Lately Olivia (18 months old) has gotten into dressing up. She finds whatever she can, and finds a way to wear it:

It’s not Halloween yet, but she’s into her brother’s Power Ranger mask:

The other day, our friend Nina came over to play with the girls, and all three of them had fun dressing up:

Yesterday, I was as undressed-up as I could be. I was ALL ME. And it wasn’t pretty. I was tired, and I had run out of being patient with our kids. When Annie kept getting out of bed for her naptime, I let her know (and probably the neighbors too) how I felt about it. Between our house church, and the Gospel Concert event we had that evening, I had several short and not sweet yells at one child or another.

During the gospel concert, I was sitting there and remembered what our friend and psychologist Jack Anderson has said — that there are times when you need to pretend. You might not feel like showing love at the time, but if you pretend, and practice doing it, it can become real. (This isn’t an exact quote, but general idea). I wasn’t happy about who I was yesterday with our kids. There’s something about being real and genuine; but there’s also something important about the times when our real self can’t be loving but we can put on love, like Paul says:
But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)
The Message says, Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
I’m a lot more fun to be with when I put on love, even when I don’t feel like it. Hopefully it will become more and more real. Oh…I need to play dress up more often!