Many years ago, a close friend of mine gave me a very special gift for a birthday. Because she knew it was my favorite dessert, she simply made me a plate of Rice Krispie Treats. It was such a small act, but it meant so much to me. Even to this day, I remember it as one of the best birthday gifts I ever got. It showed that she really knew me and wasn't concerned about money or anything, but wanted to get me a gift that I would love. Something personal.
Tonight I was sitting watching TV in my living room. One of my twin boys was scared, so I let him come sleep on the couch by me. A few hours later, the other twin woke up and wanted to know why he wasn't allowed to sleep on the couch. As I was holding him in my arms and watching the other one asleep on the couch, I was overcome with gratitude. When God gave me twins, He gave me such a personal gift. I have always had this fascination with twins. I kind of assumed it was in everyone, and to some point I think it is. When I married my husband, an identical twin, I thought it was ironic. I put some sort of connection between my fascination and the fact that I ended up marrying Him. Knowing God and that He has a plan for me, it's very easy to put a connection there.
Once I started having kids, I wanted twins, more for the fact that it was a "two for one" sale. Two babies, nine months, what could be more perfect? When it didn't happen the first or second pregnancy, I thought it just wasn't going to happen. I'm not even sure I expected it with the first or second, but I think I had my hopes up that one day the doctor would say, "oh look, it's twins". It wasn't the slightest bit of an expectation by my fourth pregnancy. If anything, we were having a fourth to even things up and be done.
The point is, I feel like they are such a gift from God. Not just a blessing like other things, but a personal gift suited just to my personality straight from God. Just like those Rice Krispie Treats given to me for my birthday.
What a personal and amazing God He is. It's amazing when you feel like God, the creator of the universe, has reached down from heaven and done, or spoken, or given something directly to you. You! A measly speck in the span of all time. He is amazing and worthy to be praised!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Heat Wave!!
After a week of 90+ temps and sitting through a little league baseball game this afternoon, I am so thankful for air conditioning. We live on the second floor of a house and have a window air conditioning unit for the main living space of our house. In temps like these, it barely keeps up, but even still, I am thankful! It's a roaster out there today!
___________________________________
I was sitting at the computer the other day next to one of my sons, when he asks, "What is sex?". I immediately am thinking, where did this question come from!!! Then I noticed that the computer was on the homepage for Facebook and on the main page are the fields to register. One of them is 'sex', referring to gender. WHEW!! Tough question averted!!! Made me laugh afterwards!
__________________________________
I have officially been asked by one of my children to no longer share stories about them. At first, I was like, really??, but I want to honor their request, individuality, and dignity, so I will oblige. I have a good friend to tries to tell all her stories in a gender neutral way without identifying which child, and now I can better understand why. I will try resorting to that on my posts.
It's interesting, because when I heard this request, I thought about the book of Luke. When reading the first few chapters of Luke, I was struck by how many times it said "And Mary hid these things in her heart". I didn't understand why it emphasized that so much. I think Mary realized there would be a proper time to share stories about what was happening with her and her Son. Just as this child has requested me not to share stories, in their proper time, they may not mind as much. They will understand that I share stories because they were cute and not to embarrass them. Probably not totally related, but that's what it made me think of.
_________________________________
We celebrated a great fourth of July. A friend invited us over for back yard fireworks from their neighbor. Everyone was raving about how great this guy's show was and that it rivaled any city fireworks they had seen. We went and checked it out. After getting completely poured on for a little bit in a heat storm, we got to see the show. Wow!!! It really was as good as everyone said. This guy must put quite a bit of money into this every year. We were thankful that the kids got to see some fireworks (after our city fireworks got rained out the previous night) and enjoy it with close friends!!
Guess that's all for now.... until next time!
___________________________________
I was sitting at the computer the other day next to one of my sons, when he asks, "What is sex?". I immediately am thinking, where did this question come from!!! Then I noticed that the computer was on the homepage for Facebook and on the main page are the fields to register. One of them is 'sex', referring to gender. WHEW!! Tough question averted!!! Made me laugh afterwards!
