My Co-Captain & My Team

Today is a sad day for me. The pretty lady in red is moving away from our area and will no longer be able to play on our tennis team. Not only is she a great tennis player (she plays line one at age 68 and wins 80% of the time) but she is also one of the finest women that I have ever known. Her heart is full of love and her words are full of compassionate wisdom. She has a rare sense of humor that can salvage the worst situation and make you laugh despite yourself. She has helped me through some difficult times with her steady, encouraging words and I will miss her terribly. I am very thankful she has been in my life.

Shall we spit?

As I was watering the flowers yesterday, Miss G ran up to me and asked, "Mommy, will you teach me how to spit?" A flood of questions raced through my mind but in an effort to redirect I said "That's your Daddy's department."

"But Mommy, Daddy doesn't spit."

"Neither does Mommy."

"Yes, you do!"

"When do I spit?"

"Just the other day you spit out something in your mouth that was bad."

Okay...she was technically correct so I thought I'd try to redirect again.

"Why do you want to learn to spit?"

"Because when I spit now it goes all
over my chin."

Okay, that's a valid point. Evidently I'm not asking the right questions.

"What do you need to spit out of your mouth?"

"Anything that's bad."

And yet another good point.

"You remember that we don't spit at people...right?"

"Only by accident."

"By accident?"

"You know, when we're talking and it just accidentally comes out."

"Oh...yes...of course."

"So, are you going to teach me to spit?"

"Yes, my little lady, let's spit."

The Re-arranger

Miss G has a penchant for rearranging things. It's always a surprise when I open a drawer to find a new and different item in place of the item I was looking for. Right now it's the little things like the stapler or a screwdriver or your wedding ring. Maybe the furniture will be next. Her toys have been rearranged so much that if you open Dora's house you might find a frog, a frying pan and a partial deck of cards. Grandma and Popaw gave her a Bingo set for Christmas and I have found little yellow numbered balls in nooks and crannies all over the house. They are keeping whatever they're with "comfortable". I like to think that she has an eye for re-purposing things.

She also likes to re-purpose her Daddy's money. Mr. Reserved likes to nest. All around his favorite spaces he has little piles of stuff including his extra change. While he's at work, Miss G confiscates his change and claims it as her own. Last night when he came in from work she showed him a stocking cap full of money she had "found". We asked her why she had money in her stocking cap. "Because my pink pig is full!" Believing this to be impossible, I asked her to show me her pink pig. She's right. I don't believe that we could possibly fit another dime into that pig. I asked her what she was going to buy with her found money. She grinned really big and said "Cookie-dough ice cream!" She's a girl after her own Popaw's heart.

Roland Garros Countdown

4 Days:15 Hours:31 Minutes:20 Seconds

I'm not much of a TV watcher. I'd rather read or putter around the house and garden. However, there are exceptions. Four times a year I'm practically glued to the TV. The Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon & the U.S. Open are the 4 major professional tennis tournaments in a calendar year and I LOVE to watch them. Mr. Reserved loves to watch most sports... except, of course, tennis. During these tournaments Mr. Reserved and Miss G lose me to the sound of ball striking, fault calling and stat keeping that fascinates me. Meals are reduced to cold cereal and bologna sandwiches. Mr. Reserved, who loves me and encourages my interests, can be found doing most of my chores like the laundry and cleaning house. It's a time that I truly enjoy and it's rapidly approaching.

I started playing tennis when I was very young and still play almost weekly. My love of the game is influencing Miss G too. She loves for me to pitch tennis balls to her so she can hit them. One day I found her playing in the kitchen with some of my sweatbands and her tennis racket. Children really do try to become little copies of their parents. It's a scary proposition.

If you haven't watched a tennis match in a long time, check out a couple of tennis greats and watch either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros this year.

Dreams

Miss G has a recurring dream that usually begins the same but has a different ending. This morning she began telling me about her latest episode.

"Mommy, Pooh-bear was driving a blue car and I was in the front seat with him because there was no back seat except when we're grocery shopping...AND...by magic a shark appeared and he was trying to eat us. We drove to Poohbear's tree house and we escaped because the shark got lost in the forest. We put down cat footprints so he couldn't find us."

"I'm hungry. Let's go for a walk. "

So we ate breakfast and went for a walk. Along the way we saw...


pecan "worms"...




blue hydrangea...




and a new friend.


A child's heart is amazing. The freedom from worry and judgement allows children to readily open their heart to others. These two strangers met today. The little boy picked a flower and gave it to Miss G. Miss G said "I'm Miss G. What's your name?" He told her and she said "Let's play chase." An instant friendship was formed. They ran and played and giggled that beautiful innocent giggle of children until they couldn't breath. They fell into the cool grass and laid there until the adult, uneasy with this instant and heartfelt friendship, broke the spell and whisked the boy back to appointments and schedules.

I too am concerned about guarding my heart and the heart of my child. Philippians 4:7 says "...And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." If our hearts and minds are already guarded, why not open them up to others so they may see the light of the Lord inside us?

Maybe tonight I will dream about being a child again; the cricket chirping, lie in the cool grass, watching for fireflies dream. I believe it's a little taste of heaven.

