My son has an artistic flair that he feels everyone should appreciate. Everyday he tries to apply his artistic sense all over my house. Noah loves to rearrange things and add his own personal ( though not delicate) touch. Like today... my three beautiful children are playing school in the kitchen. Then I hear Grace say," Noah did you do that all by yourself? Momma is not gonna like this." So I leave the room I'm working in to find that my little Picasso has added his flair to the dishwasher, wall, and counter tops with a big, black crayon!!!! SO after telling my dear little artist what a bad choice it was I sent him to his room for a timeout. Then I spent the next 10 minutes scrubbing the entire kitchen down. This was no small piece of art.
Earlier this month I discovered that he had redone our play room by pulling everything out and moving it into other rooms. Oh, and did I mention the time that he had hidden a piece of chalk from me and colored the couch pink WHILE I WAS IN THE ROOM reading a book to Olivia. I do try to give him lots of opportunities to find a outlet for all this pent up "creativity", but he always manages to go above and beyond.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
First Love Letter
Grace comes home the other day and wants to sit down with me a talk. So we walk over to the living room and plop ourselves down. After a little while she looks at me and smiles. "What?" I ask her. "I think John Tyler is cute!" AHHHHHH! She did not just say that. I can't believe that my first grader has her first crush. What happened to the good old days where boys were gross? Well I didn't say that to her I just smiled and replied, " I bet he is." Then she is off running around the house with her pixie like mischief. Later she came to me asking for a pencil. I found her one and watched as she sat down on the stool at the counter. Then I went about my business cooking dinner. A little later she ask, " How do you spell John Tyler?" I tell her and ask why. "Oh, because I am writing him a note." " You are? Why?" I ask. "Well..." she smiles. "He is my friend." " Do you mind if I ask what you wrote him?" She stands up and through grinning teeth says "It says,'John Tyler I like you." She then presents the note for me to see. Upon reading her note I have to leave the room for laughing, not wanting her to think I was making fun of her. When I recovered I walked back in the room to explain to her that she has a misspelled a word that would cause great confusion if she gave him the note. It read John Tyler I lick you. She had added a "c' and dropped the 'e' changing like to lick. I don't think that would have went over well at all or communicated her feelings. She really laughed hard at her mistake thankfully. Then Jason And I had a heart to heart about boys with her. Wow, I can't believe I'm having to have the talk about letting boys do the pursuing already. They grow up so quickly. Lord help me!!!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Potty Training
There is nothing like having a toddler. Every day they discover something new and everything is a grand adventure. But those adventures can be very troublesome for adults. The mess that I have to clean up and the danger that I have to keep him from can leave one feeling tired and overwhelmed sometimes. But there are those moments when they discover something that will leaving you chuckling about it for days.
Yesterday was one of those days. It all started a few weeks ago when my family and I had to make a quick trip home to Georgia. Now you have to understand that Noah has been potty trained since around May, but he has never done it the "big boy way " and stood up to "go". Well on this trip there is about an hour stretch where there is not on off ramp. It is just a log wooded road. It so happened that on this stretch that Noah really had to "go". So Jason pulls over to the side of the road and lets him "go" standing up. Well this amazed him and opened a whole new world to him. So since then we have been letting him "go" like a big guy. Things have been going great with this even to the point that we let him go into the bathroom by himself when he needs to use the potty.
Yesterday the kids were playing in the other room when I hear Noah shout, "I gotta go potty!!!!" Then he runs into his bathroom. So I walk down the hall to check on him. There I find him like a good boy standing on his stool using the potty. Then he does something odd. He stopped what he was doing and checked over both shoulder to see if anyone was watching him. ( He could not see me.) Noah then proceeds to spray down the entire bathroom while making firetruck noises. "Woooooo, woooooo..." he says as he hoses down the bathtub and sink. Of course I pop into the bathroom where he can see me and put an end to his fire fighting day dreams. And after I cleaned up the mess and talk to him about his bad choice I had a good laugh at his little escapade. Oh the joy of potty training a boy.
Yesterday was one of those days. It all started a few weeks ago when my family and I had to make a quick trip home to Georgia. Now you have to understand that Noah has been potty trained since around May, but he has never done it the "big boy way " and stood up to "go". Well on this trip there is about an hour stretch where there is not on off ramp. It is just a log wooded road. It so happened that on this stretch that Noah really had to "go". So Jason pulls over to the side of the road and lets him "go" standing up. Well this amazed him and opened a whole new world to him. So since then we have been letting him "go" like a big guy. Things have been going great with this even to the point that we let him go into the bathroom by himself when he needs to use the potty.