__________________________________
I have officially been asked by one of my children to no longer share stories about them. At first, I was like, really??, but I want to honor their request, individuality, and dignity, so I will oblige. I have a good friend to tries to tell all her stories in a gender neutral way without identifying which child, and now I can better understand why. I will try resorting to that on my posts.
It's interesting, because when I heard this request, I thought about the book of Luke. When reading the first few chapters of Luke, I was struck by how many times it said "And Mary hid these things in her heart". I didn't understand why it emphasized that so much. I think Mary realized there would be a proper time to share stories about what was happening with her and her Son. Just as this child has requested me not to share stories, in their proper time, they may not mind as much. They will understand that I share stories because they were cute and not to embarrass them. Probably not totally related, but that's what it made me think of.
_________________________________
We celebrated a great fourth of July. A friend invited us over for back yard fireworks from their neighbor. Everyone was raving about how great this guy's show was and that it rivaled any city fireworks they had seen. We went and checked it out. After getting completely poured on for a little bit in a heat storm, we got to see the show. Wow!!! It really was as good as everyone said. This guy must put quite a bit of money into this every year. We were thankful that the kids got to see some fireworks (after our city fireworks got rained out the previous night) and enjoy it with close friends!!
Guess that's all for now.... until next time!
Monday, July 2, 2012
I love change!
Yes, I am a person who loves change. I like to change things up just for changing's sake. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to better organize our clothes and all the in-between sizes that are stored and sorting laundry etc. I'm contemplating changing our walk-in closet into a family dressing room like the Duggars have. (I have not seen the Duggars, although I have heard from friends many times about it). The nice thing about our closet is that it used to have a hallway entrance as well as an entrance from our room. I think at one time it might have been a baby nursery. We closed up the hallway entrance when we were living in just the upstairs part of my parents house, pre-addition, because we needed a pantry desparately. We currently use that closet as a linen closet, but we actually have 3 linen closets in the house, so we can easily eliminate one. Only problem is there is "stuff" stored in the closet currently that would have to go somewhere in order to make all the clothes fit.
I'm also contemplating teaching piano lessons. I keep going back and forth on this decision, but I'm closer than ever to making the dive in to do it. This decision would require emptying out my office/school book room to put the piano in there for teaching. In order to find a place for the desk and book shelves to go, I was contemplating moving my boys rooms into our existing office/toy room, so all four boys would be in one room, moving my daughter to my older boys room and making the two bedrooms (my daughters current and twins current) office and school room space. This would require basically moving our entire house around. Hmm... I wonder how thrilled my husband will be about this??? LOL. We actually don't have all that much furniture, but still moving things around just gets crazy. We'll see. Maybe I'll spread it out over time.
___________________________
On another note, I am cooking bacon right now for cabbage and noodles for lunch. YUM!! In order to not get grease all over my clothes, I'm wearing an apron. I don't normally wear an apron in the kitchen so when I do, it makes me feel so domestic. Don't know why but it does and I love that feeling!!!
I'm also contemplating teaching piano lessons. I keep going back and forth on this decision, but I'm closer than ever to making the dive in to do it. This decision would require emptying out my office/school book room to put the piano in there for teaching. In order to find a place for the desk and book shelves to go, I was contemplating moving my boys rooms into our existing office/toy room, so all four boys would be in one room, moving my daughter to my older boys room and making the two bedrooms (my daughters current and twins current) office and school room space. This would require basically moving our entire house around. Hmm... I wonder how thrilled my husband will be about this??? LOL. We actually don't have all that much furniture, but still moving things around just gets crazy. We'll see. Maybe I'll spread it out over time.
___________________________
On another note, I am cooking bacon right now for cabbage and noodles for lunch. YUM!! In order to not get grease all over my clothes, I'm wearing an apron. I don't normally wear an apron in the kitchen so when I do, it makes me feel so domestic. Don't know why but it does and I love that feeling!!!
Friday, June 29, 2012
First Hit
While I was at the CHEO conference last weekend, my older boys each had a baseball game. My oldest decided for the first time to play baseball this year. At 9 years old, it suffices to say he is a little behind the other players in terms of experience. In spite of that, he has kept a great attitude towards the game and never once asked to quit or anything. Early on in the season, he realized that when he swung the bat, he rarely hit the ball; but if he didn't swing, he would generally get walked. So game after game, he was content just standing at the plate and taking what came. Often he would get walked to first and occasionally the pitcher would be able to strike him out.
