Please..

Dylan has moved to "rest time" instead of "nap time". This has given him the freedom to play quietly in his room, instead of stay in bed during the afternoon hour. He is definitely going to "rest time" more agreeably than naptime, but today he has trouble actually staying IN his room and finds every excuse to come out.

Typically I try to keep busy doing some chores around the house or feeding/taking care of Jocelyn if she is awake during this time, but today I am taking a few minutes for myself on the laptop since she's snoozing away. Dylan is cracking me up! He has come out 5 times to pee, once to poop (we just got a new Diego potty seat and he is enthralled with it, singing the theme song the whole time while sitting on it... I'm almost as excited as he is, knowing I won't have to clean Froggy out anymore!)

He has also come out dressed as Batman ("can you put my cape on, mommy?" - the answer was "go back into your room, please!")

Spiderman ("i'm having trouble zipping up the back..." - me: "go back into your room, please!")

The latest excuse was "i have a little bit of water on my foot from my drink and need to get a papertowel to wipe it off.." all said in a whisper with his finger wagging at me, as not to wake up his baby sister... it was so cute, i almost laughed outloud, but held back and instead said "go back into your room, please!!"

Now I must get packing because tomorrow morning we leave for Georgia to visit B-Paw, RaRa, introduce Joss to her great grandparents, and then Monday we take a short drive to Chattanooga to meet up with my sister and her sweet family! It will be a fun filled trip, for sure, knowing that I am taking both kiddos BY MYSELF.

Poor Kevin will be home in the very quiet house all weekend (well, maybe not that quiet... he'll probably play guitar and eat chinese take-out all weekend, reliving his bachelor days!)

Real Men....

... love Jesus. What does this look like?

Taking his family to church every Sunday?

A Jesus fish bumper sticker on his SUV?

Getting up early to spend time in God's Word?

Sure - these are all indicators of a real man, who loves Jesus. But let me tell you what I saw tonight that was a clear-as-a-bell indicator.

My husband has been sick.as.a.dog the last two days. Jocelyn came down with an ear infection Tuesday. Dylan started a sniffy nose, cough and tummy ache today. So far I have been spared, although I still have a reoccuring nausea that hits me every couple days in the afternoon (no I'm not pregnant... been tested, blood work and everything, and not sure what's going on there.)

So, Kevin drags himself in the house just in time tonight. Babies are freshly bathed, Jocelyn wrapped up in a towel on the bathroom floor and Dylan hunched over the toilet ready to lose his dinner. Daddy takes Jocelyn, puts on jammies and tucks her in to bed while I set Dylan up in front of the Steeler game with a garbage can, just in case (hoping the game will take his mind off of his bad tummy ache.)

Jocelyn is having a hard time settling down to sleep. Dylan proceeds to throw up. (Why oh why did I make him eat his green beans?! Gross!) Kevin is trying to finish his own dinner on the couch... Jocelyn ramps up her crying... so Kevin comes down on the floor to sit with Dylan (applying a cool compress to his feverish neck) while I clean him up, then go to rock Jocelyn to sleep.

"Sorry, honey... I know your sick and trying to finish your dinner... this can't be helping!" I say to my husband.

He replies "There is no place in the world I would rather be."

Straight faced.

No joking.

Iron stomach.

This is a real man, who really loves Jesus.

What does Jesus have to do with this?

Check out Philippians 2:3-5

"Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had."

Read on to learn something even more amazing... v.6-8

"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross."

Wow.

But that's not the end! v.9-11

"Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Real men love Jesus. They are servants at work and at home. Somehow God saw fit to have me marry one, and I am so thankful.

