Thanks be to God!

It's a miracle! We've gone to church for 2 straight weeks now. And not only is Babe enjoying it, but the kids are, too! Monkey loves his little room to play in. Princess is getting better - she knew 2 other little girls right off the bat (from gymnastics) and once they arrived in her room, it was okay for me to leave. And Buddyis still adjusting. The first week, he stayed with Princess in her room. How nice of him was that? I know part of it was to help make Princess feel more comfortable, but I think he felt more comfortable being with her as well ;) The 2nd week we had him try out his age group setting. He stayed most of the time. Had fun. But ended up coming with Babe and I to the service for the last 10ish or so minutes.

Our first Sunday there was great. They were starting a new series, so it was the perfect time for us to start. And between that 1st Sunday and the next Sunday we went, something amazing happened. At least, that's my take on it: amazing.
Buddy's been going to the "Good News Club" at school for a couple months now. It's an after school club that meets once a week and they learn about God, read bible stories, etc. And actually, it's our church that organizes it :) Anywho...in the months that Buddy has been going, he's really enjoyed it, and always looks forward to the following week. But this particular week, Buddy actually learned something. In Good News Club that week they read the story of Jacob and Esau. Buddy came home and that night he told me the story. Word for word pretty much. Not leaving anything out. I was amazed. Really I was. Here, it hadn't even been a week since we started church, and God is teaching ME through BUDDY. AMAZING. I hung on to every word he said, listened very intently, and was blown away by how incredible it was that I was learning from Buddy. My son. God is so good.

The 2nd Sunday in church I saw Buddy's Good News Club teacher. I had to stop her and tell her how amazed I was that Buddy told me the story so well. And I mentioned how blown away I was that I could already feel God working with our family.

Now for this week's amazement. This article... Don't Carpe Diem ...if you don't have time to read it, here's the summary: Author-Mom has 3 kids. Is always told by older women to "enjoy every second. it goes so fast!" Mom stresses over this, b/c honestly, how can you enjoy every minute? She feels guilty about it, b/c she doesn't enjoy every. single. minute. It's stressful. Doesn't mean she's a bad mom, but some people see it as that. Then Mom mentions the 2 different types of time: there's Chronos time (and in the authors words: Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.) and there's Kairos time (and in the authors words: Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.). Then Mom explains how as long as she has at least one moment of Kairos time a day, then she feels she is doing a great job at being a mother.

Wait for it...

AMAZING.

Just what I needed to hear. No lie. Here I am, a working mom of three kids. I don't have the luxury to be able to stay at home with them, but then I wonder how crazy I would be if I could stay home with them. LOL. And then I go back to thinking of all the time I am missing with them. Me at work. Them at daycare and school. Home in the evenings to rush dinner, and baths and stories and bedtime...somehow squeezing in time to play. Yup, i'll admit it, I stressed over not having enough time to do fun things. And maybe, b/c of my stress to try to be the perfect mom, I failed. Things didn't go as planned, so my attitude went from good to bad. And now that I was in a "mood", not only was I suffering but so were the kids. And then once all is still and quiet and before my head hits the pillow for the night, I'm left to reflect how bad I handled certain situations. That's happened time and time again.
But lately, it's been a little different. The other night, i sat back and enjoyed Princess and Monkey as they took their nightly bath together. Monkey starts splashing as he always does, and instead of telling him to stop, I played along with him. And boy, did he LOVE that. He laughed so hard he kept splashing me over and over again. I was really enjoying that moment in time with him. Seeing him laugh, experiencing the fun with him. After reading the article above, i can say that was my Kairo time that day - that time with Monkey.
Then there was another night not long ago where Princess wanted to change her pj's...again. (You should know, Princess does this every night. She starts with wearing one pair of pj's, and has to switch them at least 1 time, but usually twice. The girl has too many choices.) When normally I would get frustrated with her, this night I just sat back in amazement as I watched her choose which pj's to wear for the night. She went from her Hello Kitty pjs, to a Princess dress with pants that matched. And she had to find the perfect pants, b/c not any ole' pink pants would do (even though, in my eyes, they matched). She had to find the pink pants with the castles and crowns on them, b/c, afterall, what's a pink princess dress without pants with castles and crowns?! How right she is. That was my Kairo's time with Princess that day.
Now last night. My Kairo time was with Buddy. As he read to me his chapter book, I just watched him, wondering how and when my Lil' Man turned into a big boy. When he went from 3 years old to 7 years old...from me reading to him to him reading to me. From me simply telling him there was a God to him teaching me one of the many stories about God. I stopped him from reading and told him how proud I am of him, for being such a smart kid and an awesome big brother. Then I kissed him on the head. He smiled and continued reading.

I look forward to my Kairo time today. I wonder what it will be. Will it be with one of the kids (most likely), or will it be another moment throughout the day? I wonder when I'll start to realize more than one kairo time.

I'm grateful for a lot of things in life. And right now, I'm grateful that I've finally taken the time to seek God and allow him to show me his many blessings. The more I seek you, the more I find you. The more I find you, the more I love you. So true are those words.