Blessings and Fulfillment

Yesterday was busy and fulfilling.  I can’t help revel in the fact that God has blessed our family so much and I get to take care of these amazing guys!

Little Cainan was feeling under the weather so I decided to keep him home with me—something that would not have been a simple decision were I still working.   Most of my plans for the day were home based but I did need to run a quick errand to the store after dropping off Asher.  Cainan tagged along and was in a pleasant mood.  In the car on the way home he asked for some music and when Bruno Mars rang out through the speakers singing “Just the Way You Are” Cainan asked if it was a song about God (we listed to a lot of Christian music and he likes songs with God in them).  I was explaining to him that Mars was singing about a woman he loved, that he felt she is beautiful just the way she is and doesn’t need to change anything.  She is perfect to him.  Cainan nodded and said, “Just like you, Mommy.  I love you just the way you are.  You're perfect and Daddy, too and Asher.”

Could anything make a mother’s heart happier or more proud? It’s wonderful to see that our sons are growing to be so considerate and loving.  I thank God every day for having these boys in my life and blessing me with motherhood.  We continued on our way home and he rested up so he could go back to school today.  

Asher, on the other hand, was a whirlwind yesterday.  He’s enjoying kindergarten so much.  After picking him up from school I had my hands full with keeping him occupied.  We worked on his homework, then I had him draw a special Fall/Halloween picture that we made into a placemat, then he was busy building a Lego city…

While he was occupied in the house, I stepped outside for something and tiny bit of movement on the ground caught my attention.   A big, fat, uniquely colored caterpillar was crawling for all it’s worth across a patch of dirt in our yard.  I yelled for Asher to come outside and grabbed his caterpillar basket (a cylindrical, netted, hanging basket we got for the purpose of watching caterpillars cocoon and hatch into butterflies).  He plucked the big guy from the ground and put him in the basket.  We peered closer at the caterpillar and noticed it had two little dots on its head that made it look like it had eyes and a dark and light band toward the back of its head.  I jumped on the internet and together we were able to identify the thing as a Papilio rutulus, which will turn into a Western Tiger Swallowtail.  

 

 

I was so excited! I’ve never caught a real butterfly caterpillar in the wild before.  All the little brown and green caterpillars Asher’s been so diligent in collecting this summer seem to turn into some variety of moth or just die…  This guy’s actually going to be a butterfly!  So he’s in the basket with plenty of fresh vegetables to eat and a bushy tree branch for him to attach to when the time comes.  I really hope he makes it. 

Asher was so excited, he came back inside the house and drew a picture of the caterpillar.  He did a really great job too!  I’m really impressed with how much his drawing and coloring skills have taken off in the last month.  It’s become one of his favorite past times of late.

We finished off our satisfying day the best way.  Joe came home and we had a fantastic family dinner with his parents, my mom and my grandpa over to join us.  I’d prepared a slow cooked pot roast that came out spectacularly, along with carrots, potatoes, fresh corn on the cob and super ripe garden tomatoes.  We even got to spend some time laughing with friends later in the evening.

I’m grateful for all the blessing I have but days like yesterday just fill my heart to its bursting point.