The Wyatt Saga continues ... part 100?

Satan uses every opportunity he can. 

He's like the CEO shark of the underworld. 

He takes the little moments when we weren't watching all of our children and they creatively found something to occupy their time to pick at the wedges in our hearts and the rifts of insecurities in our mothering skills that are in our souls. 

Satan was at work in this house today,

and at work in my heart. 

While I had a productive conversation with my eldest my third child decided to creatively occupy his time with blue shampoo. 

An entire bottle of blue shampoo. 

All over the carpet. 

That's the blue shampoo. Can you see it? 

And that ^ is what happens when you try to clean it up. 

Days like toady make me question a lot of things. 

Things like:

 What is God's purpose for me in raising Super Wy?

Why do we continually go back to the same struggles?

How is it that I can be having a very fruitful conversation with one child while another is down the hall reeking all sorts of havoc? 

How is it that I can "know" the right way to do things and yet I act and react in all the wrong ways?

Where is God's joy and patience and calm when these incidents happen?

How does God continually give grace ... over and over and over ... ?
I can't even seem to muster it enough for my children. 

And this is why we are cautioned against the rulers and authorities of this world and warned that Satan is like a roaring lion, preying on us when he can. 

What a great schemer he is, using our weaknesses and our weakest moments to drive wedges between us and our Creator. 

The Creator who watches our every movement and thinks,
"I'm here, precious child. Right here. In the middle of this mess." 

Today He gently ... oh, who am I kidding? ... 

He smacked me over the head with a 2x4 and reminded me that: 

I need Him 

His life-breath, His joy, His patience, His strength, and His forgiveness

I need to be clothed in Him

He loves
He loves me. Oh, how He loves me. The depth, width, and breadth of His love are beyond all my human understanding so all I need to do is remember that I'm wrapped in it. I'm drowning in it. 

I have amazing friends. 

Friends that breathe grace into my life, reminding how God loves and forgives and wraps me in His arms 

Arms full of grace

Shampoo is really hard to get out of carpet

Seems like it should be really easy, right? It's not. 

I don't much enjoy days like today when it takes a smack in the face to be reminded of how desperately I need my Savior. It often leaves my face tear-streaked and my heart feeling a bit broken. 

But what a great relief it is to know that He picks up the pieces and bit by bit glues me back together. 

The Wyatt Saga ... Part III

We've had short breaks in our Wyatt saga but today brought it all back to the forefront! 

With Wyatt's curiosity and mischievousness I was confronted with my own laziness and selfishness. 

Many times, Wyatt escapes from my view when I am focused on something else:

changing another diaper

making lunch

helping Emma and George

doing laundry

etc

but today, today I was not distracted. 

I was simply sitting upstairs with the other three, not paying attention, and not desiring to investigate. 

We had two separate incidents today and both brought me face-to-face with my laziness. 

This morning Wyatt dumped out a mocha that was left in the fridge and then emptied the 1/4 gallon of iced tea that was also in the fridge. 

Of course, he dumped them on the carpet! 

I cringed and screamed on the inside. I cried on the outside. 

Later, just before lunch Wyatt went downstairs before the rest of us. The older two followed him shortly and I lingered upstairs for just a few minutes. Why? I don't even remember! 

Well, he decided he wanted eggs.

I think he ended up breaking 6 or 7 eggs total. 

And I cried again. 

Partly because I am so overtired, running on 4 hours of sleep, partly because I spent more money on those specific eggs than we usually do (they're cage-free, organic), and partly because I knew it was just a result of me not being present with the children today. 

And I am reminded once again that I need the Lord. 

I need His joy. 

I need His sustenance. 

Heaven knows, I cannot do it on my own.

Today seems like such a silly little thing to fall apart about, but I was gone. Pieces all over the place. 

Because I'm at my breaking point, at least momentarily. 

I know my moments of frustration and brokenness are not any less than any one else's, no matter the struggle, but I do have to laugh at myself thinking of how little this seems!

But ... 

HE is all powerful. He is all knowing. He is all seeing. 

He knows my every ache - emotional and physical. 

He knows my pain. 

He knows that I'm reaching that breaking point. 

And He wants me to break into Him. To fall into His arms.

I am reminded to:

Let His strength surround me and wrap me up completely.
To remember that the JOY of the Lord is my strength. 

We get strength from the joy of the Lord, not the other way around.
So often I think, "God just give me strength." But that's backwards according to the Word. 

God wants to fill us with joy, He wants us to seek His joy and when we do, He uses that joy to give us strength.

Am I spending time with Him? 

Am I pausing through out your day to dwell on His words, His truths, His promises? 

Are you?

Just set your Bible on the counter, open to Psalms, and whenever you're there pause and read a couple verses.
And when you do, breathe a breath prayer out to Him:
"Lord, give me Your joy."
"Lord, heal my home."
"Lord, be my strength."

And now I need to do what I tell others to do. 

The Wyatt Saga ... Part II

Wyatt's antics have been ... less than desired lately. 

You can catch up on a recent day HERE. 

That ^ was last Friday. 

Monday was filled with purple kool-aid. 

All over my couch cushions and carpet.

Tuesday. Well, this way Tuesday:

Wyatt spent the morning in the kitchen with me, "helping" me chop all the vegetables for the chicken noodle soup and put it all together in the crockpot. 

