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October 2001
As I looked around at the chaos that five people living in a 2 bedroom / one bath apartment can produce, I became overwhelmed by the sheer messiness of the place. Before I go on, let me tell you something about me....when things in my dwelling place are messy and chaotic, then I 'feel' messy and chaotic. I am not a neat freak by any means, but I like things to be kept visually appealing, and when they aren't for an extended period of time, something inside of me cringes, twists around, and eventually snaps. On this particular morning things were far from visually appealing and that thing inside me that I told you about...well, it was hanging on by a thread. In an effort to "keep my cool" and not begin this morning with an all out scream fest, I calmly laid out some house rules. Understanding that we would only be in this apartment situation for another week, I applied all the rules to our townhouse. I began each rule with, "When we get into our townhouse...." I emphasized the fact that everything had a place and would be kept there, we would each be responsible for certain chores around the townhouse, everyone's room would be kept clean...and I would hold a weekly contest for the cleanest bedroom. 1st place gets and extra thirty minutes before bed time than the other two kids, 2nd place got no laundry duty for the week, and 3rd place had to take over the laundry duty of the 2nd place kid.
As I looked at their faces I could see that my three kids were getting overwhelmed themselves with all the "when we get to our townhouse" rules. They already looked exhausted by just thinking about all the new responsibilities they would have. I worried that in my efforts to make myself feel more organized I had come down too hard and laid down too many rules for them to follow.
At prayer time before school that same morning it was Michael's turn to pray. He began in his usual way, and then he added, "...and Lord, thank you for all these wonderful rules my mom made. Amen"
Wow! Even though my motive may have been a bit selfish this time, I am once again reassured that kids really do need and desire structure even if it does come accompanied by rolling eyes and sighs of dread.
Thanks Michael.
February 5th, 2001
The other night at dinner, one of the kids asked me how God made people. I explained how God made Adam out of dust, and then Eve from Adam's rib. David also told them that boys have one less rib than girls, and I added that when the boys get married, it is like finding their other rib.
We told them that God had a perfect match out there for each of them and that they would someday belong to someone just like David and I belong to each other.
Michael was very curious and asked, "Mom, who do I belong to?"
I told him that none of us knew right now who that girl would be but that we could pray for her whenever we thought of it.
The next night at bedtime prayer I heard Michael say his usual "Thank you God for everything that you have done for me..." but he ended it differently this time. He said "And take care of that girl that gots my other rib. amen!"
Someday we will meet this special girl, and I will tell her that Michael has been praying for her since he was seven and boy is he happy to have found his rib!
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