2 Random Thoughts...

This is a quicky, but I just thought of two neat things that I thought I would share.
The first one I learned about today. Well, correction. I'd heard of it before, but today was the first time I got to see it really work. Peroxide really does get blood out of clothes!! When Jono got home from church with all the kiddos (I didn't go because I was up all night with a yucky stomach bug), Pax had blood on his pants. I Googled what would work, saw the peroxide thing, and-wala (I'm not sure if that's really how you spell it, but it's how I pronounce it :))-the blood just bubbled right out. I'm probably the last person on earth to learn this, but if, by chance, you ever doubted...take my word for it!!

The second thing that I wanted to share is actually a gift idea. This book:

is pretty awesome!! It's called "The Story of a Lifetime" by Pamela Pavuk. It's a journal that asks a ton of questions to lead you to pretty much tell the story of your life. It has sections where you tell of your family background and childhood all the way to the golden years and ethnic heritage. We gave one to Memaw and to my grandmother a few years ago. It's so great to be able to read Memaw's thoughts and memories now that she's gone. I also gave Jono one for his 30th birthday. It's a really big book and Memaw didn't come close to finishing it so I thought I'd give him a little more time:)
Anyway, I'm really big on cool gift ideas so I thought I'd pass this one on. If your mom or dad or grandma or grandpa have a birthday coming up, check it out. Click here to see it on Half.com.

The Hiney-I mean Hidden-God

Today I was driving Alana to school and I was taking two kids' of a friend of ours to school as well. Alana and Nevaeh were in the backseat with their 6 year old guy pal sitting between them. I'm not sure how their conversation got there, but I heard Nevaeh forcefully point out that God is invisible. They fully accepted this fact and that God is everywhere. This led to the three of them pointing out all the places that God is. "In front of us", for instance. This was contributed by Alana. They went on to mention "on my head", "on top of the car", and then-all of the sudden- I hear blurted out: "He's even in my hiney!" Now, I know that I don't even have to tell you which child made such an insightful comment, but Vaeh was quite proud of her observation. So here I will give her credit. I did the obligatory "Nevaeh!" and quickly wondered how much my 4 year old was corrupting our company. But, true to form, she wasn't gonna let it go. "Mommy, God IS everywhere, right? That's what you said!" Well, I couldn't think of a verse that excluded certain body parts from God's omnipresence, soooo. I mean, am I the only one who has had the "God-is-everywhere" moment while I'm using the bathroom and thought: "Really?".
Well, all that got me thinking about how, while my children are amazed at the fact that God can be everywhere at once, I often struggle with the "hiddenness" of God. How can He literally be everywhere and yet sometimes I feel like "Where are You?!" For instance, with the whole adoption thing I find myself trusting, trusting, trusting...Ok, please gimme something God! One little shred of direction, guidance, anything. Now, I know that people have had much darker "nights of the soul" than this situation that I'm in. I'm not enduring terrible trials that others may be. But, you know what? Regardless, we are not the first to feel this way. And feeling that way doesn't always mean that we have wandered off from God. Job was considered righteous by God, but when he begged God to help him...nothing. All through the Psalms the "man after God's own heart" voiced his doubts and complaints. So maybe instead of being a sign of weak faith, our wonderings are expected by God. And maybe, in a weird way, God understands. Maybe He went out of His way to understand. After all, God the Son felt God-forsaken on the cross. And if Jesus Christ can scream out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!", then I guess it's ok for me to whisper a little, "Hellooo? God? This is kinda a big deal. Could you appear?" every now and then.
And I'm very sorry if this post makes your next trip to the restroom...awkward:).

Kids' clothes and car seats

I have found the most adorable clothing line for little girls that I’ve ever seen! The photographer that I have been taking Pax to had a “Matilda Jane Trunk Show” today at her studio. I, along with my mom, Aunt Traci, my 3 kids, and my 2 nieces went and checked it out. Sooooooo adorable!!!

It’s like home-made/flea market/like nothing you can find in stores!! Disclaimer: IT’S EXPENSIVE!! They had free food and since our 5 kids ate it like they were at Golden Corral, we felt kind of obligated to buy something. I almost talked myself into just buying a pair of $14 socks, but then we got suckered in. I mean, these clothes are REALLY cute. They made me want to learn how to sew. I kept thinking, “I could make this…after a year or 2 of sewing lessons.” Long story medium, my mom and I purchased an outfit for each of my girls. When I was placing the order I was intent on getting the biggest size possible for each of them…just fitted enough to stay on their little bodies! I mean, this kind of investment is gonna have to last. I’ll post pix of them in these cute little outfits when I get them, and then you can follow the Long girls through their adolescence in them!! These may be their “first date” outfits or their “getting my drivers license” outfits, or their “rehearsal dinner” outfits. I’m just saying. I mathematically figure out how many times my children must wear something in order for the “per wear” amount to be reasonable. With these duds, it’s about 60-70 wears. And to my dismay, after the transaction went down I was told it would be 6-8 weeks before I would get them. A lot of my justification for purchasing these was that they would be adorable Easter clothes. (Did I mention that in my equation an “Easter Wear” counts as 10?) Easter is 6.5 weeks away. I have my fingers crossed!!

I will end with a small confessional. After wandering aimlessly around Kroger for a couple of hours with Pax and Traci, I loaded my little man up, drove to Tim Stewart Funeral home, then to my mom’s house, then home. I got out, carried in the car seat, and was then mortified to find that apparently I had forgotten to buckle that precious baby in when we left Kroger! Why is there not a “ding, ding” noise for unbuckled babies?! Surely I’m not the first mom who has committed this travesty. And yet I shall be the one to make billions off of this handy little invention of mine! Anyway, I did penance–aka kissed and hugged and cried and promised my boy that I would be more attentive when it came to his safety in the future. And I thanked God that He fills in the gaps that we “less than perfect” moms leave.