Sidewalk Chalk and Cheerios: And I Am Not A Mom...

Yesterday Evie and I took a walk around the neighborhood and then went to the grocery store. It was such a fantastic day! The weather was perfect. I had to take advantage, because I know all too well that the cold weather will return after a short-lived warm front. 

Upon coming home, we found Connor, his mother Emily, and baby Sarah outside enjoying the nice day. We stopped to play for a little while. 

Emily and I usually talk about everything under the sun. When I come over to her house on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she will generally run my ear off for a good half hour. Most of the stories are about how Connor refused a nap the other day, or how he decided to draw on the bottom side of the table with his crayons, or even more humorously...how his hand gets stuck in the collar of his shirt when he tried to remove his clothes while lying in his crib.

It was because of this woman that I finally realized how Evie's neighbors have become my own community. I mean, I am here so often, that her neighbors are my neighbors. One day, I was in and out of about three people's houses. I stop in to say "hi", pass mom's I have seen at the library "reading time", play out in the back with other moms, stop to talk to people I know from the MAC, and so on.

I really feel like this is my network. My ministry. It used to be more focused on the kids, but now I realize how much time I spend with these stay at home mom's, that I realized the other day how much life I could speak into them just by spending time at the playground, or following after the kids at the park. 

Especially Emily. I don't know what it is about this woman that makes my heart hurt for her. She seems so put together on the outside, and yet the more I talk to her, the more I see how she is just so all over the place. 

One time, I was listening to her talk for close to 20 minutes and I was enjoying the conversation, but thinking to myself, "Ok, how do I bow out gracefully and tactfully?". That's when the Holy Spirit convicted me to just shut up and listen. This woman needed me to hear her. She just needed someone to hear her. She needed someone to rescue her from the monotony of motherhood. From the noisy silence, as I like to call it. It's not that it's quiet when you have children running around the house. It is so not quiet. But, it's just. So. Lonely. 

A loneliness that I can understand all too well, really. 

Sometimes, this makes me yearn for motherhood, but also (smartly) want to run in the opposite direction. I feel like a stay at home mom, but am not. I feel like I got the best of both worlds...but then why do I feel so out of place?

Anywho, here I was yesterday afternoon, hearing this woman go on and on about cheerios, and sidewalk chalk. Again, enjoying the conversation. It finally turns to the topic of faith. Her daughter, having been baptized into the Catholic Church on Saturday, was the perfect opening for me to tell her a small piece of my story. That was just. So. Awesome. 

Then we got to talking about how she gave up sweets for Lent (I have as well, so it was cool to talk to her about how it was going) because she finds that, "Easter is such a boring holiday, I like to jazz it up by being able to eat sweets again". I am not kidding you. This is what she told me. 

My first thought, as sad as it is to admit this, was "yeah, it is". Then I was like whoa, wait a minute here!! Easter is the very definition of excitement! Hello. Jesus just rose from the dead! Are you even serious?!? There couldn't be anything more exciting in life. 

Let's just hope that I can communicate this to her in the near future.