December has been super busy as always, but life around here continues to be filled with fun and laughter thanks to our silly kids who say the zaniest things. Sometimes they are goofy, and sometimes they are profound. This post will serve as a recap to help me remember some of those simple yet sacred moments with the kids. I will also try to include a few quotes or Biblical reflections that impacted me this past month.
Kids' Cute and/or Clever Quotes and Amusing Actions
While flipping through the World Vision
catalog, the kids and I tried to select a few farm animals to buy for
needy families. I suggested a pair of chickens for eggs or goats for
milk and cheese. The 6-year-old insisted that we buy cows, "so they can
have milk and more importantly, steak!"
*Okay so I realize steak comes from beef cattle and not milk cows, but I think at age 6, he was doing well to know that steak does not come from some animal called "steak".
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Our 6-year-old is sounding more and more like he could be left-brained like his mama. Lately, he seems to really enjoy trying to persuade me with logical arguments. For example, one evening while hugging him, I noticed that I could feel all of his ribs and thought maybe I should try to help him gain a little extra weight. So I asked him when he ever felt hungry enough to possibly eat an extra meal.
He replied, "
Early in the morning before breakfast. I know you say plain cereal is better
for me than Honey Nut Cheerios, but plain Cheerios only have 100
calories per serving while Honey Nut Cheerios have 120 calories, so
please set out some Honey Nut Cheerios?"
I guess he reads cereal boxes during breakfast like I did as a child.
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Two days later, the kids and I were shopping at Dick's Sporting Goods for shoes for my orthopedic challenged feet. My son asked me
for some new shoes. I answered, "You already have shoes, and those are
too expensive."
He answered, "These are only $45, but the shoes you are buying are over $100. How are mine too expensive?"
I could have explained that his feet will outgrow those shoes soon while mine will not. Or I could have explained that my feet no longer function properly because that's what happens when you run competitively for over 20 years with a crooked spine and have tons of scar tissue from difficult child births causing misalignment of the hips and knees which affects one's gait. And that's also what happens when your 40th birthday is staring you in the face.
I could have also added, as my engineering friend put it, "I am the mommy, and you are
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Our left-brained child also seems like he may grow up to have an aptitude for economics. While grocery shopping with me this week, I enjoyed listening to him, out of the blue, explain that "It's impossible to
get a free lunch because someone always has to pay for it."
Kids are sponges, so I guess he remembered that concept from the book Penny Candy, which he read with his dad last spring.
Ever since I studied the theories of classical education during my years as a homeschooling mom, I have been fascinated by the way the young mind absorbs, classifies, and processes information. In these early grammar years, kids pick up so much new information which they will spew out again some day when their minds make connections with that previously stored information. For example, our son recently read a poem by Marian Douglas. When he saw the author's name, he cried, "Douglas! That's the same last name as Gabby Douglas, the gymnast!" The name "Douglas" was the connector to pull out information he had stored in his mind this past summer.
Our daughter recently did something similar. She heard a Christmas song on the radio that sounded a lot like the music an illusionist used during his performance at an Upward Awards ceremony last February. That song on the radio reminded her of both the illusion itself and the spiritual lesson the illusionist was trying to convey with his visual.
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Before school started this year, our boy (who
just turned 6) was determined to remain a non-runner. Now, he can
outrun all the 8-year-olds at his school. We wondered what could
have motivated him to start running and to run so quickly, especially since my own passion for running wasn't enough to encourage him. After we did
some further probing last night, our boy mentioned that eight girls (ages 6 through
8) chase him every day during recess. I think we have found our
answer! Run, baby boy, run!
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Here's a recent conversation I had with the kids in the car that illustrates a typical day with these two characters:
6-year-old: Mom, I'm sad for a friend who
hasn't been allowed to go to the prize box because of his behavior. How
can I help him behave better?
Me: You can model good behavior
and keep showing him God's love, but you can't change his behavior.
That's his choice, but hopefully that consequence will motivate him in
the right direction.
Sassy 8-year-old: That's right. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!
