It's good to have a purpose.

 

"Are your stuffies doing school?" I just asked Jabin as I passed by and noticed this little vignette.

"Yup! Except the Angry Birds," he shouted after me as I went into the office. "They kill pigs!"

"Ah."

"Too busy being EPIC"

Has it really been nine years?!

When I got out of the shower this morning, I could hear a little boy making shuffling noises outside the door.

"Is someone waiting for the bathroom?" I asked.

"I am!" piped up Noah.

"Okay, I'll just be a couple of minutes." I hurried through the process of drying off, wrapped my towel around myself and opened the door.

"SUPRISE!!" he shouted, holding up a drawing of a flower that he had coloured and cut out, with "Happy Mother's Day" scrawled across it.

"Thanks, buddy," I said, giving him a big hug. His ear-to-ear grin was a photo-worthy moment in itself.

That was the beginning to a day that kept getting better.

The other two boys had made Mother's Day crafts for me, too, which they sprung on me as soon as I came out to the kitchen. (Jude actually made me look around the room for his three items, one of which was a poem: "Hair like sparkeling Jewels, you say all the rules, We made these gifs for you. Like em, save em, and enjoy em. Love Jude." Tee hee!)

Jude had been up since 7:00, mixing up blueberry pancakes. He had told us last night that he would likely do so, and Jason said that was fine, just wait for him (Jason) to cook them.

So, after a huge pancake breakfast, we got into the van, dressed up and ready to go to church. Out on the road, I took a look at the clock.

"We're going to be half an hour late. We'll miss most of the service, and then there is the Mother's Day Brunch, so we'll just be eating again."

Jason thought for a moment.

"Do you just want to do church at home?"

"Yep." (I hate walking in late, and a half an hour just seems quite ridiculous.)

So, we turned around and were home about two minutes after we left. Sunshine (our Golden Retriever) greeted us like we had been gone for hours. :-)

Since we were all spiffed up, and it was a gorgeous morning, we took the opportunity to take some family photos before we went inside for our service.

During our service, Jason had each of the boys say a few things they like about their Mom (that was pretty neat for me). Then he talked about how when they start looking for a wife, one thing to consider is that she will be a good mother, and teach their children rightly. After that, they gave me their biggest surprise: a video presentation that they had all worked on together yesterday while I was out for the day, covering the last nine years in family photos in about forty minutes. It was so fun looking back on my sweet boys as they were growing up, and it was a really great gift.

I am so blessed to be a mom, and I am so thankful for the boys I get to mother.

Really, how could I resist?

I don't know how those boys got to be so silly! (Ahem.)

Good Ol' Days

I've been working on my "About Me" page for my new web store, and to complement it, my mom sent me some photos of me, circa 1986, enjoying our family's horses. The palamino filly (which I believe was dubbed "Blondie" while we had her) was the gray mare's foal, sired by a black stallion, believe it or not. (And YES, my pants were always too short. It seemed impossible to keep me in clothes that fit--a problem that I am now dealing with in my own tall, slim children!)

Here is the relevant excerpt from my "About Me" page:

The summer I was nine, my parents acquiesced to my pleas to let me go riding alone. We had an old dapple grey mare named Gal. Stubborn—my father made no secret that he was not overly fond of her—but she was stable, and short enough for a tall nine-year-old girl to get up on by herself. I tried to saddle her a few times, but of course, one of my parents always checked to make sure everything was snug… (Well, except that one time… but no harm done—I just learned how to slide off a horse instead of under the belly with the rig.)

That summer on top of Gal was full of magical memories. I took miles-long, hours-long rides all over the surrounding countryside (most of which was owned by relatives, so I guess my folks weren’t too worried), all by myself. Riding a horse became my first taste of independence, of freedom—and all the magic that had only lived inside my head until then seemed absolutely real. Gal was old, and grey, and kind of pudgy, but in my mind I was atop a brilliant silver unicorn, and we were dancing through woods filled with faery kind.

And when do you get to see the actual page, complete with a functioning store? Soon...

But not yet.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Working From Home

There are always downsides to everything--most of us know this. But while there is the odd time I think that maybe a dedicated ten-hour stretch without the interruptions of home life would enable me to accomplish so much more, really, I absolutely LOVE that I get to work from home. And here's why (in no particular order):

1. Conducting business in my pajamas.
2. When I put my makeup on, my husband knows it's for him, not someone at the office.
3. When dealing with a particularly frustrating "Customer Relations" issue, I have the advantage of being able to take a few hours, cool down, and think about it before responding.
4. Home schooling my kids.
5. On my break, I get to go outside and enjoy my beautiful property.
6. Conducting business at night, after my kids are in bed.
7. "Going on vacation" does not necessarily mean I stop making money.
8. My business is portable--not just for vacations, but for moves.
9. It saves on gas.
10. I get to raise our kids, not a babysitter.

Hey, all you work-from-home moms and dads--do you have some reasons unique to you why you love your "job"?