Guess who?
ROAR! It's Jacob!
Isn't he the cutest lion you've ever seen?Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Saturday Seven
1) I finally signed up for Facebook. After months of nagging from friends, I succumbed to the pressure and joined. It's good to be able to connect with friends and family, especially those I haven't seen in a while. I love looking at every one's photos. And I love the Farmville game. If I can't have a garden in real life, at least I can get my giggles out of this virtual one!
2) I love consignment sales! There was a huge one in my hometown this week and I got lots of great stuff! It's so awesome to get expensive, name brand clothes for just a few bucks! Because I volunteered to work, I was able to shop early. I shopped for, ahem, three hours! Can you believe it? And when my work shift was over, I ran back out on the floor and grabbed a couple of things I'd missed. Craziness, but such fun!
3) My husband is a natural born athlete. Really. Last night we went over to some friends house for dinner. After dinner, the kids and daddies went outside to play roller hockey. In-line skates, hockey sticks, and a little ball on a whole bunch of concrete. Sounds like fun to me! NOT! I would so be in the hospital with a broken something if I even attempted anything like that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Austin has never had on a pair of in-line skates but he took to them like a fish in water. He was rolling around on the concrete slapping that little ball around with the best of them. He amazes me! Oh, and his team won! Hopefully, our children have inherited his athletic nature because me......well, I have NO skills whatsoever!
4) Did I mention our friends have eleven children? Eleven. Six boys and five girls. Ages 17 to 5 months. And their mother is the sweetest, most joyful lady you'll ever meet. The children? They are SO incredibly sweet, happy, well-mannered, smart, well-behaved ...did I mention happy?.....just a pleasure to be around. They bless me so much to watch their interaction with each other and with our children. I am so thankful the Lord has allowed us to get to know them better and for our children to have such positive Christian influences.
5) Chloe has been telling everyone she's going to have 10 kids (as she holds up all ten fingers) when she gets married. Five boys and five girls. And she's going to cook for them. Today she told me she was going to live with me.....with her ten kids. I told her when you get married you live with your husband in another house. Especially if she's going to have ten kids!
6) Luke tells everyone (in his thick, country accent) "When we get some land, we are going to have some cows, and chickens, and roosters, and some bulls, and a tractor, and a bush hog, and a garden, and a hay baler, and a barn." Now that's some list! Obviously he hasn't grasped the whole "you have to have money" thing yet. If only it were as easy as making a list! Hopefully, we'll get there some day, little buddy!
7) Jacob rubs his tummy or his fingers when he's sleepy. It's the cutest thing to see. He's extremely ticklish anyway, which makes it funnier to me. At night, when I'm rocking him to sleep, he will pull his shirt up and rub his tummy really lightly with the tips of his fingers. If he's awake but getting sleepy, he will rub the fingertips of one hand over the fingers of his other hand. It's so sweet! I love it! I need to get the video camera out and capture it.....if I could only remember to charge the stinkin' battery!
2) I love consignment sales! There was a huge one in my hometown this week and I got lots of great stuff! It's so awesome to get expensive, name brand clothes for just a few bucks! Because I volunteered to work, I was able to shop early. I shopped for, ahem, three hours! Can you believe it? And when my work shift was over, I ran back out on the floor and grabbed a couple of things I'd missed. Craziness, but such fun!
3) My husband is a natural born athlete. Really. Last night we went over to some friends house for dinner. After dinner, the kids and daddies went outside to play roller hockey. In-line skates, hockey sticks, and a little ball on a whole bunch of concrete. Sounds like fun to me! NOT! I would so be in the hospital with a broken something if I even attempted anything like that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Austin has never had on a pair of in-line skates but he took to them like a fish in water. He was rolling around on the concrete slapping that little ball around with the best of them. He amazes me! Oh, and his team won! Hopefully, our children have inherited his athletic nature because me......well, I have NO skills whatsoever!
4) Did I mention our friends have eleven children? Eleven. Six boys and five girls. Ages 17 to 5 months. And their mother is the sweetest, most joyful lady you'll ever meet. The children? They are SO incredibly sweet, happy, well-mannered, smart, well-behaved ...did I mention happy?.....just a pleasure to be around. They bless me so much to watch their interaction with each other and with our children. I am so thankful the Lord has allowed us to get to know them better and for our children to have such positive Christian influences.
5) Chloe has been telling everyone she's going to have 10 kids (as she holds up all ten fingers) when she gets married. Five boys and five girls. And she's going to cook for them. Today she told me she was going to live with me.....with her ten kids. I told her when you get married you live with your husband in another house. Especially if she's going to have ten kids!
6) Luke tells everyone (in his thick, country accent) "When we get some land, we are going to have some cows, and chickens, and roosters, and some bulls, and a tractor, and a bush hog, and a garden, and a hay baler, and a barn." Now that's some list! Obviously he hasn't grasped the whole "you have to have money" thing yet. If only it were as easy as making a list! Hopefully, we'll get there some day, little buddy!
7) Jacob rubs his tummy or his fingers when he's sleepy. It's the cutest thing to see. He's extremely ticklish anyway, which makes it funnier to me. At night, when I'm rocking him to sleep, he will pull his shirt up and rub his tummy really lightly with the tips of his fingers. If he's awake but getting sleepy, he will rub the fingertips of one hand over the fingers of his other hand. It's so sweet! I love it! I need to get the video camera out and capture it.....if I could only remember to charge the stinkin' battery!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Silverware Lessons
Whining is not on my list of character traits I want for my children. Not that I have an actual list, but if I did, you wouldn't see whining on there. Nevertheless, whining sometimes happens around here.