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I love our kids' unique school. I really do. I wish other schools would follow their model so that more kids could enjoy school and grow in their love for learning like the kids do at this school . If I were to issue a complaint, however, it would be that the lower grammar kids are given entirely too much candy. I've done too much research on the negative impacts of sugar on health, social behavior, and brain development to not find myself annoyed by the amount of candy handed out to the little ones. So, I found it to be quite ironic when my son brought home these candy teeth from the prize box at school. It looks like the teeth are already forming a cavity, too.
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In art class one day, the kids made edible, sugary snowmen. Then they got to eat them. Our daughter said to her teacher,
"Look Mrs. Traci! I'm eating hyper!"
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Speaking of school, the kids learned about the three R's of environmental concerns at school. The kids were given recyclable materials to renew, reuse, or recycle. What do you get when you give our right brained child a full recycling bin?
My guess was "a green" monster, but she says she was trying to build the statue of liberty.
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Tuesday was our kids' last day of school until
after New Years. As soon as they got into the car to come home that
afternoon, they started crying and saying, "How much longer do I have to
wait until I can go back to school? I really wish you could take us
tomorrow!"
Who in their right mind enjoys school that much?
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Sometimes our kids can be extraordinarily sweet and cuddly. I was reminded this past week that our pet name for our son when he was younger was "Cuddles", which forms a nice alliteration when used with our last name.
When I went into my son's room to tuck him one night this week, he decided to tuck me in instead. He surrounded me with
stuffed animals and pulled lots of blankets over me. Next he pulled out
his star planetarium and set it up for me because he knows I love to
look at the stars. Then he announced, "There, now you look all snuggly."
Just as I was about to fall asleep, he snuggled up beside me. Thank
you, Lord, for my cuddle bug.
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The kids have been singing a very bizarre song this month. The chorus goes like this:
"Forty-two pounds of edible fungus
Growing on the forest road
Saved the settlers from starvation.
That's how our city growed."
The
song comes from a book I checked out from the "1000 good classical books" list. If that's considered good literature, I shudder to consider what must be bad.
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I'm thankful for my daughter who reminds me
that God has it all under control when I tuck her in at night. She likes
for me to lie there with her looking into the sky as we imagine our big
God holding the world in the palm of His hands, yet we also see Him
human-sized with his arms open wide ready to receive us as His beloved
children. Sometimes she makes me forget that I'm supposed to be the
parent.
Her school's administrator wrote me a little note telling me how our daughter comforts the other students. One day a boy received an injury requiring a trip to the emergency room. While the teachers tried to comfort him, our little girl wrote out a Bible verse, Philippians 4:13, to encourage him to be strong and to rest in God's presence with him. The administrator said that peace filled the room when my daughter handed the boy the verse and that it brought her to tears.
When I slow down from this rat-race world, I'm amazed at how God reveals Himself through little children. I've really been trying to be more intentional about stopping to really look and listen to my children. To reach their precious, pliable little hearts, I must slow down and simply BE in the moment with them, treasuring the sacred in the ordinary. Lord, please help me always remember that we are called human BEINGs not human DOINGs. May I treasure every moment with them instead of being ruled by my to-do lists.
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I'm also thankful for my son who asks me
questions that make me think. In the same hour, he asked me to explain
the intricate mechanical and electrical details under our car hood and
behind the dash, and then asked me, "Is there anything God can't do?"
When I told him that by definition, God cannot lie, he asked, "How do we
define God anyway?" He knows God is love, holiness, grace, truth, and
so many other attributes, but he wanted to know how to fully define God.
I love those spiritual discussions best.
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I am in the taxi-cab season of parenting. I feel like we live in the car as I shuttle kids between activities. Since we live almost thirty minutes from the city center, our cab rides are extra long. One day this month when I parked our vehicle at the kids' piano teacher's house, my son handed me this fake million dollar bill as my cab fare.
He's either a very big tipper, or he's anticipating the effects of the federal government's quantitative easing strategies.
Thoughts from Friends
My husband loves singing in our church's praise team and choir. Every year, our church's music ministry team writes, prepares, and presents a powerful, evangelical musical performance in December. These performances take place three days in a row and require months of preparation. Since the rehearsals are so time consuming, my husband has not participated since our son was born.
This year, however, when he had five different employees out at various times for medical reasons and when he had more church and outside commitments than ever before, he decided to sing in the Christmas show. He was faithful to attend every practice, and the show was fantastic.
