Reasons my children cry...

In a house with three children...scratch that, a house with any amount of children, you will often hear wailing...hysterical loud-pitched, crying.
Most of the time our children are pleasant...happy...laughing...having fun, but there are many times when that ear-bleeding sound will pierce the quiet happy laughter AND here are the top 10 reasons my children cry:

10. They are not allowed to play in the dryer or the oven..."NO!, you are not allowed to hide in the oven for hide and seek just this once!" NO, NO, NO! (insert piercing sound of crying)

9. His/Her brother/sister looked at him/her...It's a terrible thing when you live in a house and you have to look at the other people living there....can you imagine the audacity it takes for one sibling to look at another... (insert piercing sound of crying)

8. His/Her brother/sister DIDN'T look at him/her...Can you believe that after being yelled at for looking at their sibling, next time they're in the room, they don't look at their sibling... (insert crying)

7. The inside of his/her nose stinks....why can't we as parents FIX everything?? Including the awful smell that has somehow embedded itself into your child's nostrils? (insert ear piercing crying)

6. A balloon they got 1 year ago is MISSING! Missing I say...where could it have possibly gone?!?! (insert screaming & crying)

5. The dog is in his/her way...who got this dog anyway? Oh, that's right the kids wanted a dog...and they loooooovvvveee her! Except when she's in their way. (insert crying and screaming at dog)

4. His/her tongue is itchy....(insert crying)

3. There's a stinkbug in the near vicinity. ANYWHERE in the house is a reason to cry...watch out stinkbugs we are out to get you.

2. You kill the stinkbug that is causing so much trauma...."Don't kill it!! It's a bug...it's a living thing!! DON'T KILL IT" I'm torn...should I kill it or not???!?!

1. It's bedtime...no explanation needed!

Tough Questions

My oldest son asked me this question on the way home from church yesterday, "When was God born?" I mumbled something, something inaudible so he couldn't hear it hoping that he would give up and move on to the next question.
Unfortunately this question grabbed the attention of the 6 year old and 3 year old also occupying the back seat. My oldest continued on, "I asked this in Sunday School today and there was a long discussion. They told me God wasn't born, he just was...and was always there."
I take a peak in the rear view mirror....3 sets of eyes are staring back at me...I feel the sweat start to form on my forehead, I turn the A/C on...I open the sun roof...ahhh, that's better...I turn up the radio. I take another peak, they're still staring at me.
"Ummm, can you repeat the question please?" I manage to say.
He repeats it...darn! I heard him right the first time.
"Well," I say..."it's sort of like the idea of eternal life...when you die and go to heaven, your life there will never end...just like there was never a beginning of God, he was just always there."
I couldn't have confused myself more, let alone them more....

Where do these life questions come from and why isn't there a manual with all the answers? Many days I feel inadequate. Like I should be a better mother, wife, daughter, somehow....but how? Another tough question. I can just wake up each day and be the best I can be...do what I feel is right and honest and kind....

Thank goodness when my husband got home yesterday we headed to the family cabin...to just be together and spend some family time together.
I love having campfires and being able to invite tons of people and hang out and talk about nothing in particular, but just laugh and have fun as friends and family. So back to the question about God and heaven....I told my oldest that heaven has to be a lot like campfires...that feeling you get when you are surrounded by good friends and good times...where there seems to be no worries that can reach you. That's what heaven has to be like.