I Believe in You!

I'm pretty sure all of the creativity has been drained out of my body this summer.  Even on the rare occasions I get onto Pintrest, all I can think is, "Well that's too expensive" or "That sounds like a lot of work!".  Seriously?!  I used to be kind of fun... or could at least replicate fun with a structured activity some other woman had the energy to create and then post on a blog and connect to Pintrest.

So this afternoon I decided to take the kids to Home Depot to get sand for the sandbox.  (Yep, I haven't even been fun enough this year to put sand in the sandbox!)  After that we went to the dollar store to get some cheap sand toys.  We brought home our treasures and I began the awesome task of getting the sand to the backyard, poured into the sandbox and de-tagging the toys.  As I was struggling to open the three bags of sand, just like I do every year, it happened.

My four year old, with the innocent face and smiley eyes, looked at me and said, "I believe in you!".  I can't imagine the look of shock I must have given him, but he continued.  "I believe in you... and God believes in you too... I believe in you Mommy!".  Then it hit me like a 50 pound bag of sand to the chest, I can't remember the last time someone said to me, "I believe in you"! No clue.  My pre-schooler had just affirmed me in a way I can't remember the last time an adult affirmed me-- and all for opening a stubborn bag of sand.

Now, the point of this is not to say "Whoa is me!  No one ever encourages me!" because that simply is not true.  I have two incredible friends who are great encouragers, as well as a husband who has learned to be a pretty good encourager himself.  

No, David's innocent comment hit me like a ton of bricks because no one ever needs to believe in me.  Being a stay at home mom is no cake walk, but the biggest risks I take in a day are walking into Walmart with three children or trying a new brand of peanut butter.  I do very little that requires actual bravery.  How can anyone say things like, "I believe in you" when there is nothing in my life that requires me to do something outside my comfort zone?

The second thing that hit me was the thought I also can not remember the last time I told someone I believed in him/ her.  I have brave people all around me-- those about to re-enter the workforce after years of at home mommy-dom, those who attempt to lead a reluctant friend to Jesus-- those are brave endeavors!  But, I never tell those women they are brave.    Who knows, maybe they can't remember the last time someone said those words to them either.

Goal #1:  Call a friend out when she's feeling brave.

Goal #2:  Do one of the (many) things I have felt too scared to do.

Goal #3:  Keep reminding myself I have a God and a 4 year old who believe in me!

Back to School

Yesterday morning began with an email to Dad:

dear DADY,

I WAs wundering if you cud come to techer night.

love,

ruby

Who can say "no" to that?  So, at 3pm, we all headed into school to meet the new teachers.  Ruby was elated and Eli was more than a little nervous.

The stack of books waiting for Eli on his desk.  (This is when Mom became a little nervous!)

After Eli met his teacher, he was much calmer.  

Instead of a large stack of books, these were waiting for Ruby on her desk!

We also took a few minutes to visit Ruby's teacher from last year.  There were big hugs and a lot of "How much did you grow this summer?"s!

This morning both kids were up shortly after I returned from my walk (about 6 a m).  We started with a fun first day breakfast...

They got ready while I made lunches.  Then it came time for Mom's favorite part-- the first day of school photo session!

The photo session is defiantly not Eli's idea of a good time!

Finally, I read them a post from Momastery called "For Adam".    My most favorite part says this:

Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care. We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done. We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.

but really, you should go read the whole thing!

Then, my 5th grader asked if he could take our extra school supplies with him.  There's a boy who came to school last year without any supplies, not even a backpack.  He wanted to quietly give supplies to this boy so the teacher wouldn't get mad at him, like last year's teacher did.  Seriously, heart of gold that kid.

We all walked to school together.  Eli walked about a block ahead most of the time.  He insisted on parting ways (i.e. giving me a hug and kiss) about a block from school and then ran off to the soccer field.  Ruby let me walk her a little closer, but not by much.  On the eerily quiet walk on the way home, I marveled at the fact that it was only a year ago that we moved to Minot.  Wow!  How we've all grown!

Mom, emergency!

