Innocence

I've never heard of a parent who did not admire 

the peace and innocence of a sleeping child.

I stare at my kids' beauty in sleep...so amazed.

All the difficulties seem to fade...sometimes disappear.

God's grace...

 INNOCENCE

And then, inevitably, when they wake, the cycle again.

When my kids argue, I get tense.  I want to end it...NOW.

But today I let myself laugh.

This is what it sounded like:

"Stop talking to me!" Owen

"I'm not!" Gabby

"Yes you are!" O

"No!" G

"You just talked to me!" O

"No I didn't!" G

"You are still talking!" O

(Mom starts laughing)

"It's not funny!" O

Yes, it is...

"No!  It's not funny!" (kick on the back of my seat)

"Yeah.  It's funny." G

"NO! It is not!"  O

I giggled most of the way home then...however, if it were longer than 4 miles,

 I would have broken down.

TENDERNESS

Regardless of how stubborn that boy is, he is so tender.

I know very few people who who have such contradicting qualities.

For Valentine's Day, "someone" made us a card at Kindergarten.

I have a feeling "someone" was coached:

When I picked up Owen on Monday , I asked how his day was.

He said, "Sorta good."

What does that mean?  did something happen to not make it good?

Then he said, "whatever you do, don't look in my backpack!"

Ok...now I am worried.

When we got home, I tried to look at what he was hiding, but I couldn't find him.

I got a hold of his backpack and nothing unusual was there.

That night, after the kids had gone to bed, Roger found this:

It was on our clothes in our closet.

I guess we have a secret valentine!

The next morning I asked Owen about it.  He looked guilty.

He said, "It's not from me!"

I said, "those look like your question marks..."

:-)  

JOY...the kind that makes you break out in song...

again...

and again...

even if the words aren't right or it seems you can't find the end to the song.

Sweet Joy.