Peeling hotdogs

When ally was little and learning to eat real food, I peeled the skin off her grapes.  And then cut them into quarters.

I was certain there was danger in those grapes and she needed my protection.

Have you ever peeled a grape?  Not an easy task at all.  I peeled her hot dogs too.  Again I was certain she could not chew it without the skin being removed.  Then as she grew, she only liked them without the skin.  I peeled her hot dogs until she was five years old.

Even when she was little, I could sense a need for protection.  Extra protection, more than normal.  I can only explain it because I do not feel the same urgency for Emily or Sam.  Sure, I protect them.  An love on them.  An watch out for dangers.  Probably put too much neosporin on boo boos and pray too much for things God already has covered.  But I don't feel anxiety over staying ahead of them for everything they do.

But for ally?  It has always been there.  And I can't even begin, nor do I want to, to explain the countless times this child had put herself in dangerous situations.  Scary horrible tv drama kind of situations.  And no matter how hard we try we keep seeming to circle back.

Back into the yuck that keeps surfacing.  And here we go again, back into battle.  And it is a battle, a spiritual war between what is evil an of the enemy and this world against God and the beautiful things He prepares for us.

It will never be explained to me any other way.  We are at war.  I am certain that all of this ugliness is going to build a beautiful testimony in my daughter.  And it is going to be amazing.  But we just seem to be struggling to get her there.  

And it is far from over I'm afraid.  Many times I know The Lord has reminded me to suit up and stay prepared, it's going to be a long journey.

It makes me laugh sometimes to remember all of the things we do for our babies to keep them safe.  Little do young parents realize the true dangers they are up against down the road.

I am thankful to God for His provision.  He is the One who is loving enough to peel my grapes for me.

Pray for your children daily.  Young or old- they need your intercession.  Listen to what He says in response.  And when He doesn't respond, keep praying.

The Perfect Day

Yesterday was going to be the perfect day.  Until it wasn't.

Let me tell you, don't go planning perfect days.  They have to just happen on their own.

Homeschooling has its challenges.  Keeping to a schedule is one of them.  And last week we had so much 'fun' stuff scheduled we may have not gotten to our schoolwork like we should have. 

So this week, I was determined to not allow that to happen.  Up by 8:30, school at 9.  I warned everybody multiple times over the weekend.  And at 9 me and my sleepy kids were at the table doing our devotions.  Then it was time to crack open our backpacks and hit the books.

Ally and Sam both said they would be right back, their packs were in the van.  You know, the van that Dan dropped off at the service center early this morning.

Crap!

We improvised.  We left for the library with a borrowed algebra book to run copies of assignments and check out a new To Kill A Mockinbird bird.  Throw in a couple fish books and a leaf guide book and we had enough material to get on with our day.

So by 11:30 we were back around the table ready to get cracking.  Except it was lunch time.  And on it goes until we finally wrapped up school at 2:30.  Which is a far cry from 11 when I planned to finish and clean my house.

My house that I had a dream I woke up to sparkling clean, even the kitchen counters.  Which was OBVIOUSLY just a dream.....

Today is another day, take two!