Redeeming moments

Today was a ho-hum day. I should be feeling triumphant--I test-drove life after J goes back to work in a few days. And I was successful...in the most basic of terms. He had a rare opportunity to go sailing with my uncle, which I encouraged him to do since he's been working so hard taking care of us while I recover. So I was solo with all three babies for the better part of the day.

I've been a little nervous about handling three children on my own, but today was actually pretty good. Everyone's still alive, and that's the most important thing, right?! I still can't drive though, and staying at home will obviously be easier. Going out with three children will be the kicker!

I downplay "successful" because I don't feel like it was one of those "Mother of the Year" days. We watched a lot of TV. Which always makes me feel like the worst mother ever. When the younger ones were napping, I did not take advantage of the one-on-one time with my oldest. We pretty much continued to veg...in between me getting up to accomplish some little homekeeping tasks. And when I hit the "pause" button on my children to get my work done, that always makes me feel yucky. So in those terms, it was not the greatest of days.

When I have days like this, I usually try to regroup when everyone's down for afternoon nap and make plans to (what I've dubbed) "redeem the day" in the late afternoon/evening. I want to do my best to end my childrens' day on a high note, no matter what the first part of our day was like!

I don't feel like I ever really achieved total redemption of the day today, but while we were getting the babies ready for bed, we did experience what I'll call from here on out a "redeeming moment".

While J was brushing M's teeth, our 1 1/2 year-old Rosie climbed up on the sink stool to look at herself in the mirror. She put her hand on her hair and said "bow"! I had a few extra minutes before M would be ready, and Rosie was already ready, so I did what I've been meaning to try on her hair:

PIGTAILS!

She loved them. And I loved her in them too! I love this little sweetie. She walked all around the house testing them out. All of us couldn't stop giggling at how cute she was. I took about a hundred photos of her, and this is the best I could do. She will not stay still enough for a good photo anymore! This girl is on the move. And when you ask her to smile, she'll say "cheeeeese!", look away, and THEN smile. Grrr!

While we were getting the girls ready, I'd laid Stu on M's bed so he could snooze and I'd have free hands. When we'd gotten the girls wrangled up to settle in for our prayer time, we headed into their bedroom and piled onto the bed around him. He stayed asleep, but M snuggled up next to him on her pillow. I was just struck with how sweet she is to him. It really is a big difference from Rosie's arrival! She is so loving and tender to her baby brother. I'm convinced it's her age. She's always snuggling up to him and remarking how much he loves her. She tells me all the time how precious he is, and sometimes she calls him "Sugar Sugar" like I call all of the children at times. She's turned into a little mommy!

Rosie kept patting him and saying "Bee-bee! Bee-bee!" like she always does. We can tell she is in love with him, too.

We bowed our heads as J led us in prayer like he does every night, except now I have to keep my eyes cracked open to make sure the girls are being good to their brother. :0) It was such a sweet thing to behold...my Godly husband leading his family to the throne of grace, covering each of us in prayer, and my daughters snuggled up to their brother.

Did we end the day on a high note? Definitely yes.

Stephen Curtis Chapman sure had it right in his song "Moment Made for Worshiping". Now that I'm a mother, that song comes to mind multiple times a day as God reveals Himself to me in new ways--through the lives of my beautiful children!