Raising Roses

Kids. What a little word. What a big responsibility. Raising kids is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I thought about using the words “most challenging” for that last sentence, but “hardest” seems more appropriate. Sometimes when I write something funny about my children it’s to help me keep my sanity!

There are so many things I want to get right in raising these little people I’ve been entrusted with. I know I won’t get everything right because we live in a fallen world. But, I want to pick the most important things.

One of those things that I deem as “most important” is encouraging a child to grow in the interests God has given them. There are things we choose to like, and then there are those things we are born to like. You can’t help it and no one can take it away.

I have two little sisters whose artwork puts me to shame. I can’t draw a decent stick figure to save my life! But they, they breathe art in many forms. And it’s gorgeous. My parents recognized their “interests” from God, built them two art rooms, and have invested many dollars into their training. I want to be that. I want to see what God has given my children and help make it happen.

I read an advice column in a Christian magazine where a dad had written in about his son. He said that he had a son that was so interested in sports that it trumped everything else. No one else in the family was into sports at all, and this particular dad thought that sports were, perhaps, a bit evil. He thought he should pull him away from everything sports, and immerse him in what the family was interested in. The advice given to this man was this: “Buy a glove, and get out there and play with him before you lose your son.”

I totally got it. I like sports after all. There’s nothing evil about them as long as God is still first in your life. If your kid has a bent towards sports, let him play. Made perfect sense to me.

Let me introduce you to MY son. He is 9. He eats, sleeps, and breathes electronics. He has since the time he was born.

When he was very young he was fascinated with movies. I didn’t have so much of a problem with this except that he couldn’t pronounce the word “movie” for YEARS!!! Yes, I mean years!!! He said it, “booby.” Mom, “I want to watch a booby,” he would say.  It was ok at home, but he said it EVERYWHERE!!! I would gently correct him, “Say mmmooovviieee Zack.” He would say, bbbooooobbbyyyyy. We were at a friend’s birthday party when he was about 5. As the birthday child was opening her gifts I noticed all the moms were laughing and looking at me. I realized my son was saying excitedly, “Look! She got a cartoon booby, she got a cartoon booby!” What they found amusing, I found quite embarrassing.

He has since added computers, cameras, ipods, kindles, and video games to his list of interests. (He also now calls movies by their rightful name. Thank the Lord.)

I dislike electronics for the most part. I could live easily without a television. I’m sure video games are evil, and I couldn’t tell you the difference between an ipod and a smart phone. (Except I do know the smart phone makes calls…)

We were at a restaurant the other day and I pulled out my printed out coupon for the waiter. (I DO know how to print!) He came back to our table and asked if I might be willing to bring up the coupon on my phone for clarification. I looked at him innocently and said, “I don’t have internet on my phone.” He looked at me as if he didn’t know how to respond and said, “I’ll go talk to my manager.” I could just imagine him saying to his manager, “Sir, I think they must be Amish.” He should have been grateful that I actually have a cell phone!

This is me. I don’t understand my son. I want to tell him that electronics are bad, and he should have other interests. I could give him lots of suggestions. But, it’s in him. He has a bent and a talent towards those things. (I’m sure he could tell you the difference between a smart phone and an ipod. And we don’t own either!) Reality is, he probably will have a job electronically related.

Part of my frustration is that I am at a loss as to how to help him. Being a part of his life means I have to stretch out of my comfort zone. I may actually have to learn how a computer works. I don’t want to give him every electronic out there and say, “Go have fun.” I want to guide him to use his talents for God’s glory. I want to help him develop skills to get that great job he’s going to need some day. I want to be a part of who God made him. And for this I pray, “God, please help me.” 

Each one of our children has talents. I try every day to "notice" the talents in mine. A rose is a rose no matter what you do, but if you water it, give it sunlight, and maybe even a little Miracle Grow there's a good chance it will be a prize winning rose. I want prize winning children. God has given me the opportunity to help them get there. I plan to take it. Who's with me?!

It All Happened at Once.

It all happened at once....

I was cooking lunch, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup to be exact. Kade was on a stool diligently putting away the silverware and Elijah was quietly playing on the kitchen floor. The other two children were finishing up school. Time has been on my side today. Everything running quite smoothly. Especially for the late hour that I drug myself out of bed.

