Multitude Monday

#1580-1630

• Swimming laps
• Thing One and Thing two 🙂
• Plum Jelly on little faces
• A very very unexpected surprise!
• Finding that Bronwyn responds to discipline well in the middle of the night.
• Mail
• Clothing tagged and ready to consign
• Knowing the tagged clothing will pad the savings account
• Knowing that I can always go to bed early after a rough night
• Leftovers
• Outside time x 2
• “mmmmm mmmmm” noises while they eat
• A fantastic visit with mom & sister
• Bronwyn claiming and hugging and loving on her Auntie KayKay

• Aeralind climbing the giant hill over and over and over again

• Getting spoiled by Granma
• Falling flat on my face turning a cartwheel at Score
• Chatting with Johana on the phone
• 3 glorious consequtive nights of sleep and one great nap for me
• Being introduced to Nutella
• 3 day weekend for Derek
• Clothes on the line again after many cold months
• Capable girls holding a lower railing and walking down stairs
• Clean cloth wipes strewn across my yard
• Snot bubbles (hysterical!)
• Bronwyn snot & kisses on my cheek
• Bare little legs in skirts
• Dirty knees and Kay Kay’s Converse sneaker gifts
• playing at the zoo with cousins
• Bronwyn going nuts in the reptile exhibit
• Aeralind squealing and waving gleeful at gibons and toucans
• Finding Marq
• Holding Mariana’s hands and remembering her snuggles when she was the girls’ age
• Places where kids eat free
• Sweet potato souflee
• Fried okra
• First coats of primer fresh on cabinets
• Babbies jumping crazy on their mattresses

• More interuppted sleep- teaching humility & unselfishness
• Chatting with Sarah
• Sarah’s attitude
• Wind Chimes
• Warm weather
• Beabies eating peas standing up
• Sassy independent Aeralind climbing into my lap to hear about the Chapter 5 that may just change my life
• Little haircuts

• Exploring the Rock Quarry Gardens 🙂 

The more I count what He gives, the more I come to understand that there is nothing that I have not received.  Even those things for which I feel like I am owed some credit are gifts.  Some examples:

1. My father-in-law calls me “Missy 3.9”.  It’s a reference to my grade point average in college.  I am very gifted academically.  But, as the term “gifted” states, my academic prowness is simply a gift.  I’ve done nothing to earn it.
2. I take photographs.  Some people say they’re beautiful.  I can grow proud easily over these comments.  I can look at another photographers work and critique their poor composition or their personal tastes in processing. But my camera (even broken as it is currently), my bringing an image to life, and even my vision itself is a gift from God.  I cannnot take pictures without His grace.
3. My daughters behave wonderfully in public.  They rarely cry, they walk with me hand in hand, they never suffer stranger anxiety, and they listen when I say “Do not touch.”  How easy it is for me to say that their good behavior is due to good time for our outings or that I have trained them to obey me at such a young age.  But the truth is that they are good-natured kids who become quiet when they are overstimulated.  Those character traits are in spite of me, not because of me. In fact, I often struggle to spend quality time with them each day and, also, to be consistent in discipline.

Every thing I have is a gift from a good God.  Gifts that I can grow proud over or gifts that I can bow humbly to say “Thank you” when I recognize them.  I’m slowly learning to choose the latter.

Here are #1522-1579 of the thousands of gifts He gives… that I am just beginning to comprehend.

