Marvel

It's so easy to get caught up in the big moments of life: milestones, events, holidays. Yet these are just the punctuation marks in the prose of life. So when Michael asked me last night to tell him things that made me marvel yesterday, I was caught off-guard. It took me a moment to think beyond the punctuation, even of yesterday, to see the prose. And yet, it's those small moments that make me marvel.


Now that Nora's sitting up for longer than a few seconds at a time, she has a whole new view - one that she finds utterly hilarious. When Phoebe got down in Nora's line of sight yesterday, Nora could hardly contain her laughter. And once Nora gets the giggles, she really can't stop giggling until she quits out of exhaustion. When Mommy Ticklemonster attacked her last night before bed, I experienced unrestrained joy with my Itty Bitty.


Phoebe will now permit a hairdo. In an effort not to exasperate her needlessly, I have refrained from styling her hair into ponytails and pigtails. The little "ouchless" rubberbands I have really aren't that ouchless, and she would panic any time I would try to put her hair up. (I imagine there's some user error there, too?) But after trying some soft, brightly colored terrycloth hairbands, we now can experience hairstyles without frustration. I am delighted, if still completely pitiful at doing hair. Phoebe's also found that these bands make great arm accessories. (Yesterday, I limited her to seven.)


Nora's so excited about food it's ridiculous. I imagine this is how normal children act with food, but since Phoebe was never really all that into the eating thing... this is all new to me. If the gravy train slows down at all, Nora gets huffy... quick, shallow, huffy little breaths that precede a total meltdown. Although I'm not so excited about the tantrum, it's really quite precious that Nora has such a love affair with food. Don't worry, we cut her off before she explodes!



And seemingly overnight, Phoebe can memorize anything. I mentioned her singing Holy, Holy, Holy. Yesterday, she learned a new song (a church camp favorite, "With Jesus in Your Boat, You Can Smile in the Storm"); her favorite part is the "smile" part. And she can now answer the fourth question of the children's catechism almost entirely on her own. [Q:How are you to glorify God? A:By loving Him and doing what He commands.] I am amazed at what a little sponge she is, and I am reminded yet again to talk about these things when we walk or lie down or make dinner or...

I'm so thankful that Michael encouraged me to take a moment and remember the snippets of sweetness yesterday. The Lord is really revealing to me right now that it's those snippets that are what really lay the foundation of our lives. I've also been really convicted about how I use small moments of time during my day. It would be worth your time (about thirty minutes) to listen to either of these podcasts about time management; God definitely has used these sweet women to speak truth into my life. [Managing Your Time, and Managing Your Time with Small Children].

May you find something to marvel about today!