We started working with him at home on batting. A few years ago we bought a pitching machine for my baseball lover, so it was a great tool to help in this situation. He got to the point that he was hitting the balls from the machine quite well, but still wouldn't take a swing at a game. Then the few times he did decide to swing he was still missing. We found that the pitching machine was always delivering strikes, but in little league, you're lucky if you get two strikes in a row. He continued to have a hard time judging the balls coming in. My phrase for him at each game became "today's the day!!" The other moms even picked up on it, and we all encouraged him to swing and try to get a hit.
So while I was at the conference, my parents took the kids to their games. My mom lifted up a prayer for him that he would have a taste of success and see how good it felt to have a hit. Side note... it never once occurred to me to pray for this. For a mom who prays for everything, I can't believe the thought never crossed my mind. Anyway, as you can imagine, God answered that prayer and gave him his first hit! He was so excited he called me at the conference to share his news. One of the other moms told him that his parents were never allowed to come to another game... LOL!
Well as great as that was, the next game he did not get a hit. So yesterday comes and he has a game and he decides he's going to pray for a hit. I asked him why he wanted a hit because God judges our requests by the intentions of our heart also. (James 4:3) I was afraid God wouldn't answer his prayer.
Lo, and behold, he got a hit in the game. He bobbled the ball just in front of home plate. Unfortunately he got out at first. I told him he needs to be specific when he prays. God answered his prayer by giving him a hit but it wasn't in the way that my son expected.
I think it's great that God is gracious like that. He answers the prayers of the young to show them he cares for them even when it's insignificant. I was excited too that I got to see him get a hit!!
We started working with him at home on batting. A few years ago we bought a pitching machine for my baseball lover, so it was a great tool to help in this situation. He got to the point that he was hitting the balls from the machine quite well, but still wouldn't take a swing at a game. Then the few times he did decide to swing he was still missing. We found that the pitching machine was always delivering strikes, but in little league, you're lucky if you get two strikes in a row. He continued to have a hard time judging the balls coming in. My phrase for him at each game became "today's the day!!" The other moms even picked up on it, and we all encouraged him to swing and try to get a hit.
So while I was at the conference, my parents took the kids to their games. My mom lifted up a prayer for him that he would have a taste of success and see how good it felt to have a hit. Side note... it never once occurred to me to pray for this. For a mom who prays for everything, I can't believe the thought never crossed my mind. Anyway, as you can imagine, God answered that prayer and gave him his first hit! He was so excited he called me at the conference to share his news. One of the other moms told him that his parents were never allowed to come to another game... LOL!
Well as great as that was, the next game he did not get a hit. So yesterday comes and he has a game and he decides he's going to pray for a hit. I asked him why he wanted a hit because God judges our requests by the intentions of our heart also. (James 4:3) I was afraid God wouldn't answer his prayer.
Lo, and behold, he got a hit in the game. He bobbled the ball just in front of home plate. Unfortunately he got out at first. I told him he needs to be specific when he prays. God answered his prayer by giving him a hit but it wasn't in the way that my son expected.
I think it's great that God is gracious like that. He answers the prayers of the young to show them he cares for them even when it's insignificant. I was excited too that I got to see him get a hit!!
Monday, June 25, 2012
CHEO and more
It's been a busy week. A pretty good one too. I got a chance to go to the CHEO (Christian Home Educators of Ohio) conference this weekend. Heard some great messages and was greatly encouraged. Have you ever had a message that you knew changed your perspective on a topic when you heard it? Not a temporary change, but an overall adjustment to the way you think. I've actually had 2 life-changing messages in the past week. A rarity, I know. One of them was at the conference. A speaker by the name of Voddie Baucham spoke about "Harvard or Heaven". My homeschooling perspective has been largely focused on academics. Obviously, a big portion of homeschooling should be focused on academics, right? That's the purpose of school. But it shouldn't be the sole focus. I pulled my children out of the public schools because they were being bombarded by opposing thoughts and world views before they were old enough to handle it. Obviously, I want my children to grow up and love the Lord too. With 4 boys, my goals are certainly that they will go to college to get good jobs to be able to provide for the families they will hopefully eventually have. However, what God calls us to, as I was reminded by Voddie, is to prepare our children for heaven, not college. His other big point was if you are going to send your child to college, do it wisely. Make sure they are "college material" and are getting a degree in something that requires a college education, not jewelery making or other "fluff" degrees.