• Sleeping through the night for the first time in over a week
• A fabulous swim workout
• Ladies bible study
• A visit from Tamara and little Lydia
• The girls sharing toys with Lydia
• Girls “Awake and wiggly” for the first time in weeks when daddy came hom.
• Empty boxes filled with babies
• Snuggling and petting Moonbeam kitty
• Aeralind picking out a skirt to wear today
• Striped tights- I love them!  Tell me why grown women don’t wear striped tights?  I’m so jealous 🙂
• Bungee cording Julia’s package to my mailbox so I don’t have to go to the post office.  My mail lady thinks it’s as funny as I do.
• Bronwyn sitting through nebulizer treatments in the middle of the night with such sweet patience.
• Broken camera being replaced by generous parents
• Ergo on its way!
• Wonder-waiting to see if 11 year old Chella took the gratitude challenge
• Little girl shoes found consistently in drawers.  At least when they hide their shoes they’re trying to be neat 😉
• Hot Tub Night
• 17 months with the girls
• Rearranging furniture in my bedroom
• Cuddle with Derek time
• Fun with UMoMs at the Winter Party
• Zachary hugging and mothering my girls 
• Marshmallow fluff: I hate the stuff but Derek has been teasing me about it for weeks
• Opening my business checking account with Lindy
• Chatting with Lindy
• The gift of Brandt
• A much needed eye appointment
• The ability to write 
• The covenantal love of God.  He doesn’t have to love me, but He chooses to love me steadfastly.
• The drudgery of writing business document
• Exhaustion: reminder than I am not God.  I need rest.
• The new arrangement of furniture in my bedroom.  I want to be in there more 🙂
• Lack of sleep: I can only do all things through Christ right now.
• More conviction at SCORE.  I am a sluggard
• My bedtime
• The color green.
• Putting a rubber grip from a dead pen onto a pen painfully missing a rubber grip
• Leaky diaper spray warm in my lap
• Reaching the center of my Thanks Moelskin.
• Princess Polka Dot and Princess Popsicle dresses from Auntie Kay.
• Little girls wearing hats the entire time in nursery.
• Sunshine
• More conviction
• Sweet Gum balls

• Little girls chewing on sweet gum balls

• Aeralind joyfully exclaiming “Hi, duck!” to the ducks at the lake and trying desperately to walk on water to get to them.
• Over-curious babies not getting their wishes to jump in the lake.
• Cedar Knees

• Derek laughter as I sigh joy about trees
• The moon seen during the day

• Little girls distracted by every dog they see even though distance of less than 1 foot between them and the dog terrify them.
• The beautiful white tree

• Little girl squeals
• Days getting longer again
• Rest.
• Barefoot soccer goalie-ing at SCORE.
• Holding a fussy Aeralind close and feeling her relax into me.
• Books to fill a quiet evening.

I feel like I have lived nearly a month in 7 days time: sickness, Dr. Appointments, Surgery, Screaming, lack of sleep. a broken washer, more sleeplessness, nebulizer treatments, and many more.  For most of the week, I’ve been able to sit back and open my arms to receive what He gives and the grace that comes with the receiving.

#1482-1521 of the Gifts the Lord just Keeps Giving

• Aeralind inviting me to play “tickle tickle tickle”
• Two tired sick babies giggling on the bean bag chair
• Girl sleeping the early evening through so I could work on stuff
• Figuring out how to use a Concordance and Greek-Enlish Lexicon
• A & B falling asleep for the 2nd time after Tylenol in our bed snuggled warm
• Derek takin a half-day to go to the ENT with me
• Being celebrities at the ENT because the Dr.’s wife’s name is Bronwyn too
• Getting the go-ahead for tubes
• Asking- half joking- if we could do tubes tommorrow
• Being told yes!
• Bronwyn- feverish- taking a long afternoon nap
• Aeralind snuggling with me and playing with her food
• Aeralind and Daddy Jedi-mind tickling each other
• Derek running out to a scratch and dent store to look for washers.
• finding some cheap ones
• Derek gaining the nickname “Rice Man” at our Trader Joes. We buy rice milk 2 cases at a time: enough for 1 whole month.
• The “rice man” bringing home sushi for me!
• Both girls asleep on either side of me when Derek came home.  That hasn’t happend since before they could roll.
• Soft breathing in the dark.
• Joy found- even in the hardships
• Girls so shocked by leaving the house in the dark that they were no upset by having no food or drink
• Chicken biscuits eaten in the car.
• Laughter when we arrived at teh wrong surgery center
• More laughter as Aeralind, my easy-going child, started screaming everytime she saw the nurse who put on her pulse oximeter and chest wires.
• Aeralind snuggling right up to the anesthesiologist as he carried her to and from the OR
• Bronwyn begging to be held by Dr. Green and all of us laughing at the way Bronwyn’s just love him.
• Both girls coming through anesthesia/surgery fine.
• Finally leaving the surgery center!
• Moments after arriving hom seeing a car pull in the driveway and it being my sweet high school friend Heather.  I totally forgot she was comming.
• Little girls returning ot normal and showing off with squeals and the stealing of each others’ food
• Playing with playdough with Heather and the girls
• Hearing about Heather’s life
• Seing Bronwyn play after two day of listless fevers
• Getting in a 20 minute nap before the girls woke up from theirs
• Snugggling with two screaming girls for an hour in my bed
• Tylenol
• Little girls begging for and receiving some of my salmon cake.
• Salmon cakes- mostly dairy free babies have to get their calcium from somwhere and they love salmon cakes (and broccoli!)
• Girls sitting on adult chairs eating snacks (they love it!)
• Little girls holding dolls by the hands and dragging lawn mowers behind them.  These truly are girls after my own heart.
• Studying Beauty with Julia

