Proud Mommy

Tonight my children exhibited their lambs at our county livestock shows.  Our county is one of the most competitive in the state...so winning it is a big deal.  This year my two darling children did not just win it, but they dominated it.  My daughter is nine years old, so this is the first year she has been allowed to participate at the county show.  She is an official 4-Her.  She walked into the ring determined to win.  She had Reserve Breed Champion Southdown and Reserve Breed Champion Suffolk...she shined in the ring.  Then her big brother (who is a senior) decided to go out with a bang.  He had Breed Champion Shrop and Breed Champion Cross...then he did something that I have not seen in the eleven years my husband has been teaching in this county happen in the sheep barn and only once in the swine barn...he won Grand and Reserve Grand Champion Lamb.  It was so exciting watching his face light up.  This was the third year in a row that he has won Grand Champion.  He was so excited.  He works so hard, so it was the reward for all of his, his sister's, and his father's hard work.  They work so well as a team and tonight they won as a team.  Then to make my day even more perfect, a lady that I don't really know stopped me as I was walking through the barn.  She wanted to tell me that I had polite, well-behaved children that were a joy to be around.  She informed me that I should be proud of them...I told her I was.  And I am!  I am very blessed to have all three of them in my life!

Praying for Patience

Praying for patience is a scary thought.  I have discovered that each year God places a child in my path that gets on my last nerve.  I use to pray for patience, but I have decided that only makes things worse.  So now I pray for God to show me one thing a day to love about that child.  Collin is a little boy that is my room.  He is larger than the other children.  He lacks the ability to whisper, to control his hands, or to stop and think before talking.  But he makes up for it in having a big heart.  As I started praying for Collin, I noticed my attitude changing.  Now I see that Collin exhibits some symptoms of autism.  His social cues are limited.  He is bright and a great learner.  While I don’t think God changed Collin, He did change my attitude toward Collin.  I look forward to his stories.  I enjoy his random hugs.  And most of all Collin is happier in my room.

Now I am praying for two little girls.  Both are bossy and mean to others, so I am asking for God’s guidance on how to deal with them.  But I am not praying for patience. 

He is in Control!

God leaves you little surprises if you just look.  Today I was running late and felt sick.  About five minutes before I was suppose to leave the house, my mother called asking for me to stop and pick a few items up for her on my way to work.  She was ill and didn't feel like leaving the house.  I told her yes, but realized I was going to be late for work.  I still had my makeup to do and hair to finish.  After hurrying and finishing getting dressed, I ran to the car to make the twenty minute drive to town.  As I entered the city limits, I realized that I had twenty minutes to go to the grocery store, take the items to mom, drive to work, park, get into the building, and sign in at the office.  I knew that I wasn't going to make it.  I called the teacher down the hall and asked for her to cover for me.  She agreed.  I was able to stop at the store, pick up the items and deliver them to my mother within ten minutes.  I then was able to drive to work and make it into the building with five minutes to spare.  As I breathed a sigh of relief, I realized that once again God had a hand in the smallest details of my life.  He arranged for me to miss all the red lights.  He placed the checkout lady at her register.  He opened the path at the store to the items with no traffic.  He arranged for my mother to be waiting at the door for me to shave a few minutes off my time.  God can handle the simpliest of tasks if we just allow him. 

My Son--My Hero

When I started this blog I was excited to see where it led me.  In May, our lives took a drastic turn.  My children and I rode out a tornado in the master bedroom closet.  Our house had major damage that took us all summer to repair.  But the worst was the security that storm took from our lives.  My children are anxious when they see dark rain clouds, I watch the weather with a heavy heart, and my husband still has guilt about being in Illinois when it hit and not with us.  But we have discovered how much we mean to each other.  I learned about the strong, protective son I raised as I watched him throw his body across his little sister to protect her from the falling ceiling. 

 

On the night of the storm I watched my 17 year old turn into the man I knew he would someday be.  He took charge that night.  After he helped rescued nine trapped neighbors from a storm cellar, he began to work on cleaning our home.  He worked for days removing trees, trash, and debris from our home.  He became my hero in so many ways.  I had always been proud of him, but now I was proud of the man he is becoming.  Until his father returned home, he was the man of the house.  He learned skills and applied skills his father had taught him, but he had never used.  I watched him care for and assist our older neighbors as they worked to clean their yards and homes.  He willing volunteered to help them.  He didn’t complain, he just did what needed to be done.  My son is my hero.