Dedicated to Our First Bite of Ham

We're long overdue some HAM, wouldn't you say?

Lately there have been many good moments, happy moments, beautiful-this-is-my-life moments. Then there have been the kids are crying, my patience is wearing thin,"I think I can! I think I can!" moments.

That second kind are the ones for which HAM tastes the best. Like country ham served atop a garden grown tomato, with just the right dollop of mayo, and in between two fluffy buttermilk biscuit halves. It makes you forget the hard and ask your girls to forgive the imperfect.

It tastes divine.

Like the way Hope is convinced we should not stop until we have five babies. How she reminds us repeatedly that one day she'll have to go off and find a new daddy (read: husband) so she can have five babies of her own with at least a big girl, a little girl, a big boy, and a little boy in the mix. How she still drools over Baby Alysse, grabs those chubby cheeks in her hands, and says, "I just love her! I JUST LOVE HER!" Or comes running when there are cries and hollers, "Don't worry; I'll shush her down!"

She likes to exaggerate numbers... if she hasn't done something in a while, she'll tell us that it hasn't been in 90 years. Negotiating skills are sure to include numbers too... you tell her she can have two, she'll bump it up to five in one sly move of the mouth. She loves to carry around foam letters and shout out their names and sounds as if it is the best game known to man, and nothing makes her happier than to fall asleep with either "Godly music" or Diego books on CD. I grin from ear to ear when she puts on this one specific dress and runs for her Daddy just to hear him say, "Ooh, Hope! You look so pretty!" Or when they go out to the picnic table to have tea and crackers so they can "have a talk." Best part is that she spits out the tea, only drinking it in the first place to feel big with him.

While at Target the other day a nice employee went out of his way to retrieve me one of the mama-jama carts fit for hauling three babies in and out of the spotted red aisles. While he made his way towards us in the heat Hope asked me why he was being so nice. Before I could answer she had her own reply, "Oh, he must have Jesus in his heart!"

We love to pick up board games in good condition from yard sales. Recently we scored an interactive Candyland game on DVD. Hope was desperate to try it out one morning, but I was in the middle of feeding Alysse and asked her to wait until I was finished. "But Mooom!!!" (not exactly my favorite phrase these days). "It says right here," (pointing to the directions), "play right away! I can't help it; that's what it says!"

Along those same lines it seems they go all Murphy's Law on me in that when I'm nursing the girls suddenly wrack their brains to come up with everything they ever wanted me to help them do. It was no exception one afternoon when Hope wanted a snack and Maddie needed help with fastening a favorite "going to the ball" dress. Frustrated that I could not immediately comply Hope shares, "I just wish you had three hands!"

And the sweet tea to that ham biscuit... while driving home the other day, I hear a voice pop up from waaay back in the third row. "Hey Mama, God just spoke to me." "Oh yeah? What did he say, sweetheart?" "He said it is good that we should all believe in Him!"



To think... H(ope) A(lysse) M(addie).

Never tasted so good.
~Katrina