Lately I’ve been on a beauty hunt. A cross mounted as clouds in the sky or a series of grass tufts blown over in the wind make my heart soar.  But equally, I’m learning to treasure those moments that might not seem so beautiful initially: like Bronwyn lying feverish next to me on the pillow when the last thing I want to be doing is caring for a sick baby.

It hard to see the beautiful in what we might traditionally label ugly.
But I’m learning.
Slowly. 

#1425-1486 of the Endless Blessings He Gives

• Visit with Joanna
• Bronwyn snuggling on my back- randomly feverish- while I make pizza
• Play dough- still so fun!
• Finishing Amber’s Photos
• Little girls pushing lawn mowers all over the clean downstairs
• Fajita pizza
• leading a talk with other mothers of twins about relationships at our local club meeting
• Reading a book on a quiet night
• Asking the tough questions and seeking the answers with Julia
• Ann’s post exactly corresponding on the day Julia and I discuss our chapter of Sacred Sex
• Two. TWO! fabulous little girls with feet so dirty, sweeping the kitchen with me.
• All three of us petting kitty
• Being wooed by the great Lover
• Little girls climbing into window sill- testing new skils
• cans of this and that, a box of pasta, and some sausage combining easy into dinner
• Littel girls somehow managing to back-comb their fine fine hear every time they lay down to sleep
• Washing diaper laundry at Q’s
• Singing song in my head while swimming laps
• Caresses
• A shower before breakfast!
• Returning to Bouncing Babies
• Watching Bronwyn follow Amber around after being give the privledge of pounding out her name
• Hanging out with Chella, a fifth grader I mentor
• Talking about laziness and the gratitude with Chella
• Being convicted of my own sin
• Editing most of Ali’s images
• Karen graciously allowing me to come wash laundry last minute
• Mandy being willing to let me wash laundry, but letting me know she had a cold before I cam over
• Warm weather
• Still having 1 pair of toddler pants and two pairs clean despite millions of blow-outs since the washer broke
• Bi-lo yogurt 20 for $9. What a treat!
• Karen asking us to say for dinner
• Karen and I laughing silly over the similarities between toddlers and puppies- Chew toys, obedience school, potty training, house breaking 
• Most of my laundry clean again
• the strength to love and cuddle two gassy creaming little girls through 3 wakings
• Finding that my sweet husband had let me stay asleep until 9 am after that long night
• Watching and laughing hard at a video taken by naughty girls on top of the table
• Videos-moments frozen in time
• the texture of dry grass blown into clumps by the wind
• 65+ degree weather and two family park days this weekend!
• Yougurt on sale at Publix 20 for $8.  Publix yogurt is our favorite!
• Clean bathroom sink
• Girls quiet and asleep at 9:30
• Twin laughter as we ate dinner on the porch with our toes on theirs
• Aeraling songs- she hums and giggles and squeaks with glee
• Bronwyn using the potty again. Joy!
• Convenience foods. We rarely use them, but it’s great when we need it!
• The skin of his back warm underneath fingers
• Baking soda and vinegar working on a clog
• wool socks- clean! again thanks to Karen.  They’re such warmth and comfort to me!
• Strength in thanks for yet another night filled with waking
• Malachi overview at church- the ton of Malachi is so where my heart is tempted to rest. God tells me truth and I point my little fingers toward heave and say the opposite in accusation.
• Derek going bird-watching so I could edit photos for my last client
• Being asked to help plan a surprise for a friend- I’m sooo excited!!!
• Karen calling to say she found me a sitter
• My big girls climbing the big ride on toys at the park
• Girls climbing the hill from the field
• Prunes 🙂
• Long snuggles with a feverish Bronwyn
• 2 stretches of at least 3.5 hours of sleep

