I Take a Nap Every Day!!

It's true!!! I take a nap everyday, well almost everyday. Are you jealous? You always hear people saying, "I wish I had a naptime," well, I am one of those people. But I should mention that I lie in the floor of my closet squished up against my shoe boxes (of which there are many.) I should also mention that my naps are only about 30 minutes long, because I then wake up with my hip and shoulder in pain because I have been lying on the hard floor. Why do I do this, you ask. Because I'm lucky enough to do so. Everyday after lunch, my sweet Jonathan washes his hands and face and goes potty. Then in a sweet small voice, he asks, "Mommy, will you lay down with me?" Of course, I can't resist. I follow him into the closet and lay down next to him, but not too close (he has never been a cuddler) then he grabs my hand and holds it as he drifts off to sleep. This has become a special ritual for me and I will miss it dearly next year when he is gone. It doesn't matter that I could be up mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning my bathroom, organizing family pictures, dusting the living room or folding a load of laundry (all of which need doing as I am typing.) Next year, he will go off to Kindergarten. Thus ending, leisurly lunches while watching cartoons, long afternoon naps, and playing computer games together cheering each other on. His world will expand by leaps and bounds. And our precious time is growing short and I am going to treasure every moment, even if it mean lying on the floor holding his hand watching him fall asleep. I pray that someday, when he is all grown-up, somewhere in the back of his mind, he will remember these naptimes.

I Wish for You All to Find a Dandelion in your Purse

A few weeks ago, we were getting out of the van at church, and because there are so many of us and the majority of us is children, we were running a few minutes late (which is totally normal for us).

The older three kiddos can get of the van on their own, so as soon as the car cuts off, they unbuckle and hop out. As they are milling about the car, I am grabbing all of the bags with all the "keep us busy during church paraphenalia." I jump out of the car and begin getting Bennett out of his car seat. While I am doing this, I can feel a child tugging on my purse. I look around and see Jonathan and tell him to go catch up to his sisters who are well on their way to the building because we are running a few minutes late, and he does.

We went to early service that day, so church first then Bible class. After service, Darrell and I begin the task of dropping of 4 individual children to their respective classes then we go back upstairs for the adult class. Please keep in mind, by this point I have been up for 4 hours and it is only 9:30am. I am beginning to look forward to my afternoon nap at this point, so I head for the doughnuts and coffee to pull me through.

As I sit down in class with my sugary loot, I look down at my grass green purse (I am trying to be more colorful in my wardrobe) and I see a bright yellow dandelion sticking out of the side pocket. I immediately wonder how it got there and quickly realize that Jonathan had picked it for me while I was grabbing everything to get out of the car for church and put it in my purse while I was getting Bennett out of his car seat.

This warmed my heart more than I can say. Jonathan has always been my tender-hearted one, but this was also thoughtful. He not only knows that I like flowers, but he noticed I was busy and didn't demand my immediate attention at that very moment and simply slipped the flower in my purse. And by God's grace that little flower held on through service not only staying in the side pocket of my purse, but also stayed extra bright yellow just to bring a smile to my face!

There have been several times this past couple of weeks that my mind has flashed back to that flower in my purse and it has made me feel happy all over again. Notice that I said flower and not weed. I know that in reality, it is a weed. But I cannot refer to it as a weed when it was given with such a sweet and giving heart.

So, my wish for all my dear friends is that you too may be blessed with a dandelion in your purse!!