Thank God We Live Next to a Firefighter!

This week at school, aside from focusing on the dreaded Race to the Top, one of our research topics was on the male and female brain.  Very interesting stuff.  I read tons of studies on how male/female brains differ.  One study that I KNOW to be true is one that focused on one year old boys and girls.  They found that when offered a choice between looking at Mommy's face or looking at a video showing vehicles or machinery moving, the girls always wanted to look at Mommy's face and the boys always wanted to look at the video.  Why?  Because girls, from infancy, want to be more relational and have a stronger need to "nurture" while boys from infancy crave movement, noise, and the "how" of things.  Why do things work the way they work?  Girls want to talk more, even in elementary school.  Boys want to play more.  Thus is life and it carries over even into marriage.  If you want to read the article (and I know you DO...hee hee), it's called "His Brain, Her Brain" by L. Cahill and can be found in Scientific American. 

So how does this relate to why it is so important to live next door to a firefighter?  This morning, I had to clean our kitchen and three bathrooms.  I instructed the boys that they couldn't come into these rooms while I was cleaning and had to select an alternative activity.  They chose to go up to their room ON THE SECOND floor and watch Homeward Bound.  Great!  Works for me!  I had opened the windows downstairs to "get the flu" out of our house, so I opened Samuel's windows up and went to their room to put on the movie.  I then CRACKED their window, since Wyatt has the flu and that is where he sleeps.  Then, I went down to start cleaning.

I made my way to the master bathroom and was scrubbing the toilet, of all things, when I hear Jack talking to someone through our front door.  It is a glass door that can slide up or down so that a screen is revealed to let air in.  I had the top of the door open to let air in.  Then, Jack comes in and says, "He is here.  You know...HIM.  He wants to talk to you."  At this point, I am freaking out!  Who is it?  I am in my cleaning clothes...my hair is in a ponytail...I am covered in bleach with no make-up in site...and HE has been talking to my son through my door?  Is it a serial killer?  Panic!  I throw on some clothes really fast, hoping HE is not cutting the screen to get in and kill us all (too much Criminal Minds, I know), and peek around the bedroom door to the front door area where Jack and Wyatt are both having a conversation with HIM.

I see our neighbor, Bubba...the firefighter.  Thank God.  I know he is not a serial killer.  Or, at least I would be surprised if he were, as he saves people for a living and even saves dogs that people "throw away."  He is just talking to the boys through the door as nice as can be.  He sees me and I quickly clarify that I have been cleaning the bathroom and look awful (like he can't see that!).  Very calmly, as if this happens everyday, he informs me that my boys had opened their window "more than a crack" and popped the screen!  They popped the screen! Then, they hung their heads OUT THE WINDOW and struck up a conversation with Bubba, who was outside.  Like that happens everyday. 

They just couldn't sit still long enough for me to clean a bathroom?  NOPE!  Because they are red-blooded boys and it's in their DNA to get into whatever they can find to get into.  Thank goodness I live next to Bubba, a firefighter, and Kim, a nurse.  God must have sent them to build on that lot because he was going to send us to build on the lot next to them.  And then within the next two years, he was going to send the Smith Twins. 

Bubba literally "talked" my boys down.  Thank goodness!  And then, he cared enough about them to come and tell on them!  I love my neighbors!

A Package from God

As a mom of five, I am so thankful for having just that priviledge.  I am thankful for every surgery, every check up, every doctor's appointment, every specialist's appointment, every t-ball and soccer game (well, almost!), every school program, play, band and musical production.  Although I stay busy daily, my life is never dull.  I am never bored!  My kids never lack for playmates!  How wonderful for me to always have a house full of built-in playmates just ready to play with the occational bored child! 

I have quickly learned that being a Mommy is a title that you are given when you "officially" give birth and/or adopt your child, but it is a title that the really good ones EARN.  It is a very hard job, full of sweat, pain, and tears.  And also filled with smiles, laughter, hugs and kisses!  And that is just what happens during labor and delivery! :)

Being a Mommy means getting that toddler through that temper tantrum and refusing to give in to that child's strong-will.  It is painful for you both!  It is petitioning a doctor over and over again until they HEAR you that there IS something wrong and then watching as that child receives the care they need and starts to blossom.  It is praying over a child every morning in the drop-off line before school, and THAT becoming the one thing he HAS to have happen in his morning routine.

It is gladly sitting up all night to watch over a baby with high fever or to check on that newborn just to be sure they are breathing.  How many of us, as mother's, have done all of these things?

To all my Mom friends...this year as we prepare all the goodies and all the travels to family destinations, let's take a moment to be truly thankful for all the blessings that God has given to us.  We are so busy sometimes that we forget the miracle!  We have been "loaned" these little packages from God and upon them are written Handle With Care!  Let us remember to always point them to our Gracious Father.  

I hope you all have a Very Happy Thanksgiving...from all the Smith Family!

Thank God from whom all blessings flow...

I look like a Mommy! Grrrrr......

Samuel really brings lots of love into my life.  He is my most high-strung child, always moving, going, running, never sitting still.  This does get him into trouble quite a bit from time to time, especially at school, where he is in an Early Five's program.  We call this our "practice" year before Kindergarten.  We are hoping that he matures a bit, but mostly that he learns how to act in a school setting.  As a stay-at-home child, he had Mommy's rules.  School has been a challenge...lots of new rules to learn!

One morning as we were driving into the school driveway, he noticed a Mommy walking her daughter to the door.  He looked at me and said, "Why is her sister walking her into school?"  I had to laugh!  Here was a very young mother, with long blond hair tucked into a pony-tail and sporting cute shorts.  To Samuel, pony-tails and short shorts are things that belong to his teenage sisters, not to his Mommy.  I tried to explain that the nice young lady was really the little girl's Mommy.  He just looked perplexed!

I am 36 with a son in Early Five's.  I have an eighth grader and a sixth grader.  When my twins start Kindergarten, I will be 39!  I am getting further and further away from the young mom look!  And that is fine with me.  That young mom at 23 didn't know half of what I know now. 

With age comes wisdom...so what if I don't have a pony-tail anymore!