Multitude Monday

525. Little girls playing with a paper bag
526. Stone fruit season: peaches, cherries, and plums!
527. A great 9 month check-up
528. A clean kitchen table (if only for a moment)
529. Cherry Pie
530. Pool finally opened and enjoyed
532. Laughter (by all parties) in a moment of trial
533. The ability to create one of the marks of my Creator
534. Husband washed diapers
535. Hail and Thunderstorms and displayed power
536. A laptop rendered useless (and me rendered more useful)
537. A small epiphany
538. Hugs from little arms.

493. Fireflies!
494. The girls in the swimming pool 🙂
495. TWO AND A HALF HOUR NAP after the swimming pool
496. Auntie Jo putting the babies to bed and staying home so we could go on a date
497. Sitting on a swing in the park with Derek holding hands
498.  Paying Auntie Jo for babysitting with a banana split
499. Music
500. Bronwyn’s two new teeth and their almost unnoticable arrival
501. Giddily taping carseat boxes together and cutting holes in them to make a crawling tunnel for the girls
502. Using the crawling tunnel for an effective gate to keep my crawlers out of the kitchen
503. My husband loving me through irrational tears
504. Playdate with all the Shepherding group babies
505. The miraculous way God is caring for baby Brandt as he recovers from his Norwood Surgery and makes strides toward coming home.
506. Aeralind’s hysterical “Rarr! I’m a Monster face!”  She scrunches up her little noise and opens her mouth and screams/smiles wide while crawling toward me.  Personally, I can’t decide whether I should run from the mischief I see in those little eyes or scoop her up and cover her with kisses!
507. Making the girls cute little bubble sunsuits for a total cost of $7.47
508. Taking the girls downtown to play in the fountains with other MoMs in the local club
509. Free Chick-fil-a (again.  We never get tired of those coupons in the mail!)
510. Derek giving me 2 hours to myself fabric shopping with a gift card that my sister gave me at Christmas
511. 2 Yards of Amy Butler’s Belle line in Eyelash for $9 waiting to be turned into a summer skirt for me. My sister will be so proud.

512. Derek getting groceries for me while I sewed and the babies napped
513. Bananas for $.33 a pound.  Between the girls and my smoothie obsession, we go through bananas quick!  I’ve even been known to buy the girls weight in bananas all at once 🙂
514. Peaches in season
515. Tiny plums at the farmers market that taste like bits of heaven
516. Watching the girls crawl under Derek’s desk in a bit of a game.  They love it when he moves them.
517. The thrift store cherry pitter my sister gave me in action.  I can’t believe we pitted an entire bag of cherries to freeze in less than 20 minutes.
518. The girls are growing so well!  Bronwyn is 16 lb 11 oz and Aeralind is 16 lb 7 oz .  That is over triple their birthweights.
519. The girls barely flinching for their 9 month vaccination.
520. Sharing all the season foods with my sweet babies.
521. Recieving thousands of smiles each day.
522. Watching the girls sit calmly next to one another and play with their sister’s outfit.
523. Oh the squealing and shrieking and screaming and pure joy!
524. Being introduced to the sluggard living inside of me.

484. Going to Bouncing Babies for the first time in a month
485. Finding Aeralind Playing in water in the kitchen
486. Making the girls giggle all afternoon on Saturday
487. Seeing Zach and Alex turn one
488. Finding Bronwyn’s first tooth which arrived with little fanfare (except the a little general whiny-ness)
489. A visit from Auntie Jo
490. An unexpected and much needed nap
491. Laughter with Johana and crazy stories
492.  Ruffled Peach Beauty

This week has been pretty tough.  The girls followed up last weeks mystery fevers with dripping noses.  They dealt with it fine, but shared the drip with me.  I was not appreciative. Not at all.  To top it all off, they’ve also gone a little crazy with naps: only napping 30 minutes to an hour most of the time and then being a crabby and needy all evening.  Short naps also mean that I have to start (and sometimes finish) bedtime routine all by myself before hubby is home.  That is hard work when I don’t feel well. It’s hard work when I do feel well.

But I think that the biggest reason that this week has been tough is that old attitude of entitlement has plagued me. I deserve to rest or be able to cook/clean while my girls nap, right?  I’ve earned some quality time sitting down each evening?  I’m entitled to do nothing while I feel poorly.  Why can’t things go my way?

My focus is selfish.

But it’s not about me, is it?

I’m just one small part of His-story.  A small mirror reflecting glory.

Except this week I did not reflect anything but me… and I’m not that glorious.  I’m really not that remarkable at all outside of Him and His love.  I wish I could catch that part in my daily vision.

I’m so frustrated with my self focus that I almost skipped writing this post.  But that would also be selfish.

If I am honest about my heart and I take the time to look back on this week to give (humble) thanks for the immeasurable grace given to me, then maybe I can do just a tiny bit of reflecting…

…just a tiny bit…

458. being able to attend the MoM Club meeting
459. catching up with Marcie
460. getting to know Amber and Jenn
461. wings and shrimp after the meeting with all these precious women
462. Watching Aeralind practice the movements for crawling Mon-Wed
463. Watching all that practice come together as she took off
464. Being honored with her first long crawling stretch (from the door, around the couch, and around the coffee table) ending right at my feet with a proud grin
465. Finally catching sneaky Bronwyn rocking on all fours
466. Laughing as Bronwyn plays keep away with a toy as Aeralind crawls all over her
467. My parents arriving safely.
468. Mexican in downtown G’ville
469. Two girls sleeping in a stroller
470. My dad making babies giggle
471. Mom sleeping on the couch, exhausted
472. Aeralind crawling on grass about 12 feet to greet a dog
473. The beauty of the flowers at falls park
474. Dad’s cooking
475. The girls striped down to their diapers eating green beans, avocado, frozen blueberries, dad’s butternut squash chunks and blackened salmon.
476. Wondering how Bronwyn managed to get one blueberry to stain the middle of her tush.
477. Bathing both girls.
478. My first “What’s that brown stuff in the tub?” experience 🙂
479. The preview video for our summer sermon series the sluggard. Ouch.
480. A little ice cream and cake (for hubby) at Tamara’s
481. Dancing with Aeralind in the Moby Wrap peering out.
482. Free Spicy Chick-fil-a sandwiches 🙂
483. Repentance… that is never turned away

 442. Lying on the living room floor with Derek just talking after the girls are laid down for a nap
443. Ruthie dropping everything at work to bring a feverish Bronwyn a bottle of Tylenol
444. Snuggling with a feverish Bronwyn
445. Hanging out with Lindy and her SIL at the park
446. Listening to Kelsey sing
447. Derek allowing me to go listen to Kelsey sing
448. The glory that Kelsey turns to Him
449. My sweet sister celebrating 25 years
450. Headed over to Becca’s for another baby playdate
451. Making Daylin and Caris laugh in their swings
452. Being able to let Becca run out on an errand alone
453. Watching all the kiddos run around the tent
454. A Snuggling feverish Aeralind falling asleep in my Moby Wrap for the first time since she was itty bitty inside the tent
455. First fevers weathered separately and with no other symptoms
456. Lazy Saturday afternoon
457. Sharing seeds of random colored veggies with the Hoppers