christianparenting

I just woke up from two dreams that involved my little girl getting away from me and chasing her down.

The first was that the circus was in town and my darling little five year old decided she wanted to join the circus and go live with them on the road. Apparently in the dream world, a five year old can make that decision. So after they had left I hopped in the car and chased them down the road, when they stopped I got in and begged her, tears an all to come home, which she did.

Then I dreamed my friend and I and her children were walking through the city and her daughter was pushing my daughter in the stroller. She was up ahead and took a wrong turn which led her and my daughter onto the side of a major highway, we kept calling but she couldn’t hear us and just kept walking. I chased them, running as fast as I could and woke up having not gotten her yet.

I’m sure these dreams are due to the fact that my daughter, who is my youngest, is now in school and is growing up and is not quite my baby any more.

Of course I woke up with her next to me (she usually sneaks in our bed sometime between the middle of the night and early morning) so I guess she’s not that far:)

So I have the two stereo types of the dirty little boys and my beautiful little girl. 

My husband and I frequently catch our five year old daughter staring at her self, smiling of course, in the mirror. She’s quite an admirer of herself.

At least she’s got good self-esteem.

I picked up a kids vanity with mirror at our church’s rummage sale. Well she just loves this. She put her brush and hair things in the drawers and she even decorated it. She took the picture of herself off my bureau and put it right there next to the mirror. So as she gazes at her self in the mirror, she can also adore her picture as well.

To be fair, she’s really not that bad, I just find it humorous.

But what I really want her to know is that “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
       but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)

We talk about being beautiful on the inside and how that’s what really counts.

She is a beautiful little girl and as she grows I pray that she develops the beauty within her that only God can give as she lives each day with him.

OK - so maybe not a scholar.

So maybe I’m just an overexcited mom.

The truth is, after years of…. “What did you learn about?”…..”Ummm, God, Moses, Jesus?”….”What about them?”…..”I dunno.” and then he’s off to do whatever he was busy at, my little boy seems to be finally comprehending and retaining what his poor teachers have been trying so hard to teach him as he wiggles around the room.

Actually,  he’s becoming a little arrogant about it, which we will deal with later. He’s now stopping the teachers and telling the whole story before they get a chance to.

One day I was subbing for his Sunday School class and while I was asking some review questions he answered every one and goes, “Man, I’m really on today.”

Hopefully his Bible knowledge will filter into his relationship with God and through his actions. But right now I’m quite proud.

We had some nice Mother/Daughter time yesterday when I took my five year old daughter shopping.

Of course this meant that we came home with Dora soup and Hannah Montanna granola bars.

Don’t they sound appetizing.

Truth is, you stick a recognizable character on a box or can and any child that is shopping with mom or dad is now hemming and hawing to get that item.

Mom or dad does not want a scene in the store. Decides this is not a battle worth picking at the time.

So you buy it, go home and add a nice decorative piece to your cabinet, who knows if they’ll actually eat it.

Gotta love marketing.

Though it’s not just talking about soups and granola bars, here’s an interesting bit from Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger:

“Perhaps the most demonic part of advertising is that it attempts  to persuade us that material possessions will bring joy and fulfillment. “That happiness is to be attained by limitless material acquisition is denied by every religion and philosophy known to man, but it is preached incessantly by every American television set.”

How true and how sad.

I’d like to try and break my addiction to more stuff and simplify my life. I’ve made some progress, though some-days not so much.

Hopefully I can teach my children as I go.

My five year old daughter came in looking like she needed a cuddle. So I picked her up and gave her a big hug.

Then I was wopped in the face with her toy robot (the new toy, not really new, but rediscovered from that hovering mound of toys in the back of the living room that I keep saying I’m going to sort through and donate, maybe tomorrow).

“Ow”

“He’s giving you a hug.”

“Oh” Of course.

Though my nose is a little sore I’m grateful for another chance to hug my daughter. I’m thankful that my sons (7 and 9) still let me hug them. Even at school when it’s time to say goodbye and their friends are around. I’m glad that their dad is not to proud to give them hugs and cuddles.

Have you hugged your kids today? Just make sure they’re not carrying a robot, maybe just a teddy bear. (My seven year old is reading over my shoulder as I write and he says, “Or other stuffed animals.”)

Alright, so I’m still learning with my five year old daughter learning to dress herself.

This morning she came out very practically dressed in a t-shirt and comfortable black pants, and in a very short amount of time, I might add.

I tried to compliment, “That’s a cute outfit.”

“Today is TaeKwon Do! You don’t look cute for Tae Kwon Do!”

“Oh, sorry.”

At least she was thinking ahead as this was at 8 am before school and TaeKwon Do was at 4:30 pm.

I am grateful that this outfit was practical and comfortable as they are not always, and that it did not involve much drama. This is mostly because my husband keeps reminding me when to pick my battles and when to just not accept an argument.

On a side note, I find it strange that I will argue with my five year old daughter when I would never let my boys talk back to me. Of course I think that has something to do with boys and girls as well. Funny how some things you seem to be born with.

