For the few faithful

This is for the few faithful who still visit this blog.  I seem to have hit a rut in trying to come up with something good to say here.  So here a few of the things that occupy my mind.  I wish you would find them inspiring and empowering, but at the very least I hope you find them entertaining.

*Beyond the physical challenges of pregnancy, I am reminded afresh of the emotional and even spiritual ones as I find myself fighting myself more often than not.  The swing of the pendulum between the nasty, very emotional "me" and the quiet and delightful fruit of the Spirit in me can be soooo long, that I sometimes wonder if there even is a better side.  But when I finally grasp a little tiny corner of that peaceful place, where I can abide in His love and His faithfulness, life gets more enjoyable... ahem... for everyone around here.  

More and more I am convinced that we are always given a choice.  We give into our failed humanity and the emotions that arise at every different circumstance we face, or we live by faith looking to rise above that which we feel and chose to be led by His loving Spirit.  More and more I am convinced that pregnancy is not the exception and that as deep as the valleys go in feeling emotional, out of control and affected by everything and everyone around us, much higher are the peaks we can reach if we only tap into that well of wisdom, peace and steadfastness the Holy Spirit has to offer.  Along with the heightened emotional meltdowns is a heightened spiritual sensitivity that I wish I could tap into more often than I actually am.

So there lies my challenge.  I can´t live with one foot in each realm, so I am really fighting through the thick of the nasty to get to the tip of the peaceful!

*  My little people are so amazing!  I love seeing them grow and cringe at their (and my) shortcomings, but am so blessed by the leaps and bounds they take and show so much maturity at times.  I had what we will call a "lack of patience" (to make myself look a little nicer) with them (the girls) the other day.  I realized that I needed to walk away before letting my temper get the best of me... probably a little too late, but still.  Ben was just walking into the house as I came downstairs and he was able to go up and talk with the girls.  Before bedtime, I climbed into Elena´s bed, recognized my mistake and apologized, she was very graciously quick to forgive, as did Adriana when her turn came around (I apologized to each separately and privately).  But after my apology I did ask them to pray for me, so that I would be quicker to recognize my need and cry out for God´s help in the same way we are trying to teach them to do... Have you ever asked your child to pray for you?  I have been prayed for before, beautiful, powerful, moving prayers, but let me tell you, there is nothing more moving and powerful than the honesty, genuineness, and love of the spontaneous prayer of your own child over you.  Simple words, spoken with love, care and so much grace for the mistakes I make.  I cannot tell you how much I learn from these little ones every day (when I don´t take it for granted... another one I´m working on).

*  And then there´s the nitty-gritty every-day stuff.  Get them to make their beds, brush their teeth, brush their hair, eat their food.  On the latter, our meal times have turned into such a battle to get them to eat "the green stuff" on their plates that I tried a new approach yesterday.  I brought out of the freezer a chunk of frozen spinach and called them over.  I proceeded to explain how we were supposed to eat this spinach because it is so good and important for us and how I was going to give them the choice as to how I was to prepare it:  Option a)  cook it "as is" and just put the chunk of green on our plates, Option b) chop it in tiny small pieces and put it in the spaghetti sauce.  Elena jumped to say "Small pieces in the sauce!", prompting my explanation on how we needed to eat our dinner, sauce-with-the-green-stuff and all without complaining because it had been their choice.  Won´t you know we had the most peaceful dinner time we´d had in weeks!

I shall leave you now, hoping to come sooner than later... thanks for your time.