The babies sit in high chair and babble and squeal thanks for their meal.  And I ladle liquid from the crock-pot and add it slow into the pan watching gravy form.  But my thoughts race and flit and skip backward and I wonder:

Is it really that simple?

I land for a moment on the ever haunting question for me: is God sovereign?  And if He is how can He let such apparently bad things pass from His hands?

And I think of the moment earlier this week as the tears brimmed while driving.  Driving to a place where I hold breath and wonder-wait for the people to speak apparent judgment and raise the feelings of being worthless.  Like the day Jenny traced my bra on the back of my shirt in 5th grade and I knew certain that I was different and I would never be good enough for them.  And I called Julia as the tears brimmed and her calm voice spoke grace.  The tears slowed and I pulled over to wipe mascara trail from cheeks with a damp cloth shopping bag.  I wonder why rejection comes through His hands.  I wonder how rejection can be good; if He can somehow redeem it, before these fleeting days of mine are ended.

The girls have finished their meal and I sit down to enjoy a bowl.  And it tastes good. I pause to give thanks.

Is the answer really that simple?

To pause still and say thanks.

For over a year now my list of thanks grows long, but my heart is blinded still to the truth of those gifts.

Two little girls sit filthy with their meal and hold out hands crying “tickle tickle tickle” (though it sounds like giggle).  They laugh and squeal out their delightful game.  They know joy and they live fully in the moment.  Life is all new to them– all full of wonder and gifts and glee.

And I read in the pages of One Thousand Gifts that this childlike joy comes from bending the knee and bowing the head and whispering thanks from a full heart.  A heart filled by the acknowledgment of those simple gifts- those simple graces.

Yet I’ve done that for a year now! My heart cries in despair.

Hours later– later than I’m usually awake, I stumble hard into chapter 5.  The hard echaristeo.  And I think- was it grace when my camera fell and parts shattered and dreams seemed lost? Was it grace to walk in that place earlier this week and feel the rejection hot on cheeks newly cleaned from mascara trails? Does a good God give these things? Are they not rocks instead of the bread I asked for?

And Ann’s words mingled with the lens of scripture shatter like glass the constant hardness of my heart. And I look long in the reflection of those shattered pieces and quietly the purpose of the rejection, the broken LCD screen, the battle of constant ear infections comes into focus.  All these things are gifts– grace to draw me to the giver.  Grace to break what is wrong in my heart so He can set it anew.

And I sigh deep, lids heavy with sleep, and I wonder how I’ll ever get past Chapter 5 if I’m already so torn asunder.