The other life-changing message I heard last Sunday was from a man named Norm Wakefield. His message entitled "Live to Love" was different than anything I've ever heard I think. To love as Christ loved means to love expecting nothing in return. So many of our relationships have expectations of the other person and when they don't live up we get frustrated and even find them 'hard to love'. When our children don't listen, I find myself getting frustrated because they aren't doing what I want them to do. He makes a point that the more 'useless' a person is to you, the more valuable they are to you because you have the opportunity to show them Christ's love and grow that character in yourself. I've been trying to keep this in mind when my children push me 'over the edge'. I need to love them not expecting ANYTHING in return.
Last year, God really worked on my faith. Leaving my job was a big step for me because it went against everything I logically could think for life. This year God has been pruning my character very strongly. While it seems like we are often reminded of sins and faults we have, I feel God pushing me to repent and make big changes in the way I view life and others. I feel very blessed! God disciplines those He loves!
____________________________
In other news.....
I've been scrap booking again. I love to do it. It is probably my #1 hobby. Unfortunately though, right now I'm totally loving digital scrap booking. The problem is the cost is all deferred to the end of the project. When working on traditional books, you can buy paper and supplies a little at a time as you work on the book. It spreads out the cost and is usually overall cheaper anyway. My kids have been begging me to go back to the traditional scrap booking because they love the way the books look. They said it means more. I'm glad that it means anything to them at all, really. They love looking at their individual books. So I've been perusing my pictures getting ready to print some out to do some pages with my good ole scissors and punchers. I've also found some sites on the web that I can print 12x12 pages for around $2-3 a sheet instead of the $4-6 I've seen before. This way I can mix traditional pages and digital pages in the same book. We'll see how it goes.
One of the twins dropped their play Nemo phone in the toilet today. Lucky for me, it was pee filled. Ew! I tried my best to get it out with another object to no avail. Yep, had to stick my hand in the toilet. Ranks right up there as one of those loveliest mom moments.
This week is baseball filled. We have games Mon-Sat this week, alternating between our two oldest sons. Luckily, my husband is going to make a point to be available for some of them so I don't have to attend them all. I've attended over 20 games so far this season, so I'm kind of baseball'd out!
I hope you all have a blessed week!
The other life-changing message I heard last Sunday was from a man named Norm Wakefield. His message entitled "Live to Love" was different than anything I've ever heard I think. To love as Christ loved means to love expecting nothing in return. So many of our relationships have expectations of the other person and when they don't live up we get frustrated and even find them 'hard to love'. When our children don't listen, I find myself getting frustrated because they aren't doing what I want them to do. He makes a point that the more 'useless' a person is to you, the more valuable they are to you because you have the opportunity to show them Christ's love and grow that character in yourself. I've been trying to keep this in mind when my children push me 'over the edge'. I need to love them not expecting ANYTHING in return.
Last year, God really worked on my faith. Leaving my job was a big step for me because it went against everything I logically could think for life. This year God has been pruning my character very strongly. While it seems like we are often reminded of sins and faults we have, I feel God pushing me to repent and make big changes in the way I view life and others. I feel very blessed! God disciplines those He loves!
____________________________
In other news.....
I've been scrap booking again. I love to do it. It is probably my #1 hobby. Unfortunately though, right now I'm totally loving digital scrap booking. The problem is the cost is all deferred to the end of the project. When working on traditional books, you can buy paper and supplies a little at a time as you work on the book. It spreads out the cost and is usually overall cheaper anyway. My kids have been begging me to go back to the traditional scrap booking because they love the way the books look. They said it means more. I'm glad that it means anything to them at all, really. They love looking at their individual books. So I've been perusing my pictures getting ready to print some out to do some pages with my good ole scissors and punchers. I've also found some sites on the web that I can print 12x12 pages for around $2-3 a sheet instead of the $4-6 I've seen before. This way I can mix traditional pages and digital pages in the same book. We'll see how it goes.
