a family who has chickens, I bought him a book and said, “NO.” (I do blame you, Amy Kinnell.)

That is when my life began to fill with chicken trivia.  I started learning things such as – the nutritional value of fresh eggs laid by free range chickens.   You can tell what color egg a chicken will lay based on the color of feathers in its ear flap.  Iowa is the state that produces the most eggs and the differences between a Leghorn and a Rhode Island Red are significant.   It has been endless.  When we rented a home in Florida with a huge yard outside the city limits, it was fuel to the fire.

I am not sure when my heart started to soften….somewhere between Leghorn and Rhode Island, perhaps.  Somehow the love for my son overrode my fear.  What a mother will do!?

The best birthday gift ever came in the form of two free chickens and  a grandpa who helped find scrap lumber and the time to help build a coop.   Soccer Dude was so excited he had a hard time sleeping.  I found him gazing out his bedroom window at the half constructed coop!

Saturday was the big day.  We picked up the hens and settled them in to their new home.  I must admit they don’t seem as menacing as I had imagined.  They haven’t required much work so far and the kids have loved following them around the yard.  There was a moment of panic when “Cluck” (the white Leghorn hen) spooked and took off towards the woods.  The kids began to yell for me to come catch the bird.  I folded my arms at the back door.  My love doesn’t go that far.  Big Girl deemed it a “chicken miracle” when Cluck made her way back to her roost.  I am sure it was the grace of God knowing that I couldn’t handle a chicken chase!

So here they are.  The newest members of the Williams Village, Cluck and Hongse (red in Chinese) who are supposed to give me fresh eggs, but somehow have become life long residence of our family with names of their own.  We are not buying a book about goats.  sigh.

I hung Christmas lights on our roof in 100 billion degree weather while wearing a tank top and flip flops.  As I balanced over the peak the hilarity of the situation struck me.  Growing up I froze my tushy off helping my dad hang lights.   My life officially is the opposite of anything I would have expected.

All the baking, decorating, card writing (that didn’t happen), crafts and Christmas stories – these were the things I planned and were the things I thought would help us to celebrate the Birth of our Savior.  But the things I didn’t plan….well, the unexpected moments of joy are the parts of this Christmas that I will treasure.

Little Man came down with another cold the week before Christmas.  He has had a hard month adjusting to his prosthetic, us trying to figure out physical therapy and being sick on top of it all.  His high fever last Saturday almost kept us from church, but at the last minute he was feeling better so we went.   We took him into service with us rather than exposing other children to our germs.  As we sang Christmas hymns Little Man joined, his unrecognizable babbles and sweet clapping marking his first Christmas.

After the service all four kids played.  I seriously have 4 of the sweetest kids!

Little Monkey asked for Legos “that are for girls not boys.”  She was thrilled with the pink tub of pieces her Aunt gave her and the set Hubbie and I found to add to it.  She opened the boxes immediately (huge deal for our sweet girl who usually won’t open anything new but likes to save them.)  What I found an hour later….Soccer Dude sprawled out on the floor with the directions.  I watched from the door as he explained how she could follow the directions in the booklet and find the pieces for that page.  They were like that for the afternoon.  It was beyond precious and I treasured the moment in my heart.

Roo could be voted the most fun child to have around for a holiday.  She appreciates every gift, big or small, and is always making something and giving little heartfelt gifts.  She exclaims loudly “thanks so much.  I love it!”  even if she is not sure what is in the box!

Roo cheered for her little brother when he figured out how to peel the paper from a gift…..causing him to cheer loudly.  The rest of our day, any time a gift was opened we heard the loud cheers of an excited 2 year old!  Such joy!  Little Man’s favorite gifts were a big bird and trucks of course!

It was a great first Christmas for Little Man and for our family in Florida.

Got my hair cut yesterday.  I enjoyed getting to know a few new ladies in town and listening to their chatter while the deed was done.  A group of young moms were talking about Christmas shopping, eating out, and how busy they were with one and two children.  One woman remarked how she couldn’t possibly imagine those people who have more than 3 kids.  I smiled and listened – taking in the adult conversation.  Then they turned to me, “How many children do you have?”

You can imagine the silence of the salon after I whipped out the photo of my 4 blessings! 😉

There are times that I wonder how I possibly do life with “so many” children.  It has been a big transition.  How can one more little person add so much to the laundry pile?  Unbelievable.

Between school lessons, cooking, laundry, and instructing the hearts of my children – I often feel like I don’t have enough to go around.  There always seems to be a child who didn’t get their book read, a nose I didn’t wipe, a sticky spot that lingers, and – guilt upon guilt – a teachable moment that I miss.

More than anything I want to succeed at being a mom and supportive wife – but in the chaos of day to day life, I don’t always feel like….well, like the superwoman it would take to get the laundry monster conquered.

Not by coincidence, this week I read the following statement by Sally Clarkson in her book The Mission of Motherhood.  “My children don’t need me to be on top of all my chores or even to be perfect in taking care of all of their needs.  What they need is for me to be content and patient with life.  They need me as a mature Christian, to walk by faith that God is in control, allowing his Spirit to give me peace and joy in the midst of life’s inevitable ups and downs.”

I am letting the truth of those words soak in deep and taking a “chill pill” as Roo would say.   They really don’t care if I make spaghetti again rather than some cool new meal I got off pinterest.    They do care if mom is stressed out trying to be perfect.

So, yes, my new friends at the hair salon…..I know exactly how I do it….by the grace of God.

The photo at the top….one of the many imperfect shots I got while trying to take a picture for our Christmas cards (which might be mailed out in January if I am lucky.)  Roo stubbornly trying to strike a pose for the camera, Little Man climbing all over the place, Soccer Dude telling everyone what to do, and Little Monkey getting her feelings hurt.  Can you hear the dog barking?  Because he is.  Just saying!  By God’s grace we got a smiling photo with no one picking their nose.  Grace.  God’s Grace.  But if sometime in the future I send out a photo with a child who has a finger up their nose….just know that I am putting into practice what I wrote tonight.