Two weeks of counting finally typed up for you to read.  Pardon my tardiness, I’ve been singing a lot of hard hallelujah’s lately 🙂
1239-1424

• Derek going to work late and coming home early
• Snow
• Derek arriving both home and work safely
• Finishing one baby’s reenacting gown from gifted scrap fabric
• Another delayed start to Derek’s day
• Dancing to “Big Fish” by FFH
• Little girl squeals while dancing
• Aerie running around in her reenacting dress looking like a princess
• Bronwyn sitting on day’s lap and chatting to him while chewing on a tape meausure (her favorite toy/teething object by far!)
• Keeping lists
• the girls playing peek-a-boo around my legs
• praying for 4 hours of sleep before being woken by babies and recieving 5 hours
• snow melting
• yummy pizza
• photographing Sylar
• Finally getting out of the house after being snowed in for 5 days
• Picture Frames!
• Deciding at 8:25 to go to the 8:30 service with babies and momma still in PJs
• Not being terribly late
• Going to a home remodeling show with Derek and the girls
• Little girls squealing and running all over the empty convention center hallways
• Shopping with the girls chowing down on grapes and strawberries and goldfish
• Tucking tired babies into bed
• Playing at the mall playground with daddy
• Daddy having Martin Luther King day off
• Men like MLK who have God-breathed dreams and the courage to live them out- no matter what
• Bronwyn’s ears being clear
• Aeralind being so sweet about still have a double ear infection 3 weeks later. I never would have know
• a referral to the ENT
• $4.85 medicine for my penicillin allergic child as opposed to her usual $60 antibiotic
• Ladies Bible Study starting for the spring
• Chanwey joining me at LBS
• Getting to see Shiloh and Kayla
• Editing a ton of phots from Sylar’s shoot
• Asparagus
• Bronwyn peeing in the potty that I put her on while getting her sister out of the tub (instead of my floor like she usually does)
• finding some great free templates for albums and cards
• chocolate chip cookies
• 4 night of consequtive sleep (the most since Christmas!)
• Another photoshoot coming this friday with an infant and toddler
• Sewing- the rhythm and the soothing nature of hand stitching after a long day
• my girls knocking my camera off my table and shattering the LCD screen
• the hard question- the haunting ones resurfacing: Is God Sovereign?
• Wrenching, sobbing tears on the floor of the nursery.  Tears questioning. Tears surrendering.
• Little girls stuffing pacifier in my mouth (and electrical outlet covers too!) and sitting on my face- showing natural compassion- trying to soothe me
• Cornering Derek in the kitchen-spilling real heart issues
• Broken camera still capturing images– though with some unpredictable over-exposure shifts
• Being able to complete a paid photo shoot despite camera woes
• making almost enough money to cover the potential repair costs
• my parents offering kind to help with repair cost or buy a new body
• Watching used sites in search of a good deal
• Browyn and Aeralind twirling until dizzy on command
• Twirling with both girls in my arms
• admitting and owning fears
• chasing Cooper in my yard
• little girls napping long through a photo shoot
• Seeing purpose=seeing Him redeem what I thought was bad into good
• Single leaf dangling from a branch
• the ugly-beautiful
• Google when suddenly struck with the urge to make play dough
• Little fingers pressed into pink dough
• cookie cutter shapes out of play dough
• less play dough eaten than I had expected
• reading– maybe even devouring– One Thousand Gifts 
• Peek-a-boo with babies
• Little girls swarming daddy
• Derek taking apart the washer to remove something in the pump that I did not see in the wash once again
• That video and song that made me cry at church.  Cry truth.
• A body of believer and elder commited to one anotehr
• the New “tickle tickle tickle” game that the girls created with one another: complete with Jedi mind tickling giggles
• Stubborn tears (not my own this time)
• Cocoa to wake me up after another rough night
• Quirky little girls
• Tears of understanding at the word “no” coupled with half-hearted obedience
• Cross cloud etched in the sky so blue
• twirling with Aerie and her giggles
• Little girls gleefully going down slides all by themselves
• Cookie batter
• Husband with the sneaking little boy face running out of the out of the house after me.  “Wait!!!….. I love you.”
• Little sarah at nursery weeping in my arms because she didn’t want all the fun things I could offer her.  Oh Strong willed Sarah, you and I we reject so much good!
• Little girls tucked in bed
• Derek triumphantly removed the wip that clogged my washers pump
• Derek accepting with grace that the wipe was no the pump’s only trouble
• Bedtime
• The release of hair from hair pins
• The release of souls from sin–from ingratitude