One of the twins dropped their play Nemo phone in the toilet today. Lucky for me, it was pee filled. Ew! I tried my best to get it out with another object to no avail. Yep, had to stick my hand in the toilet. Ranks right up there as one of those loveliest mom moments.
This week is baseball filled. We have games Mon-Sat this week, alternating between our two oldest sons. Luckily, my husband is going to make a point to be available for some of them so I don't have to attend them all. I've attended over 20 games so far this season, so I'm kind of baseball'd out!
I hope you all have a blessed week!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Lotsa thoughts
I have a bunch of things on my mind today, so we'll see which ones come out in which order.... probably won't even get them all down. Here goes....
First a conversation I had with my son yesterday.
Mom: You know you really are handsome. (partially admiring the haircut I just gave him :) <long pause> I bet if you were nicer, the girls would really like you.
Son: I don't want girls to like me!!
Mom: Well then I guess it's working.
For whatever reason, this cracked my mom and I up after it happened. The boys had no idea what we were laughing about, so hopefully you all get it.
_______________________________________
I just got done cleaning up blood stains to my carpet. I was in the midst of a fiasco in the driveway when I come upstairs to a loudly crying son. My oldest tells me that one of the twins has a bloody nose. I'm looking as they are standing in the middle of my living room!! I yelled, get him off the carpet to which my older son, I think just processing, continues talking about what happened or how to move him. The problem was that he was still standing still. So I grab the twin and carry him to the bathroom and then instruct my older son to hold the kleenex until I come back upstairs. I go to the driveway and finish sorting out the fiasco and then return to make sure everything was okay. My little guy had been leaning over the couch to see out the window. The couch that has already been moved a foot plus away from the window so they don't climb over the back of the couch and ruin it. He slipped and cut his lip on the window sill. Then proceeded to drip blood every foot or so across the carpet until he stood still in the middle of the room where I had a large spot, then every foot or so from there to the bathroom. Thank God for Bissell carpet cleaners!! You can't even tell it was there!
In the process, I got to use my new vacuum that I purchased from an estate sale today. Was pretty excited about that. Had to vacuum before using the carpet cleaner, so now my rug looks all nicely brushed and clean. Gotta take the blessings where you can find them!! Also, thankful he didn't knock any teeth in the process of falling! Maybe now my constant nagging to not climb on the couch will stick.
_______________________________________
I have been very humbled the past few weeks by the Lord. I am thankful for his correction and discipline, but its always hard to look at yourself and realize how far short from His holiness you fall. As I mentioned earlier, I've been reading this book Homeschool Supermom... Not. It has been showing me some areas of trouble for me like self sufficiency and impatience. I have been living life on my own accord for a pretty long time and going to God only when it seems that I can't do something myself. Which isn't all bad, except that I have found myself failing miserably lately and wondering why I can't pull it together.
What this book has been pointing out it that when it comes right down to it, that is sin! I've also been realizing how prideful I've been over the years and how much I really found identity in my job. Now that I'm home and not feeling very good at what I do, I've been struggling with jealous thoughts and comparing myself with other people. This was something I never really struggled with before. I read someones blog today and thought, wow she takes awesome pictures. I read another site and thought, man, she has such a way with words. We got left overs from an event today and I thought what a talented family to the ones who made the food. Except that I'm not just happy that those people are talented in those ways, I'm almost frustrated that I can't do that. And I do mean can't. In most cases, I think it's just not the way I'm wired. So God has been showing me that I need to find my identity in Him and not in what I can do or not do. I think it's so awesome though that He DOES show us these things. That is the evidence of a relationship with Him and a moving forward in holiness and Christ-likeness. So as these sins are brought to light I pray that I would truly repent and realize I'm a daughter of God and that's what makes me special.
This seems like a good place to put a scripture relating to what I'm talking about. Except, you know what? I can't think of one. That's because my quiet times have stunk lately too. After being a Christian for almost 30 years, you'd think I'd be better about spending time with the Lord. Nope, this is an area that I have ALWAYS struggled with. One thing I do know, is when I'm feeling really down and out and somewhat lost on my path, I can directly relate those times to not being in the Word in a long time.