I suddenly realized that the silverware was no longer clanging. I turned around from grilling my grilled cheese to see Kade holding a piece of silverware suspended in the air, looking at the floor, and dry heaving over and over. I looked down. Elijah had scooted on his bottom across the kitchen floor leaving a trail of bright yellow stinky poop that was squishing out of his diaper. "Ahhh, what to do first," I thought. Kade needed to get OUT of the kitchen or I was going to have TWO messes to clean up. He couldn't though, because the "yellow trail" went the entire length of the kitchen. (That little guy is fast!) He would surely throw up if he tried to step over it, especially at the rate his dry heaving was coming now. I quickly picked him up, told him to close his eyes, and deposited him in the other room.

I came back to find Elijah still scooting around in the kitchen making matters worse. I started to change him and realized that a bath was definitely a nessecity. I stuck him in the tub,  (He was super happy with these turn of events, as he loves baths.) got him cleaned up and dressed, and put him far away from the kitchen. When I finally got the whole mess cleaned up, I noticed to my dismay that my stove was still ON!! (Don't tell Dan.) In the confusion I had forgotten to turn it off. I guess on the bright side, if the house had burned down I wouldn't have had to clean up the mess on the floor......

I do LOVE my every day life.

Election Day

Soooo, it's been awhile since I've written. Mainly because I've been sickly. When you don't feel well, everything goes. I didn't blog, clean house, make dinner, do laundry, or anything else I'm supposed to do. My family did a good job of keeping up with what they could. Now that I'm better (praise God!) I am trying to catch up on everything I didn't do.

 Does one ever really catch up?? Every time I do laundy, SOMEONE in my family wears clothes AGAIN! Every time I do the dishes, SOMEONE is HUNGRY!! Every time I clean the bathroom, SOMEONE has to GO!!

Election Day was yesterday. I consider it my duty to teach my children how our country, and the election process works. I thought of  leaving the kids with my mom while I went to vote, but decided it was important for them to see how voting works. So, I took all four of them with me (during school hours, of course) into our local city hall. Now, we live in a town of about 850, out of which 825 are over the age of 60. So we are an oddity no matter what time of day we choose to go vote. I was proud of the kids. They were very well behaved and took everything in while quietly looking on.

 It was later on that  I found out what Rylie was thinking about. She said to me, "Mom, did you peek at the ballot of the guy sitting next to you to see who he picked?" I told her, "Of course not! People don't want you to see who they voted for." She said, " I would have peeked, I can't help it." 
I guess it's a good thing she's not 18 yet.....

I do hope my kids learned something this year about the election process in America. Mostly though, I hope they understand that we live in the GREATEST country in the world, and grow up to be citizens proud to be Americans. It is with that pride that will come responsibility to keep our nation great.

The Sickly Blues

I'm sick......again. I don' have just your normal virus, I have Mastitis.....again. I've had it once a month for the past three months. Each time seems to get progressively worse. If you've never had it, it's hard to describe. It's like a very painful flu virus. My baby is just shy of 9 months old. In the midst of my pain, I've decided that it's time to wean him. That's what logic tells me anyway. I can't be sick 3 or 4 days every month. My heart says it's too early. He's too young. Formula smells bad. I cry when I think of it,  not knowing what to do.

My kids have gotten where they are quite responsible when I am down in bed. Zack fixed everyone breakfast and annouced to the others that, "Mom is sick. When I tell you to do something, you need to do it right away without complaining!" Wonder where he got that line? He came and got the baby out of bed and carried him (Oh my, I'm not ready for him to carry him around!) into the family room to play. All four of them took good care of each other and let me get some rest. They are such sweet children.

My dear brother stopped by after lunch and offered to take the kids home so I could get a nap. I said, "The baby too, right?" He said, "Really? He won't need changed will he?" Naaa. He'll be fine. Here's to hoping. I guess 22 yr. old brothers don't do diapers.

My husband is the best. He's a good man, but sometimes when I see a glimpse of his heart I fall in love with him all over again. I woke up in the middle of the night realizing I had Mastitis again. It put me in tears because I knew there was NOTHING I could do. All I could do was wait it out until morning and call the doctor. Dan gets up quite early to go to work. I know he needs sleep and the baby wakes us up once or twice a night. I rolled over and woke him up anyway to tell him my woes. I'm one of those people who need to "share" their discomforts in the middle of the night with others. (My parents could attest to this fact, as I woke them up many times as a child....and a teen....and a young adult.) My sweet husband turned over, wrapped his arms around me, and prayed for God's healing for me. And then he stayed awake and held me while I cried. He is a good man, and I am eternally grateful that God gave him to me. He wasn't able to fix my problem, but he made it a whole lot better.