Give it to God

Women are major multitaskers. Especially in my role as a mother, I find myself constantly multitasking to get things accomplished all day. I can be fixing dinner, feeding Jocelyn, and making "Batman talk" all at the same time! Often times throughout the day, I need to put something down to take care of something else, then I come back and pick it up again. It occurred to me yesterday that I not only do this physically, but also mentally. I was at Target doing some shopping while my prescription was being filled. I received a bothersome text (very vague, I know, but the contents and sender are not important to the story) and I got upset, analyzing the situation, criticizing the sender in my head. At this point, I had to cut my shopping trip short, so I went to pick up my prescription. While at the counter, I mentally "put down" my bothersome problem in order to ask the pharmacist questions about dosage and side effects. Then as I walked out the door to the car, I proceeded to mentally "pick back up" the problem to mull over and process on the car ride home. Why am I explaining all of this? Because the strangest and coolest intervention of the Holy Spirit occurred as I was driving home. God asked me to "give Him the problem, and the person." He asked me why I picked it back up in the first place? Why didn't I just let it go, give it to Him, not let it affect my mood? There was a choice I had to make at this point. Should I give this to God and decide not to pick it back up again? Or would I hold onto it and cause others or myself to suffer the side-effects (road rage, short temper with my family, a milkshake at the drive-thru window). I decided, no matter how right I was and how wrong the sender was, I would give it to God. So that's exactly what I did. Can I tell you I have heard "give it to God" many many times in my Christian walk, but I don't know that I have actually ever done it! Most of the time I say I will, but instead I give it to my husband, or give it to a friend or family member. I unload on someone else, I vent. But this time I actually gave it right to the Lord. He honored this - when I arrived home, happy, my household reaped the benefits of a mom who was not bitter or distracted. It was wonderful and freeing! I can only hope to do this more often. God is big enough to handle these small issues that can become magnified and just ruin the whole day. If I truly trust God with my eternity, why can't I trust Him with the everyday stuff? It's about perspective. Surely I am just passing through this life, final destination HEAVEN. Don't sweat the small stuff. Give it away!

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Challenges, Blessings, Parenting

My life is full of challenges this summer. A 30-day declutter and organize your home challenge. A 90-day lose weight and run a 5k challenge. (tonight I discovered my 12 minute mile needs some serious improvement if I have any hopes of winning the cash prize for this challenge!) And of course the everyday challenges of keeping my relationship with God, my marriage, my kids and my home in working order. How about the challenge to spend less money (or should I say live on the little money we have to spend)? Eat more vegetables? Watch less TV? I'm getting tired just thinking about it! Or maybe I'm tired because it's 9:30 and I've been up since 5:30 am... either way, whew!!

My life is also full of blessings this summer. Dylan and Jocelyn are such a huge blessing to me. They are fearfully and wonderfully made - everyday I thank God for these two beautiful children that God has entrusted me to take care of and to raise.

Independence Day

We are also blessed to be part of an incredibly gracious, loving and generous church body. Our family is surrounded and supported by couples who exemplify Christian marriage, families who live out their faith, and fellow believers who challenge us to grow. I don't think I have to say this, but just in case... these families are not perfect and we shouldn't (and don't) look to other people for the ultimate example - we look to Christ because people are bound to fail us. But believers need each other to encourage, to challenge, to support, to correct and to provide opportunities to grow. We have that in our church family. It is a great blessing to be loved and to have the opportunity to serve as well. I would encourage anyone who isn't part of a local church body to consider being obedient to God in this and find a place to belong - He knows what's best for us after all!

Recently I had to bring Dylan into our sanctuary while the choir and orchestra were rehearsing for a concert to take place this Sunday night. There is childcare available, but because I had to wake him up from his nap and rush him to church he was pretty emotional and (on this rare occassion) didn't want me to leave him to play so I gave him the option to come and sit while we rehearsed. A few choir members approached me and Kevin after the rehearsal and said they couldn't believe he sat there for the whole rehearsal so well behaved! Honestly I didn't anticipate him NOT sitting, or else I wouldn't have brought him into the sanctuary in the first place because a 3 year old running around everywhere would have been too much of a distraction. But this got me thinking... so I'm going to post some things that have really worked while parenting Dylan that may help other parents with their children. Parenting isn't "one size fits all" but someone might benefit from this post and I know I'll look back on it while parenting Jocelyn and see some good reminders for myself. These are in no particular order... maybe I'll organize a little better in another blog entry. 1. Empathy and understanding