So, with the Lords strength, I'm trying to do better. Just know that He is your strength and you are special NOT because of anything you do, but just because you are His child!!! Be yourself and let God's light shine through you in who He made YOU to be!!
First a conversation I had with my son yesterday.
Mom: You know you really are handsome. (partially admiring the haircut I just gave him :) <long pause> I bet if you were nicer, the girls would really like you.
Son: I don't want girls to like me!!
Mom: Well then I guess it's working.
For whatever reason, this cracked my mom and I up after it happened. The boys had no idea what we were laughing about, so hopefully you all get it.
_______________________________________
I just got done cleaning up blood stains to my carpet. I was in the midst of a fiasco in the driveway when I come upstairs to a loudly crying son. My oldest tells me that one of the twins has a bloody nose. I'm looking as they are standing in the middle of my living room!! I yelled, get him off the carpet to which my older son, I think just processing, continues talking about what happened or how to move him. The problem was that he was still standing still. So I grab the twin and carry him to the bathroom and then instruct my older son to hold the kleenex until I come back upstairs. I go to the driveway and finish sorting out the fiasco and then return to make sure everything was okay. My little guy had been leaning over the couch to see out the window. The couch that has already been moved a foot plus away from the window so they don't climb over the back of the couch and ruin it. He slipped and cut his lip on the window sill. Then proceeded to drip blood every foot or so across the carpet until he stood still in the middle of the room where I had a large spot, then every foot or so from there to the bathroom. Thank God for Bissell carpet cleaners!! You can't even tell it was there!
In the process, I got to use my new vacuum that I purchased from an estate sale today. Was pretty excited about that. Had to vacuum before using the carpet cleaner, so now my rug looks all nicely brushed and clean. Gotta take the blessings where you can find them!! Also, thankful he didn't knock any teeth in the process of falling! Maybe now my constant nagging to not climb on the couch will stick.
_______________________________________
I have been very humbled the past few weeks by the Lord. I am thankful for his correction and discipline, but its always hard to look at yourself and realize how far short from His holiness you fall. As I mentioned earlier, I've been reading this book Homeschool Supermom... Not. It has been showing me some areas of trouble for me like self sufficiency and impatience. I have been living life on my own accord for a pretty long time and going to God only when it seems that I can't do something myself. Which isn't all bad, except that I have found myself failing miserably lately and wondering why I can't pull it together.
What this book has been pointing out it that when it comes right down to it, that is sin! I've also been realizing how prideful I've been over the years and how much I really found identity in my job. Now that I'm home and not feeling very good at what I do, I've been struggling with jealous thoughts and comparing myself with other people. This was something I never really struggled with before. I read someones blog today and thought, wow she takes awesome pictures. I read another site and thought, man, she has such a way with words. We got left overs from an event today and I thought what a talented family to the ones who made the food. Except that I'm not just happy that those people are talented in those ways, I'm almost frustrated that I can't do that. And I do mean can't. In most cases, I think it's just not the way I'm wired. So God has been showing me that I need to find my identity in Him and not in what I can do or not do. I think it's so awesome though that He DOES show us these things. That is the evidence of a relationship with Him and a moving forward in holiness and Christ-likeness. So as these sins are brought to light I pray that I would truly repent and realize I'm a daughter of God and that's what makes me special.
This seems like a good place to put a scripture relating to what I'm talking about. Except, you know what? I can't think of one. That's because my quiet times have stunk lately too. After being a Christian for almost 30 years, you'd think I'd be better about spending time with the Lord. Nope, this is an area that I have ALWAYS struggled with. One thing I do know, is when I'm feeling really down and out and somewhat lost on my path, I can directly relate those times to not being in the Word in a long time.