My kids throw around the word emergency as if it's a common every day occurrence.  I have tried, and tried to explain the story about the boy who cried wolf, but still it's "Mom, come quick!  It's an emergency!" ALL. THE. TIME.

It was a Sunday night.  Jason needed to make a Menards run in order to finish up a project he was working on (and I try to never stand in the way of Jason wanting to finish a project!).  

I was pealing and cutting about 200 pounds of peaches into slices (okay, it only felt like 200 pounds, it was probably more like 20) when I heard those words again: "Mom, come quick!  It's an emergency.".  I put the knife down and walked calmly to where I heard Eli's voice.  I was in no way prepared for what I saw.  Eli's leg was sliced open, dripping blood every where.  What I could see on the inside of that cut I still can't talk about without getting light headed.  I brought him inside the house and to the kitchen while he left a bloody footprint with every step.  I grabbed a kitchen towel, wrapped around him and helped him to the car.  No doubt about it, we were going for stitches.

I went back in the house to find David, who, of course, was running around with no pants on and covered from head to toe in dirt.  Classy!  I quickly threw a pair of pajama shorts on him and buckled him into his seat.  

As I drove to the hospital I tried frantically to get ahold of Jason.  The third time was the charm.  I told him to get out of the store and meet us at the emergency room.  After I hung up with him it occurred to me that I had three children who were going to have to sit and wait and wait and wait in a quiet hospital.  Nope.  That wasn't going to work.  I called my friend Terri, who always answers her phone and... it went to voicemail.  Ok, next.  I called my friend Pam who answered almost immediately.  Luckily Pam lives very close to the hospital and she was also able to "talk me down" like a 911 operator.  She met me at the hospital, took David from me, took Ruby from Jason and was on her way.

For the next five hours we waited, and watched crazy YouTube videos, and talked with other patients, and grew very impatient.  Eli entertained the staff as much as possible with his HIPAA joke.  Oh?  You want to hear it?

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
HIPPA
HIPPA who?
Can't tell you.

So I digress... the shining moment in all of this was when Eli said, "I'm just so glad it was me and not David!".  I got weepy.  I can't say David is the most popular boy here all the time.  He is demanding.  He tends to hit, kick, bite, you name it.  He makes sensory-seeking messes all the time and we sometimes fear taking him to public places.  Still, his big brother loves him enough to endure 14 stitches in his place.  That my friends is love!

After x-rays, 4 internal and 10 external stiches, many laughs and no tears, we were sent on our way (at midnight!). 

After sleeping until 1pm the next day, Eli was as good as new.

Splash Pad, Take 2

I live with (and attempt to manage) David's sensory processing disorder every minute of every day (and night!).  There are a lot of times I can predict how he will react in certain situations.  Sometimes I wrong.  

Last year David wanted nothing to do with the local splash pad.  I reasoned that the way the water beats down on your skin is a much harsher feeling than the enveloping of pool or bath water-- which he loves.  I decided to take him and his sister again just to see what would happen.  This time, I was a happily surprised!

I'm calling these smiles and giggles happy progress!  

And because I would hate for his big sister to feel left out...

Lovin' Lake Metagoshe

One of the things I have missed most about Indiana is the state parks-- namely Brown County State Park.  This summer I was determined to venture to at least one state park in North Dakota.

Enter Lake Metagoshe State Park.  This park is a good two hours from our house, but worth every bit of the drive!

There is swimming available (which we had not prepared for), but we chose to go on a nice hike.

David was a trooper and walked almost the entire way.  

There was a very small island you could hike around in the middle of the trail we chose...

but first we spent a good long time sitting on this pier watching fish and "catching" water plants.

Everything's a gun!

Afterwards we drove around the park trying to find the playground.  On our way we went through the campground and watched a mean woman trying to direct her poor husband into a campsite which his huge RV was obviously too big for.  It just solidified our opinion to not own a huge RV!

After getting stuck behind that train-wreck of a couple for a good 10 minutes, we finally stumbled upon the playground.

Some Main children were a little more excited about the playground than others!

On the way home on this hot, hot day, we stopped for some cold DQ.  I couldn't have asked for a better state park or fun family day!