I really don't have time to be sick. There is so much to do every day when you have 4 children. But, I guess if I hadn't gotten sick I wouldn't know how big, responsible, and helpful my kids are becoming. I wouldn't know how thoughtful my brother is when he doesn't have to be. And I wouldn't have had a glimpse of how much my husband cares for me. Thank You Lord for reminding me of the many things I have to be grateful for in my life.

I DO love my everyday life.

I keep forgetting to bring in a new box of Kleenexes from the pantry. This morning it backfired on me.

 “Kade,” I said, “Would you go get me a long piece of toilet paper?”  He runs off obediently to the bathroom.  He never brings me a long piece, so that’s why I specify. This time it’s semi long. I start to wipe my nose and realize it’s a bit damp. You never know with Kade.  “Kade, why is the toilet paper wet?” I ask.  I was hoping for the, “I got my hands wet, and then touched it” scenario.  “It drug through the water,” he replies.  Now I’m desperately hoping for the “wet sink” scenario. “What water?” I bravely ask. “The toilet, ” he says.  Of course it did. I’ve  just wiped my nose with potty water. 

Good thing I cleaned it last week sometime…..

Duck Dust and Other Such Things....

I was thinking about duck dust tonight. Duck dust. This is the term my mom used to use (frequently) when she was sure the dirt in her house was from our duck. I'm not sure how an outside duck created duck dust in the house, but it was kind of a catchy phrase.

We never meant to have this duck. A friend of ours daughter found a duck egg when they were walking by the lake one day. Our friend didn't know what to do with it, and didn't want to disappoint her daughter, so she suggested that they take it to the pastor's family. (My family was known for taking in orphaned animals.) They brought us the egg. My dad thinking there wasn't a chance in the world this egg would ever hatch, stuck it in the incubator just to make everyone happy.

Wonder of wonders, the duck hatched. It was sooo cute! And it thought all of us were his parents. He followed us everywhere just like ducklings follow their moms. We all loved this duck. If we were out working in the yard, or playing, there was the duck right at our feet. Even after he grew up he was a great pet, loving to be anywhere the family was. The only complaint was, of course, the aforesaid "duck dust."

 At the time we were having problems with ticks in the yard. One day my dad decided to spread Diazinon to get rid of the ticks. My mom suggested he put the duck away, but my dad said it would be fine. Well, our dear pet followed my dad around as he put the Diazinon out.....eating the Diazinon. Shortly thereafter we went out to find him dead. Yes, d..e..a..d.. dead. Not a good day. My little sisters were young at the time and especially attached to the duck. My dad decided since they were not home, it would be a good time to go ahead and bury the duck. He was hoping to save them from  the trauma of seeing their pet dead.

WRONG!!!! When my sisters got home and found out, they cried and cried and cried. Allison's biggest complaint was that she didn't even get to say goodbye! She repeated this over and over and over.....while crying. Finally my dad did the only thing a good dad could do. He took them outside and dug up the dead duck. After they said, "good bye" and had a proper funeral, he reburied the duck.

I have told my family, when my dad dies, we are to be sure Allison has seen him BEFORE we bury him.  I'm not as nice as my dad........

THUNDERBOLT!!

We have a new pet as of today. It's a roly poly. That's my kind of pet.The cage is small, he doesn't eat much, and probably will escape sometime soon.  Kade came up to me after he found his pet and asked me if I knew what his name was. I said, "no." He said, "Thunderbolt." I cannot think of a better name for a roly poly.
 He asked me if I knew why he named him that. Again, I had no clue. He said...."Because he's SUPER FAST!!" I tried not to laugh. Honest I did. But, I couldn't help it. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I asked him if he had ever seen him move. He told me he pulled his head out once, and then put it back. It probably was fast. The little thing's scared to death.
I'm in charge of Thunderbolt. I'm to watch him and care for him. I'm thinking of being his hero. There has to be numerous ways to escape out of a jar. Thunderbolt will thank me, and I'm sure Kade will find his brother, Lightning!