Three Things My Kids Fight About

 Most of the time, my kids get along wonderfully. Infact, I am pretty sure that in this stage of life, they are eachother's best friend. They play pretend, read stories, share adventures outside, and enjoy coloring and making crafts together. There is usually more laughter than tears. And there is usually more playing than fighting. When confict does arrise, it is always over the most silly and arbitrary matters. And there are certain things I can always count on to cause conflict.

So, here are three ridiculous battles that never seem to end.

 

Battle of the Toys. There must be some kind of rule that says, whatever toy the other person has, is the ONLY one that you could possibly want. The rule must also say that as soon as you get that toy, it is rendered completely useless and you no longer want it.

Battle of the Seats/Chairs. "I want to sit in the middle!" "I want to sit by Mom!" "It's myyyyyyyy turn!" "Nu uh, you got to laaaast time!" This lovely chorus permeates every sit down meal, and every car ride. I've tried many strategies when dealing with this issue. Assigned seating doesn't work, because no one will ever be happy with their assigned seat. I tried putting them on a rotating schedule. But, no one can ever agree on who's turn it actually is. My new plan of attack? I think I will just get rid of all seating and chairs in my life. They can eat on the floor, and ride on the roof. Because honestly, it seems more reasonable than starting World War III every time we need to sit down.

Battle of the Vitamins. Yes, that's right my kids fight about vitamins. To be more precise, they fight about who got "the best color" (it changes daily).....who got a better shape (they all look the same to me)....or who's animal can beat up the other one's animal. Why the vitamin makers had to get all creative and make such a variety of colors and shapes I will never know. If there is a kid's vitamin out there that are all one color, one shape and one flavor, please share this information with me. Immediately! Because if I have to hear someone crying about how, "My vitamin is worse than your vitamin", one more time......

So, tell me. What do your kids fight about?

Downtime Downtown

This past year, my husband started a new job. In most ways, it has been an amazing thing for our family. The company is great, his job is secure and the benefits are wonderful. The only negative is that he is working 2nd shift and putting in a lot of overtime. This means, two things: Less sleep for him. And less family time. This has been a big adjustment for us. For me, it means juggling the perils of kids, homework, activities, dinner and bedtime alone. For him, it means missing those things which he loves and working himself into exhaustion. During this time, he also began the process of going back to school. And is currently enrolled and taking classes online.

Despite this crazy and seemingly impossible schedule, our family is thriving. I am so thankful for these new challenges and opportunities, because in the end, they are all positive and beneficial to our family and our future.

This past week, for the first time since starting this new job, Andrew was able to take a couple of days off, yielding him a four day weekend! It was a huge blessing to us all. And we were able to spend some refreshing quality time together. We were able to do a couple of very special things like going on a day date to Olive Garden while the kids were in school. And on Saturday we were able to take the big kids out for a day of fun and ice skating which is something they have been wanting to do for a long time. But the real joy and blessing came from the simple time we were able to spend laughing, snuggling, eating family dinners and playing board games together. Those are the things, I have always cherished the most. And it was so nice to just enjoy being together and feel the deep love and special connection we share. Priceless.

Here are some highlights of our four day weekend.

Olive Garden Date

(Is it still a date, if you bring your one year old?)

 Amelia is usually hit or miss when it comes to outings. But she did good, as long as we kept food in her mouth. :)

Baby's first bread stick. :)

Apparently Olive Garden was just too much and baby girl slept the whole way home.

There is an awesome ice skating rink in Charlottesville. It is right on the downtown outdoor mall. It is the perfect place to spend the day. There are tons of fun shops, restaurants and even a children's museum on the strip. But we spent most of our time ice skating! They have buckets to stack up for kids so they can steady themselves on the ice. Brilliant.

 Elliot was hardcore. Fearless. He would just race full force until he fell. It was awesome.

 Kadence was cautious, but finally decided to try without her bucket, and did great.

 We had so much fun!

 Elliot did some heavy duty sweating. Look at his hair! :)

 After ice skating, we went to dinner on the strip at a lovely little diner called, "The Nook". It was delicious! I am so thankful for this long weekend, the special things we got to do together and the sweet memories we are constantly building with our kids. We ended the weekend with a wonderful church service, a lazy afternoon at home and ice cream cones. :)

Faith Like A Child

A few months ago, I was driving the kids home from a literacy night at their school. Kadence started asking me all kinds of questions from the back seat. "Mommy, what are stars made of? How far away are they? How were they created? How big is the Universe? How did God create The universe?". Heavy stuff. I tried to answer her questions, and as we discussed the intricate design of our planet, the solar system we are a part of and the complexity of space and time, she got very quiet. I looked back at her through my rear view mirror to see if I had bored her to sleep. But, she was just looking at me with a very serious expression. She said, "Mommy, I want you to tell me how to get to Heaven". At first, I was taken back and didn't know what to do. But, as I began to talk to her about God's love, our sinful human condition, and the saving grace of a God who sent his only son to save a dying world, I began to feel something. Something powerful. Something overwhelming. I was in the presence of God. And in that moment, my own doubts were obliterated. My divided heart was made whole. And I knew the words I was saying were absolute truth. Kadence asked Jesus into her heart that night. She knew all of the bible stories, and had been learning about all of these truths for years. God had been preparing her heart for the moment she decided to let him in. And it was a decision only she could make for herself. On that night, she acknowledged her sin and her desperate need for a savior. She asked for forgiveness of her sin, and invited the Lord into her life. And that's how simple and powerful the message of Jesus is. It took seeing it through the eyes of my 7 year old, for me to realize how incomplete my own faith had become. I have tried to reason my way to God, and scientifically explain his existence, but all along what I needed to find was simple. Faith like a child.

"He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."                             ~Mark 10:14,15

Kadence was baptised yesterday. In our church, a father has the option to baptize their child as the spiritual leader of their house. My heart was so full, watching as Kadence, in the arms of her Daddy made a public proclamation of her faith. She knows, that there is nothing magical about that water. She knows that the water has no power to heal or save you. She knows, that her salvation is in Jesus Christ. I know her faith will be challenged in the years to come and I know all too well, that the world will try to steal and divide her heart. But, my prayer for her is that she will always come back to the child like faith that saved her. And the powerful truth that God is love and Jesus saves.

Online Education

Did you know that you can now complete your college education online? So now, instead of getting up, going to class, sitting through lecture upon lecture, and interacting with your peers, you just have to roll out of bed, get dressed (optional), and turn on your computer. It sounds great right? Well, that's what I thought too when my husband decided to take the plunge into technology, and dive into online learning. He is going back to school after taking an "undisclosed amount of time" off from it. And in that "undisclosed amount of time".....well, things have changed. Welcome to 2012.

The preliminary activity alone required to go back to school is enough to make you reconsider this decision. From financial aid, to transcripts, to application forms there seems to be no end to the paperwork that stands between you and your future. How do kids today do this? But, alas after many trips to the campus, and multiple meetings with advisers, counselors and fortune tellers (?), he was officially a student. Success!? The hard part is over!? Think again. Next comes the stress inducing, sleep depriving task of actually signing up for classes. This can be done online.....in a frantic midnight event that feels a lot like Black Friday shopping. If you are quick, and ruthless, you will go to bed that night with a class schedule.

So, now you are a real life student, with real life classes. Now you need some books. But, not just any books. These books are special. These books are magical, life giving treasures. And to prove it, they will cost you your soul. Or close to it at least. So now it's the first day of class. You roll out of bed, get dressed (what the heck, it's the first day after all), and you log into the account that you finally figured out how to access on the computer that you will never fully figure out how to use. At this point you attempt to access things like a "discussion board" and a "virtual blackboard", but really it just means downloading hundreds of programs and creating more usernames and passwords, all in a language called technology, that you don't speak.

Breath. You can do this. Anyone can do this. People in third world countries do this.

To his credit, my husband is starting to figure it all out. In fact, today he figured out how to use a tool called, "snipping" and it was very exciting. He also seems much less angry with his computer, which is good.

You see, slowly you will start to view your computer as a friend, not an enemy. Someday soon you will walk hand in hand with technology. You will master the art of online learning. Someday you will stop calling your computer names.

New Year, New Blog

It has been quite some time since I made a New Year's Resolution. In fact, I'm pretty sure that my last resolution had something to do with swearing off boys, or getting better grades. That should tell you how long it has been. I'm not exactly sure when, but at some point, it felt less about introspection and more about half hearted cliches that never seemed to make it out of January. And at some point, New Years Resolutions seemed to be just one more product that some big corporation was boxing up and trying to sell me. And in true, young, tough, anti-consumerism fashion, I opted out.

Oh, to be young and idealistic.....

But this year, I am putting aside my indie alternative ways. I have decided to embrace this mainstream tradition. This year, I am resolving.

So...

Here. We. Go.

New Year's Resolutions





1. Spiritual Growth
There are so many ways that I want to grow in my spiritual life. But, I think what I desire most for this year is a steadfast faith and an undivided heart. The final verse in my favorite hymn is the prayer of my heart for this year.

"O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let that grace now, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above"

2. Individual Investment

This year, I will make an effort to spend quality one on one time with each member of my household. I will invest my time, energy and affections in the people who matter to me. I will cherish the time my children are young and life is simple. Because some day soon, these days, will be the good old days. And we can never get them back.  

3. Vegetables Exercise and Saving

Okay, okay, I know these are the ultimate in cliche, but in this case "they" are right. So I will say yes to green goodness, get my heart-a-pumping, and spend less/save more.

4. Chill out

Finally, to the laid back girl of my youth: Where did you go? What happened to you? Was it the growing up that got you? Or maybe the stress and responsibility of raising not one, but THREE children? Whatever it was, I know that somewhere deep inside, you can still let your hair down, throw back your head, and laugh with abandonment, live without reservations, and see the big picture. So, this year let's try to do that sometimes, okay?

So, what about you? What are your New Years Resolutions?