Yesterday the kids were playing in the other room when I hear Noah shout, "I gotta go potty!!!!" Then he runs into his bathroom. So I walk down the hall to check on him. There I find him like a good boy standing on his stool using the potty. Then he does something odd. He stopped what he was doing and checked over both shoulder to see if anyone was watching him. ( He could not see me.) Noah then proceeds to spray down the entire bathroom while making firetruck noises. "Woooooo, woooooo..." he says as he hoses down the bathtub and sink. Of course I pop into the bathroom where he can see me and put an end to his fire fighting day dreams. And after I cleaned up the mess and talk to him about his bad choice I had a good laugh at his little escapade. Oh the joy of potty training a boy.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The country hostage taker
Monday was quit a day at our house. It started out as any other day. I got the kids up and ready and sent Grace off to school. Then after we made the beds Olivia and Noah snuggled up on the couch with me to read a few books. When they had tired of that they ran off to play in our back room. I sat down to check my email and noticed that the heat index for the day was only in the upper 80's. This was a great treat since lately it has been in the 100's and kept us from playing outside most of the summer. So I quickly put shoes on everyone and we went out to play on the front porch. I was so nice. I mean there was a soft breeze and Olivia and Noah were chasing the cat around the porch just having a great time. What could be better.
Then it happened.
The cat jumped off the porch to investigate a small sound. Not thinking much about this I turned my attention to the kids who were now playing with their chairs. But something was off. It is very unusual for Kit (our cat) to leave when the kids are outside. Then I heard an strange noise in the bushes right next to me. I leaned over the railing to see what the cat was doing. He was in strike mode. Uh oh, I thought, he is about to get some poor squirrel or something. That's when I saw what Kit had cornered in our bushes. It was a raccoon! Thinking of all the horror stories I have heard about raccoons and rabies I jumped out of the swing and told Olivia and Noah to run inside. They just looked at me like I was crazy. I mean from their point of view we hadn't been out long at all. So they don't move. At this point the raccoon jumps onto the porch with us. I fling open the door and yell ," Run inside!" This only made made both kids scream. Finally Olivia dashes in the door, but Noah is frozen with fear and won't budge. I tell him a second time to come in quick. But its too late! The raccoon runs in the house and over to Olivia. I'm thinking at this point how am I going to get this thing out of the house. It goes right up to her a starts sniffing her leg. Before I can get to her she goes hysterical and lets out a banshee of a scream that sends our furry visitor right out the door. Whew, at least it isn't in the house.... but wait... now Mr. Raccoon runs straight for Noah. Noah starts jumping up and down crying. I run to snatch him up before he scares the poor thing so bad that it attacks him. After I pick him up I dashed inside and slammed the door.
You would think that that would be the end of it, but no. The raccoon refuses to leave and parks itself on my door mat. We were being held hostage by a small raccoon. Kit tries to come to our rescue ,but it was to no avail. He gave our cat such a wallop that Kit went running off into the field beside our house not to be seen or heard from for a while. I'm not sure when Mr. raccoon decided to leave, but by three o'clock that afternoon it was no longer there.
Thank goodness we were all OK...even our cat. But isn't that how life is? We get held captive and become frozen with fear by the small things in life. We are all held hostage by small things in our life... things that just don't wont to leave or things that we are unsure of... is it dangerous or harmless? We don't know, but it sure does send us screaming and running to a safe place. Thankfully were serve a God who is better than animal control. He can run those things off and free us from our captivity... if we only call on him and ask for help.
Then it happened.
The cat jumped off the porch to investigate a small sound. Not thinking much about this I turned my attention to the kids who were now playing with their chairs. But something was off. It is very unusual for Kit (our cat) to leave when the kids are outside. Then I heard an strange noise in the bushes right next to me. I leaned over the railing to see what the cat was doing. He was in strike mode. Uh oh, I thought, he is about to get some poor squirrel or something. That's when I saw what Kit had cornered in our bushes. It was a raccoon! Thinking of all the horror stories I have heard about raccoons and rabies I jumped out of the swing and told Olivia and Noah to run inside. They just looked at me like I was crazy. I mean from their point of view we hadn't been out long at all. So they don't move. At this point the raccoon jumps onto the porch with us. I fling open the door and yell ," Run inside!" This only made made both kids scream. Finally Olivia dashes in the door, but Noah is frozen with fear and won't budge. I tell him a second time to come in quick. But its too late! The raccoon runs in the house and over to Olivia. I'm thinking at this point how am I going to get this thing out of the house. It goes right up to her a starts sniffing her leg. Before I can get to her she goes hysterical and lets out a banshee of a scream that sends our furry visitor right out the door. Whew, at least it isn't in the house.... but wait... now Mr. Raccoon runs straight for Noah. Noah starts jumping up and down crying. I run to snatch him up before he scares the poor thing so bad that it attacks him. After I pick him up I dashed inside and slammed the door.
