At least in Minnesota we could plan on having snow days, with it being cold, snow accumulations, ice, and be miserable for about 6 months! A big reason we moved to the south! I had many resources up my sleeve for indoor play with my kids...looks like I need to reach in that bag of tricks today!!
People are not equipped to deal with winter here! We are yet again home from school today and there is a glaze of ice over everything this morning. The trees are toppling over everywhere because of the ice and wet ground and there are power outages all over the county. The schools were canceled because the schools were even out of power. Luckily ours has just flickered for awhile and it came back on... I believe it's due to the boys. Here is a cute little story...
The lights started flickering on and off and Cooper is always the first one to freak out. He was upstairs in his room and came out and asked what was going on. I told him the power might go out and I pray to God it stays on. I said maybe you should say a prayer....
Well he did...He bowed his head and put his hands together and said, "please Jesus, please keep the power on today so I can play my computer." After that if didn't blink off again...and I told him thank you it must have worked. So then I said maybe all three of you should sit down and say one so we make sure he heard us. So they sat in Jordan's room and I was downstairs. I was listening to them through the intercom... Braedyn started..."Dear God, Please help us today and please keep our power on today so we can have fun and so we can play our games and our computer, Thank you." Then it was Jordan's turn, "please Jesus keep our power on." Then they went to play. After about half hour I said, "I'm so happy the power stayed on." Braedyn said, "we all said a prayer and he heard us." It made me smile...
It makes me happy to know that they still know they can pray and that God is watching over us even though our attendance at Sunday school or church has been very limited! I try to fit it in when I can! A teachable lesson even though short. I am trying to teach them as they get older they can talk to Jesus if they can't talk to me or they need someone to listen or if mom or dad isn't with them at that moment in time. If they are scared or nervous about something. I know this may sound corny but sometimes on the way to hockey, we would say a little prayer...please give Cooper the strength, courage and endurance today to play well and for the team to play well. So when he gets older it becomes natural...and I'll try to do that with each one of them and now Braedyn for baseball season. I beat myself up sometimes about getting to church but when you have busy weekdays and sports on weekend it makes it almost impossible to attend and more stressful. I want to be present when I go not just show up...
In times like this when we are inside and when it storms, I think back to growing up at Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house. We all know what happens when a storm is coming...the palms come out from Palm Sunday...The ones that have been blessed. I often wondered if she was the only one to do such a ritual. My grandparents are devout Catholics. When it would storm, I can remember her burning the palms. She said it helped keep us safe and would keep the storm away. As a kid it was comforting, as a teenager, I thought it was weird and a form of voodoo. Now as an adult I look back at it with fond memory of time with my grandparents.
Well, I won't be burning any palms today for fear I just might burn down the house but we did say a prayer and Grandma would be proud! I am glad we had those rituals and traditions. As I grow older I treasure those and recall them fondly. I hope I am creating memories for my children and traditions that when they can look back they can smile like I can do. I was thinking back to my childhood the other day and how a lot of it includes my Grandpa and Grandma Nelson and being at their house while my parents worked or mom just needed a break when she was still a stay home mom. I love you guys and miss you!
It's time to break out some indoor activities and see what kind of memories we can make today!
Great story honey, inspirational...you're a great mom and you have great little boys, going to be strong young men !!!!!
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