Solving Problems Like Maria and Other Random Tidbits

(The title of this post will make sense later. Keep reading.)

Yes, I realize that I'm 19 days early with the "fall" celebration, but I loved the leafy background! I've always been one of those people who love the change of every season, but after a couple months I'm quite ready for the next one! And since fall is my favorite time of year (and we really didn't have too much of a summer around here) I decided to celebrate early... :)

Thanks to an "out of whack back" this weekend, I'm up a little early. Can't take another minute of lying down, so I'm up and about! I'm not usually a morning person at ALL, but there is something very nice about being up in the stillness of the early morning, watching the day unfold. I would never refer to the busy "goings on" of my day to day life as "clutter" because those goings on usually involve my little people and all the noise that they naturally bring with them, but I do think there's something to be said about creating a time when God can reach the quiet places of your heart without distraction. And it would seem that it's mornings for me, when all I hear are the snores of my husband, Rea talking in her sleep, early-morning-birds chattering, the yard sprinklers going off, and the low rumble of the ice maker in the frig. Yes, even with all that, it's still much quieter than usual!!

The latest excitement in our house is that my sister, Mandy and her two kids are coming out for a visit! They'll be here in 3 weeks and 2 days, not that we have a countdown going or anything, but our calendar is definitely all marked up!

The anticipation is just ridiculous. Especially for the boys! Levi (my nephew) is 2 months older than Ya'shar, and boy do those two have plans. I keep reminding them that 5 days isn't very long, and remember you still will have school during the day, but the list of adventures they hope to accomplish is growing by the nano-second!

My sister and I aren't much better.... "Ooooh, let's do this!" or "We HAVE to take them here!" (sigh) There simply aren't enough days!!! After all the running around, the thing we most hope to do is just sit still and be with each other and have "sister chats" and do nothing but love each other more and more.

And shop. (Let's be real.) :)
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Allow me to jabber a little bit about couponing!!!

You may or may not remember a post from several months ago about my discovery of the TLC show "Extreme Couponing". It's definitely a show that highlights the EXTREMISTS of couponers, but the general idea and inspiration to save where you can and not be wasteful is intact.

My husband sent me a link from some financial site on CNN or something that was just totally bashing the show - it was VERY entertaining! He ranted and raved about how the show idolizes crazy people who go dumpster diving just to find a $.35 coupon or how they steal their neighbors' Sunday paper, or how they used to feel good about saving $10 but now they're mad if they have to pay more than $10 for a grocery cart full that's worth $1500!!!! All very true.

But I would venture to say that the intent of the show is to inspire people to think about easy ways they can save and be conscious of the huge amount of resources easily available to them that will allow them to do so. At least that's what it's done for me. I am for sure no where NEAR the dumpster-diving side of things, but I do love to clip some coupons and I watch the store fliers like a hawk! I have cut our grocery bill in HALF or less in the past 4 months, and it feels reeeeaaalllly good!

If I take an hour 1 or 2 nights a week to sit down with my children, let the little ones practices their scissor cutting skills and the older ones practice some "math and reading" while we sort coupons and match up deals with sales, and talk and jabber and plan what we can do with the money we save, or how we can bless someone with the 10 bottles of almost-free laundry soap we're gonna buy, then I think that's a pretty good investment of my time. Clip on!!!

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Ma-lak: I just love this little man. Did you know he has lots of freckles??!! :) I'm so proud of how well he's been doing in school this year so far! The challenge for him has not been understanding the work or grasping a new concept, he's doing great in that area. But it's soooo hard for him to sit still for very long and focus and concentrate. He gets a little bored and stir crazy and then lets himself get distracted and then mayhem ensues. That was last year. This year we had some pretty good heart to heart talks about how he was to conduct himself in class and use his recess time to "get all the wiggles out"... :) His teacher is really great and I truly think that has made most of the difference between this year and last. Funny story - a couple days ago he brought some papers home and he had written "MEKS" at the top. Those are his initials, and apparently the new nickname he's decided he wants to be called. Daryle has called him "Meeks" every now and then, because of his initials, and I guess the name stuck and he really likes it! :) Funny guy.... But no more nicknames on homework!

