Four or More

Rather than play with their toys in the way they are supposed to be used, my kids think it's fun to pull everything out and put it in a different place. Today they lugged everything we have in the play area in our house and put it in the closet in Jacob and Kaylen's room. Everything. Well, except the play kitchen, I stopped Jacob when he was about half way across the living room with it and made him put it back. Crazy kid.

Needless to say, with all this moving, we always have odds and ends littering the floor. It makes me crazy, but I have learned over the past few years just to step over it and let it be. Just let them play, at least they are getting along. And it can all be cleaned up and sorted out later. Just let them play. I have to repeat this mantra to myself daily to keep me sane. 

Yesterday Kaylen got into the puzzles and that meant that every single one we have, including a 26 piece alphabet puzzle, was dumped on the floor. I had to hide in my room and pace the floor it was so bad out there. Jacob helped, of course, by loading his tractor trailer with puzzle pieces and unloading it in Kaylen's little princess castle. Well, lucky boy, once the girls were down for naps, he got to be the one to put all the puzzles back together. I left him to it and went to the laundry room. A few minutes later I was delighted to peek at him and see him intently working on puzzles. I just love to see that beautiful face thinking and working it out. I snuck back to the laundry room and let him finish. 

A little bit later Jacob came to me with a bag of mini marshmallows  He had finished his job just as I had asked and had even put all the puzzles back in the cabinet. He wanted to know if he could have a treat. Darling boy, of course you can! How can I refuse that sweet sincerity that makes me fall in love with him every day? He said to me, "Can I have one...no! Can I have four?!" and without looking at me counted out four mini marshmallows. "Four is perfect," I told him while he gobbled them up feeling like he'd won the lottery. 

In a flash I saw myself, with the talents and dreams that God has given me and I'm asking God for four pidly mini marshmallows -and feeling over the moon when I get them- never realizing that if I'd just asked, my loving Father would have given me the whole bag. 

Dream big, be bold, pray big prayers.