More Lucy Than June

It’s the new “cheese face”.

When you say show Jack a camera these days, this is what he does…

And for the record…that would be a Gerber cheesy puff thingie in his mouth. And yes, he only has one of his two front teeth.

Oh. My. Word. Can you STAND the cuteness?! Can you stand it?!

Not the “cheese face” but still just so darn cute!

And for the record, his “cheese face” is a perfect representation of how my heart is feeling today.

Joy. Pure joy.

For He has done GREAT THINGS…

…We’ve got a kid in this house who’s going to Pre-K next week!!!!!!!

I cannot tell you how excited I am for this!!!!

Why in the world am I putting her in Pre-K when it’s almost March and there are but a mere 3 months of school left?

Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s the story…

I have lamented off and on since August that I wished, with every fiber of my being, that McKenna could have gone to preschool this year. Alas, a new church planter’s budget does not allow for such things. So we set out to do our own “unstructured” version of homeschool.

I had filled out paperwork for her to attend school next year at the charter school where River Church is meeting. However, I wasn’t aware of the incredibly long waiting list for Kindergarten there. And I also didn’t know that there was a lottery system in place. Don’t get me wrong, it all seems fair. I wasn’t BOTHERED by it. I just didn’t KNOW about it.

Stephen, however, did. And he also knew that all of the spaces for next year’s Kindergarten had already been filled. The only hope of McKenna actually getting into the school was for the small possibility of a spot opening up in one of the Child Development classes (aka Pre-K). And sneaky ole Stevi kept quiet for what I now know was WEEKS about this. He didn’t want me to get my hopes up.

And you know what? I don’t mind AT ALL that he didn’t tell me. Because it made today’s phone call so much more special.

And behold! A place for McKenna had opened up in Pre-K ensuring her a spot in next year’s Kindergarten classes!!! Rock on!!!

Now…you ready for the next part of the story???

About a week ago, a friend that I have met via Twitter and other mutual friends told me that she had been praying for God to make a way for Kenni to go to preschool. And I had just kind of let the “dream” go. Especially with it being so late in the school year.

Isn’t it just like God to hold our dreams even when we have given them up for lost???

When we told Kenni that she would get the opportunity to go to school, the biggest smile swept over her face, she gave me a wink, and said,

Thank you, Mommy.

And that’s exactly how I responded to God.

Yes, I am completely aware of the fact that we’ve been here almost 8 months.

And maybe it’s just the fact that I feel like we’ve quite possibly been cooped up in the house for almost three months. I am told this is the longest winter Charleston has ever seen. (My turn now to jump in on that old “global warming joke” bandwagon. Ready??? “Must be all the global warming!” I know, I know. I am so original….)

But today, the sun shone its gorgeous rays down upon us, and I decided that it was time to get out of the house and PLAY.

We’ve watched enough NickJr and Playhouse Disney to last us until next winter, I’m sure.

My first thought, my first gut reaction to taking a trip outside especially when you live in Charleston was…Let’s go to the beach!!!!

And then I thought better of it. Let’s see…just me + 3 kids + beach (which, by the way, has an ocean that I swear communicates directly to my two girls..”Run to me. Jump in me. With all of your clothes on. It’s okay that you have no change of clothes or that I’m freezing. Throw caution to the wind, little ones.”) = NOT A CHANCE.

Listen, I feel like we’re making progress in the right direction in me being able to handle taking three small ones out on my own, but to say I can take them to the wide open space of a beach? Eh, not so much.

Then I thought, I’ll take ‘em downtown to Battery Park. Nice open space to run and play.

But not really much to keep them “entertained” unless you’re having a picnic. Or a 4th grade historical field trip. Soooo, we’ll skip that.

Then I remembered there was a really cool park near the Citadel downtown. It’s near the water and we have to cross the bridge to get to it…so I’d get the sensation of actually being IN Charleston and not somewhere on the outskirts.

And so off we went. We met up with our friends Danna and Carrie (oh the magic of Twitter and how it can connect you with friends!), and the kids played to their hearts content for a good hour and a half.

But it hit me, as I was standing on the rubbery asphalt surface that is much more friendly to new-toddler-feet than mulch, Oh my word. This is it. This will be the spring, the summer, I have WAITED for for YEARS!

You see, everyone is walking. No one is crawling and therefore picking up nasty junk off the ground to eat. No one relies on The Mom-Cow or a bottle for nourishment anymore. We are all sufficient on juice and crackers for snacks.

This is going to be the EASIEST SUMMER I’ve had in YEARS!!!

And my word…WE’VE MOVED TO CHARLESTON!!!

Last summer, Jack was just 6 months old. Um, and I had back surgery. That didn’t exactly make for “fun mommy” for a few weeks there.

The summer before that, I was nasty-early-stage preggo and Caia STILL wasn’t walking.

The year before THAT, Caia was born. In July. Can we say “miserable”?

(When I write it all out like that, I think…Good heavens! No wonder I’m so tired all the time!)

But THIS spring, THIS summer…this is the year we take Charleston by storm!

Look out C-town! The Parris kids are taking over!

….And then, we’re taking naps.

Today, we had to make a break for it.

I was so desperate to get out of this house that I met Stephen at Chick Fil A. It’s been too cold to take them anywhere FREE and fun, so I decided that we were gonna make the Chick Fil A playground and some nuggets happen. Come waffle fries or high water.