We laughed about the required dress code for the performances. He had to to wear all black, so he sported black socks, black shoes, black pants, black T-shirt, and a new black dress shirt. One of his winter uniforms in the navy was all black, so this dress made him remember those dark and dreary days at the Naval Academy. When others saw his "costume", however, they insisted that he looked just like Johnny Cash.
When the kids and I attended the performance, we sat beside a new church visitor. The kids began talking about their daddy, so she asked how to recognize him. I told her to look for the one who favors Johnny Cash. Even though all the choir members were also wearing black, she spotted him instantly.
 |
| Johnny Cash & Son |
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We're still trying to get our son
to stop playing with his food. He likes to name each segment of an
orange after a family member or friend before eating it. Sometimes, he
just wears the orange on his thumb.
I posted this photo of our son on Facebook with the orange on his thumb and asked for captions.
Some of my favorite captions included:
He says he was trying to look like his thumb was really swollen.
Spiritual Reflections
I love the way Joni Eareckson Tada likens the
nearness of Heaven to an unborn infant's expectant entrance into the
world.
"Dear baby! There he is, safe in his little world, ignorant of
the fact that a more glorious world is enclosing and encasing his. A
world for which he is being fashioned, Only when he is birthed into it
will he comprehend that all along his warm, dark world was within it.
This other place of wonderful beauty was present all the time. Only
inches away..." (Joni Eareckson Tada)
It's awesome to
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I saw this cartoon on Facebook. Boastful bumper stickers are a pet peeve of mine. Strangers don't really want to know if your child is an honor student or if you ran 13.1 or 26.2 miles. While it's good to let our kids know how proud we are of them, I guess these stickers bother me because I struggled all through my growing up years to personally realize that my worth is in no way impacted by my performance. My worth is completely found in Christ alone and the price HE paid for me. He paid that great price for you, too! Pride is the root of all evil, so while I want my kids to know I love them and am pleased with their accomplishments, may they never become prideful or think my love is in any way conditional. If we must boast, let's boast in the LORD!
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While I enjoy reading funny quotes from the kids in the past, sometimes I find comfort in rereading words I've written long ago.
I recently pulled out what I thought was a
clean journal to continue my entries. In so doing, I came across some
entries from 1997. What a huge blessing to look back 15+ years ago to
see what God was teaching me then and how He had intervened in my life. The
teachings I received at Bible study and church, counsel from Christian friends, and a chance visit from a friend from college in
the middle of an intense struggle were all perfectly ordained by God to
bring deliverance and protection.
When we are in the midst of crazy
circumstances we can't understand it. But looking back (through a journal, perhaps), we can see God's hand all over it! Addison Leitch said, "You
can't unscrew the Inscrutable!" Instead we must simply trust Him. When
the angel told Mary she would conceive a child, she asked a practical, natural question, "How can this be since I have been with no man?" The
angel gave her a spiritual answer which she could not understand but
accepted in faith. As we walk into a new year filled with so much
uncertainty and can't understand what God is doing, we must not fear.
Remember God's faithfulness in the past and trust the One who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his good and perfect will.
(Ephesians 1:11)
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Prayer has been a stronger focus during my quiet times this month, especially as the needs around me seem so overwhelming. The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School broke my heart, even more so since we are experiencing the joy, wonder, and awesomeness of having a six-year-old in the house right now. I just cannot imagine having him taken so violently and suddenly from our lives. The
responses to this tragedy have been very diverse, but I was most deeply touched by the Christian love and forgiveness offered by the father of one of the victims.
I have prayed this prayer by Max Lucado numerous times this past month.
Dear Jesus,
It’s a good thing you
were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for
silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately. These killings, Lord.
These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated. The
whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of
chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from
annihilation?
Your world seems a
bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You
came at night. The shepherds were night shift workers. The Wise Men
followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your
face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with
Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark
with violence. Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you
and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a
Nazarene.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your
day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise
men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a
manger. This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in
us.
