It sure is hot here

Fires in CA again. Santa Barbara county. So I'm reading the news article and there was actually this quote, "I can tell you for certain that Oprah Winfrey's house is safe, as is Rob Lowe's." However, more than 100 other homes were destroyed.
Is it just me, or is this blatant insensitivity to those who were injured (there were a few) and those who did lose homes? Good grief! These celebrities would be the ones most able to afford new ones if their others burned down. They probably HAVE more than one!
We (society) treat celebrities in a sickening way!

I remember you!

We're now scheduling weekly one-on-one time with each of the boys - something we've wanted to do for awhile now. Mondays are Sam's night, Tuesdays are Caleb's, and Thursdays belong to Noah. We put the others to bed, and then the selected special one gets to stay up a bit later. So far, we've taught Sam how to play checkers and Caleb how to play Parcheesi. I'm thinking about doing some baking with them next week. It's SO different interacting with them on a one-on-one basis when the other 2 aren't around to provide their own dynamics to the situation. Actually, kind of refreshing. I'm really enjoying it!
Now I just have to come up with a catchy title.
Like, "MY night". But that's not too catchy.
Anyone have any brilliant ideas?

Pack it away, kid!

Sam has now graduated to the Level 2 approach for stopping his thumb-sucking, which he still claims he wants to stop doing.
So now, he brushes his teeth.
He gets on his jammies.
He goes potty.
Then he puts his sock over his "thumb hand" (in his case, it's his right).
Then Daddy puts on the packing tape.

This has provided Caleb with yet another wonderful excuse to leave his room at night: "Sam's taking the tape off!"

He's the self-appointed thumb-sucking police.

Toss the cookies

Out to dinner at Perkins tonight, all the kids got one of their huge cookies for dessert. Those half chocolate chip, half sugar cookie ones.
5 minutes into eating his, Caleb all of a sudden announced, "I like God better than cookies!"
We must be doing something right around here!

Voting Day

"Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about that Name!"

The Lord, He is God!

Voting day:
"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

No need to wait till the votes are all counted. We're under HIS command and leadership! Praise the Lord!

"Mom, why don't we go trick-or-treating?"

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4:8

"The Lord is my light and my salvation -- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life -- of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1-2

"So do not fear, for I am with you." Isaiah 41:10a

"I will set before my eyes no vile thing." Psalm 101:3

"Candy is bad for you!" my dentist

We have a "tradition" of not trick-or-treating. This is the first year Sam asked about it. For the first time, I was really struck by the command not to fear. Here we are, trying to show our kids that there is nothing to fear in the dark, nothing to fear when they have bad dreams. God is with them. And we (the Christian culture) then choose to expose our children to sights on halloween that we would never allow them to view in a movie! Yes, even if you dress your child up in a cute little puppy costume, guess what? Not all parents do that! I'M even disturbed when I see the gruesome graveyard display one of our neighbors has out, or when I walk into the party store this time of year. The blood and gore and focus on DEATH!! We stand for LIFE!! Remember? Jesus is THE TRUTH. Jesus is THE LIFE! Everything about halloween - hey, let's not play dumb here and pretend it's all about the candy - glorifies things that stand for death. Just look at the "spooky" halloween decorations.
And what are we trying to do when we decorate our homes with those things (again, I'm speaking to the Christian culture here)? We're trying to give the kids a delicious scare and make them feel spooky. And yet the Bible says, "DO NOT FEAR!"
I will never understand a believers' ability to gloss over these facts. Yes, a child may see only loads of candy, but a parent's responsibility calls for a higher plane of thought.
Now, contrary to some "halloween extremists", we do answer the door and hand out candy, along with a little story sharing the gospel. I'm not about to pass up a witnessing opportunity when they're flocking to my door!

Where everything's $1!!!

Things I couldn't bring myself to buy at the dollar store, as much as I love it:

10. A pack of gum. Well, tried it once. "Gum"="Rock"

9. A bra. But that's just me.

8. Halloween candy. So from how many years ago is this?

7. Pacifier, sippy cup, bottle. All the "bad" plastic has to go somewhere.

6. A pillow. Where's the number for the chiropractor?

5. Any kind of medicine. I don't want to die.

4. Nylons. Maybe if viewed as "disposable".

3. Perfume. If you want, you can label me a perfume snob for refusing to pay as little as $1 for this product.

2. Tacky knick-knacks of kitties, angels, or dutch people. Why is this a trademark of every dollar store?

1. A pregnancy test. Yes, they have them.

I Don't Understand

(this is my inaugural post on this blog which should say something about my feelings on this topic)

I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio yesterday on my drive to work and heard a report on the abortion referendum in South Dakota that's coming up next week. As is to be expected, this ballot issue is very controversial with many strong feelings on both sides.

I understand that some people honestly don't believe life exists until birth and even though I think that's not True, I can understand why they don't see abortion as reprehensible as those of us who know life begins when our Creator attaches a soul to a zygote. Beyond your standard, run-of-the-mill, "lets-pretend-we're-libertarians-because-this-thing-inside-me-isn't-a-baby"- type pro-choice citizen, there's another segment of the population that is an order of magnitude more liberal. MPR had the privilege of interviewing one of these individuals.

