And they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts.

We stopped at a mall and happened upon the perfect photo opportunity! (For 10€ of course...)

Tomorrow night, children all around Spain will rush to bed with anticipation of what Los Reyes Magos (The Three Kings) will bring them as a gift. We've decided to celebrate this tradition, along with an American type Christmas, while we live in Spain. Bramwell is old enough that he realizes what is going on and is expecting a gift from the Kings this year.

¡Feliz Día de Los Reyes Magos!

3...2...1...Ready or not, here I come!

This is a holiness table. There is one, in some shape or form, at the front of each Salvation Army chapel. It is a place we can pray. A place where we can aknowledge our sin, our need of holiness. It is a physical representation that reminds us that the Holy God is in our midst and that the whole of our life and service is lived to honor his holiness.

It is NOT a hiding place. Each Sunday my boys wait for me to make my way to the platform above this very table, my husband to be holding his guitar...and they make their break away to run up to the front and play under the table. It's as if they wait for the very moment in each service when they know we will cannot do anything about their misbehavior. They know we will not make a scene from the pulpit, or cause a distraction by correcting them loudly.

Thankfully I know that the Holiness is not the table itself....

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 2 Corinthians 6:16

Metro vs. Mommy

It's a never ending stream of people. People rushing past on the left. People running up stairs on the right. And at both ends are massive amounts of stairs with no elevator in sight. And I'm dragging a crying three year old, with a wiggly two year old strapped into a stroller. Needless to say, it's enough to discourage even the strongest of souls.

Jeff is traveling around Spain with a visiting youth band, and I have assumed the role of "Super Mommy". Except without the super. Jeff usually takes our oldest to school on the Madrid Metro each morning, and picks him up. One boy on the Metro is not so bad...it's the combination that's killer.

At just the point when I think I'll just keep Bram home from school the rest of the week rather than do this again, someone will offer to help me carry the stroller up the stairs or offer me a place to sit down on the Metro. It's the little things that really make a difference.

4 days till Jeff comes home...

Thankful Thursday

The five things that I am thankful for today:

1. The art of bartering. Our regular volunteer had to be gone today so I ran our thrift store. And everyone who comes in wants to barter down the price. I'm thankful that I stuck to my 'guns' and sold the sewing machine for the right price!

2. My husband's ability to give the boys decent haircuts. See:

3. I'm thankful for friends who are willing to invite our family over for a BBQ and a swim in their pool. (We are the only ones in the congregation without a pool, I think) It's always a nice time to be relaxed and just enjoy fellowship.

4. I'm thankful for people who are willing to join our ministry for a little while. On Saturday we have someone from the States coming to stay with us for about 6 weeks and just going to help us with the ministry. No strings...just in need of a place to sleep and eat!

5. I'm thankful that my husband is willing to let me decorate the chapel for Pentecost Sunday. I've decided to hang flames/doves from our ceiling as a visual enhancement to the service!

Completely Embarassed

I felt the heat rise, and my cheeks getting flushed. I felt like such a fool, but still couldn't think of another way to stop the impending doom. I had jumped to my feet and yelled out, perhaps louder than really necessary, "Jonas, don't you dare!" I watched as my enraged 2 year old took hold of the hand of another little boy in the cafe's play area, mouth open, teeth bared.

My outburst had caught him just in time, he dropped the hand and looked at me with a quizzical look, "Something wrong, mommy?" I marched over to the ball pit and simply looked at my two boys. My 3 year old walked slowly over to the table to put his shoes on, no questions asked. Jonas, still puzzled by the turn of events, followed his brother to prepare to leave. I could feel the eyes of the Spanish mothers as they looked our way. I'm not sure my quiet "Discupla" and "Perdoname" was enough to cover the outburst.

It's interesting, and frustrating, to watch the boys' very different ways of dealing with conflict and strangers. Bramwell will most usually back down and give in. Jonas, as experienced today, will fight tooth and nail to get his way. Not that much time between the two birthdays, same parents, same living situation, but still so different.

Needless to say, I'm not sure I can show my face at that cafe for a little while....

