so don't have time to be doing this...

As the title suggests, I really do not have time to be writing right now, but I just can't hardly help myself.  Elliana, decked out in her raggedy purple tutu and a pink tee shirt with a tiara placed on her little blondish curls, is sitting at the smudged up glass dining room table eating a PB&J sandwich singing "Oh How I Love Jesus" with her purple feathered "princess slippers" kicked off underneath her chair.  We have Snow White music playing in her bedroom just barely audible over the clothes dryer noises from the hallway.
But, I had to stop and record this adorable little scene for you.
We are trying to get ready for our daddy to be home from a short trip to Falls Creek campgrounds for a Men's retreat.  He had a great refreshing time and are trying to let him come home to something refreshing as well, a cleaner house (notice I didn't say clean...I'm not a miracle worker.  We do still have a 2 1/2 year old playing while I clean)!  I love that he could enjoy Falls Creek and not while he's working as a youth wrangler. ;) j/k  Our kids at the church are wonderful!
He got to trout fish, preview a movie coming out in September (www.courageousthemovie.com/), and all sorts of other manly type things that I don't like to do.  It's a good thing he can get out and do things like this because he comes home to an estrogen filled house at the end of every day of the year.  We try to not overload him with pink and frills, but I'm afraid we do a pretty poor job of keeping our girlie-ness locked away from view most of the time.
He's such a wonderful man and I'm glad to have him.  I would chose him again and again and again!  He's the best match for me and the best daddy I can imagine for my girl(s)!!!  So, I'm logging off now so I can get back to my housewife/mommy duties like wiping the smudgy table off and impatiently await my Prince Charming's (or as Elli Kate says, "Prince Charmy's") return.  

bubbly beauty

Tonight was the perfect ending to a sunshiny day. Every night (well most every), I give Elli Kate a sudsy, slippery bubble bath. A true girly girl knows how to enjoy a bubble bath even at her age, and Elli Kate is no exception. She LOVES her Johnson & Johnson, all over soap, bubble bath! It's such a fun time for mommy too! Just the anticipation of getting in the bath tub makes her bounce all over the bathroom while I try and skin her clothes off her wiggly, wiry, year-and-a-half-old busy body. "Ahhhh, mommy", she says as I finally slip her in the warm water. Immediately she assumes the belly down "swimming" position. Kicking her feet and alternating her arms in turtle fashion is her version of swimming. The bubbles have now traveled to the head of the tub, where her hands are now. She scoops up some of the iridescent fluff and says, "Oooo, Mommy, pretty bubbles." And they are. The lights in our bathroom make the bubbles sparkle in her hands. I have to admit, they are simply beautiful. Simply. Beautiful! I know, but she doesn't remember that bubbles don't last very long in a bathtub with a little girl kicking them. She can enjoy them while they last, though. Who am I to tell her to preserve the bubbles. They are eventually going to pop and the water is going to get cold, but she can have a great time with them while they last. And, in the meantime, I can give her a nice cleansing bath.

I can't help but think this is how a little bit of life is. Our beauty is fading. My beauty is fading. I can recognize that everyday when I glance in that piece of glass that tends to follow me everywhere. I see it in the bathroom, the lady's room at any restaurant, in my car, and even in my purse. We know it better by the name of Mirror. We are made so fresh and beautiful the day we arrive here on the planet and then too quickly our outer beauty starts to fade. Like the bubbles in the bathtub, we know they will soon disappear, but we think the longer they last the more beautiful they are. Well, sometimes. But, I know the water cleanses and is the most important part the bath in the end. So, in life, I know that the cleansing that happens to my heart will be the most important part of me in the end. The beauty that lasts is inside my heart, Proverbs 31:31 says. So, I'll let the Lord and His Word cleanse and renew me, while I enjoy the fading beauty of this life. In the end (when all the bubbles are gone), I'll still be beautiful because of what I've allowed Him to to in me everyday. Thanks for the life lesson, Elli Kate! Sweet dreams, sweet pea beauty!