All Purpose Clothes

When Abby pretends she is a mother (which is all the time) she always puts on high heels.  The obvious "she didn't get that from me" aside, I have to wonder if there is a hidden message there.  I don't want to say I wear pajamas all day (I'm not quite ready for that announcement) but I rarely get all dressed up just to scrub toilets and get snotted on.  I might throw on some jeans to leave the house but I usually stay in my all purpose clothes. 
What are all purpose clothes?  I'm so glad you asked.  First, let me tell you what all purpose clothes are not.  All purpose clothes are not pajamas and they are not sweats.  They may look like that to the untrained eye but they may only be called that when I wear them to bed (which I do). 
All purpose clothes can be worn to clean, nurse, they can be used as tissue by your children (not suggested use, just a job hazard), and they can be used to cook in.  And after you shower at night and put on a fresh pair, they can be used to sleep in. 
Perhaps Abby can not accurately portray the role of mother because I have not provided her with the right material. So I have come up with some clothes to throw in her dress-up bin.

P.S. I think these would go great with heels.

These are my sweet girls. 

Abby and Ally.  I can't ever keep their names straight. 
Ally begged me with her baboon cries to climb into bed with Abby for her nap.  How could I resist?
  Never underestimate a 16 month old.  She sat there quietly. She pulled the covers up over her acting as if she were really tired.  Something about Laura and Mary Ingalls lying in bed in night caps convinced me to let this play out.  I left the room and shut off the light.  The silliness began and two sisters giggled for half of an hour.  I came back in the room after hearing a loud crash, but it was too late.  The damage had been done- they are now bonded for life. :)

GF Does Not Stand for Girlfriends or Ghetto Fabulous

Say the word "wedding" and you will pay double for the item.  Say the word "gluten free" and you will probably pay triple.  When I first got diagnosed with Celiacs one month ago, a disease where your body can't process wheat, I was shocked at the result and was certain a mistake had been made.  I have spent the last month detoxing from wheat with symptoms being even worse than when I was eating wheat!  In addition to the detox, I have also had a month of mourning.  I even shed a few tears at Pizza Hut a few weeks ago.  I was hit with the realization that I could never eat real pizza again.  
A few years back I tried to go on a low carb diet to get rid of my baby fat (you know, leftover from my infancy).  I lasted two weeks and I felt like I was starving to death.  I vowed never to torture my body again.  I had friends who were GF (If you haven't already figured it out, means gluten free) and I thought of them like saints.  Such a sacrifice they were making, now excuse me while I eat my cheeseburger with battered onion rings and wheat seasoning sprinkled on my meat.  I knew this would never happen to me because God would not give me more than I could handle.  Silly ol' me. 
I have learned a lot in one month with the help of fellow GF friends and some trial and error... "I'm probably not that allergic to wheat so I can eat this flour tortilla...hey, why is my throat swelling up.  Hmmm, must be the change in weather."  And it is not all bad, really.  I've lost five pounds and I have a new love for Trader Joes, who labels their GF products with a yellow 'g' so you don't have to read the label on everything!  Today I went to a store that was entirely GF, one of the advantages of living near a big city.  It was fun to look around and buy a few things.  But just a few things, unless I can find a way to sell a kidney.

Someday, Somehow, Sometime, Somewhere...Something

Someday I'm sure I will look back at all of this and miss the craziness.  Somehow I will long for the times when I didn't get around to going pee until noon. Sometimes I will wish I could go back and re-live the silly moments.  Somewhere in my future I will sit in my rocking chair in silence, pain from an aging body and things lost, and I will wish I could do it all over again... Something tells me I should enjoy the moment now.

Look to Your Baptism- Out of the Mouths of Babes

It's Valentine's Day and I am driving Ethan to preschool for a day filled with partying and too much sugar.  He sits quitely in the back seat contemplating the world.  He speaks up, "Mom, why don't some people believe in God?"   He's asked this question before.  I initially think he is too young to be worrying his young mind with such deep things but I realize this boy is his father's boy- this is just the beginning.
"Well son, Satan tells people lies and they believe them."  I'm wishing his dad were here to field some of these questions.
My very worried son confesses, "I still believe in God but sometimes my brain tells me bad things... I guess my brain is going to hell."
Yikes!  Where do I go from here? My poor 5 1/2 year old boy is dealing with some serious stuff here and I don't know how to comfort him.  I explain to him that we are saint and sinner and these are the kind of things we struggle with this side of eternity.  He sits there quietly. I am at a loss for what else to say.  All of the sudden he perks up and a big smile overtakes his face, "But I was baptized!"  He starts to get excited and a few seconds later starts to sing a song we had learned in family worship:
I was baptized, happy day
All my sins were washed away
God looked down on me and smiled
I became His own dear child.
He sang this over and over again.  He was comforted by his baptism.  I had often heard the phrase, "Look to your baptism" but I must confess I didn't fully grasp the concept until this morning.  My husband reminded me of what Luther said in his Large Catechism: "But these blind guides are unwilling to see this, namely, that faith must have something which it believes, that is, of which it takes hold, and upon which it stands and rests. Thus faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life; not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated), but through the fact that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God, and the name of God inheres in it. Now, if I believe this, what else is it than believing in God as in Him who has given and planted His Word into this ordinance, and proposes to us this external thing wherein we may apprehend such a treasure?"

When my son looked inward he was confused and unsure, but when he looked outward to his baptism and what Christ had done for him there was comfort and hope.  I pray that he will remember his baptism each and every day, never forgetting that all his sins were washed away.