OH, THIS IS A GOOD ONE!

Those of you that know Erica ... well, you know she is exactly like me. Which is why we have our "moments" as we work through life together. Today, she was cleaning her room and I told her not to forget to vacuum her room and proceeded to tell her exactly where the vacuum could be found. I did this only because I had been using it. However, in her remark, she said, "I know MOM! I KNOW WHERE IT IS!" I left it alone at that after thinking to myself, "you don't have to be so grouchy."

A minute later, she showed up in my room. She says to me, "Mom? When you ask me to do something, you don't have to tell me exactly how and where and what to do. I do know how to do some things and when you tell me that, it makes me feel like I don't know anything when I do."

Now. Imagine me standing there with a dust pan in my hand and Scott is in the bathroom cleaning the sinks listening. My response was, "Okay. I hear that and I won't tell you all that next time. I only said it because sometimes you ask and I was just covering my bases." She responds, "Okay" and walks out. I hear this snickering. Scott is snickering and laughing so hard that he looked like he was going to bust a blood vessel in his head. At first, I was thinking, "WHAT IS THAT???" And then I realize she is so cool. To see small glimpes of maturity and expression of feeling .... that she could communicate words to me instead of attitude and frustration .... WOW! I think this whole teenage years will be tough, but I think God is going to use it as part of my sanctification process as well. Because again, I'm not perfect! Praise the LORD!!!!!!!!!!

UNBELIEVABLE ....

I will try to post a picture of the birds after they hatched later. But they did hatch and were doing great! They were very tiny and had little feathers for mohawks! The kids have been in awe watching them and checking on them daily. The mother and father have been flying in and out several times a day. We watch them come with worms, lizards and moths hanging from their beaks.

BUT yesterday, it was the days of all days. Scott and I walked the lake after the kids were in school and talked. He mentioned, "I can't believe the kids haven't knocked the bike over all this time and messed up the nest." My response was, "Me neither! It's crazy that they haven't." Well, if you haven't guessed by now, yep, I knocked the bike over a few hours later. I was cleaning the front porch and the hose grabbed the tire and knocked it over. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! All the birds came flying out, chirping like mad and hopping for cover! They were squawking like crazy and suddenly, the mother came flying in and squawking like crazy trying to gather them up. She was calling for the dad and it was insane! All I could do was sit down and watch and as they were having "call" fits, I was mimicking what they were saying === " the blasting idiot knocked the bike over!" "Help, momma, help .. the idiot owner has kicked us out of our nest!!" "Henry, get in here now and help me clean up this mess!!" Needless to say, I got a very upclose and personal view of two birds caring for their young and how little birds can fly about 2-3 feet off the ground and practice spreading their wings.

If you are waiting for the valuable lesson in this, I'm still waiting for more. But the one thing I asked God was why and the only thing I got in return was, "You don't have to be small to make mistakes. You aren't perfect either." I think He wanted to show me my own faults .. purposeful or not. The floors are okay if the kids bring in more pollen and leaves ... the house is okay if they leave a glass on the table and not return in .. and the toothpaste in the sink can be rinsed ...... and I am capable of knocking over a bike. So ... I'm going to ponder on that for a while. I'll get back with you.