One has just discovered the Rubix Cube and it's many faceted mathematical equations,
One printed out the Morse Tap Code for his school cubicle- anticipating a school disaster no doubt,
One either truly likes mismatched socks or is too lazy to do their laundry,
One has caught my love and adoration for Valentine's Day even though they don't even remember what month it's found in,
One cannot get enough of Elsie Dinsmore- which always sounded more like some canned dinner than a novel to me,
And one sits at a wobbly Starbucks table because her friend said, "It's Thursday. Go write."
So today it's an Earl Grey extra large and raw sugar because life is too short for any other kind of sugar.
Tonight's service finishes-up our special yearly January meetings we call our "January Jumpstart," and I enjoy matching one of the kids with each week's speaker for a fun dinner out.
My kids each need to see Jesus with "skin on."
And so I love to find which speaker and their spouse will lift the heart of one of my children, as well as fully enjoy them in all of their uniqueness.
My husband finds a fancy restaurant, I sit back and watch the evening unfold while my teen's eyes glisten over fancy food and someone in the thick of ministry sharing just how good the Lord is.
It's one of my favorite times of the year.
Tonight I think I just might have saved the best for last.
My son came downstairs before 9:30 with a TIE AND SUSPENDERS on.
It's gonna be a great day folks.
Last week found us for the first time, in an air b and b with Joel's siblings and spouses alone for his parent's epic 50th Anniversary celebration, enjoying time together.
It was a complete joy to be with them in this house, sipping tea and watching them all just love on each other in their own unique ways.
Even I who stink at any game whatsoever won a round, which is saying something.
We had the wonderful opportunity to ask Dad and Mom the hard questions and see them open their heart to us like never before.
Laughs and tears, gems of deep wisdom, delicious food and memories to last a lifetime.
It was as if we poured a new slab of concrete for each family's foundation to rest upon.
And something my Father in law said just sticks with me here at this wobbly table.
He told me how he and his siblings threw a 50th anniversary party for his parents years ago and when it was all said and done he asked his Mom what her favorite part of the whole event was.
She told him that she just loved sitting back and watching he and his siblings enjoy being together.
And I saw in his answer that he felt the very same way.
I sat there just feeling the warm and fuzzy that comes with knowing deep deep down that family sticks.
Family may think you are crazy for drinking decaf at noon, and never want you on their ROOK team, but they still like you through and through.
Living relatively close to both sets of family has been a blessing for us.
At Thanksgiving I looked into my sibling's eyes and saw the importance again of sticking it out.
Of not just loving them but liking each of them.
And always, always starting again- never letting anything get in the middle of what it took years to build.
Because at the end of every road there is family waiting for you with love and acceptance like no other.
This morning I woke with an almost Christmas-esque excitement.
Banana chocolate chip muffins might have had a bit to do with that.
Okay a LOT to do with that.
I got out the tea pot, the adorable new pink one, the cups, the bent spoons that balance on the rim, and the raw sugar and cream.
And I watched each of them stir sugar and gobble muffins.
Then I asked them to just stop and turn to their left, look at their brother, their sister and tell them what they see in them of God's goodness.
We had to begin again and again, because our minds immediately seek to thank them for what they do for us instead of who they are to us.
I asked questions like, "What if I couldn't do that anymore? Would I still have value to you?"
And just before we all left to scurry off to possibly the earliest school day we have ever had, I told them in not so many words, what My Father in law had shared with me from his Mother.
This is your crew. Your kindness matters most here. Enjoy being family.
I asked them to promise me that they would be a rock solid crew, even after we are gone.
I also asked them to promise me never to sing, "Finally Home," at either of our funerals, which made them all laugh out loud- but that's a story for another day.
I made each of them look me straight in the eye until it was a bit uncomfortable and tell me they would enjoy each other.
And the Pollyanna in me put my coat on just in time to meet with son number three asking me if I could please make the rest of the school room stop singing, "Daisy, Daisy."
Good feeling gone.
But there's Earl Grey still in the cup and I'm getting down to the raw sugar and I am about three sips away from sweetness.
And just a few years away from them getting it.
It's a great day to keep loving those around me and showing them how to enjoy one another.
