Sneak Peek #1

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Excerpt from THRIVE AND SURVIVE, ZERO TO FIVE:

When I (Mary) was a new mom with only one child, Luke wanted to be my right-hand man in everything I did—just like all two-year-olds. My goal that day was to make a batch of pepparkakor cookies, a traditional Swedish favorite. The dough must be rolled thin before using cookie cutters to make shapes.

I planned to involve Luke by giving him his own ball of dough and hoped he’d be content with that while I got the cookies made. What I hadn’t counted on was that his attraction to the flour was greater than to the dough.

As I dusted the cookie cutters, he dusted his hands, face, hair, clothes, and everything within a ten-foot radius. My kitchen was quickly deteriorating, but I decided to let him do what he wanted and gave him his own scoop of flour. He poured and spread and patted his treasure until it had puffed itself wall-to-wall. But I got all my cookies baked, and Luke had thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Cleanup was significant, but picture in my photo album tells of a success. Luke’s big smile, shining through his floured face, says, “Mama and I had fun today!”

SIDEBAR:

BENEFITS OF HAVING FUN WITH CHILDREN

  • Builds strong relationships
  • Keeps mom young
  • Presents opportunities to teach
  • Provides release of stress
  • Brings shared laughter
  • Builds happy memories

Sneak Peeks, THRIVE AND SURVIVE

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Several months ago, I blogged about my sister Mary and I writing a book for mothers of children from birth to age five. Though it took more than a decade to finish our project, God graciously allowed us the time we needed—despite Mary’s terminal cancer. 

Our planning and writing was a stop-start process that included endless interruptions but also the happiness of working together in the year before she went to heaven. And now, at last, the end-product is about to launch. It’s titled Thrive and Survive, Zero to Five, with subtitle, “2 sisters, 14 children and what we wish we’d known from the beginning.”

Mary was the one who brought structure to our ideas by outlining the book and creating the Table of Contents. She also wrote 58 sidebars that are sprinkled throughout—bullet-point extras not covered in the text.

The next series of blog posts on this site will offer sneak peeks into the content of Thrive and Survive, keyed to Mary’s sidebars. Then, come the end of August, the book should be available through Amazon and other sources.

Arriving at this point is deeply satisfying—and I hope Mary knows all about it. Her wisdom is laced through the book, and both of us share mothering  fails as well as successes. Our hope has always been that new moms won’t have to make the mistakes we did, and our prayer is that they will truly thrive in their efforts to do the most important job on the planet.  

“May she who gave you birth be happy.” (Proverbs 23:25 NLT)

Taught by a Child

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After several weeks of traveling, I’m thankful to be home, though I’ll be packing my suitcase again soon. Since “my people” are always waiting at the other end of each trip, the motivation to go-go-go is strong.

Recently granddaughter Emerald’s parents let me take her on a flight to Florida where daughter Linnea, her husband Adam, and their six children live. Baby May was born in January, so our trip was a chance to see how she’d grown and to catch up with all the others. It would also be a chance for Emerald to spend time with half of her faraway cousins.

Two words describe our week there: happy hubbub.

Though monitoring seven children ages ten and under is hard work, it borders on entertainment. Without demanding too much of us, the kids moved through each day in a joyful pack.

 

There were plenty of messes, most of them accompanied by high volume, but the cousins came up with one play-plan after another — stringing them together like beads on a pretty necklace.  

On the 7th day, however, something unexpected happened. As we all headed outdoors to watch a parade of skate boards, scooters, and bouncy balls, Emerald came to us with tears in her eyes.

She sat on my lap, sobbing out the details. “I miss my mommy and daddy.” Linnea and I reminded her that our flight home was the very next day, not too many hours from then. Soon after that she recovered.

Later, though, at bedtime, her misty eyes returned. I was bouncing a fussy baby May when Emerald came alongside in search of reassurance. “When are we gonna see my mommy and daddy again?”

She climbed up next to me and looked at the baby, who was crying, too. I recited our flight plan again, but her response was off-topic. While wiping her eyes and studying May’s frown-y face, her own face brightened. “I know!” she said. “The pacifier!”

 

She jumped down and ran to find it with only one thing on her mind: helping the baby. Her own sad thoughts had evaporated.

How true that is for all of us. If we dwell on the parts of our lives that aren’t going well, our troubles stick with us. If we’re willing to tend to the difficulties of another, our problems shrink – or disappear altogether.

God was the one who thought this up when he told us to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). If we follow his instruction, both parties are uplifted by the actions of the one.

After a happy plane ride the next day, Emerald finally connected with her mommy and daddy in a cheerful reunion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She’d forgotten her tears, but I hadn’t. By her example, this old grandma had been challenged to do more for others. And just as God says, if we give to someone else, he’ll give to us.

“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.” (Luke 6:38)