You would think that that would be the end of it, but no. The raccoon refuses to leave and parks itself on my door mat. We were being held hostage by a small raccoon. Kit tries to come to our rescue ,but it was to no avail. He gave our cat such a wallop that Kit went running off into the field beside our house not to be seen or heard from for a while. I'm not sure when Mr. raccoon decided to leave, but by three o'clock that afternoon it was no longer there.
Thank goodness we were all OK...even our cat. But isn't that how life is? We get held captive and become frozen with fear by the small things in life. We are all held hostage by small things in our life... things that just don't wont to leave or things that we are unsure of... is it dangerous or harmless? We don't know, but it sure does send us screaming and running to a safe place. Thankfully were serve a God who is better than animal control. He can run those things off and free us from our captivity... if we only call on him and ask for help.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Can you say that in English
My two year old son loves to talk. I mean it is none stop. When ever he is quite, look out because you know that he is up to something. He also speaks incredibly well for his age. Most words come out crystal clear. However there are those time that he needs an interpreter for you to fully grasp the full meaning of what he is saying. This past week was one of those times. My husband had traveled up to Cartersville, Georgia to take care of some family business for a few days and we all went along with him. While we were there Jason and I took one of his brothers to dinner and we left the kids with his mother. After we were gone Beth had taken the kids outside to play and their uncle Jeff had stopped by with his daughter. For a long time Noah had been playing great. That is until they got out the bug spray. The mosquitoes were feasting on everyone. So Beth sprayed all the kids down and sent them back to playing. After only a few minutes Noah came running back to them and spouted off his request. Well Beth and Jeff had no clue as to what he was saying so they asked him to repeat it. He did very cheerfully. They still didn't understand what he was asking for. So Noah repeated himself several more times. Each time he had to repeat himself he got a little more indignant. And each time Beth and Jeff got a little more frustrated since they really wanted to know what he was saying. Finally Noah had had it. He looked them square in the eye and said, " What I mean is I aunt sum ore ug ay!" He put his hands on his hips speaking as slow and enunciated as he could. Well Beth and Jeff still had no clue as to what he was asking, but at this point they were laughing hysterically at him. The first part of the sentence came out clear as a bell, but the rest was just gibberish to them. Noah was indignant. He thought he was speaking so clearly. I mean how could they not understand. Beth told us later that he was looking at them like they were slow because they just couldn't get it. Finally they understood what he was asking when he pointed to a bug bite on his leg. " I want some more bug spray."
This applies so well to our lives. Many time we think that we couldn't be any clearer, but those around us still misunderstand us and misinterpret what we say. I think some times we all needed an interpreter and a little grace. Let try to find the humor in those moments and work through it until we all come to an understanding.
This applies so well to our lives. Many time we think that we couldn't be any clearer, but those around us still misunderstand us and misinterpret what we say. I think some times we all needed an interpreter and a little grace. Let try to find the humor in those moments and work through it until we all come to an understanding.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Rain, rain go away...
One of the best days of my life happened on the weekend before Easter. Our church was planning an Easter egg hunt for our community. We had about 3,ooo eggs, the jumpy inflatables, food, great give aways, I mean the works. It was going to be amazing. Then around Wednesday of that week we had bad news. The weather report was for severe storms. Our church rallied together and we began to pray. We knew that this egg hunt needed to happen. Not only would it be a lot of fun for the kids in our community, but we were going to present the Gospel! Well each day we would check the weather, and each day nothing changed.
That Saturday morning we woke up to a down pour. I mean it was raining cats and dogs! But my sweet husband would not be derailed. He just knew that we were suppose to do this egg hunt. So he called the workers for the event and had them meet him at the football field up at the high school where we were going to do this. They spent a couple of hours in the rain hiding eggs, setting up the booth, laying out the prizes, and cooking the food. In hopes that by the time they were done the rain would have stopped. Well when they were finished it was still raining. Then when 9:00 rolled around I loaded our kids up in our van and headed to the egg hunt. My kids were in the back with their baskets and umbrellas asking how we were going to hunt eggs in the rain. I had no idea.
