For today, the challenge had several parts - begin the day with Quiet Time with God, create a special breakfast and do something to bless the nest. The challenge that I added for myself was to do something special to make the day memorable for the children. It worked out so well!
In my quiet time, I am reading through the book of Romans. A couple of years ago, our church did the Old Testament Challenge and we read through the entire O.T. Since I am behind on our group Bible study, I decided that I would work on reading through the N.T., starting with Romans (I have read many snippets of the N.T. letters but I haven't ever read through them systematically). Today's reading was Romans 4 and this is the part of the text that really spoke to me:
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed ... Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
At times, I find myself having a hard time truly trusting that God has the power to change situations that seem set in stone to me. I like that "Against all hope..." - those words leapt out as me as worthy of reflection - do I truly believe that God can do anything or do I limit myself by giving up on God?
The next step was breakfast and again, that was fairly easy. I only ever make pancakes on the weekend that they are one of Pk's favourites. Normally, she would be going to daycare on a Monday and we would be rushing (she goes two days a week to keep her spot and it gives me time with Baby Bean). It was such a treat to make her pancakes. I have also been feeling lately as if I have been very distracted and she doesn't get my full attention. I thought a breakfast of treats and reading together would be a nice way to make breakfast special, especially since dh had to rush since the roads were icy and he had to leave early. We are working on memory verses from this Susan Hunt book (marvelous!).
Sadly, I didn't get many photos of the rest of our day (I need to remember to take more!). While Baby Bean had his morning nap, I taught Pk how to print "Daddy" (the letter y was a nightmare) and she drew him a picture so that he would have something special when he got home. We followed that up by reading our phonics reader (letter D since it fit so well with Daddy) and then we went on to play the Eric Carle ABC game that she was given for her birthday last September. She loves to play games right now and I love the skills that we can reinforce. Once Baby Bean got up, my next part of the plan fell into place. Pk LOVES, LOVES, LOVES splashing in puddles and I have been feeling ridiculously cooped up with all the yucky weather of late. It was raining when I got up this morning and by 10 a.m, it was freezing up. We got all bundled up into our snowsuits and went for a walk around the neighbourhood. We visit the new house of a friend who has just moved to town and we practiced reading the street signs and, most of all, Pk splashed to her heart's content. When we got home, we were cold and it felt lovely to come inside and to put our wet things in front of the fire downstairs.
The rest of the day was uneventful but pleasant. Pk had "red pasta" for lunch (we have to call it that since she claims to hate tomatoes but loves pasta with tomato sauce), played games and instruments in the living room and then decided to have a family nap - Baby Bean in his crib, Pk and I sharing the bed in his room with the two dogs and the cat. It was tight but cozy and I find that Pk really thrives on having that family time together. After nap, it was off to dance class and then back for supper. We finished with the children in the tub together (they adore bathing together - it's a new development and so nice, life is easier for me and they have so much fun).
Oops, I almost forgot about improving the nest. That was fun. A good friend from town gave us three bins of clothing for Baby Bean last week (I have been very spoiled with several friends with exquisite taste sharing boys' clothing with us). She is a Gymboree fan and the bins are full of outfit sets with the sweaters that I love! Baby Bean and I went through them, selecting the outfits that he will wear. I always try to mark the tags as to donor so that I can return the items when we are done and that took us a while but at least now, the bins can be packed away and out of sight!
When I finish here, I hope to finish the day with some knitting in front of the t.v. with dh (it feels like we haven't seen each other today). I'm looking forward to the challenges of day 2!
Love those star pancakes!
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