To Scrapbook, or Stroke Out..... That is the Question.

For whatever reason, God has chosen my son specifically to inspire my next 3 blog entries. Here is the first of the three. I hope you will enjoy them all.

A couple of months ago I was thrilled to not only join a group of wonderful ladies from my church family for an evening out, but also, to be the group leader. The event was our annual Wabash Valley Ladies Unity Night. As always it was wonderful, and the best part: It's always FREE! (The ladies that put on the event go to a lot of hard work, and put in a lot of prayers to make this happen. Kudos to them!) This year's special guest speaker was author, speaker, actress, wife and mommy: Lisa Whelchel. Lisa did a great job. She spoke about many things from growing up as a child actress on "Facts of Life" to surviving in healthy adult friendships. That night she shared a very sweet story that stuck with me...That story will define this blog entry.

Well, as hard as we try, us self-declared Super Mom's can't do it all. We can't get everything done, we can't always make everyone happy, and we can't be everywhere at once. That last one can be frightening sometimes. Sure, in all sorts of serious, "Mommy needs to protect her babies" ways, but also in other ways.... Like when you have a "budding artist" for a son.

I will recount the event for you. It was a Saturday. My husband Kamran was out picking up the childrens' new playhouse/swing set. (Yea Craigslist deal!) I was in our home office playing Princesses and Strawberry Shortcakes with Addison while Grant was planted in front of the television watching Saturday morning cartoons. (We don't have cable, so this is a big deal.) I noticed that he was being sort of quiet. I had just checked on him about 5 minutes earlier and we had "thoroughly discussed" how he should not play with the automatic water dispenser on the refrigerator door. My suspicions of him playing in the water sent me to check in. Well, my suspicions and also a pleasant smell that was filling the air....

He had listened to me. He hadn't touched the water at all. Not one drop. Instead, he decided to spend his time more creatively. What I walked into next was... One of those times when a mama must decide if she will grab her camera or have a stroke. Grant had gotten a hold of a full container of baby powder. I'm impressed at all he accomplished in less than 5 minutes.

Here is where the Lisa Whelchel story comes in. During her talk, Lisa shared this story about her two, then quite young, daughters. She set up and easel outside in the backyard and put out several shades of paint. She could see them through her window one minute, but not the next, so she went to investigate. She found her two daughters buck naked out behind the shed and they were painting one another. She grabbed her camera and snapped the memory on film forever. In this moment, God taught her a priceless lesson. He instantly took me to Lisa's story as He taught me the lesson firsthand, (although I'm thinking, "Hey Lord, Lisa's example would have done". ha ha)

When we misbehave, God isn't just some stern parent waiting to punish us. How many times is He tickled with us? How many times does our Father shake His head while laughing to Himself, "Oh, Brandi, my sweet and silly girl"? And then He does what Lisa did, and what I did. He takes us out of the mess and cleans us up. How comforting is it to think of Him in this way? I truly believe that God made us parents for this reason alone: So that we can have the best idea possible of how He loves us. Obviously, our minds can never grasp His love in its entirety, but being a mother has given me the closest and deepest coloration that I think I can experience.


I'm not saying that our consequences don't have actions, and I'm not saying that God likes it when we misbehave. What I am saying is that there is a difference between being childish and misbehaving. In this instance I think that Grant's actions were a sort of mix of the two. I believe that God knows our hearts, and our intentions. Imagine being 3. The texture of baby powder along with the fact that it's it makes smoke in the air and sort of drifts its way around would make it worth exploring. However, being 3 you would probably recall something about not touching the baby powder too. 


So, what did I do? I didn't raise my voice, but I didn't let him see my enjoyment either. (No need to let him think that this is how we please Mommy!) I simply picked him up and told him on the way to his nap, (a full 5 minutes early. I'm so mean) as I undressed him from his powdery clothes that he should not have touched the baby powder and that he made a mess that mommy would now have to clean up. I told him that I loved him and to have a good nap. Then I left him to go clean up the mess. He was screaming from the other room, "Mommy, I want to clean up the mess! I want to help clean up the baby powder!" Now I know that some of you have tilted your heads and let out an "awww". Not so fast. Let me translate for you, "Mommy, I wasn't done playing in that yet!". The little stinker LOVES to sweep. We got him a play broom for Christmas that sings while he uses it.

I won't go into great detail about the clean up. I will sum it up instead. Headache from fumes and breathing in powder while sweeping. It took 3 complete times with a broom and a bandanna on my face. Um, yeah. I was the Johnson and Johnsons bandit.

After his nap, Grant and I had a little bit more of a talk about things and I suggested that he sweep a little to "help me" clean up ;) Kam came home and added a hefty mopping to finalize the duty.

My hope for you today is that you see our Heavenly Father as the loving parent that He is. He is ready to kiss your boo-boos and brush you off if you let Him. He designed you to be you, and He simply delights in your silliness sometimes. God DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES, He makes MASTERPIECES. You are one. A work in progress. Trust the refiner's fire continue to smooth out your edges, but just know that He chooses to enjoy the process each step of the way.

Today's blog is a treat. You will also get to experience the entry through photo. No clever words that I could ever come up with would come close to describing this properly. In fact, without the pictures I'll bet that you might accuse me of exaggerating a bit.... Enjoy the art show and make sure to read the captions beneath each photo. (Thanks Lisa for mentioning the camera, I'm so glad I took pictures!)

The Artist's "Signature"
 

His medium of choice. Tantalizing to the senses from sight, to touch to smell (I can not testify to the taste, however)

As you can see, a spoon was a tool he used

A lifelike snowy scene

 

 It takes most artists years to come up with this 

kind of depth to their work

 

 I'm not really sure what the artist was

trying to express with this one

 

This piece personifies how Woody felt during the

first half of Toy Story 2  

 Here we see the,

"I'd better try to clean this up" section

 

 I feel a sort of chaos being expressed here

Kind of similar to a crime scene don't you think?

  

 

 From chaos to serenity, this piece is like a 

peaceful labyrinth or rock garden

I doubt that Buzz's years at the

Academy prepared him for this.

(I like how he is covering his mouth as if coughing on the particles. If only his helmet was down. Poor guy.)

  I don't particularly like this entry. Our dishwasher is broken, and we just use the rack for drying. What I'm feeling here is that dishes must be rewashed by hand... Not my favorite theme, by far.

 

 And the pièce de résistance:

I was actually speechless

  

Maybe my having this photo of him

will be punishment enough 

(sorry about the blur, I grabbed my cellphone to snap this shot)

 

And God loves us both. That is what it GRACEFULLY comes
down to in the end <3