I want to be a mom who says yes to reasonable requests and opportunities that work into our daily life. It is so much easier to do in the summer time without as much of a school routine, although we do school year round.

A couple of nights ago, Missy E asked if she could get up early and make blueberry muffins for breakfast. She has spent the last few years working alongside me in the kitchen, but has only done a little cooking independently. She checked to see if we had all the ingredients we needed, and we discussed the recipe. She ground the wheat into flour before she went to bed so as not to awaken anyone early. I said “Yes!” to her making very homemade blueberry muffins!

I had pulled an all nighter the night before, so I went to sleep as soon as we finished discussing her blueberry muffin plan, and I was sleeping hard when I heard before 7 am “Mom! There’s a fire!” Nothing says “Good morning” like being jarred awake by the tone of concern and the word “fire.”

Dr. P had tackled our enormous burn pile of brush the entire day before, but it had rained much of the night. Still, I was sure she meant the burn pile was on fire. I ran to the deck in search of flames outside, ordering her to grab the phone in case I needed to dial 911. She said “No, Mom. Over here.” And she pointed to the kitchen. She explained that she had started preheating the oven, but nothing was baking yet. She’d heard a buzzing sound while she was filling muffin tins, and then noted a flame on the heating element in the oven. Sure enough, the heating element had caught fire.

I shut off the oven, and still in a sleep fog just stared at the flame. After a few seconds I realized that it would probably be wise to shut the oven door, and then the flame went out. Dr. P found a piece of foil on the oven heating element and cleaned up a few spills on the oven floor. He turned the oven back on, but it would only preheat to 345º, and it took quite a long time to even get to that temperature. Missy E baked her muffins, but I have a feeling Dr. P should have taken her and her muffin batter to Grandma’s to finish up. I suspect we need a new stove.

Later, once I’d had coffee, we enjoyed her retelling of her problems and her use of problem solving skills to find solutions. Dr. P told me that while mixing the batter, Missy E had run out of canola oil. She had asked him if it would be okay to use olive oil to make up the difference. She had thought through a solution to her problem, and only needed to verify that it was a good solution.

Missy E told me that the recipe called for honey, but there wasn’t enough in the cabinet. She pulled one of my cookbooks off the shelf and looked up substitutions for honey. The cookbook said to use granulated sugar and some water. We don’t use granulated sugar, and she didn’t realize that our granulated sucanat with honey would have worked. She re-consulted with the cookbook substitution chart and found that she could use brown sugar, or in our cabinet, brown sucanat. Again, she encountered problems, thought through solutions, and verified with a sound source.

She didn’t want to wake Mom unless it was an emergency. Flames in the oven constituted emergency, and Mom heard the plea for help even from a sound sleep! We’re thankful we were home when the oven malfunctioned!

Who knew she would face such challenges in her first independent spin with baking!? In spite of all her troubles, her muffins were delicious and we were blessed by her breakfast and dedication to making it.

Blueberry muffins (photo courtesy of pixabay.com

I’m thankful I chose to be a “Yes Mom,” even if we have to replace our stove.

Rainboots, Umbrellas, and Puddle Stomping
“Yes Mom” took no photos of her own. Thank you, Pixabay.com.

Later this same day, the children were squabbling. I sent them out to play. It was raining gently, and they were reluctant to go out. A-Grape asked if they could use their umbrellas and stomp in puddles.

It was just raining, not a thunderstorm, and it was warm out. It felt good to say “Yes!” It was fun to watch from the window, too. Maybe next time I’ll be able to join their puddle stomping!

What request can you say yes to today, even if it’s not ideal or perfect?

On Monday, I’ll share an idea and an opportunity! Stay tuned!

Blessings, 

From Yes Mom, Deb