Poor Baby

Friday  in the early evening  Nursemaid

Hans: So do you have any other cleaner jobs? I love jobs.
Mom: And I love worker boys. Let me see what else you can do…
Hans: And I love moms who help me. And I like nice dads.
Mom: Is your dad nice?
Hans: Well, he is nice to Jaeger and me. Ilse thinks he is not a nice dad, though.
Mom: Why is that?
Hans: She just thinks that. She is just a baby of very little brain…and maybe a little fluff. She just doesn’t know.

I think this thought was born of too much Pooh Bear and the mock sympathy Matt and I use when Ilse cries: “Oh, poor baby, no one loves you. Poor, sad baby.”

Cleaning Paid Off

Friday  in mid-afternoon  Lady of the House

I made $50 today cleaning.

I found my $40 sunglasses that had been missing for 2 months and that I had decided to replace with my Christmas money but which now cost $50. This is good because I still need 1 more year on my $40 pair to average out my typical sunglass expenditure of $10/year. Three years ago I bought a nice pair of sunglasses instead of my usual cheap $10 WalMart pair that break within a year. So I am thrilled that I do get a chance to keep working that average cost down.

After what I thought was a comprehensive search, I decided I must have left them in Seattle at the reception hall at my cousin’s wedding, because that was the last place I wore them. Sad.

But today I was cleaning. I was cleaning with a 2-o’clock coffee high. And I was getting crazy. I was mopping the entry, and decided there was too much dust under the chest, so I moved it. I swept and mopped that, and then decided to scooch the couch just a tad and get the gunk I could see. I gave a good push and — voila! — my sunglasses, sitting unharmed on the dusty floor!

I moved the couch completely, swept and mopped, and also found 1 sword, 2 puzzle pieces, 3 army men, 4 Lego pieces, 5 bobby pins, and 10 matchbox-size cars.

And Matt is finishing up the upstairs bathroom remodel and the progress we’ve been working at all week is finally starting to be visible! Yay!

A Sure Vocation

Monday  in mid-afternoon  Housekeeper Lady of the House Mother

Through the upheaval in our household lately I have returned to a thought I have had many times in the past. I am so grateful that my own vocation is supremely clear, that I do not have to wonder what I should be doing. I am a housewife and a mother. That vocation influences who I am. And I can’t be fired. The job evolves and it is possible for the job to end, but I’m not going to be called into an office and told to walk away from my identity at home. I am instead called to embrace that identity and shape my identity to the home and the people in my home.

And if I am grateful for having that certainty in my vocation, should I not also be grateful for the vocation itself, for my own particular daily grind?

And if my husband is so certain of his role as provider that he will take a job quickly and work diligently at it, preferring a secure income to wandering in indecision and self-pity, shouldn’t I be grateful not only for his provision (which I most heartily am), but also for my own work? If my husband is so determined to be the sole and sufficient provider, should I not make myself worthy of that diligent provision? I do not always enjoy my daily work, but I do enjoy my job and my role. Shouldn’t that affect my attitude about the work more than it generally does? If my husband will see the advantages of his current situation and will switch his career once more, overcoming his disappointment, can’t I at least cheerfully wash the dishes and sweep the floor? If he can sit at a desk all day and do good work, even though he had imagined himself speeding with flashing lights and breaking up bar brawls and arresting felons, can’t I do laundry even though I dislike laundry? If he can switch gears so abruptly and see the positive points of experience and potential that this job brings, can’t I find the patience to consistently instruct and discipline my children whom I love?

I love my job. I love my children. I have the best job security there is. It’s time to start working as if all that is true.

What you get for reading unbowdlerized stories

Friday  around lunchtime  Nursemaid

Mom: “Dad is going to his new job today.”
Hans: “What is his new job?”
Mom: “He’ll do computer work again.”
Hans: “Will they pay him for doing jobs?”
Mom: “Well, yes, that is why he goes to work. He works so they pay him so we can have food and clothes and a house.”
Hans: “Well, I’m glad he’ll get money. Then you can keep us.”
Mom: “Keep you?!”
Hans: “Yeah. In the Three Little Pigs the Mom has no money and so she has to send her children away.”
Mom: “Well, her children were old enough to get jobs for themselves. We wouldn’t send you or Jaeger or Ilse away when you are small children.”
Hans: “Yeah.”
Mom: “When you are as big as daddy and get your own job then you may want to leave and have your own house, though.”
Hans: “Yes. But I will build a brick house. I wouldn’t want a wolf to eat me.”