Hopefully,
Your Children
by Max Lucado
I was so busy with Christmas preparations the day of the shooting because our family celebrated Christmas the following morning as a nuclear family and the following afternoon with my side of the family. Yet, instead of busying myself with preparations, I did something slightly crafty. I loathe crafts, but I needed something to encourage my spirit and to remind me of God's faithfulness.
Meanwhile, my husband
formulated some comfort food in the kitchen.
He mixed together almost the same ingredients they use at his work to make
biopharmaceuticals with the hope that his culture would grow into
cinnamon rolls. At times, I heard him whispering to his concoction, "Now
rise, my pretty!"
Our daughter expressed her support by connecting with other kids around the globe through her Animal Jam educational game to pray together for the families of the victims. She also changed the colors of her avatar to green and white, the Sandy Fork Elementary School colors.
In addition to praying for the victims' families, we have also been praying for lots of loved ones facing illness. Some friends, friends of friends, or friends' family members are fighting for their very lives.
The Lotz family has impacted our community in countless ways for eternity. Danny and Anne Lotz helped start BSF in our capital city. Together with the Knott family, they mentored numerous people including the couple who has had the most significant impact on my spiritual life in a way that catapulted me into a much closer, more vibrant walk with Jesus. I cannot imagine my life without their influence. For many years, the Lotz's were members of our church where I got to sit under their teaching, transfixed by their messages. I still remember the look on Anne's face when she would talk about her childhood as Billy Graham's daughter.
One of my close friends since college works as the IT manager for AnGeL ministries and a deacon in our deacon/deacon wives small group is the director for the ministry, so we still get to hear about all the exciting things God is doing through this awesome family.
The least we can do for them and the greatest thing we can do for them is to offer prayer support. Anne Lotz shared these words regarding prayer needs for her husband.
We’re in the fight of our lives.
Dan has a MRSA staph--the very worst and most contagious kind. They
just did an ultrasound of his arm, and his stent is leaking. They will
have to repeat the surgery they did last Thursday. None of this is good.
And our entire family--especially me--is now at risk. The steroids I'm on make me more at risk. So we sure
need prayer. He is on isolation, so no visitors to perk him up. The head
of nutrition for the hospital just came in, put on her gown and gloves,
then held his hand and prayed a very powerful prayer for his healing!
The little nursing assistant who bathed him and pricked his finger for
his blood sugar came in, put on her gown and gloves, then held his hand
while I read this morning’s Daily Light--which, as usual, is exactly
God's Word to us. So God is here. But we need urgent prayer.
Please pray:
- that he can overcome the infection. And if not, that God will take him quickly and painlessly.
- that God will comfort his heart and give him peace. He is afraid.
- that God's presence will fill this room for all who enter.
- that no one, including me, will get this infection.
This poem was one Mother wrote in the flyleaf of my Bible when I was a girl. Amazing how the words have come back to my mind.
Trusting Him when dark doubts assail us
Trusting Him when our strength is small
Trusting Him when to simply trust Him
is the hardest thing of all.
Trust Him then through tears or sunshine
All our cares upon Him cast.
Till the storms of life are over
And the trusting days are past.
Anne
One friend's father is battling serious stage 4 brain cancer. Another friend's mother is in critical condition with kidney failure, various infections, and heart issues. Another friend's brother is in failing health and is concerned that he may die before Christmas. How do we pray for friends facing such illnesses? Thankfully, the spirit intercedes for us when we cannot find the words. A friend recently shared this prayer for the sick as an example of how to pray for the sick.
Dear Lord,
You know my friend so much
better than I do. You know her sickness and the burden she carries. You
also know her heart. Lord, I ask you to be with my friend, now, as you work in her life. Lord, let Your will be done in my friends life.
Lord, I pray for my friend, just as your Word tells me to pray, for
healing. I believe you hear this earnest prayer from my heart, and that
it is powerful because of Your promise. I have faith in You, Lord, to
heal my friend, but I also trust in the plan you have for her life.
Lord, I don't always understand Your ways. I don't know why my friend
has to suffer, but I trust You. I ask that You look with mercy and grace
toward my friend. Nourish her spirit and soul in this time of
suffering, and comfort her with Your presence.
Let my friend
know You are there with her through this difficulty. Give her strength,
and may You, through this difficulty, be glorified in her life and also
mine.
Amen.
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