Days without Daddy--Day 4

or

Anyone want a Toddler?

Last night I crawled into bed and found 2 dollies (naked) a torn up book, a cup of water and a pair of shoes. I chuckled and crawled into bed, ready to fall sound asleep. But sleep didn't come. And after a while, a certain 2 year old toddler did. So, okay, I thought that it would be sweet to sleep with OG, after all I'm the only one in a big bed, there would be plenty of room for the two of us!

Wrong!

What I didn't know when I agreed to this cuddle-fest was that she insisted on it being a cuddlefest, as in she slept mere centimeters away from me for the whole night. That, however, was only when she slept. OG has a remarkable knack for sleeping for about an hour and then being awake, tossing and turning and playing and cuddling even closer to me. So we were up at 1, 2, 3:30 and somewhere around 5 a.m. and she was "up" for the day just before 7 a.m. I informed her that I don't get up until my alarm goes off (around 7:30). So she talked at me for the next half hour. I used the word talked loosely, because the sound of her voice woke her siblings before my alarm went off as well.

However, despite the way that the night went, the day has gone well. God has been present, in today, which has been really good so far, but also in the past weekend when things weren't going so well. Although I don't have adequate words to express the sense that even though we were tired and crabby with each other, the Holy Spirit was in our midst. He allowed me to laugh at frustrating times, he reminded me of God's goodness to me when I am crabby and tired and don't like His plan, and He helped my girls feel safe and confident at bedtime. And today God is with us as well, preparing for us an unexpected playdate and lunch with women I don't know and then giving me and the kids a warm home to spend a simple dinner with. God is good, all the time.

The pictures below are from our friend's house this evening. J and K had a blast playing hockey and soccer and playing on their playset. The four Postman kids loved playing with my three and there were always enough hands to help, it really was a great evening. The bottom picture is my only child who doesn't seem to be afraid of large dogs. OG was quite smitten with Beaudelaire, the dog on the leash and spent a lot of time petting and standing near and talking to this fascinating creature.