Frauditioning

for the truly lovely auditioners Miranda, Clare, Chloe, and Cara

Chlaranda C., oh she wanted to be
the very best girl in the very best play.
She sang and she danced, she smiled and pranced
to prepare to audition today.

The day now was here, and twas perfectly clear
how delightful she'd be when she sang for the crowd.
They'd clap and shout out, beaming smiles about
proclaiming her talent out loud.

When she walked in the door, she began to feel poor
as she saw girls of all shapes and sizes.
The tall and the cute will be given the boot
when her singing the judge hypnotizes.

She laughed and she smiled, and thought to herself,
"Chlaranda, my girl, I know you will be
the very best girl in the very best play!
The judge over there will love none but me!".

Her moment, it came, but not as she thought.
Her hands were all shaky, her belly all quaky.
The judge, like a hawk, noticed each wretched squawk.
They all thought their eardrums would breaky.

The poor silly girl, with a smile and twirl
kept dreaming what part she would be.
Her hopes crashed down, right down to the ground,
when she was given the part of--the tree.

Chlaranda C., she's going to be
the very best tree in the very best play.
No singing, no talking, not even walking
Just rooted, over there--out of the way.

Just Because It Was Cute...

Allie just ran in here and said to me,

 "Mommy wook!  My wegs are getting weally wong!"

Just too cute.

My Scott

This pregnancy has brought about many things.  A house remodel--hooray!  A rethinking of priorities, and in some ways a downsizing of away-from-home responsibilities.  One of the most meaningful to me, though has been the subtle changes I've seen in my special boy.

God knew what He was doing giving this little man all these sisters.

The fatigue and difficulty of pregnancy with many little ones in the house has made him more gently protective of me.  He's gone the extra step holding doors, making me coffee in the morning, walking by me and holding my hand to keep me company.  It's been such a special thing to this mother.  I cherish the time with him, and although what he does, he does in a quiet way, it speaks volumes about him and his loving heart.

Pwaying Wegos With Allie

After thirty minutes of pain-staking labor, the creator finished her masterpiece.  Forty pillars of yellow, one-piece bricks encompassed the green lego floor below.  She had added a kitchen at the last minute, complete with white cocktail umbrella over the stern gray sink.  It was time for the lego ladies to make their entrance.   The three friends traipsed the span of the trunk below with short hops one at a time.  Then they began their riveting conversation skills.

Friend #1:  "Hi.  How do I wook today?"

Friend #2:  "You wook 'tastic!  How do I wook today?"

Friend #3:  "You wook so boo-ful.  I'm boo-ful, too."

Friend #1:  "I wike your boo-ful bwack hair."

Friend #3: "Thanks!  I wike your boo-ful yewoah hair, too."

Friend #2:  "I have dis pwetty bwack shirt on today.  Do you wike it, too?"

Friend #1: "Oh yes, it is so pwetty.  NOW GET TO WORK!!!!!"  (Apparently Friend #1 is the Mom.)

They all hopped in sync to the cocktail umbrella kitchen where they continued talking about all manner of 'dewicious' things to eat for a full ten minutes thereafter.  However, I regret to say that someone's cooking was not appreciated as it should be.  A few minutes ago the friends had a huge altercation, whereupon someone smashed the boo-ful kitchen to bits.

It just goes to show that beauty is only skin deep; cooking ability, however, is a power that lasts and binds friendships together.

A Contrast

I was struck this morning by a verse in Psalm 31.  It's a real contrast of the world's solution to hurts and problems and the Lord's solution.

Verse 6 says: "I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord."

When hardship comes, when our feelings are hurt, the norm seems to be to air our feelings and get some sympathy--especially on social media.  It's not wrong to be transparent and honest about our feelings, but all too often, we're looking for the 'lying vanities' of nice people to soothe our pains away.  People will tell us everything will be okay, people will tell us nice things about ourselves, but that's not the best solution.

As for me, I'd rather trust in the Lord and bare myself to Him, for as verse 7 goes on to say, He knows my soul in adversity.  No one understands me and my troubles like the Lord.

I also want to be the kind of person that doesn't feel obligated to practice social niceities, but has genuine love and counsel for those who are hurting.

It's been a great reminder to be real, and take my troubles to the Lord!

Seeing the Big Picture

I am slowly making my way through Philip Yancey's book, Where Is God When It Hurts.  This is a real mulling-over book, because much as we would all like it, there are no easy answers about pain and its role in the lives of so many we know.  Pain is not always a consequence for wrongdoing or some great cosmic joke, and many times we don't know the reason for it or the many reasons are complex.  A trite, holy answer will almost never suffice.

Our response to the difficulties in our lives seem to really determine our success in managing them.  In the midst of pain and problems, it's often hard to see His purpose.  I found this quote to be a real encouragement to be patient and wait to see how He will use hardship:

"The symphony he is composing includes minor chords, disonance, and tiresome fugal passages.  But those of us who follow his conducting through early movements will, with renewed strength, someday burst into song."

God does love us immensely, but His purposes are not the same as ours.  Yancey earlier in the book made the point that we often view God as a sort of benevolent grandfather rather than a heavenly father.  Seeing my parents and in-laws as grandparents, and being a parent myself, that was a very vivid illustration for me.  We often feel sorry that God isn't giving us more and more good things and pleasure, but He knows us like no other.  He'd rather give us the best things--whether it be through good times or bad--than let us settle for the comforts of ease all the time.

After A Rough Winter...

Just about everyone I know has had a brutal winter, and it's been the same here in Cincinnati.  This morning's springly snowfall reminded me of Cara's reaction to the heavier snowfall and subzero temperatures we experienced on the first few days of spring.

She woke up as normal, peeked out the curtains of our living room, saw the snow, rolled her eyes, sighed in a magnificently dramatic fashion and said,

"Ugh!  If this is spring, I'm ready for summer!"

What a perfect description of everyone's feelings.  When she's right, she's right.

What a Girl Really Wants

It's been a pretty long day here.  We skidaddled fairly early in order to take our ITBS practice tests with a friend, only to return to the school day we had missed.  Before I knew what happened, it was late afternoon and the big kids were off to do more interesting things.  It caught my attention to hear Allie talking rather excitedly from the next room over.

With Scott and Cara playing outside and Meg snoozing in her boudoir, I peered into the living room to investigate what exactly Allie was doing.  She sat perched on top of the couch, curtains pulled around each side of her chubbiness, gesturing and pointing during her chat.  I watched a little, amused by her conversation with her unknown friend.

"Den we can go outside and pway together.  It will be so much fun today!" she said from the drapery.

I interrupted, "I'm glad you want to play, Allie.  We will have a fun day today, won't we?".

She turned to look at me with a grave expression.  Apparently I was not the friend she had in mind for this thrilling afternoon.  She told me kindly that she wasn't talking to me, then settled back into her perch to continue.

A big sigh, "Daddy, you're my best fwiend.  When you get home soon, den we can go pway some more, okay?".  She then told him about all she did today before climbing down to amuse herself.

All a girl really wants on a sunny afternoon is her best friend, her daddy, home to share the day with her.