A Team Week 122: Let's Just Love

When I was a child I spent a lot of time at my grandmother's house (we even lived with her for a year while our house was being built).  She had a short white fence along the road in front of her house and one of my favorite things to do while I was there was to try to walk along the top from one end of the fence to the other without falling off.  Over and over again I would try to balance and make it across without falling, but when I did fall (which was most of the time) I knew it was better to pick one side or the other because falling on the ground around the fence was MUCH better than falling on the fence itself!  These days walking the fence is even harder.  Like my childhood, it still hurts to pick one side or the other, but balancing on the line is far more difficult and when you fall sometimes hitting the fence is the only way to go.

By now, you're probably a bit confused as to the direction I am heading with this and honestly it isn't completely clear to me either, but this week was the week that we got a new president...the first new president since my boys were born...and I couldn't stop thinking of this analogy.  As I shared in the past, I felt like I was walking the line during the election.  I had friends and loved ones on both sides of the fence, but didn't feel that either option was the right one for me.  My conservative views tugged me to the one side but the lack of love expressed by the candidate made me sad as I questioned how I could share Jesus with my unbelieving friends while supporting him, and in the end that is all that really matters.  So I chose the line...and it hurts.  I feel like I can't belong on either side when there is so much resentment being thrown back and forth.

As I considered these feelings throughout the week, anxious to see what a new president, the people that support him and the people that hate him will bring, I also couldn't help but think of my sister-in-law.  I've heard many stories of Eric and his family during our 16 years together but there are a few stories that stand out  and one of them is about his sister.  When they were younger, Eric and his dad would wrestle in the house as boys often do (believe me I know!), but his sister would chime in and say, "Let's Just Love".  This week, those three words kept running through my mind over and over again.  Oh how the world would be different if we could all just love.  And so, that is what we strived for this week.  I cannot change much about our president, the state of our country, or the discord of the people in it but I can love.

So, that is what we did.  I tried to spend some extra time playing with the boys and unplugging some from the world around us (after the chaos of the week prior we'd all watched too much TV anyway).  Asher had gotten used to the drone-dumb of TV, so he needed to be reminded that using his imagination and creativity is much more fun...so we built towers...together. <3

When the weekend came, thankfully the sunshine came with.  It had been another somewhat stressful week and now Eric had my cold but it was sunny and spring-like outside, which gave me some time to do some cleaning and the boys some time to get some much-needed fresh air!

(2) Videos: Mud-Sledding

Asher and Avery spent a good deal of time playing outside on Saturday in our Spring-Like weather.  With most of their summer toys stored away, the swings down and the sandbox closed for winter, they got a little bored.  Asher told Eric that he was getting muddy and seemed concerned that he would get in trouble, but Eric told him he could get as muddy as he wanted.  With that, Asher had an idea and I heard him excitedly yell out, "Avery, do you wanna go Mud Sledding?"  The mom in me hesitated for a moment questioning if I should correct them and keep them from making complete disasters of themselves but then I just shrugged as they ran outside to play.  After all, they were getting fresh air and I was getting an empty house to clean up before they returned to destroy it again!

 On Sunday, we closed out the week/weekend with a family dinner at Cheddars, free ice-cream/chocolate chip cookie dessert and a grocery trip to Meijer.

The boys and I with our dessert.  Notice how Avery never took his eyes off of it!

Just like their Daddy...These guys like Meijer a little too much!