I'll share what happened a couple of weeks ago:
Chloe was in a whiny mood. Just complaining in general about everything. I was emptying the dishwasher so I asked her to come into the kitchen and put the silverware away. She immediately started whining and telling me she was tired and didn't want to work, but she came anyway. She started putting the silverware away but she was whining and crying....sniffing really....the whole time. I calmly told her that if she didn't stop whining I would start putting silverware back in the basket, which would result in more work for her.
She continued to whine so I walked over to the drawer, took out a clean utensil, and put it in the silverware basket she was emptying. I ended up putting about six or seven clean pieces of silverware back in her basket, just as I said I would do. I never yelled, raised my voice, or showed any signs of stress. I tried to remain cheerful and indifferent. I would simply remind her that the more she whined, the more work she would have to do.
After seeing that whining was only making things more difficult for her, she stopped whining and actually started smiling and laughing. She quickly finished her job and went off to play; her whole countenance being changed.
It was vital that I follow through with exactly what I had said. If I had not followed through with the consequences, I would be teaching Chloe that I don't actually mean what I say. If I sometimes follow through and sometimes don't, I am sending mixed signals and my children will be confused.
If a child is given a cup at lunch and whines because he wants a different kind, (never happened here!) another cup should not be given. To lecture him and tell him to quit whining, only to turn around and give him another cup, would be the worst thing you could do. All you have done is reinforced the whining. He got exactly what he wanted and he got it by whining; never mind your lecture. This will only prove to him that whining is a way to get what he wants.
I love the following illustration given in To Train Up a Child.
If State Troopers ceased writing speeding tickets and instead started nagging and threatening, it would be tantamount to abolishing the speed limit. Picture a trooper pulling a speeder over and then explaining how sad it makes him feel for them to be going so fast. Can you see a trooper sitting on the side of the road shaking his fist and turning red in the face as each car sped by? Imagine him pulling a speeder over for the sixth time and saying, "Now, I am not going tell you again!" If this were the case then all law and order would break down into "every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
Parent, you can't blame your children if you have trained them to obey only after several warnings, threats, an ultimatum, and finally a gesture of force. It's not their fault. It's yours.
Parent, you can't blame your children if you have trained them to obey only after several warnings, threats, an ultimatum, and finally a gesture of force. It's not their fault. It's yours.
This excerpt is dealing more with obedience in general, but the point of speaking vain and meaningless words is what I'm after. Whether we intend to or not, we are training our children, either negatively or positively.
Patience and consistency are key in dealing with whining, as with all training issues; both of which I have to work at. It's often so much easier just to ignore or excuse the negative behavior, but that would not be fruitful for our children.
As parents we must constantly be looking beyond the outward actions and look at the attitude of the heart. We should always be striving for actions and attitudes that are Christ-like, both in ourselves and our children.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
My Three Sons
Remember that old TV show My Three Sons ? Come January, we could have our own version of that show....maybe "My Three Sons and a Girl." To put it plainly: We're having another boy!
For those of you who knew we were so determined not to find out the gender of the baby, let's just say I was having a very pregnant hormonal day. We actually didn't find out at the ultrasound appointment. The technician put the revealing picture in a sealed envelope. Obviously, that didn't last too long! I think my mom was more surprised that we actually found out what we were having than the fact we were having a boy
It will definitely be wild and crazy around here with three lively little boys! We will have to plant a garden just to feed them! Just last week I made homemade waffles (YUM!) for breakfast and Jacob ate THREE of them! And the child is only 16 months old! Little piggy! :)
My due date is January 11, although I haven't scheduled my c-section yet, so it will a little earlier than that. The pregnancy is going well. I'm so busy I hardly have time to think about it! Yesterday, while we were in the grocery store, Luke asked me why my belly was getting so big! It's funny to watch the kids try to wrap their little minds around the fact there is a growing baby in there!
We are so thankful for God's blessings in our lives and know He is sovereign in all things, even in giving this mama three boys. This mama who only had a sister, and no brothers, growing up! It is no small thing to bring an eternal soul into this world; to be responsible for teaching and training them. Our prayer is that God would give us wisdom and grace in raising these little ones and that, one day, they would each come to a personal saving knowledge and acceptance of Him!
For those of you who knew we were so determined not to find out the gender of the baby, let's just say I was having a very pregnant hormonal day. We actually didn't find out at the ultrasound appointment. The technician put the revealing picture in a sealed envelope. Obviously, that didn't last too long! I think my mom was more surprised that we actually found out what we were having than the fact we were having a boy
It will definitely be wild and crazy around here with three lively little boys! We will have to plant a garden just to feed them! Just last week I made homemade waffles (YUM!) for breakfast and Jacob ate THREE of them! And the child is only 16 months old! Little piggy! :)
My due date is January 11, although I haven't scheduled my c-section yet, so it will a little earlier than that. The pregnancy is going well. I'm so busy I hardly have time to think about it! Yesterday, while we were in the grocery store, Luke asked me why my belly was getting so big! It's funny to watch the kids try to wrap their little minds around the fact there is a growing baby in there!
We are so thankful for God's blessings in our lives and know He is sovereign in all things, even in giving this mama three boys. This mama who only had a sister, and no brothers, growing up! It is no small thing to bring an eternal soul into this world; to be responsible for teaching and training them. Our prayer is that God would give us wisdom and grace in raising these little ones and that, one day, they would each come to a personal saving knowledge and acceptance of Him!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)