I was so overjoyed (as were they) to be able to get out of the house that we stayed for two hours.

Two hours. At Chick Fil A. I’m pretty sure the manager was ready to offer me a job by the time we left.

Now, McKenna has always been a little shy. But recently we’ve noticed that she’s becoming more and more “sure” of herself. She makes friends easily, and as best as I can tell when observing her, is generally a pretty nice kid to others.

And today I had the chance to witness, with sadness mixed with overwhelming pride, as my daughter experienced her first “real” rejection out there in the big bad world.

We had been playing for only a few minutes when two girls who looked to be about McKenna’s age burst through the door of the play area. Kenni’s face lit up; new people to play with!

She ran right up behind them and said,

My name’s McKenna! What’s yours? How old are you? I’m five.

I was so proud of her!! Friendly little booger!

But my pride turned to complete sadness, mixed with just a little bit of anger when I heard one of the little girls say,

You’re NOT our friend!

It almost physically pained me to hear this. And I’m kind of glad that, from where I was sitting the view of her face was completely blocked.

I wanted to run to the top of that play gym and grab her, tell those little girls a thing or two about manners and being friendly, and run her over to her real friend Molly’s house right away!!!

Instead, I watched as she slid down the slide and crawled up on the bench next to me. she crossed her arms, faced the wall, and said,

Mommy, they were not very nice to me. That really hurt my feelings.

I wanted to cry right then and there. But she wasn’t crying, so trying to share in her sorrows through that particular route wasn’t going to be helpful in the least.

Instead, I pulled her close to me and told her that I know it hurt, but that she had done the right thing by still trying to be nice and be their friend.

And then she said,

I have to go tell them. I have to go say that what they said to me was mean, and it hurt my feelings.

I actually tried to stop her, trying to imply that maybe that wasn’t the best idea. But she was so determined. and she marched up those stairs and looked them straight in the eye, and in the nicest possible way that you can tell someone that they’ve wronged you, she said,

What you said to me was NOT nice. and it hurt my feelings.

She didn’t force her way into their world, but she made it clear that she was willing to look past their trespasses and still befriend them.

Eventually, they did all end up playing together, and as it turns out, the little girls had very nice mommies. They were just unfortunately absent during the the ridiculous behavior display earlier. (Sorry. I needed to let out a little bit of the anger that I was still holding on to.)

Needless to say, I praised Kenni throughout the day for her excellent way of trying to be a friend and of handling herself in that situation.

Being McKenna, she replied,

Yeah. I was a really sweet friend to them.

Well, yes. Yes you were.

And tonight, I rewarded her with Oreos and Cool Whip. Cause sometimes girls gotta just bond like that. And have deep discussions over a bowl of sugar and calories.

And I thought quietly to myself, knowing full well that I can’t stop the inevitable, I wish that every disappointment, every rejection, and every emotional pain in her life could be cured by a date with mom and some Oreos.

It also helps to have your jammies on backward. Adds to the celebratory effect, I think.

Oh, the agony of youth.

Stay with me, y’all. This could get deep.

Last night, Stephen and I had our Valentine’s date. We ended up at the theater to see Avatar.

Now Stephen has been chomping at the bit to see this movie since it was released, but he works like crazy and he has this family of three kids and a wife…so he hasn’t had the chance to see it. Me, personally? I would have rather seen Valentine’s Day, but he obliged me by taking me to Taco Bell for dinner, so I held my tongue when he suggested we go see Avatar.

(Don’t make fun of him for taking his woman to Taco Bell on Valentine’s Day. We’re brand new, fresh-out-of-the-box church plantin’ peeps…AND he hates the ole TB, but I love it. So this was a true example of his devotion to me…)

Now, I thought the movie was…pretty. And the story was….interesting. But I just don’t get the near cult-like following this movie has gained. It was kind of a disappointment for me. (Oh my word. How many of you are seething now?)

But, the concept of the Avatar stuck with me.

Now I am no sci-fi junkie, so I couldn’t give you all the technical terms and scientific mumbo-jumbo on precisely HOW the Avatar worked…but the basic concept was these people “transported” their inner existence (souls/emotions/thoughts/feelings) into a different body…thus, the Avatar.

The Avatar was just a vessel, an outer shell. Housed inside that gigantic blue frame was still the same old person that was left “sleeping” in the science lab.

And I am aware that the Avatar is this mythical/other-worldly type of thing. And while I can’t relate to that aspect of the Avatar either, I can say that I have often let just my outer shell drive me.

So what about it? What about MY “outer shell”? Am I letting my “avatar” DEFINE me. Or am I defining the “avatar”.

Now certainly I don’t think that I am living in the wrong body or have been magically zapped here. What I am trying to reference is: What does this look like in a Christian sense?

Are we letting our outward self define us? Or are we choosing to let Christ use the inner workings of our lives, our hearts, to drive us?

How many of the “beautiful” people of Hollywood feel hollow or empty? How many are simply letting their outward appearance be the only thing that people look upon? How lonely…

If I did not feel like I had people in my life that I could show my true inner feelings and thoughts to, if I felt forced or compelled to simply live as though the only thing that people ever needed to see about me was the outer self, the cover, the SHELL of what people THINK I am, how meaningless would it all seem?

People long for true connectedness with other humans, believe it or not. It’s part of how we were designed. If we are simply strutting about in our outer shells and connecting with people only on a material level based on how we (or they) look or carry themselves, what are we really “sharing” of our lives?