This individual was a director of the local Planned Parenthood office (I don't recall the city in SD). She expressed her deep concern over the possible outcome of passing such a ban which, by the way, still allows for rape, incest and life of the mother exceptions as a compromise with those that believe it's OK to kill a baby if your reason is good enough (don't get me started). I can't find the quote on mpr.org but she said something to the effect that she was concerned that not enough abortions would be performed in South Dakota if this referendum passes.

Not enough abortions!?!

Think about that for a moment. That's like saying you wished that people ate less healthily and loaded up on a lot more artery-cloggers so that we could have the opportunity to perform more triple bypass surgeries. Or, maybe you wish that people got in more head-on-collisions so that we would have more opportunities to use the Jaws of Life as a demonstration of our ability to help people in need.

I would hope that even the most staunchly pro-abortion activist would see abortion as truly a last-resort option, not as something that they would want as many people as possible to experience. Every time an abortion is performed it is a sign that society has failed that woman (and the man that's partially responsible) by,

A) not giving them the moral fiber to say "no", and

B) not giving her the support she needs to feel like there are other viable choices (and yes, we pro-lifers are pro-choice as well, just with a different set of choices)

What I meant to say was...

At dinner tonight - in our dressed up dining room - to celebrate our 7th anniversary - surrounded by our 3 children - Sam brought up an interesting piece of conversation.
"We're gonna name our baby Daisy."
We are? Apparently he really likes the name. And apparently, according to the boys, the baby IS a girl. No doubt.
Of course, Caleb had to get his two cents in:
"I think we should name our baby xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" (insert very loud, drawn out, gaseous sound, produced perfectly on cue, and apparently totally NOT on purpose.
Needless to say, that was the end of any serious conversation on the subject.
"How about 'Chicken Heater' "?
"How about 'Sweet Flower' "? Well, coming from you, Caleb...

Caleb's theme

Heard from the "naughty chair" the other day as Caleb bided his time:
"Ama--zi-ing grace! How swe-e-et the sound.
That sa-a-aved a-a wretch like meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
I once was lost, but now am found.
Was bli-i-nd, but no-o-w I seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

"Mama!! Can I get up now?"

Hmmm...

"Yes, Caleb."

Bottom's up!

Have you ever had one of those days?

Senseless

Sam and Caleb usually play together in their room while I get ready in the morning. Lately, it's been trains. The majority of the time, it goes really well, but there's about one major issue per day. You know, the things that really make you mad. Someone else's train is in your way and they won't move it. Someone just won't stop SINGING! Someone just TOOK a train and the other had already said they wanted it! (Keep in mind, they're picking from about 20 different train cars) So today, Sam was getting picked on by Caleb and I'm trying to have a teachable moment of, "Put him first." Move to the other side of the giant track where he can't touch you with his foot. He went back and "tried" to reconcile, but it wasn't working. He came back to me with, "Caleb is not making sense! He said I can go, but then he's blocking me!! He's a - he's (face red, tears, anger) - he's a no-maker-senser!!!"
Meanwhile, Caleb's standing in the hall placidly watching to see what my response will be - completely in the buff, by the way - as he'd forgotten to put undies on after removing his pull-up.
So this morning, we finally just had to pack up the track for the day, as the issue just could not get resolved.
Then we all got dressed.

Autumn harvest

The things a boy picks up on a "Fall Walk" field trip with school.

Thumb war update

I just thought I'd update on the thumb/Sam. He's been doing really well, putting a sock on his hand every night, unprompted. Sometimes the sock is off when we go to check on him later, but he's still "in process" and still trying hard!

Thumb war

Sam has come to the end. He told us last night that it would be the final night he would suck his thumb.
Two years ago, when we moved into this house, he was still sleeping with his "rag", a soft cloth diaper. Back then, he told us he just needed one more night and then he'd be done. He stuck with it.
So tonight, we tucked them in and prayed with them. Nothing was said about the thumb. I think I'd forgotten all about the vow. 5 minutes after I left the room, I heard a bit of arguing between Sam and Caleb (nothing extraordinary), and then Sam started crying. Brian and I both went into the bedroom in time to hear him sob, "I have to suck something! It's too hard!" Good grief, I'd thought he was just crying about wanting a drink or something.
We told him to try laying on his tummy with his arms under him or under his pillow. Normally he sleeps on his back. He turned over, still sobbing, but apparently determined. "It's hard!" he said a few more times. We prayed for him, asking God to let him fall asleep quickly.
Well, I always knew he was strong-willed! Praise the Lord, there are benefits to that!

Studied for my exam

So, I went in for my 12-week appointment today. Here's what I came out with:

Things I just don't care to hear at the Dr.'s office:

1. "So, do you think you'll be done after this baby?" Said by the nurse. Why don't we just concentrate on the baby at hand, huh? Next time, I'm going to say, "Actually, we're going for fourteen."

