Happy Monday Like No Other

Some days, when I am in the middle of explaining to a 2 year old why she was put on time out for yelling at her mother, my mind will suddenly explain to my body how much happier it would be playing Lego Indiana Jones 2 on the Wii than talking to a 30 pound tyrant. One of these days, my mind might actually win.

Here's wishing you the kind of week where you see something lovely....like a flowered branch with a ladybug on it....




...but when you look a little closer, it's actually two ladybugs and they'd like you to close the door behind you when you leave.

Yes, We Know What Causes That

So....many of you who are Facebook Friends already have heard about this....

And I will be honest, it caught us a little by surprise. Kind of like when you're walking along and someone hurls a wet fish at your face and you don't even like fish. But I DO like babies. And I like MY babies especially. But the dreamy love of a newborn sometimes gets pushed out of the way of cold reality. A glance at my home, the day to day life of the Zab Clan and just what I think I am able to endure and I become overwhelmed. The blood in my veins goes icy cold and I fly into a tailspin that usually doesn't end nicely.

I know God has my back. He has been faithful through moments in my life when no one else could be. And I know He's going to help me with this one too. But because I am human, my imagination runs away with me and we are back to the doubt and the ice water and the freaking out.

Today I was granted access to my laptop whose cord has given up the ghost and I haven't yet replaced it with a functioning cord. I was looking at pictures that were trapped on here and e-mailing documents to myself. I was letting that imagination go crazy again and wondering how I was going to handle an extra person in my care without severely messing them up when I came across a photo I had never seen before that shut all those fears down.

It is Ella and Me....she is exactly 11 minutes old. We had just gotten her out after thinking we had lost her a few times. Her face was no longer blue but her hands and fingers stayed pretty blue for a good 24 hours. This picture brings me peace, hope and reminds me that they don't come out at 2 1/2 screaming bloody murder and hitting and throwing around toddler curse words because their older sister won't give them a My Little Pony they want. (Wait, that was a very specific example. Almost as if it happened this very morning. As if it happened this very morning and was then followed by Mommy yelling so loud that the next door neighbors could hear it through the walls!)

It will be okay. There will be more yelling due to that "I'm human" part I talked about earlier. But there will also be moments like this picture. They will take my breath away and remind me what god has given me. What He has challenged me: To raise little people to become adults who live in the Love of Christ.

It's gonna be quite a ride!