My Wealth

Posted on March 20, 2011 by thisnest

I am in awe of the gifts I have been given. Not riches, not fame…I’m talking about true gifts.

I had the blessing of witnessing a moment the other day. It wasn’t meant for me…or maybe it was, I’m not sure. I was still in bed, half sleeping. Adarius was toddling around the room with the energy of a freshly rested one-year-old. His daddy was kneeling on the floor, watching him play. With the swiftest, most touching and beautiful gesture of a father, I watched the broad smile that my husband was wearing, as he enjoyed his youngest child’s antics, transition to the most sincere expression of gratitude, as he simultaneously clasped his hands together and looked toward Heaven. He quietly, but still out loud, thanked God for this little life in front of him.

The combination of my own thankfulness and pride was almost too much for me to bear as it washed over me, nearly melting me to the very sheets I was still laying on. I knew the remainder of my day would be filled with the screams and demands of our one and three-year olds, as well as the ever-changing needs of our two teenagers and one tweenager…I knew that the rest of my husband’s day would be completely occupied by the needs of his customers and the literal tons and tons of freight he would be responsible for…

But right now, right now, I clearly recognized my gifts…and I was in awe. So keep your fame. Keep your fortune. Those things don’t make me rich. It’s seeing a grown man, brought to his knees by the love of his baby boy, looking with appreciation toward his Creator, that reminds me of my wealth…and I am so wealthy!

“The ability to identify and enjoy the truly important things in life…is what will make your life truly important.”  – Donna Sparrow

Posted in FAMILY | Leave a comment

Confused Vampire Generation

Posted on March 16, 2011 by thisnest

My daughters had a sleepover, and their very cool mom was sitting downstairs with them watching a movie. This particular movie had vampires in it (no, not that series but that series will come up in a bit). We were all sitting cozily around our large sectional, some girls wrapped in blankets, some girls holding onto each other in fear. Just as one of the bitten movie characters was turning into a vampire herself, she was suddenly and directly exposed to sunlight. You know how it goes…she spontaneously combusted and burned to a crisp…

“What?! What was that? What just happened?!!”  – I heard one of the girls ask.

“Well, you know vampires can’t come into contact with daylight or they’ll burn up.” –  was my obvious response.

“What?!” (the word of the evening) “I thought they just…”

“SPARKLED!”

Thanks for the confusion, Edward!

Posted in SIMPLY STATED | Leave a comment

Help Me!!!!

Posted on March 10, 2011 by thisnest

Exhausted…I want to cry.

Tuesday. AD got up and as normal, straight to the booby. Five minutes later, “uh-da booby.” OK, other booby. Five minutes later, breast milk shooting out of his mouth, with projectile precision in a style that Linda Blair can’t even compete with. He doesn’t feel hot, his mood seems fine, probably just drank too big a breakfast. Wrong. Ended up with three more puke piles on the floor that day, thank God at least one of those wasn’t on the carpet…oh yeah, and diarrhea, and thanking God again but this time that he still wears a diaper. Fun day.

Wednesday. Just enjoying the very rare morning “Mommy and Daddy time” since Hubby has a later call in than usual. Rat-a-tat-tat softly on my door. A quiet sound I am tempted to ignore except, it’s kind of a strange sound too. D’Lo is sitting in the hallway outside our room, half asleep, heaving. That’s another nice puddle of vomit on my carpet. I scoop him up, still gagging, as we are followed all the way to the tiolet by said vomit. By the evening, the mean stomach bug as found it’s way into me and I find myself standing over that same toilet, seeing my enchilada casserole for an unwanted, second time.

Thursday. 3:30am, my cell phone is ringing. I barely have the energy to answer it, but it’s 3:30 in the morning and I know that whoever is calling must really need to talk to me. It’s Devaney, she’s calling me from her bedroom. “Mom, I’m sick. I just threw-up, can u bring me a bowl?” I stumble out of bed, grab the unused puke-bowl that I put next to my bed for D’Lo the previous day, and head down the hall to her room. She threw up alright, can you guess where? On the carpet in her room. I cover it with a towel, give her the bowl, and rush back to my room before I make a mess on the poor carpet myself. When I get up early in the morning to check on her, I find my oldest son laid out on the floor in front of their bathroom. He’s also been up all night throwing up. He made it to the toilet every time except one, that’s right, you guessed it…on the carpet in his room. Spent the rest of the day, still in my own recovery, caring for my two still-sick kids, running after my not-sick-anymore toddler and preschooler who were on a rampage all day.

Friday?????? Not sure yet. Two of the seven of us have yet to be caught by this mean bug. Hubby, who’s been claiming all along that his immune system is just too strong to take a fall, just walked in to our bedroom not looking or sounding too sure about that anymore. He doesn’t want to talk about it, cuz, you know, not talking about it will definitely keep it from happening. And Dee Dee? Not sure about that yet either. Maybe my cell will ring again at 3:30 in the morning and if I’m really lucky, I can add a few more puke puddles to the growing list I’ll give my Bissell Steam Cleaner tomorrow…

Posted in FAMILY | Leave a comment

Wordless Wednesday…”Coach Daddy 2005″

Posted on March 9, 2011 by thisnest

Posted in WORDLESS WEDNESDAY | Leave a comment

It Finally Happened

Posted on March 6, 2011 by thisnest

Devaney was over at her friend’s house today and it finally happened. That ugly thing that parents, of other races, have had to help their children navigate for hundreds of years before today. Her friend’s older brother had some of his own buddies over playing basketball and, when Devaney went inside, one intelligence challenged boy stated that Dev should go back to where she came from (Is he talking about my womb?!). It’s true that while the mixed-race phenomenon is on the rise, we white folk have some catching up to do in the arena of teaching this part to our children. I had to think about this. I looked carefully at her pretty face as I still thought about this, and then I asked her how it made her feel.  

“It made me feel bad. My friends just told him that I wasn’t an immigrant, that I was half black. He just said ‘Oh, whatever’ and then kept playing. They told me what he said when I came back outside. I acted like it didn’t bother me, but inside I felt like yelling at him.” Her big, beautiful, brown eyes remained downcast toward the floor.

Look at me. Look at me, Devaney. You should feel bad…but not for you. You should feel bad for him. It’s a sad thing that, sometime during the short sixteen years that boy’s been on this earth, someone else spoke to him about – taught him – such stupidity. You should feel bad that, chances are, he is going to speak to – teach – that same stupidity to his own children. Did you ask him what Native American tribe he is a member of? He must have some tribal affiliation if he’s concerning himself with any type of immigration…considering that all of the rest of us came from somewhere else.

Listen to me now, Baby. It’s time you start pre-formulating responses to this type of mess because when the time comes that you do personally respond, you will have to counter such a lack of intelligence with a superior form of it. Uneducated people such as this will sound even more ridiculous (even to those around them they were trying to impress in the first place) when their mindlessness is countered by the cognizant and versed truth you will spit at them.

Always be proud of who you are. Always remember that your joy cannot be stolen, it can only be given away. Always be classy, compassionate, rational and enlightened – as to not perpetuate the stereotypes they are trying to hate you for in the first place. Always know that God designed and created you to this detail for a specific purpose. Always shine with the brilliance of the light He put in you, that the darkness of the world crumble under the weight of its own hatefulness.

I love you, you spectacular, phenomenal, extraordinary, stunning, marvelous, astonishing, fabulous, breathtaking, illuminating, brilliant, remarkable, dazzling, sensational, prodigious gift to us all!

And like you said yourself – “Haters are your biggest fans!”

Posted in "MIXED" MESSAGES, FAMILY | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments