After the game was played the coach decided to treat the team to a dinner at a restaurant where scantily clad women preformed.  This man and his wife didn’t feel that this was an appropriate place for the team to be going, but they decided to let their son make his own decision.  To their dismay he got in the van to go to the restaurant with the team, as they headed back to their hotel with heavy hearts.  After they had been in their hotel room for a while the man left to go on a walk.  As he walked out of his room he looked down the hall and saw his son walking towards him.  He said, “I thought you went to the restaurant with the team?”  To which his son replied, “No, I had someone bring me back.   I’m  a  Christian;  and I need to act like one.”

I hope that someday my own boys will have the strength and faith to be the men that God desires them to be.  So often I hear people talk about experiencing shame and ridicule for the sake of Christ.  But sometimes I wonder if the reverse is true about me.  How often does God look down at me and feel ashamed to call me His child.  Do I just get in the van with everyone else, or do I stand and say, “I’m a Christian, and I’m going to act like one.”  I’m not talking about preforming, or earning.  I just want Him to be proud of me.  I don’t think that any amount of ridicule could hurt as much as the knowledge of disappointing Him.  Somehow I have to hold onto that truth, especially in the heat of the moment.  How will my boys know how to stand strong if they don’t see me holding fast?

Tonight at J.C.Penny’s

The clothes have been chosen, ironed, and set out

Just thinking about it is making my head hurt

Someday, when I look at all of these professional photos,
will I be glad I suffered through stressful appointments?

So I thought that proof was needed.

It has been a busy two weeks since I posted last.  A good kind of busy.  The happy hum of productivity.  I like January.  The crisp cold weather, the dark bare branches of the orchard against the light blue sky, and I like getting tidy and organized after the business of the holidays.

I spent the last few weeks cleaning out closets and drawers, redecorating, finishing projects, and starting some fun new projects.  I think the boys are enjoying spending more time at home.

A few exciting events have happened in our lives.  First, we added on to our family.

It is a sad, sad day at our house.  We (when I say “we” I mean, I) cut of the ends of his pacifiers off and threw them in the garbage.  Horror and disbelief flashed across his face as he ran screaming into his dad’s arms.   For several minutes he would have nothing to do with me, he just clung to his dad and wept.   He is learning that “You’re a big boy” is code for, “you’re not going to like this”.

In the 7 years I taught preschool, I saw a lot of different parenting styles.  The one that frustrated me the most were weak parents.  More often than not it was the mother who fell into this pattern.  They would come into my classroom wringing their hands, telling me how fed up they were, and that they  didn’t know what to do.  Most of the time, they knew exactly what they needed to do;  they just didn’t have the strength to do it.  I never had much sympathy for them… until now.

Sometimes it’s not easy to do what’s best for your child.  It hasn’t been easy for me to enforce rules, to break bad habits,  or to give them a needed push in the right direction.  That doesn’t mean I don’t do what is needed, but I realize now how tempting it would be to just give in.  I understand, that most parents don’t set out to ruin or spoil their child.  It happens one small decision at a time.  It’s such a delicate balance between being consistent and firm, but also realizing that they are still little and sometimes what they really need is a little extra love and attention.  I thought it would be easier to discern the two.

I guess we are both feeling some growing pains!