What a sad week this is for my kids! I don't know how many years we've started off the tradition of Christmas with an annual breakfast with my whole family, all my siblings, my parents, all the cousins.....it's been the highlight of the year for years, the start of the season, the first gift of Christmas, the food, followed by picking out the tree, decorating it....all the things kids love, but not this year.....everything is cancelled. So I thought about it a little bit and decided to do it at home....I'm going to recreate the whole breakfast....all the food that they would typically have at this amazing brunch. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm determined to make it a great morning. Eggs benedict, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage.....it's going to be delicious. I even picked up a few small things as mini gifts....nothing too crazy, but just a little something to open. Then we're going to go get a tree and we are going to decorate it and, darn it, we're going to have fun!!
Seriously....in the big picture, it's all so silly to get upset over a little meal that gets missed and in reality, they have it pretty good. They aren't really missing a lot when you think about kids around the world, so I'm not going to let them commiserate too much. I am happy, however, to give alternatives in this crazy situation we find ourselves. I enjoy being creative and finding a way to still make it happen. They were so happy to know it was still going to happen just not in the way they thought. I think it'll be great and I'm looking forward to it as much as they are....
I continue to be amazed at how our little mini concord vineyard has made some extra income for us this year. First the u-pick and and now the trees. I wasn't going to sell them, but then after listing them this past week, I am glad I did! I've sold a few now and I'm so glad I did!!!! It's been some extra money after all the work I did way back in March and it's such a blessing!!!!
This week has also been a bit of a challenge for me as my 14 year old and I are working through his Algebra. I never thought I would be so good at math. This program we are using teaches it in a way I've NEVER learned and it has been HARD! My son has nearly lost his mind and that goes for me, too. But we powered through it and wow, we're winning I think. This might not seem like a big deal, but it's a big deal. I've been really praying for this boy as at times, he can be the classic moody teen. I think the value of having a large family is that every child is different and unique and just when you think you're a successful parent, God gives you a dose of humility by giving you a new challenge in kid-form. My older kids didn't really fall into that pattern of classic teen - who knows why. I cannot take any credit for that. This guy has really pushed me and my limits in patience. God has shown me time and time again that I cannot take his ups and downs personally and that is what has helped me so much. Sometimes I see his negativity as a direct attack from the enemy, trying to make him see the world through a dark lens. I can almost picture the demon sitting on his shoulder whispering lies into his head, about himself, his life, his schooling, his siblings.....and it is at those times I pray very specifically for him and against anything that is attacking him. But what has come out of this has been only a miracle. This week as he listened to my older son share his amazing testimony and how he was able to share Christ with his fellow employees, something clicked in my younger son's heart. "I want a faith like that," he said. Then he watched some baptisms this past week online from our church and something clicked there, too. "I'd like to get baptized...I just don't want to say a lot up front...." As he watched me try to stay calm with him and his math, something clicked there, too. "Thanks, Mom, for helping me this week. Sorry it was so hard." I've shared with others in my family to keep praying for him and I believe their prayers are being answered. It's so great to hear him quickly apologize now, to me, to his siblings, as he's often quick to get short with them and with me. He's gone back later on in the day when he perhaps offended someone and told me, "I said sorry to the kids for how I spoke to them this morning." You did what??? Amazing. He told me how he has chatted with another son about how he reads the Bible and what he should look for as he reads because sometimes it just doesn't make sense to him. Mind boggling. These are all good signs to me that God is working in his young life! I'm thinking maybe the moody teen stage really won't last forever! I praise God for these encouragements this week as it can be hard raising kids that don't want to be raised! The world hates them, Satan hates them. The spiritual battle for them is so real. But I feel like God gave me a big boost of encouragement this week particularly with this one son. I just can't let up on the prayer, the patience....it seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel......there's just so many kids left after him!!!!! I'll get a holiday eventually, right?? They'll thank me eventually, right???? There's a crown in heaven, right??? Probably nothing will happen this side of heaven, so no earthly rewards to look forward to, but that's ok.....just to see him smile is enough for me right now.
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