So, I will admit that I am a pretty judgemental person. I know that’s not good and I am constantly working on this flaw of mine. I ask God almost every day to make me more understanding and to soften my heart towards people, and over time he has. Unfortunately for me, He does that mostly by putting me in exactly the same situation that I once judged someone for!

Here are some things that I once judged people (perhaps even you) for, but no longer do:

Buying Uncrustables. When I first saw a commercial for Uncrustables (you know, the pre-made and frozen pb&j sandwiches), I immediately commented to whoever was with me, “How lazy is that? When I have kids, I will NEVER buy those. I mean, how much trouble is it to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”

10 years and 2 kids later, you will not find my freezer without a box of Uncrustables. What I have come to realize is that IT IS REALLY HARD TO FEED THESE PEOPLE. Kids are constantly hungry and asking for snacks. Even if you fed them 30 minutes prior they will ask, as you are getting in the car, for something to eat. The answer: Go back to the freezer and get an Uncrustable. We go on lots of field trips to zoos, museums, and aquariums, and it costs roughly $1,200,586 for the three of us to eat lunch at one of these places. The solution: Stick a few Uncrustables in a lunch box. The kids each play year-round sports that have 3 hour practices that go right through dinnertime. Easy fix: Throw an Uncrustable in their bag.

Basically, what I am telling you is that I no longer judge any mother for anything. We’re all doing the best we can to raise healthy, well-adjusted children, and if that means throwing a frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a bag and calling it a meal, so be it. We also eat red hotdogs at the ballpark 4 nights a week, so there’s that.

Do you know what it took to get me to this non-judgemental view? Having 2 kids who are constantly starving and not having enough time to make a sandwich. I get you, fellow Uncrustable-stockholders.

Having a Child with Unbrushed Hair. Just a few Sundays ago, my son stood up in front of the church and sang our Vacation Bible School songs for the congregation. He danced and smiled and did a great job, all the while looking like he had stuck his finger in a light socket during Sunday School.

I used to sit in church and wonder why the mother of the young girl in front of me refused to brush her daughter’s hair, but now I know: She DID brush it!

Somehow, between the bathroom and church or school or Costco (where we buy our UnCrustables), kid’s hair reverts back to the same hairstyle they woke up with. It doesn’t matter how much time, money, and energy I put into my children’s hygiene and appearance, they always look like they have nothing or no one.

So, you can see how God has worked in my life to make me less judgemental. I’m sure more things will come up in my heart that I am guilty of judging others for. And to the mom-to-be who sees my unkempt children with jelly stains on their shirts from the Uncrustables they just ate in the car: Your day will come.

I am not scared of too many things.  There are things I avoid because they make me uncomfortable, such as speaking in front of large groups of adults or going to Wal-Mart on a Saturday, but I can do those things without too much anxiety.  🙂

There is something I am really scared of, though, something that makes my heart beat faster and my thoughts spin out of control: murky water.  When we go over a bridge, especially the long, tall bridges like we went over last week when we went to the Outer Banks, I have to focus on the road in front of me. If I let myself, I will go through in my mind the entire scenario of what would happen if we somehow plunged over the edge of the bridge.  I imagine myself busting out the window of the car, telling Jason to grab Charlie while I get Maddie, then swimming to the surface only to be tragically eaten by an alligator just feet from shore.  Those bridges are all beautiful, but they make me very anxious and I am always relieved to reach the other side.

I avoid any water that isn’t clear enough that I can see my feet.  I love sitting on the beach and walking on the beach and building sandcastles on the beach, but the kids have to really beg me before I will join them in the ocean.  I feel the same way about lakes, rivers, etc. Nope, nope, nope.

Every once in a while I am forced to face this fear, and last week on vacation was one of those times.  Jason mentioned several days ago that there are lots of kayak tours on the OBX, and he wanted to go on one.  Without really thinking it through, I agreed.  Suddenly, I found myself here:

Yep, those are my feet. My feet on a kayak tour through a maritime forest complete with snakes, fish, turtles, 2 feet of mud which a woman would immediately sink into up to her knees if she accidentally fell out of her kayak, and alligators (Our tour guide, Justin, denied this, but I later learned that an alligator had, in fact, been caught in this exact area only weeks earlier. Not only did they catch the alligator here, but they tagged and then released it in the SAME SPOT.).

Why do I let myself get into these situations that scare me so much? Well, I don’t want to miss out on anything. I want to experience every single thing I can in this life, and I want my kids to experience every single thing they can.  While Maddie didn’t care for kayaking, Charlie discovered a new passion.  The problem is, now I am going to have to take him kayaking all the time.  This is him at the lake a few days ago:

I took this picture from shore.  🙂

I want them to be brave and courageous and feel free to try new things, even if they are scared.  And I want them to look back on these experiences and say, “Wow, I did that!”  So I have to do that, too.

Over and over again, apparently.

This weeks theme on The Daily Post is “round.”  I went searching through my pictures and found a lot with a “round” theme, and also thought about writing about being well-rounded or something like that.

But then I found this picture I took when we were on our way to Destin, FL a couple of months ago for vacation.  It’s not a great picture because I took it from the window of the truck while we were traveling around 85 mph down the interstate, plus the power lines are annoying, but it brought back a lot of summer memories so I enjoyed seeing it.

This is the giant peach in the sky (or, as we like to call it, “the giant butt in the sky”) that is right across the border in South Carolina.  I don’t care how many times you pass by it, it’s always funny!

Today was a good day. We didn’t have to go anywhere but to the post office (and may or may not have gone by Sonic for milkshakes), and the kids didn’t even take off their pajamas for that.  We got tons of school done and I got the laundry room cleaned out.  Now I’m sitting here with Jason, the windows open so we can hear the storm outside.

I love days like this, but also feel a little anxious whenever I feel like I actually have it together.  Anytime I do seem to have everything under control, a day or two later and it all goes to you-know-where.  I’m constantly reminded that I’m not the one in control here, and I’m good with that.

Fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Something else I am currently feeling VERY anxious about: the kids have set up booby traps all around the house.  I have knocked over 2 cups of water when opening different doors, and when I got into bed I sat on a small, clear lego that had been strategically placed.  😮   I still couldn’t get comfortable, then finally found a plastic cup hidden in my pillowcase.  I’m not sure what else they have done…

Not sure what God’s plan is for this particular anxiety-causing fiasco, but I’m sure it’s something good?

It has been 4 years since we ventured to the NC State Fair.  I was pushing our gigantic double jogging stroller and the kids could hardly ride any of the rides.  Here we are at the giant pumpkins:

We finally went back today, and had a fantastic time.  I tried to recreate the above photo.

Wow, the kids have grown! It was so much easier to take them to the fair now that they are a few years older.  Just a word of encouragement to those with toddlers: it gets easier!

We all got to do our favorite things: Jason and I got to see some of the animals and eat some different foods (I had cheese fries and fried pickle chips), Jason wasted $1,000,000 dollars on impossible-to-win games, and the kids rode every ride they could fit on, some more than once.

We did find that Charlie was too big for some of the littlest rides.

And Maddie was too little for some of the bigger rides, which posed a little problem for Miss Thang.

Jason and I rode just a few rides with the kids.

But for the most part just enjoyed our time together.

We had a great day, and maybe even got our Christmas card picture.  But you’ll have to wait until December to see that.