Do you ever ask your kids for the password?
Do your kids think you are mad?
We had a little password in our family which I would often ask for as any of our kids were coming into the house. And they all knew what it was - Sausages.
You may ask: What does this have to do with Encouragement?
But as often happens here at Sandra's Ark - Let me tell you a little story about us.
So we had this little password in our family and everyone knew what it was - Sausages.
They would humour me and say it as they were coming into the house
And I would then repeat it in a silly bass voice and kind of draw out the word
A silly little thing that as the kids got older they would frown at.
There was never anyone else around when I would ask for it so
why would they be
embarrassed by it?
They also frowned and muttered at the fact that whenever I would grill sausages I would burn them.
Well they and their dad would say I had burned them but I would just cut off the really hard bits and eat away quite happily.
But I have to tell the truth - I had burned them!
I burned them because I could never have enough patience to wait for them to cook nicely but always went off to work on the computer or to read a book or even do some housework (ok not too often for that last one) and then - well - the sausages just got burned because I would forget about them.
I tried baking them in the oven too but even then I would forget about them and burn them.
You see I'm always looking for shortcuts to things because I don't have enough patience, or because I get bored doing any one thing for too long.
I love to make nice meals if there is someone else around to help or talk to me while I do it but when I'm preparing & cooking on my own - no!
I want the quickest way to provide the meals.
I have been known to make easier, quicker versions of meals like the
10 Minute Chicken Korma
and sometimes I have even made the desserts so easy that they hardly even really qualify as desserts such as my
Ginger & Pineapple Log (Super Short Version) which basically is not a log!
I promise you I really do know that microwaves are not just for reheating coffee - oh yes this is another one of my little quirks or one of the
"Oh No Mum!" things that the kids would frown at but I see nothing wrong with reheating my mug of coffee two or three times during the day.
I Love Coffee!
I really Love Coffee!
and
I Love my Coffee Mug!
I Love my Other Coffee Mug!
I really Love my Coffee Mugs!
And then we come to the big, big, bad thing that I did to our middle child
Fred & I went to live in Belgium and left him behind in Northern Ireland
because he had started university there.
I know this is something that people outside the family probably found more strange than the family did. I felt I could sense people saying:
"What kind of a mother would leave her child on his own?"
So there you have it I am not perfect and never have been a perfect mother.
I would rather read a book than do the ironing.
I would rather do a word puzzle than clean the oven.
I would rather write my blog than hoover the house.
I would rather write a list than actually do the things on the list.
I would rather go sit watch a dvd
than
finish up the mess I made because I had started to try to organise the study
&
boy can I make a mess while trying to organise things.
But Mostly
I would rather have a coffee and sit & chat with my now grown up kids about how
He has redeemed us, healed us, kept us safe,
answered our prayers, never left us alone, helped us in everything
and
we are all thankful that He is still doing so
no matter what country we may have lived in
or are in at the moment
because
He is the Perfect One.
You see I can't be perfect because I am human but thankfully with Jesus I have the help to do all the things He has planned for me.
If you like you can visit my
about me section and see the poor hubby and kids who had to put up with me not being a perfect mum - oh and the middle child is the tallest one with his arms around us all in the snow.