Q: How do you make sure it rains? A: Hang your laundry on the line to dry.

It's going to rain....again. It's been raining off and on for a week now. My parents arrived a week ago, and its been relatively rainy since. I haven't had much to write about either...so here's a few pictures.

We played on the beach today...it was a little too cold. On Saturday we went to Guadalest. A town high in the mountains.


We spent time walking on the boardwalk in Javea.

And we've been having a pretty good time...when the sun is out.

Rise and Shine, Sweetheart

I remember when Karen came to speak to my MOPS group about being an Irritable Mother, perhaps that's why this lesson sticks out because that's what I am.

I confess I am a cranky mommy.

The boys have been coming into our room with toys blaring (Bless all you purchasers of loud toys for children not your own) every morning at precisely 6:30AM, sometimes a tad earlier but never later.... I don't know about you, but I HATE beginning my day this way. I like to wake up of my own accord. I could get up at 6:30 and be a completely pleasant person for the remainder of the day, but for some reason if I am bonked on the head by Spiderman's motorcycle or have Thomas's horn blown in my ear I tend to lose my composure for the remainder of the day.

If I am woken up, I'm crabby for pretty much the whole day, and then everyone suffers. If I get up (same time frame) on my own, I'm relatively normal. What is a girl to do?

Options:

1. go to bed at a decent hour and stop watching good TV shows (prime time starts at 10pm!)....ok, even mediocre television...side bar: I keep watching the "Hormiguero" show here in Spain, I have no idea what he's talking about most of the time...but the singing ant puppets make me laugh...

2. I could get up earlier than the boys.............um..............but 6:30 is my early.....

Ok, so I'm out of ideas....I think I'll read that book again....

Los Reyes Magos

Two posts in one day....woohoo!

We decided to keep the boys out late and see the Denia Three Kings Day parade! The parade consists of the kings docking at port, parading down the main street, throwing candy, a procession to see Mary and Jesus, and ends with more candy from the town hall building. And tonight little Spanish children will rush home to leave out their shoes in hopes that the kings will leave them gifts overnight!

It was a lot of fun! Here's a video the pics we took:

(Music: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen & We Three Kings by Barenaked Ladies)

Family Christmas Card 2008

Here's the 2008 Carr Christmas Card...video version!

Enjoy!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!: Notorious Missionary Now Becomes Nice Missionary!

I decided to be a "nice mommy" tonight. We made a pizza together. Not just me putting it together while they were running around the kitchen, both boys actually helped!

On Sunday evenings, our church runs a church service in a local hotel. We tried taking the boys to the meeting, but after just 2 tries we quickly learned that 3 church services were just too much for toddlers. So, now Bram, Jonas and I have an evening all to ourselves. I secretly love Sunday evenings with the boys, because it's just as much fun for me as it is for them. We usually do something with play-doh or build train tracks or lego towers, we watch a movie if one is on, and it's bubble bath night! So tonight I decided I would do the good mommy thing and let them put the pizza together. (I vowed to myself I would only correct their 'creation' if it wasn't staying on the pizza dough. I had to make myself leave the pizza the way it was created.)

There has been a flu/cold thing passing its way around our little community. Both the boys have had it already, and I think I'm now struggling through it. No matter how sick they are, I can't turn them down if they just want a hug and a kiss....

I have decided to take tomorrow to stay at home. The house needs cleaning, and I need a rest. So perhaps it'll get clean, but it's entirely likely that the house will be in the same state it is now at the end of the day tomorrow.

Question: What do you do to take care of yourself (mentally/spiritually)? I was reading a preview of a book ("Absolutely Organized: Moms Guide to a No Stress Schedule & Clutter Free Home: A Mom's Guide to a No-stress Schedule and Clutter Free-home " by Debbie Lillard) off of Amazon UK website. And in the page you could read she suggests that most moms begin the day by dressing and feeding children, running them to school, etc...that they take no time to prepare themselves for the day. She said that you could have a better day and feel less frazzled if you just get up 30 minutes before the house's earliest riser to take some time for yourself...it seems like a nice idea, but is it realistic? Just wondering what some other moms do to ensure they take care of themselves...