Closer to the Clouds

 "Mama, mama...come quick!"
 Oh those words - never knowing what's on the other end of them. A puddle of pee perhaps? Maybe a successful "alone" art project, one of the boys hanging out of a tree, a lady bug on a flower, self made bangs .... or today a wild mushroom found in a patch of grass.
On this particular day, Trinity was calling me to see Finn's great accomplishment. They had taken apart my wooden chair and made a ladder out of it, turned the play climber on it's side - and Finn had successfully climbed to the top. He was sitting there, as still as a stone....staring at the sky. At first I was a little scared seeing my baby up high, and I refused to take away from his accomplishment by...well....smothering him with worry? He wasn't worried - he was just staring at the sky with eyes that said "wow, I'm a little closer to those clouds."
 I love watching kids learn new things...I love seeing life through their eyes. I wonder when this goes away? I wonder why later on in life, it becomes so easy to see *mundane* things as just boring...as feeling unsuccessful? I draw a picture and I never look at it and think "wow, look what I just did!" I usually see where I should have shaded the picture darker or where the lines are off...then I hide it away in a secret place just for me...it would be too embarrassing to show off something that wasn't perfect.

  But children, they celebrate you. They celebrate all of you. They clap when you count to ten, then listen attentively to when you sing and say things like "wow, you sing soooo pretty." Trinity tells me that my art is beautiful even though I don't fee like I'm "there yet" and generally say "when I'm about 45 I'll give away my painting as gifts...because it will take me that long to be any good." My kids scribble me a picture, their eyes intent and little heads to close to the paper, their tongues sticking out of the corners of their mouths, concentrating on their work. When they are finished they jump down and run to me and say "I made this for you...can we stick it on the fridge?"
 When my kids don't have a lot of toys...because the DON'T, they build ladders out of chairs. Trinity takes old oatmeal containers and transforms them into fairy houses....Brayden uses all of the clothes in his wardrobe to design costumes - Finn and Tristan take over my measuring spoons and cups and bowls. They find something and they make it work - they are creative. I learn from this. When the budget is low I'm tempted to walk around my house *wishing* I could run to Hobby Lobby for new art stuff...the kids are teaching me that I can just use what I have. Last night I really wanted to paint and didn't have a canvas. I remembered....and I grabbed a canvas I had already painted on but didn't really like - and just painted over it. :) It worked perfectly. Problem solved.
 Children can feel like a burden...but really they are the light. No wonder The Father loves them so much - they are so innocently wise and "raw." They tell you what they want, when they want it...they are honest. They have to be taught and directed .... but kids are the light. Kids are real friends .

Two are better than one,

    because they have a good return for their labor:

10 

If either of them falls down,

    one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls

    and has no one to help them up.

- Ecclesiastes 4:9 -10

 As I'm preparing for a new school year and the gigantic task of teaching Brady and Trini at home, I want to go in it with joy. I want to remember not to compare what our family does and learns with what other families do...what's the point in homeschooling if you still have to have the peer pressure at home? I want to remember to learn from my littles...to be creative in our learning and to make it FUN. I want us to be friends, I want us to be honest, I want us to be happy for each other's  accomplishments....I want to look at the sky and feel closer to the clouds.

Thankful for :
- soccer time with the kids in the yard
- that it's still Popsicle season
- a successful math lesson with Trinity
- that I didn't die in the soccer game when I slipped on the ball and bashed my shoulder into the ground ...my three boys are gonna kill me...eventually.