gold, common sense and fur

[Teresa]

My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time)
for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby.

I decided to do some serious praying and promised God
that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother,
love it with  all my heart and raise it with His word
as my guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son.

The next year God blessed us with another son.

The following year, He blessed us with yet another son.

The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty.
We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old.

I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it.
As a minister once told me,
"If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children
each day as they lay in their cribs.

I was off to a good start.
God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed
two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks.

I tried to be understanding... when they started a hotel for
homeless frogs in the spare bedroom,  although it took me nearly two hours
to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and
rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog,
I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.

In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers,
never eating a hot meal  and never sleeping for more
than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother -
I didn't even come close...
I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told
my daughter we were going to church to worship God,
and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to
"wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when
I explained that God gave us everlasting life,
and my son thought it was generous of God to give
us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came during the children's
Christmas pageant.

My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds
and my youngest son was a wise man.
This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line,
"We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes."

But he was nervous and said,
"The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes."

My four-year-old "Mary" said,
"That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes."

A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd
and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost
her left wing.

I slouched a little lower n my seat when Mary
dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounce d
down the aisle crying,  "Mama-mama."

Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up
and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe
and a paper crown, knelt at the manger
and announced, "We are the three wise men,
and we are bringing gifts of gold,
common sense  and fur."

The congregation dissolved into laughter,
and the pageant got a standing ovation.

"I've never enjoyed a Christmas  program as much as this one,"
laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.
"For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the
Christmas story without thinking of
gold, common sense and fur."

"My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest
blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.