At this point the rain has slowed down to a slight drizzle, but dark threatening clouds loomed in the distance. When I got there I told Jason that this was crazy and dangerous. I mean what if some one got struck with lightning! There were several families that had come and were waiting in their cars to see if we were going to have it or not. Jason finally decided that enough was enough and that we would have to claim defeat. So he told the on lookers that we would just have to cancel and that he was sorry.
Well my kids were just devastated to say the least. They began to cry and I began to make promises about what a good time we would have hunting eggs at our house...so on and so forth. About that time the rain stopped and several more cars pulled in. Jason could not turn people away while the sky was dry. So he rallied everyone together and said that while people are here lets do this! So we did.
Our Children's Pastor told all the kids about Jesus and how he died for us. Then we let the twenty something kids that had stayed hunt down all 3,000 eggs. I mean their baskets where overflowing, kids where stuffing eggs into their pockets, in their mom's purse, if it would hold something it had eggs in it.
But that's not even the best part. The next Sunday was Easter Sunday and service had come and gone with out really much ado. Over lunch I was kind of grumbling to Jason about how on Easter Sunday of all days a person should give their life to Jesus and how I didn't understand why no one had. I mean our friend Josh had baptised like over 100 people that day. That's when I heard Grace ask, "What do you mean get saved?" Jason explained to her that it meant that you believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He had died to wash all our bad choices (or sins) away and that a person who got saved was asking Jesus to forgive them and to always be their friend. " Oh," she said " I did that last week."
"You did!"
"Yea, when Pastor Jeff was telling us about it at the egg hunt he said close your eyes and raise your hand if you want Jesus to live in you heart. So I put my hand over my heart ( she is reenacting this by the way) and said 'Jesus I want you to take my bad choices away. Then I lifted my had up to Him and said 'here Jesus I want you to have my heart' and I gave it to Him to keep."
Well at this point I am in tears. My sweet little girl really got it. And in her simplicity she knew what most of us adults have a hard time getting. Its about saying sorry about our bad choice and giving Jesus our heart to hold. Because lets face it he does a better at job keeping it safe than we do.
Well my husband sat down and talked to her to make sure she really understood what it meant. Which she did. I can tell you there isn't a day that can match my baby girl giving her heart away to Jesus...except the day the I did. I am so grateful that my children are choosing to follow Him!
Now I think what if we had sent everyone home, cleaned up the eggs, and said 'oh well'. What a shame. Because I would not have that dear memory. Sometimes I think we let rain get to us and we never press on to something we are suppose to do. So my advice is lets play in the rain!
That Saturday morning we woke up to a down pour. I mean it was raining cats and dogs! But my sweet husband would not be derailed. He just knew that we were suppose to do this egg hunt. So he called the workers for the event and had them meet him at the football field up at the high school where we were going to do this. They spent a couple of hours in the rain hiding eggs, setting up the booth, laying out the prizes, and cooking the food. In hopes that by the time they were done the rain would have stopped. Well when they were finished it was still raining. Then when 9:00 rolled around I loaded our kids up in our van and headed to the egg hunt. My kids were in the back with their baskets and umbrellas asking how we were going to hunt eggs in the rain. I had no idea.
At this point the rain has slowed down to a slight drizzle, but dark threatening clouds loomed in the distance. When I got there I told Jason that this was crazy and dangerous. I mean what if some one got struck with lightning! There were several families that had come and were waiting in their cars to see if we were going to have it or not. Jason finally decided that enough was enough and that we would have to claim defeat. So he told the on lookers that we would just have to cancel and that he was sorry.
Well my kids were just devastated to say the least. They began to cry and I began to make promises about what a good time we would have hunting eggs at our house...so on and so forth. About that time the rain stopped and several more cars pulled in. Jason could not turn people away while the sky was dry. So he rallied everyone together and said that while people are here lets do this! So we did.
Our Children's Pastor told all the kids about Jesus and how he died for us. Then we let the twenty something kids that had stayed hunt down all 3,000 eggs. I mean their baskets where overflowing, kids where stuffing eggs into their pockets, in their mom's purse, if it would hold something it had eggs in it.
But that's not even the best part. The next Sunday was Easter Sunday and service had come and gone with out really much ado. Over lunch I was kind of grumbling to Jason about how on Easter Sunday of all days a person should give their life to Jesus and how I didn't understand why no one had. I mean our friend Josh had baptised like over 100 people that day. That's when I heard Grace ask, "What do you mean get saved?" Jason explained to her that it meant that you believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He had died to wash all our bad choices (or sins) away and that a person who got saved was asking Jesus to forgive them and to always be their friend. " Oh," she said " I did that last week."
