Tumultuous and Terrific 2

How many times can mommy put my barette back in?

If tumultuous means chaotic,disorderly, riotus, noisy, and is the antonym of peaceful, it is a great word to describe the newest chapter in Sidney’s behavior. Our little chilli pepper has begun exhibiting an even spicier side. We are on the receiving end of temper tantrums. When she doesn’t get her way, her anger escalates while she stands in one place, repeating “no.” I typically turn my back and walk away as she tends to stay in one place while acting out. Of course, I let her know, “the only person in this world who is more stubborn than you is me.” I think this is typical 2 year old behavior. We went through the same behavior with Eli, and he obviously turned a corner, because I don’t have an 8 year old screaming. At least most days.


Eli and I are having a great time during VBS this week. I typically take an active role in helping carry out the event, and it is fun to see it all put together. It is such a positive thing in my life. We are very active in church. Tom calls us orthodox Lutheran’s. I find that phrase hilarious, because he actually gets excited about teaching our confirmation class on Martin Luther. I am thinking of getting him the shirt of a winking Luther. Such fun to see the way Eli’s face lights up when they are singing and doing the corresponding actions. I didn’t direct, as in previous years, I understand how things flow. Last night was friend night, and it is always fun to see the dynamic of kids crying, kids being crazy, kids just being kids, and generally kids in motion everywhere!

VBS is a wonderful way to transition from the weekend. We had severe flooding in our region of the country. While we only had a bit of ground water around one small area in our basement, many of the people in our town evacuated their homes to escape the rising water. Flooding is not something new in our community; however the power of the water always amazes me. The water speeds over the dam and carries anything in its path. Even more amazing is how quickly it goes away. Tom had a very busy weekend, removing the furnaces and air conditioners of homes about to become full of water. As soon as people know how high the water is supposed to become, the phone calls start coming in.

OK, off to generate yet another list of attendance, fill out another thank you note, punch another nametag, fix another sandwich, tell another three children they do not belong in the tree on the churches property, tell kids to stop running in church, tell another kid they are doing a great job picking raw vegetables off the tray, and most of all watching kids grow in their belief and faith of God.