cold snap, warm heart

The cold snap lingers on. This morning, it took a lot of energy and will to get out the door for church. As the temperature hovered just around the -40 mark, what I really wanted to be doing was spending a quiet morning in the house finishing off the coffee. Instead, I was herding the children out to the (pre-warmed) van to go worship our Lord.

I didn't teach a Sunday school class today, as we were having a double baptism. I kept the kids with me during the service, and they did great. I'm really impressed at how well they are able to handle a service 'from the pews' at their ages. After church, and coffee time, G and S had everyone from the family over to their house for lunch and we were invited too. Rob had to head out for his second service and I decided to brave the typical post-church delayed naptime, which could easily turn into meltdown city.

I was pleasantly surprised. My children, all 3 of them, were fantastic. Not that I expect less than 'good' behaviour in public, I just know that 1 pm is a hit or miss time for the girls. It was a hit. They were a hit, actually. G's sister R was telling me how much she was enjoying my children's presence at the event, how well they listened (I double checked to see whose children had come with me - nope, they were mine!), how polite Isaac and Norah were, and how much fun Ruby was. We had lunch, mingled and left without a meltdown, injury or any chance for mom to lose her temper. What a blessing to have such a great day, especially given my typical Sunday afternoon post-church meltdowns, as the stress of 'doing church' with the kids will often do me in. I think it helped I avoided sugar all day too. ;)

The afternoon after getting home was also good - given the late naps by the girls. Isaac and I had some fun tidying up the living room, starting supper, and 'making mail' for his homemade mailbox. He amazes me daily with his ability to spell and write, not to mention read. Rob got home just before 5, and we had a fantastic dinner - pork roast, with a nice bottle of red. We all giggled and chatted through the meal, and really enjoyed each other's company. Nice.

All in all, just a smooth, lovely day. They are all tucked in bed right now, cozy and peaceful. The space heaters run, to keep the chilly bedrooms toasty. The dinner dishes are done, the wine has *just* been finished, the house feels like home. Despite the cold outside, and the ice on the windows, it's warm in here. Warm and loving and just right. If I were Goldilocks, *this* would be where I would lie down and proclaim "just right".