Oh - and a little rant -we’ve been trying to “go green” and ride bikes as often as possible. Well, our TaeKwon Do place just started holding classes that are faith based (really cool - based on the fruits of the Spirits and loving God with your mind, body and soul, making Him a part of every part of your life) within biking distance. So our good friends and my family biked it. Here’s my rant - I live in a township that is very proud of it’s green initiatives and yet not all of it’s roads (and I mean main ones) have sidewalks! We have to adapt our root and ride a little farther to stay on sidewalks so my kids aren’t riding down main roads.

The kids are home from school today. Oh joy!

Of course, they have not yet discovered the well honed talent of sleeping in. They must rise as early as possible, to play video games, to read and to ask me for 5 million things at the same time.

I was still trying to finish my coffee (to which I add instant breakfast to for my chocolate fix and because who has time to sit and eat breakfast) When my oldest son (9 years) and my daughter are running through the house screaming and chasing each other and laughing. It was just too early, plus running and screaming through the house are not really the manners I want to instill.

They stopped, but what they didn’t know was the part of me that was thrilled they were playing together.

I love it when my children can be not just brother and sister but friends as well.

I pray that this will continue throughout their lives. That they can be each other’s role models, confidants and someone to lean on, along with being a best buddy to hang out with.

OK, so I am finally getting back in to my school time routine and schedule both with my family and my job.

As far as my job, I’m the Children’s Ministries Director of my church. In just this past week we’ve run a teacher training, kicked off our Fall Sunday School, I taught KIDS Church, we had a youth (kids and teens) service that I was asked to speak at times two for two services and last night was the first night of our midweek programs. Whew, I can now breathe, things are now running and in momentum and I have a great group of dedicated volunteers that are keeping us going!!!!

On the home front, school has started, we’re back to TaeKwon Do and midweek church programs. So far we’ve done pretty well biking to and from school and I’m trying to keep up with that. I’ve still been cookin away but really need to make a meal plan ASAP because our schedule is in full swing again.

I am now the proud mom of a forth grader, a second grade and a kindergartner! My daughter is adjusting well to kindergarten, though she’s a bit clingy when it’s time to go in, and I am adjusting REALLY well to having all my kids in school, can’t wait till she has full days next year! Just kidding, well not really:)

No, I was sentimental when she marched up the little ramp with her backpack almost as big as her. She was mad the first day because they didn’t get to play with toys. and she had to do “math”

“Well what kind of math did you have to do?”

“I had to write, ‘I went to the beach’”

OK, so she’s not a mathematician, but I’m sure she’ll do fine

There was a time when we lost many material things. We lost almost everything except each other, our family, and our faith (which is what pulled us through). Through many hard struggles I’ve learned to be thankful for what we do have, realizing that it would have been worse to loose them instead.

The other day in my devotion I read from Philipians and these verses just jumped out at me in Philippians 4:11-13 Paul says, “I am not saying this because I am in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

Those verses spoke so loudly and threw that lesson back in my face. I had learned what is truly important and I had learned that Christ would carry me through because he had, he carried my whole family.

I will admit, I still struggle and want to keep up with the Jones, but I’m trying to rather be content in any situation. God has truly blessed me with my husband, my kids, my family and friends, my church and most of all, He’s given himself so that I might truly live. What need do I have of more? Yet he does bless and provide, he has provided for our needs, not to keep up with the Jones but we’re still healthy and have each other and what we need.

My biggest struggle though is passing on this lesson to my children. I want so much for them not to be wanting or to feel less because they don’t have what their friend has. I wish desperately that I could provide a “better” life for them, but there I go teaching th opposite, teaching them to find happiness through their possesions.

I was pleased though, this past weekend, when I started their back-to-school shopping at the thrift store (both to save my wallet and the earth) that I didn’t get complaining, well my oldest wasn’t happy when I first told him about it but when I shared the reasons why (he got the consumerism  and carbon footprint lecture) he accepted it and in the end was thrilled with what I got him. When I pulled his “new” book bag out of the bag I got a “sweeeeet.”

Hopefully I can remember to not only be content and trust God, I want to teach my children this as well.

Lizards and Snakes and Ticks, Oh My!

Saturday’s family activity was a trip to the Pinelands Folk Festival in Estell Manor Park, NJ. The Folk Festival wound up to be more of craft show with bands playing. Though the kids loved trying cotton candy.

Plus my middle son now has a new life ambiton, he wants to earn a living by carving wood. We saw a man selling his carvings, which were really cool, of people and wildlife.

So, anywho, we decided to take a walk along the trails which is something we all enjoy. We did get to see a lizard, which I think was a skink, a small snake that I actually picked up because he wasn’t much bigger then a worm and several deer a bit off our path. So all in all it was a great walk.

However, as we were driving to another part of the park where the nature center was, my daughter announces from the backseat, and fairly calmly I might add, “I have little ticks all over me.” The boys looked down and found they did as well. They looked like moving freckles.

My husband pulled into the first parking site available and we scraped the little buggers off the kids as best we could with their clothes on.

Unfortunately, the nature center was closed by the time we got there but we did find a ranger who told us they weren’t deer ticks (Thank you God) but hatchlings. It was apparently hatchling season and the kids had walked past a nest. Oh joy.

She told us take them home, really scrub them down, wash their clothes and all rags and towels in hot water (which I did twice to be safe) and to freeze the shoes (in a plastic bag) over night to kill any on the shoes.

What a day of memories and bonding. Apparently bug spray doesn’t work on ticks because we were wearing it in case you were wondering