Conversation

Today I gave the kids lollipops after lunch. When Jotham had finished his he said, "Mom, can I save this (the wrapper)." I said, "Sure." He said, "Thanks, I'm going to put it in my drawer." At this point I think he is talking about his "secret drawer" that he keeps his special toys (or random items he gets attached to). But then he said, "I'm going to put it in my drawer so my underwear smells good."

Cracked me up, not sure where he got the idea that underwear needs to smells good. And in case you are wondering, I do not have fancy lavender or anything else in my drawers.

Hospitality

We Sheffers love to have guests over. It is something we do often and something we really enjoy. We are grateful to God for providing the means to open our home up to groups both large and small. I grew up in a home that was open to anyone and everyone. My Mom thrives in creating a welcoming home. My hope is that someday my children will also love to open their homes, that they would eagerly embrace 1 Peter 4:9. So it was a great delight the other day to see the table Karis had set.

I was quite impressed with the detail. She actually gave each plate a fork, knife and spoon and put the knife and spoon on the same side. Now I would LOVE to give myself props for teaching her this put that would be just an outright lie, no table I ever set looked that nice!

But then later that same day Karis looked at the kitchen while I was making dinner for just our family and she asked, "Mommy, are we having guests over?" I said, "No, not tonight." She then asked, "Then why is there so much food."

As I reflected on her question I thought why do I make more and better food when we are having guests and then just skimp on our family dinner? Shouldn't I treat the people in my own family as the best guests in the world? Do I delight in making a meal for the most important people in my life and or do I grumble at the work? And then am I really serving others through hospitality? Am I honoring God or myself?

Good questions for me to ponder as I'm sure I'll be serving leftovers sometime again this week (and you can probably imagine it won't be to guests)!

I'd love any thoughts anyone has on how to bless your family through your family meals.

Not the sharpest knife

So our little Karis has always impressed us with her "command of the english language" and her comprehension of all that is going on around her. It might be tempting to brag about all her brillance as if we possess some stroke of genius in parenting. But God has graciously given us Jotham who is a little bit clueless. He talks, alot, and even uses some large words. The problem is he just doesn't seem to understand the words he uses. Since I know that someday he will (Lord willing), I wanted to capture a recent conversation with him that made me laugh.

Daddy: Jotham, how old are you?
Jotham: Five (actually he is 2 1/2)
Daddy: Jotham, what is your middle name?
Jotham: slight pause Purple

His new expression when he I am not giving him what he wants, "Mommy, that's not true."

But so sweet when he said to me at breakfast yesterday, "Mommy, you a cutie."

Love that little guy.

Love You Too Much

Jotham's personality and his language has been developing more and more and it has been so much fun. He is such a sweet little guy (most of the time). He has recently taken to saying, "I love you too much." I think he must mean so much but it is cute none the less. I thought this picture of him loving on Cia was an appropriate manifestation of "I love you too much."

This picture was taken this past Monday when we went to the cafe at the local airport. It was a beautiful day and it was fun watching the planes take off and land. We were also able to get a more recent photo of all 3 together (one where Cia isn't being attacked by Jotham's love).

Baptism

I'm so grateful that our church has recently been going through a series on baptism, teaching clearly our position of believer's baptism. It has especially been a joy the past few weeks to witness the baptisms that have taken place. These have been fresh reminders of God's amazing work of salvation. We have held Karis out of her class so she could witness them as well. She has really enjoyed it and it has prompted some great conversations with her. But my favorite was this:

Mommy: "Where is Daddy?"
Karis: "He is baptizing Jotham in the bathtub."

I guess we still need to work on explaining believer's baptism to her.

On a another note, I read this last week and thought it was beautiful.

Our Beach Adventure- Highlights

It has been a few days since I posted on our beach adventure. Thanks for all of you who prayed for our time. Jenn, the kids & I had a great time. Jenn has posted on here and she has included a few pictures. Before going Erik & I talked about and prayed for a few goals for my time: to enjoy fellowship with Jenn, to be tender and grow in affection with my kids, and to be prayerful. All things considered I would say that God answered our prayers. As I share my highlights (in no particular order) I think you'll see how.

Highlight 1: 6 car seats in the car! This was a such a blessing as it allowed Jenn & I to talk all the way up to the beach and all the way home. I love talking with my dear friend and this time was no exception. Thanks Jenn for doing life with me.

Highlight 2: Sleeping the same bed with Karis. Karis, Mercia & I shared a bedroom and Karis and I shared the same bed. I would tug Cia into bed and then about 1 hour later Karis would go to bed. She did a great job not waking her sister up. Mercia on the other hand did not return the favor. She woke us both us 2 nights in a row and was eventually banished in the middle of night to sleep in the bathroom (I packed up her pack n play and carried her downstairs at 4 am). But really Karis was so sweet through it all, very patient and loving toward her sister (unlike her Mommy). I loved holding hands with her as we slept and feeling her hand on my face checking to make sure I was still there.

Highlight 3: Time with Jotham. My boy does not like having his picture taken. After taking a few shots of him one day on the beach as he was playing with a car I could tell he was sort of lonely for a friend (all the other kids were ocean bound). So I said, "Do you want Mommy to put the camera away?" He said, "Yes, Mommy." When I did, he said, "Thank you Mommy, play cars with me?" And we had a nice time playing cars in the sand. It is sweet to just spend time with him.

Highlight 4: Mercia's time with Grandma Susan. Girlie had some rough nights sleeping but her days were filled with lots of time with Grandma Susan. She was content as long as my Mom was hanging out with her. She even rolled over a few time for her.

Thanks again for those of you who prayed- very grateful! And thank you Mom & Dad for a wonderful time. I always love being with you.

Forgiveness

After a long night and morning again with Mercia I was pretty tired this afternoon and I was counting down the moments till naptime. I had two down and 1 to go at 12:30. Karis and I came downstairs to clean up and had a "situation." I was asking her to clean-up, she wasn't exactly joyful about it, I wasn't joyful about her not being joyful. Then there was some confusion as to my direction about cleaning up the books and somehow more book wound up on the floor. My next statement in just a whiny voice as Karis, "Karis, What are you doing?" Anyway, I was angry. As I was putting Karis down for a nap a few moments later and I was convicted and I sought her forgiveness for being angry with her. She got up real close to me and said, "Mommy, no matter how many times you get angry I'll always forgive you." And she gave me a big hug. Such kindness and mercy from my 3 year old!

Gifts For Jesus

I think this blog will be a good place for me to record some of the conversations I have with the kids. Karis & I have had some great talks about Jesus and just had another one. Heaven is very real to our little girl. She often talks about going to Jesus house and she knows it is a wonderful place to be. She once told me that I could drop her off at his house. When I asked her what they would do there she told me that they would play tea sets (have a tea party) and that she would let him borrow her new socks.

A few weeks ago she was sitting at the table, having a snack and thinking to herself (a rare thing because usually her mouth spills out everything she is thinking). Then after a few minutes she said, "Mommy, why don't we go to Jesus house right now?"

This morning when we were reading in her bible she said that she wanted to give Jesus stickers. I asked her what he would do with them. She said he put them on his shirt. I asked her why and she said because he loved her and then she added, "and I love him."