Upon relection of having one child gone

One of our daughters went out of town this weekend with her Oma. With having her sister gone I have been able to see things more clearly that have been developing in our more passive daughter. 

She is sneaky.  This is good and bad.  I think this helps her get things she wants when her more dominant sister is around.  I think this means she also gets away with things I don't usually realize.  This morning she told me that someone was knocking on the door.  While I was downstairs checking, she was able to locate, open, close and return the cookie tin.  Had she not had a mouthful of cookie, I wouldn't have known she was in them. 

She definately has opinions.  We usually see her conceeding to her sister's desires.  She tends to be our peacemaker.  One day I heard the girls arguing and she turned around and asked "Mommy, do I like pink?"  I in turn asked her if she did.  And she said yes.  I told her that she did then, in fact like pink.  However, she definately has opinions and has been expressing them quite frequently.

She likes to talk.  Ok, I'm not a complete idiot, I knew this.  However, I am always amazed when I get to have one-on-one time with one of the girls and listen to their personality pour out in sentences.

Even though I have missed my daughter a lot while she has been on her adventure with Oma, it has been fun to see her sister individually.  I am excited to watch them blossom and develop as two different people as they grow, and I will treasure these moments I get to see them individually shine.

The Girls' Baptism Birthday and Reflection

Today is the girls' second baptism birthday.  In the last year and a half my husband and I have been attending a Lutheran church.  This change has been a struggle for me in many ways because I grew up in a Baptist church.  Although my big turn around was realizing that, for the most part, the way I grew up and what I am learning now are two completely different points of view in many different ways.  Take baptism for example.  I grew up with the view point that you are baptized with full immersion after accepting the lord as your Savior, because it is what the Bible tells you to do.  It is a symbol of being buried in Christ and born again a new creation.  I also grew up with the point of view that baptizing infants was completely ridiculous because they cannot "repent and be baptized" as in Acts 2:38. Oh, and how dare they only sprinkle them!  When I married my hubby we would visit this topic about once a year for a week and then agree to disagree.  However, when we were pregnant with the girls, we had to actually make a decision on how to handle this for our household.  It took me a year of research and study to realize I couldn't find anything in the scriptures to say that baptizing my babies would send them to hell.  Baptizing them was also really important to my husband and being head of the household, he got the last say anyway.  So, I told him we better schedule it before they turned one and were no longer infants. :)  So, on March 27, 2010 our girls were baptized into Christ at Bethel Lutheran Home.  However, my interest in the subject has not waned.  The big turning point for me was when I read (sorry, I really don't remember where) that by saying He was not capable of giving a helpless infant belief we were doubting God's power.  This is where I really started to understand that it was a complete change of perspective.  To a Lutheran, we are all completely depraved and helpless like an infant.  The fact that God gives any of us belief is as unconprehensible as giving an infant belief.  We are the ones who put worth on our knowledge and age.  To tell you the truth I am still trying to balance the way I grew up with my new found information.  But I have to say, I think the Lutherans have a point.  Who am I to say I can understand God's will any better than my girls can understand mine at times.  I mean really, they think they are big girls too.  However, they still don't understand why I say no to a snack when they are hungry, even though I know it is because dinner is in 20 minutes.  I really don't know where I fit anymore, I think I am somewhere between a Baptist and a Lutheran.  However, I gotta say I really like the reasoning behind sprinkling.  Because how much do you really need for baptism to count? :)  Happy baptism birthday girls!

Thoughts On Being A House Wife

Hello again! I apparently have an off again, on again (mostly off again) relationship with blogging.  I get ideas on what to put down, and then all of a sudden, it has been several months.  My husband keeps encouraging me to put my thoughts down and I decided today was a good day.  Today I have been thinking a lot about my life.  I should premise by saying I never ever, ever in my previous life wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.  I had decided that I paid all that money for college and was not going to "waste my time" at home.  This didn't change until after my girls were born and I went back to work.  I missed them, and being involved in daily activities.  My husband switched jobs and we moved to MT for many reasons, one of which being that we would have more time with the kids.  It has been a big adjustment.  We used to share most of the household duties pretty evenly.  We both cooked and cleaned, and it made sense because we had the same work hours.  I have had to adjust my thinking about not expecting him to do as much at home.  Don't get me wrong, my husband is a GREAT helper.  However, this is now my job and I had to get used to the duties.  It isn't always easy, but I don't want to sit here and complain.  Today I want to reflect on the good things.  I realized today that I am actually gratified by this.  I have enjoyed being with our children, but I didn't recognize that I relish the whole package.  I love being home with the kids, cleaning, cooking, and attending activities.  I have become one of "those moms" I never thought I would be.  I do dishes to relieve steam when I am angry, love teaching my children little things throughout the day, and experimenting in the kitchen.  In the last year, I have learned how to make homemade yogurt and bread and improved A LOT in the kitchen.  This is what I was thinking about while shaving a pork roast on my mandolin slicer for lunch meat.   A year ago, I would have eaten it for 3 night in a row and forgotten about it in the fridge.  I am proud to be a person that stays home and it is in no way a waste of time.  But I also need to acknowledge that I am unbelievable impressed by the role models in my life.  My mom and grandma still amaze me, they reached all of these milestones without technology.  I must confess, with out Google, my family would probably starve to death and we would all be going insane!  I know this was a lot about me, but I had to write this down while I was thinking about it.  Hopefully, this blog will be slightly better kept up in the future :)