Then we all sat and read and did some stickers. 

Then we headed upstairs. 

Emma was getting ready to take a shower, George was in his room, and I was changing Clara's diaper for her nap. I thought that Wyatt had gone with George and was playing. 

Boy was I wrong.

So v e r y wrong. 

I found this when I went downstairs, realizing he was NOT in George's room. 

This probably goes without saying but I think I was downstairs in .2 seconds. 

I had no words. 

Then I looked to the left. 

And to the right. 

No words. 

And yes, that's my couch cushion ... without its cover ... because the cover was in the wash from the day before when it was saturated with purple kool-aid. 

At this point I believe I picked Wyatt up and just said over and over, "No.No.No.No.No." 

It was my mantra as I walked him back upstairs and plopped him into his room. 

There may have been an initial, "SON!"

(As in my son, not the other son you're thinking!)

So my living room is painted, quite creatively, with coffee. 

You may be wondering how he achieved such streaks and dots ... 

he took a wipe and soaked it in the coffee and proceeded to whip it around to make all the fanciful decorations! 

And as my friend was helping me stay positive she said, "I bet it smells GREAT!" 

It did. Lol. 

Today, I can chuckle to myself. 

Although yesterday there were expletives running through my thoughts. 

::shameface::

And then embarrassment in realizing that if you don't know me very well and only see these little snippets, you may very well think I'm never watching him and never disciplining him. 

I don't know if it bugs me more that someone may think that or that I AM doing those things and these are frequent occurrences in our home!

They'll make hilarious stories to tell his future wife, that's for sure. 

And on a completely related note, I HATE FLAT PAINT. 

Five on Friday: Life With Super Wy

The Wyatt Saga: Part I
Oh, today. 

I failed you. 

Today was messy. Literally. 

Sigh

So, we're going to go through today with five images ... Wyatt style. 

1. I opened Wyatt's door this morning and was blasted with a very pungent smell. And then, then I saw his bare butt run across the room to his bed. 

His BARE butt. 

He decided this morning he wanted to finger paint. With poop. 

Poo on the blinds. Poo on the dollhouse. Poo on the carpet. Poooooo.

Bath #1.

And I found this on the floor:

2. Unfortunately I didn't get to cleaning the spots right away (oh darn), because children were hungry and thirsty and needed clean diapers and clothes that aren't PJ's.

Eventually I did get around to spraying the spot down with carpet cleaner because I got a fabulous new carpet cleaner for Christmas! Absentmindedly, I left the spray bottle of cleaner on the floor in Wy's room next to the actual carpet cleaner itself.

I went downstairs to attend to the other children and forgot about the cleaner.

We all ventured upstairs later and there was much carousing and playing and a wee bit later Emma came to me and asked, "Mom, why is Clara's hair all wet?" 

Hmmmm. 

Because her brother sprayed her head with carpet cleaner. And then proceeded to spray a bunch on his own head! No eyes were injured in the process but their hair had a nice fragrance to it. 

Bath #2. (#1 for Clara)

Before it was over the 2 oz line, now it's below the 1.5 line:

3. Take a break for nap time. Whew. (Where I sandwiched in an engagement session and dropping off a meal to a mama who just had a babe.)
Well afterward, I guess the boy was extremely thirsty because while I was upstairs getting Clara and attending to the laundry Wyatt decided to help himself to something to drink. 

Some red Kool-aid. 

Yes, RED. 

He retrieved it himself from the fridge and proceeded to take off the lid. 

I think it was about 1/2 full in the fridge. 

 He was left with some nice red hands, red feet, and red streaks down his chest.
And he left me a really nice pool on the kitchen floor - one that also splashed onto the stove and the cupboards and the fridge ... and under the fridge (which I could not move as hard as I tried).  

We cleaned up the kool-aid and made our way upstairs to throw the towels (2 full size bath towels) and his soaked clothes into the washing machine. 

While I did that he decided he was still thirsty. Of course that's because all the kool-aid ended up on the floor and not in his mouth! His aim was a little off. 

He found my Caribou cup on the bathroom counter, I found it on the floor. 

The red streaks were now mixed with brown ones. 

Bath #3. 

4. The crazy man who is on bath #3 of the day:

5. And because of the events of the day ... and evening ... it was bed time at 7:45 and I decided I was going to end my night with a drink. :) 

I do not condone drunkenness or excessive drinking (obviously) but every once in a while, it's goooooood to have a drink. 

And this, this is my FAV for liquor. Kilo Kai: Spiced Rum. 

What? You've never heard of Kilo Kai? 

Neither had I a few months ago. But it is a wonderful, fabulously tasty drink. Perfect with coke or Dr. Pepper! 

Go on, try it. 

You know you want to! 

Days like today remind me why it's good to laugh - even when I don't want to, even when I feel like crying. Just laugh. 

God wants me to laugh. 

He gave me Wyatt (I truly believe) to keep me on my toes, to keep me laughing, and to remind me that I need HIM. 

Every single day. 

So, I praise God for red streaked bellies, matted hair, washing machines, carpet cleaners, bath tubs, and rum. And for coffee tomorrow morning. 

That was my Friday. 

What was your Friday like?!