It's so important to try to put yourself in your child's shoes and be understanding. There are things that seem so little to us, but they are a big deal in their little worlds. I'm sure God feels the same way about us when we worry over things that are so little to Him... 2. Set expectations and follow-through This establishes trust, and that is the most important thing I've found that encourages obedience. For example, before going into the sanctuary I explained to him my expectations... he needs to stay in one place, he needs to stay quiet, and if he is unable to do those two things I will take him to childcare to play. Because I have stayed true to what I say in the past, he knew he could trust me to do what I said - and in turn, I could trust him to follow my instructions. 3. Be a student of your child If Dylan watches TV instead of getting some physical activity or mental stimulation first thing in the morning after breakfast, he is miserable the rest of the day. Since I know this about him, I rarely allow him to watch TV in the morning, and if he does, it's only one show for 30 minutes. Any more than that and he gets bored, lazy, and tends to be difficult. 4. A sleeping and eating routine = a happy child. When Dylan is hungry or tired, he is more likely to be cranky. So we have a routine and we stick to it as closely as possible every day. He wakes at around 7:30 and eats breakfast, we have a snack around 10, he eats lunch around 12 then nap around 1:30-2:00 until 3:30ish. We have an afternoon snack and then eat dinner between 5:30-6:30. Bathtime is 7:00 and bedtime is 8:00. Children are creatures of habit and they feel stable when on a schedule. If his blood sugar is regulated all day and he feels well rested, he is more alert and able to learn and play better. 5. Seek advice from other parents who have well-behaved and happy children. Surround yourself with great examples of encouragement. We aren't in this alone!! Many have gone before us and have tried things that worked, and things that haven't worked so learn from other parents! 6. Get creative And if you're not the creative type, go online and use ideas from creative moms or parenting blogs/magazines! Can't get your kid to want to practice writing his letters? Try this: Today we were playing "police officer" and there was an emergency at the farm! In order to rescue the animals from the burning barn, Dylan had to practice writing the letters to spell the animals' names - for example: PIG! We got to write PIG, COW, and CHICKEN. When he started to lose interest, I just encouraged him to finish the word we were working on currently then we could play something else. This gave him responsibility to follow-through, but still kept it fun. 7. Be a great example. If you want your kid to eat their veggies, then eat your veggies. Dylan was born a great eater... but I think the ways we've encouraged him to eat during some picky stages include keeping the dinner table a fun, relaxed atmosphere, requiring him to try something once (but if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat it) and feeding him exactly what we are eating but in his size and portion. Why buy him special white bread when we eat whole wheat? He's part of our family, so he should eat like he is. 8. Be your child's biggest fan. Try not to talk about your child - share embarrasing stories about them - in front of them to other people. I will have to admit this is something I need to work on (mainly because they are ALWAYS with me!) but have respect and cheer your child on. It will encourage them to shine!

9. Practical consequences

This is something I am learning, and let me say it works like a charm! Instead of threatening a spanking or putting your child in time-out all day long, give practical consequences. For example, your child throws his toy at you. Give a warning: Don't throw your toy at me or anyone else, it could hurt someone. If you throw your toy again, you will lose your toy. Then follow through! This is another example... Dylan was goofing off while going up the stairs a few months ago. I told him he could fall and get hurt, so stop goofing off. He decided not to obey, so he lost his priviledge to walk up the stairs and I carried him up instead. This was a big deal for him - he wants to be independent and do everything himself. The next time he tried this, I warned him he would lose his priviledge to walk up the stairs and sure enough, he straightened up right away! 10. Do the hard work early.

This is probably the most important one. Don't be under the impression that everything your child does at a very young age is because your child is just "at that age". Teach morality from the very beginning. Set expectations. Don't allow too many freedoms, because freedoms are much easier to give than to take away. Start early and be diligent - you will reap the rewards of all your hard work!

Most importantly.... Pray - God loves us and have given us the Holy Spirit to counsel us and help us throughout the day. Ask God to give you everything you need to parent your child in a way that will honor Him. He will answer that prayer on a moment to moment basis throughout the day. I have this verse at my kitchen sink. It is a great encouragement to me every day and I hope it will encourage you, too!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time

we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9