Vocation: A Sure Calling

Thursday  around lunchtime  Lady of the House

For the last several months I have been sure, certain, that Matt’s calling was to law enforcement. He is suited to it; his integrity, his personality, his determination all worked to make it a fit career. Of course, he also looks stunning in uniform. As he progressed in academy, I watched him take on the persona of a police officer and I swallowed a little nervousness but also felt confirmed that this is where he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing.

God always works on many levels. He does have only one purpose in everything He does, but that one purpose works itself out in a complexity of tiny interwoven threads. You can’t point to one thing and say, “Ah, that is what God was doing in that situation.” His most important work is often most subtle.

His one purpose of course is to work salvation in His people as He sees fit for His own glory. Anything else is merely a detail on that plan. He is telling a story about Himself. That’s all that matters, and that’s where all paths lead. Living in a way that pleases Him and living in a way that reflects the point of the story is the only certain calling we have received.

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Then Kennewick PD fired Matt. The law enforcement door is shut. Matt took a job yesterday as a computer programmer once more; though it is for a small company this time, it is still a contract with the DOE. In less than two weeks his world is shaken. Just as we were on the brink of beginning a new life, we’re now back to the normal world of 8-5, Monday-Friday. Just as Matt was getting excited about hitting the streets, he was escorted out the door without warning and without recourse.

‘Tis time to cling to what is certain.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Matt has walked worthy of his sure calling and has maintained his honor and integrity throughout. His vocation has changed once more, but his calling is certain.

economic understanding

Friday  in the early morning  Nursemaid

Matt today pronounced Hans’ knowledge of the economy to have surpassed the common populace’s understanding:

[talk of road construction work to be done in Kennewick]
Matt: Do you ever wonder where they get all that money?
Hans: From the bank!
Matt: Well, but where does the bank get it?
Hans: Well, banks just have money. If you don’t have the right dollars, you can just go to the bank and they give you more dollars.
…
Hans: Maybe we give money to the bank sometimes.

have to, like to, want to

Thursday  around lunchtime  Nursemaid

Since we’re on a conversation binge around here:

Hans: But do I have to sleep?! I just can’t sleep at naptime!

Mom: No, you don’t have to sleep. I can’t make you sleep. No one can make you sleep; but I can make you rest.

Hans: But I don’t like to rest!

Mom: You don’t have to like it.

Hans: But, I don’t want to rest!

Mom: You don’t have to want to. You have to obey.

Hans: *starts arguing with Jaeger instead*

Just Spanish

Thursday  around lunchtime  Nursemaid

Hans: Here, Mom, this letter is for Dad.


*the note has two people and says JOED ThE End*


Mom: Ah, ok. What does it say?

Hans: The end.

Mom: But what does this part say?

Hans: /j/-/aw/-/e/-/d/, JAW-ed, jaw-ED. jaw-ED, that’s what it says.

Mom: What’s that mean?

Hans: Well, it’s just Spanish.

*he then shrugs and departs*

they do pay attention

Thursday  around lunchtime  Nursemaid

**Overheard**



Hans: Ok, Jaeger, I will be the sermon.

*he stands on a step stool.*

Jaeger: Ok, I will get my Bible.

Hans: Ok. I have my Bible. Please turn in your Bibles to 14:30. Ok.

Hans: Alright. Please open your catechisms to page 40 in the blue Psalter.


….


Jaeger: Ok, now I am this sermon.

*they switch places*

Jaeger: Please stand. Turn in your blue Psalters.

Hans: You have to do your hands like **this** while I am standing.

Jaeger: Ok.

*Jaeger makes choir-director motions while both boys sing*

Jaeger: Please be seated. Ok, so, you should always listen to what your mother says. Obey your mother and pay attention. Obey the law. Now, turn in your blue Psalters.


…..


Hans: Ok, now I am a teacher at Sunday School. Ok, so now I’ll give you all some cards so you can remember church, ok?

Jaeger: Ok. Thanks.

Hans: So, I gave those to you people so you know what church means.

Jaeger: Is that what it said?

Hans: Yeah, well, you should just read it in your head.

Jaeger: Well, I need two because I lost mine.

Hans: Well, that one is just for your seven or eight year old.

Jaeger: Ok, well, I told them if they will break it I will have to put it up high.

Hans: Ok.

Jaeger: Can I get a new one, because they just tore it.

Hans: But they said they wouldn’t tear it.

Jaeger: But they just did.

Hans: Well, then, they just lied. Heh.

Jaeger: Yeah. Can I have another one?

Hans: Ok, here’s one that tells you how to get to church.

Jaeger: Ok, thanks. I will just treat it like a church, ok?


….

he amazes me every day

Thursday  in mid-morning  Lady of the House

Hans brought me his notebook and said, “See, Mom, this tells me the baby is sleeping,” as he held up his own writing:

THe=BABY=iS=SLYPYNG