There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. C. S. Lewis

Public Restrooms = Public Embarrassment

Having an only child limits my frame of reference concerning children's fascination with public restrooms. I don't know if all children love them but Miss G is enamoured with them. We know every restroom backward and forward within a 30 mile radius. Miss G even remembers the stalls that were out of toilet paper and goes straight to another one. I know that all mothers go through the "please-don't-yell-out-in-public-that-you-have-to-go-poo-poo" phase. It is a challenge to be sure. Miss G has thrown this mother a couple of extra challenges.

Miss G, as some of you know, is social. So social in fact that if one of the stall doors is closed in the restroom she asks me who is in there. Since of course I don't know, she kindly starts talking and waving to them through the little cracks between the door and the wall. Of course she needs to do this to amend for the scare that she has just given them. The first thing Miss G likes to do when she enters a public restroom is to yell "Ah" as loud as she can. She likes the echo. I'm all for science experiments except when they scare the literal poop out of some one. The poor unexpecting ladies who were quietly and calmly taking care of business are now startlingly aware that a new, unexpected element has just entered the restroom. Most women don't socialize in the restroom much less try out the acoustics but most women haven't meet Miss G......yet.

The other challenge I'm afraid is self inflicted. When my darling was first learning to poop in the big potty she asked me to sing to her. Thinking I was a clever Mommy I created a song for her using the melody from an old Vacation Bible School song. Many of you might know it...

Booster, booster, be a booster.
Don't be grouchy like a rooster.
Booster, booster, be a booster
And boost our Bible school.

Well...the homemade version goes like this...

Pooper, pooper, be a pooper.
Push it out just like a trooper.
Pooper, pooper, be a pooper
And push your poop away.

I must say the song works. It works so well that now Mommy gets to sing it all the time, even in public restrooms.

So... let's review. We've scared the patrons, taken a life history of the patrons and now we're going to sing to the patrons. Still hoping that we can salvage a little dignity, I start out really soft; just a whisper. "MOMMY, sing the pooper song louder!" The red in my checks turns from embarrassment to courage and I think...YES! Why not? What have we got to lose now anyway? The patrons only came in for a little relief. Why not give them some comic relief too?

Summer Food

Soon we can use the...


...tomatoes,...

...the cilantro and...



...the jalapenos...


...to create one of my favorite tastes of summer.


Black Bean & Corn Salsa

2 cans of whole corn
3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/3 c. fresh lime juice (2-3 limes)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients into bowl. Stir well and refrigerate until served.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Blooms...

...and bird seed...




...and pine cones, pine needles, rocks and more make for a great trek with Miss G. We have had a wonderful spring thanks to cooler than normal weather and abundant rain. Everything is green and lush and the garden is in full bloom. It's hard to wait for the tomatoes to turn red. After placating ourselves all fall and winter with store bought tomatoes, it will be wonderful to bite into a ripe, juicy one straight from the garden. We are very blessed.

Meet Miss Gregarious

It's amazing how much I learn from Miss Gregarious. She shows me every day the love God intends for us to have and share. God created us in his image and (with apologies to Mr. Dickens) I believe that those who are so fresh from God show His love the most. Miss Gregarious is so full of love and joy that it's truly hard to contain. While in the grocery store the other day and to her Mother's uncomfortable surprise, Miss G ran up to a little, old, stooped-over man and began literally to talk at him.

"Hi! My name is Miss G. What's your name? What are you buying? I like apples. Do you like apples? I live in Texas. Where do you live?"

Her preamble was basically one complete sentence without waiting for answers. The transformation in the old man was instant and remarkable. He straightened up and began to smile. It looked like 10 years had fallen off of his shoulders. As she continued to ramble he actually started to laugh. I don't know what has happened in that man's life to cause his sad expression. I'm sure more than I even dare to guess. I do know that Miss G had given him a precious gift. She had reached out to him and shown him worth. If but for a brief second, she lightened his load and made him laugh. In Romans 12:13 it says for us to...

"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

Being a dutiful Mommy, I try to instill in her the kindly morals and values from the Bible. Most of the time, however, she is already a step ahead of me. I saw the old man. I knew that he looked lost and forlorn. It wasn't the adult who treated him kindly and showed him love. It was Miss G, the four year old. To be brutally honest, it didn't even occur to me to speak to him. I was way up in my head checking my lists and not in "the moment". Thank you Miss G for continually reminding me of the important things in life.

Why Blog?

I thought for a long time about my reasons for creating a blog. The first reason that jumped to my mind was a blog would chronicle my four year old daughter's vivid imagination. Her daily (almost hourly) utterances of creativity that level an adult's mind and wake them to reality. The...

"I'm a viking and I have sailed the seas to save you. Are you coming peacefully?" or

"I think that Blue jay is talking to ME! Can you hear him?" or

"If you don't listen to me, you're going to have to walk the plank! Have you said your goodbyes?"

Her exclamations drag my mind back from far away places where adults seem to dwell. I'm a planner and a scheduler and (yes, I'll admit it) a worrier. I seem to lose track of "the moment" and how precious it is. I thank God every day that he has seen fit to place this vibrant, loquacious, amazing little girl directly in my path. She snatches me back to the present, to the gift of the moment that God has given. I hope that this blog will chronicle and explore God's truth and power through the beauty of life.