Have you ever?

Have you ever tried to put a red crayon through the dryer with your laundry load of lights only to find large red splotches all over your clothes? We did today. Not on purpose, of course, but we did nonetheless. It also created an artwork of color in our dryer barrel. Like looking into a kaleidoscope.
Lots of goo gone. Oxyclean. Soaking and soaking and soaking. Most of our clothes are salvageable. We were thankful that this load was almost all pajamas or socks. Crayon is much worse than chapstick. Burts Bees or cherry!

White Chocolate Macadamia Choas...

I had a victim friend come over yesterday to help me with my share of our latest fundraiser. We are making homemade cookie dough by the quart to fill orders collected last week. My selected dough was the white chocolate macadamia nut. 29 quarts! An afternoon of dual kitchenaid stand mixers humming along. Lots of chatter from the 5 children. Lots of laughing from the two barely sane mommies. Two semi-used 25 lb bags of flour. Stacks of egg cartons. Boxes of white chocolate chips. A large Tupperware bowl FULL of macadamia nuts. Bag after bag of brown sugar. Box after box of butter. A newly revived appreciation for sticks of Crisco as opposed to the bottomless tub we used. Four hours later, we were cleaning up the mess and staring at the towers of finished product! It was a long day, but so enjoyable. I love my dear friend. And I love being done with large projects!

Silent reminders...

On the ride home from dropping Calla off at school, I told Amelia I loved her. She responded, "I love you, too, Momma. I'n not be naughty for you today, K?" I teared up. I know she means to be good, but her curiosity almost always wins out.
My own conscience was also pricked. Her response - I will obey because I love you - reminded me of how often I do not obey the Lord even though I say I love Him. Shouldn't my love for Him drive me to a desire for obedience? And I too often fail. Because my flesh wins out all too frequently. Too tired. Too frustrated. Too emotional. But just like me and my little two-year-old blessing, God is willing to forgive me and love me just the same.
So will I fail today? Yup. Will Amelia act naughty? Yup. But we are both thankful for love. And paper towels.