So, with the Lords strength, I'm trying to do better. Just know that He is your strength and you are special NOT because of anything you do, but just because you are His child!!! Be yourself and let God's light shine through you in who He made YOU to be!!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Dad's Power
I had the joy today of sitting in my house in a half hour of quiet! No really, I did! I'm finally to the point in my parenting where all the kids can play out in the back yard without constant supervision. I loved it! The kids have been into Power Rangers lately, so they had this elaborate PR game going on in the backyard. I kept checking on them through the back windows while I checked email in peace, loaded the dishwasher, browsed the web, and so on. It was heavenly! One of the twins keeps wanting to be able to play on the driveway, but I'm not quite ready to give that up without supervision. Even still it has been nice.
I was very thankful for my husband today. My strong willed son was giving me "mouth" about unloading the dishes for the second time today (God forbid, mom actually gets all the dishes done today). A task which he actually shared with his brother, so really it just adds up to ONE complete unload. Anyway, I assigned an additional chore, cause that's what we do in our house when chores are met with complaining... and we almost broke out into a complete argument. My husband walks in the room and voila... he's off to do the second chore! I used to get frustrated that the kids would listen to daddy right way and give me trouble, but now I'm just blessed that he is here. It's kind of amazing the "power" dads have just from their authoritative presence.
My husband and I recently had a conversation on our current parenting styles. It seems as of late that we are on different pages and it becomes very apparent in the midst of disciplining. Early in our parenting, we took a course to help us along the way. It was a christian course and we were very much helped by the info and real tactical stuff they had you do to have children that obey. As the years passed we realized some flaws and saw children that had been raised in this way straying from the "straight and narrow". I started researching info about this parenting class and others. We found ourselves not agreeing 100% with the theories that we originally learned. So we took the nuggets of gold from that course and have been parenting in other styles as of late. The nice thing about that class though was that we were on the same page. Now we often find ourselves not completely agreeing on level of discipline and degree of punishment. I want to say that one thing that has really helped was the book I mentioned a while back "You Can't Make Me... but I Can Be Persuaded" by Cynthia Tobias. It has revolutionized how we deal with our strong willed son. (Thanks to my dear friend who recommended it!) So long story short, my husband and I decided we needed a date night pow wow to discuss and come to an agreement. Any excuse for a date night works, right?
All that to say, I am thankful for dads and the role God has given them as Fathers. I am thankful for my husband and the awesome father he has been to our children. While we may disagree sometimes, he wants the best for them as much as anyone and loves them so much. He also wants them to grow up to love God and follow His ways. What more could you ask for!
I was very thankful for my husband today. My strong willed son was giving me "mouth" about unloading the dishes for the second time today (God forbid, mom actually gets all the dishes done today). A task which he actually shared with his brother, so really it just adds up to ONE complete unload. Anyway, I assigned an additional chore, cause that's what we do in our house when chores are met with complaining... and we almost broke out into a complete argument. My husband walks in the room and voila... he's off to do the second chore! I used to get frustrated that the kids would listen to daddy right way and give me trouble, but now I'm just blessed that he is here. It's kind of amazing the "power" dads have just from their authoritative presence.
My husband and I recently had a conversation on our current parenting styles. It seems as of late that we are on different pages and it becomes very apparent in the midst of disciplining. Early in our parenting, we took a course to help us along the way. It was a christian course and we were very much helped by the info and real tactical stuff they had you do to have children that obey. As the years passed we realized some flaws and saw children that had been raised in this way straying from the "straight and narrow". I started researching info about this parenting class and others. We found ourselves not agreeing 100% with the theories that we originally learned. So we took the nuggets of gold from that course and have been parenting in other styles as of late. The nice thing about that class though was that we were on the same page. Now we often find ourselves not completely agreeing on level of discipline and degree of punishment. I want to say that one thing that has really helped was the book I mentioned a while back "You Can't Make Me... but I Can Be Persuaded" by Cynthia Tobias. It has revolutionized how we deal with our strong willed son. (Thanks to my dear friend who recommended it!) So long story short, my husband and I decided we needed a date night pow wow to discuss and come to an agreement. Any excuse for a date night works, right?
All that to say, I am thankful for dads and the role God has given them as Fathers. I am thankful for my husband and the awesome father he has been to our children. While we may disagree sometimes, he wants the best for them as much as anyone and loves them so much. He also wants them to grow up to love God and follow His ways. What more could you ask for!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)