What follows Christmas...Spring Cleaning OF COURSE!

We had a FABULOUS Christmas.  It was so good to be with family, and snow, and fireplaces, and peanut brittle, made by someone other than me.  It was good to go to Church with my family (I LOVE that) and to see my nieces and nephews, who I adore, and adore even more when they grow taller than me :)

Jared surprised me with a Kitchen Aid, and I surprised him with a picture of us, and a poem Photoshoped on top of it, that he wrote for me and read to me when we got engaged.  It was TENDER, and he CRIED, a reaction, I have never gotten out of him :)  The reaction from my sister Patti, who is pretty much REACTION-LESS when it comes to presents, was not as good, to say the least.

We played so hard, and lost so much sleep, that we came home DRAINED.  Sledding and snowmobiling for hours on end (and chatting, maybe sometimes (maybe sometimes getting into heated conversations about common core...that all ended well) can be EXHAUSTING.  To top it all off, Jared and I have been a little concerned about future plans, so what did we do.  We came home and SPRING CLEANED our entire house.  It was AWESOME!  I loved every minute of it.  That is a lie.

However, I love my house, I love its organization, and I love to live simply :)  Life is good.

I encountered a situation last night that I have yet to encounter in my first 11 years of parenting.  I was tucking Joe into bed, and (as always) it was a struggle to get him to say his prayers.  I finally said, "Joe, Jesus will be so sad."  To which he said,  "Mom, Jesus died.  He may be alive somewhere else now, but He isn't here, and He can't see me saying my prayers."

I honestly had no idea what to say to Him.  I was dumbfounded.  Finally I just told him, "Joe, I know you can't see Him, but He can ALWAYS see you, and he can ALWAYS hear you."

Maybe this parenting thing is more than I was cut out for.  I have never even contemplated the fact that He might not be able to hear me.  He always feels so close....like Christmas 365 days a year.  Joe is 5. Joe is going to be fine, life just takes practice, experience, and belief.  However, I may not be fine, I don't know if my heart can take this for the rest of my life...