Rea: My little sunshine is an amazing help to me in the kitchen, she and her sister both. She LOVES to help me make dinner, and if she hears me in the kitchen she races down the stairs and grabs her apron and jumps right in. I never have to ask anyone to unload the dishwasher or do dishes, it's always already done! She loves to sing..... ALL the time this girl is singing, and I love it! It breaks my heart that there are NO music programs in their school. No plays or musicals, no band, no concerts through the school year, no learning of the notes or ANYthing... I asked her if she'd like to join a children's choir somewhere here in town and she thought that would be awesome, so I'm looking.... In the mean time I may be starting them with the basics here at home. I was so fortunate and blessed as a child to have such a great music teacher!!! Thank you, Mrs. White!!!

Ni'ke: Daryle calls Ni'ke our little hillbilly.... "She is SO country!" he says all the time! She does make us laugh with some of the stuff she says. It's usually leaving the "g" off the end of words, like, "Good Mornin' Mama!" or "What are we eatin' tonight?" Hilarious. Ni'ke is also one of those little people who is full of surprises. Constantly shocking me. (Usually in a good way!) She came to me the other day with a deck of Children's Bible Trivia flash cards and wanted me to play with her. I said, "Well this isn't really a game, but we can go over some if you want." I kept flipping through the deck trying to find some of the easier ones, like "How many days was Jonah in the belly of the big fish?" - things that I was sure she knew. She kept saying, "Why are you skipping them all?" I told her I didn't think she knew very many of them. She kept insisting that she did, and even had tears in her eyes because she thought I didn't believe her. And I didn't. And do you know what?? That child had memorized EVERY SINGLE ONE of those cards, including the scripture references that the trivia came from!!!! ALL 50 of them!!!! (Oh, Lord..... Open my eyes!!!) She educated me REAL good that morning. I could barely even remember who Bartimeus was, but she was happy to tell me. :) So I am now going back over the whole stories behind the trivia tidbits with all the kids again. LOVE those flash cards!! (Thanks, Grandma!)

Ya'shar: Well, where to start? We can hardly wait to hear what story this child will come home with everyday. He's just that entertaining. (More on that in a minute...) The first day of school, his teacher had all the kids sit in a circle and then go around and say their name. Part of the reason was for the children whose primary language is Spanish to get comfortable saying the words "My name is...." Some of them were so scared that first day, not understanding anything going on around them! A little girl named Maria was sitting next to Ya'shar, and she whispered, "My name is Maria" in this timid little voice, like all ten children before her had done. And then it was Ya'shar's turn.... At the TOP of his loud voice, he announces, "My name is Ya'shar-Sha'phat T'sedeq Mish-pat Smith!!!" The look on poor Mrs. Corwin's face.... "Do I have to call him by his WHOLE name??!!" I was laughing so hard.... I assured her that "Ya'shar" would be fine. His name means "righteous judge, upright ruler" and before the end of that first day of kindergarten God reminded me that this bossy, loud, in-charge little guy was very aptly named.... (sigh)

So the second day of school rolls around and the kids come home. Ya'shar announces that he made two new friends today and one of them was a girl and she was really pretty. Her name was Maria. (Remember her?!) We chuckled. (Oh BOY.) A few days later, Daryle and I were laughing about what he had said and Ya'shar walked into the room, and D randomly said, "Hey Ya'shar, what ever happened to that little girl you were telling us about?" Without missing a beat Ya'shar goes to the frig to get a drink and casually throws a comment over his shoulder, "Yeah, that's not going so good." ?!?!??!!?? What?? (Insert lots of stifled "laugh into your napkins" here.) Daryle said, "Um, you're FIVE. Why is it going anywhere at ALL?!" Hilarious. Apprently Maria taps his shoulder a lot while Mrs. Corwin reads to them. Fast forward to this past Friday when Ya'shar walks in the door after school, throws his backpack on the floor and announces, "I am NEVER EVER going to marry Maria!!! She kissed Raul AND Isaac!!!" Oh dear..... And if I wasn't laughing enough already, my husband turns to me and says, "How do we solve a problem like Maria??" Really, this family is too much. When we asked (with bated breath) "Did Maria kiss YOU??" he quickly replied "Oh, no. And I am NEVER going to marry her." So after a little discussion about how school is for learning and making new FRIENDS, and not for kissy nonsense, he agreed that was probably a good idea.

Can't wait to hear what happens next week...

Happy Labor Day to you all! Hope you're having a wonderful long weekend!!