"You did!"
"Yea, when Pastor Jeff was telling us about it at the egg hunt he said close your eyes and raise your hand if you want Jesus to live in you heart. So I put my hand over my heart ( she is reenacting this by the way) and said 'Jesus I want you to take my bad choices away. Then I lifted my had up to Him and said 'here Jesus I want you to have my heart' and I gave it to Him to keep."
Well at this point I am in tears. My sweet little girl really got it. And in her simplicity she knew what most of us adults have a hard time getting. Its about saying sorry about our bad choice and giving Jesus our heart to hold. Because lets face it he does a better at job keeping it safe than we do.
Well my husband sat down and talked to her to make sure she really understood what it meant. Which she did. I can tell you there isn't a day that can match my baby girl giving her heart away to Jesus...except the day the I did. I am so grateful that my children are choosing to follow Him!
Now I think what if we had sent everyone home, cleaned up the eggs, and said 'oh well'. What a shame. Because I would not have that dear memory. Sometimes I think we let rain get to us and we never press on to something we are suppose to do. So my advice is lets play in the rain!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Hearing from God
This happened a few months ago so please allow me to digress.
It is every mother's dream for their children to grow up to be independent and hear from God. When this happens you know that they will be OK because the choices that they make are based on obedience to what God has said. You just never expect really to hear the words "God told me" to come out of the mouth of a kindergartner. I don't know why it comes as a surprise really. I mean we pray that they will know God at a young age, that God will use them, but when a six year old comes home saying God has spoken to them we doubt the authenticity of this. Why? I guess sometimes we doubt the power of our prayers. Now the following story is completely true, but weather or not Grace really heard from God... I guess only time will tell.
It was late spring when Grace came home from school full of excitement. "How was you day?" I asked as I picked her up from school. "Good," she replied. I could tell she had something to say so I pressed her farther. "Soooo, what happened to day?" That's when she spilled the beans.
"God spoke to me today!" she blurted out.
"Really?! What did he say?"
"Well, I was laying on my mat at nap time and God told me who I was going to marry."
"Really?"
"Yep, I was looking at John Tyler and God said, 'Grace you are going to marry John Tyler'."
"God, Told you that?"
"Yes."
"How do you know that it was God?"
" Because I heard him in my thoughts .... and I just knew it was him."
"OK, well you have a LONG time before you have to worry about that. So lets keep praying about it and wait and see."
"OK, but I know what God told me."
Thankfully she is only six so I don't have to worry about wedding bells anytime soon. But it really thought me something about myself. If I pray that my children will hear God and obey him...then I should expect to hear them tell me that they have heard from Him. Now I'm not saying that God told her who she was going to marry, but I'm not saying he didn't. Only she knows if she did. And if in 20 years she does marry him then I know she did hear from Him. I just have to keep praying that they will hear and obey, and that all other voices will be silenced.
It is every mother's dream for their children to grow up to be independent and hear from God. When this happens you know that they will be OK because the choices that they make are based on obedience to what God has said. You just never expect really to hear the words "God told me" to come out of the mouth of a kindergartner. I don't know why it comes as a surprise really. I mean we pray that they will know God at a young age, that God will use them, but when a six year old comes home saying God has spoken to them we doubt the authenticity of this. Why? I guess sometimes we doubt the power of our prayers. Now the following story is completely true, but weather or not Grace really heard from God... I guess only time will tell.
It was late spring when Grace came home from school full of excitement. "How was you day?" I asked as I picked her up from school. "Good," she replied. I could tell she had something to say so I pressed her farther. "Soooo, what happened to day?" That's when she spilled the beans.
"God spoke to me today!" she blurted out.
"Really?! What did he say?"
"Well, I was laying on my mat at nap time and God told me who I was going to marry."
"Really?"
"Yep, I was looking at John Tyler and God said, 'Grace you are going to marry John Tyler'."
"God, Told you that?"
"Yes."
"How do you know that it was God?"
" Because I heard him in my thoughts .... and I just knew it was him."
"OK, well you have a LONG time before you have to worry about that. So lets keep praying about it and wait and see."
"OK, but I know what God told me."
Thankfully she is only six so I don't have to worry about wedding bells anytime soon. But it really thought me something about myself. If I pray that my children will hear God and obey him...then I should expect to hear them tell me that they have heard from Him. Now I'm not saying that God told her who she was going to marry, but I'm not saying he didn't. Only she knows if she did. And if in 20 years she does marry him then I know she did hear from Him. I just have to keep praying that they will hear and obey, and that all other voices will be silenced.
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