2. "Have you had any animal dreams yet?" Said by my doctor. Apparently she had animal dreams while pregnant with each of her four children that accurately predicted the gender. Okay...

3. "3 boys! Wow, you're busy." Said by the tech who drew my blood. And about everyone else when they first discover how many kids I have. Can we have a more original response, please?

4. "The doctor has a student trailing her today." Great. Come on in!

5. "So, you're right at about 11 weeks, 4 days, right?" WHAT??? By my count it's 12 weeks, 3 days. And I COUNT!!

6. "So how does this gown work, anyway?" Said by my doctor. I won't elaborate.

7. "I know you just had all this done at your last physical, but we need to do it all again today." No elaborating on this either.

8. "Only 3 more vials to go!" Said by the tech as she's drawing the 5 vials of blood she needs. "Because I'm too lazy to separate it for the different places we have to send it." So do I get a transfusion after this? My blood pressure was a bit low...

The good news is it took about a second to find the baby's heartbeat. That's always a comforting milestone to pass.

Buddha is watching you

We decided to go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner tonight. Has anyone else noticed the lack of a really decent, sit-down Chinese restaurant? We tried one we'd never been to before, in Lakeville. Tak Shing.
A few minutes after we'd sat down, Sam noticed the Buddha shrine right above our table. "What is that?"
"It's an idol." I replied.
"Really? Is it really?" He was incredulous. We assured him that some people do worship Buddha and no we didn't know whether the people who work in the restaurant worship Buddha.
He averts his eyes.
"I'm not gonna look at that anymore, because if the waiter sees me looking at it, he'll think I worship him."
Well, that's an interesting take. Is this kind of like not causing "your brother" to stumble?
He tried shielding his eyes, covering only one eye, asking why we made him sit in the chair facing Buddha.
We told him that it means nothing to us. It's just a piece of plastic. As worshippers of Jesus, it means nothing.
I'd catch him gazing at it, and he'd see me and quickly avert his eyes. "Oh!"
He'd turn a little in his chair and we'd ask what he was doing and he'd be all secretive and gesture and whisper, "You know, you know why, right?"
So, Sam's proclamation as we left the parking lot was, "Are we going to come back here to eat again? I hope not!"
Oh, one more funny Sam moment. As we were giving our order, I asked the waiter if they had any sodas that were caffeine free. Just Sierra Mist. But I was dying for a dark soda, so I risked it and ordered a Diet Pepsi. He told me they also had Diet Mountain Dew. I exlaimed, "Oh my, no! That would not be good!"
As the waiter left, Sam mouthed to me, "Why didn't you tell him you were gonna have a baby?"
I don't know what type of connection he was making in his mind between the soda and the baby.

The Bible-uncensored...sort of

I read the story of Dinah tonight with Sam and Caleb, which led to a discussion of biblical circumcision. When I got done explaining what was done, Caleb's reaction was, "Ouch!!"
The other sticky subject was of course, the fact that Dinah was raped by the prince of Shechem. The version I was reading explained it this way: He took her and hurt her, treating her like she was his wife.
Later, I wanted to see how much of this Sam was getting, so I asked him what the prince did that was so bad. He responded that he'd treated Dinah like she was his wife when she wasn't. I wonder what he thinks this means? I wanted to question, but I wasn't that brave!

My day at Kindergarten

Today was my first day of helping out in Sam's classroom. I LOVED it!! And do you know why? Because my job was organizing the Scholastic book orders. I remember watching my teacher do this in grade school, and I was envious. Seriously, I love to organize, I love books, I especially love touching new books. I got it all! On the downside, I couldn't help but note who ordered Spongebob...

After my hour-long project was done, I got to take a few kids, one at a time, and sit down with them at a table to work on rhyming words. I have to admit, the first kid I picked was Sam. He breezed through it. The two other boys I worked with had a looser understanding of rhyming, but I still had fun with it.
One little girl, who I hadn't talked with at all today, actually painted me a picture. It was so sweet...I hope she doesn't feel bad when she notices that I forgot to take it home.

Sabbath rest

Mercy: A refraining from the infliction of suffering by one who has the right and power to inflict it.

Have you ever thought of the Sabbath (which we typically think of as Sunday) as a showing of God's mercy and grace?

"Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:17b-19

Basically, we were cursed, because of our choice to turn away from God and choose sin, to work really really hard. For everything.

The Sabbath is God's demonstration of grace to us. That even amidst this curse that He proclaimed on us, He is merciful and gives us one day out of every seven to REST! It's a gift! It's not just that day that you should avoid shopping, the day that you should not clean your house, the day that you should focus on things spiritual, the day that you should leave the labors of your yard, the day you're only allowed to walk so far. It is the day that SHOULD be received with gladness, joy, and maybe even a sense of unworthiness. God is gracious. We deserved the curse. But one day out of seven, He reveals His grace in this special observance called the Sabbath.

I just never looked at it that way before!

Receive His grace.

Right to vote

I do not like politics. Part of this is due to the probability that no matter who we have as a "leader", individuals are the ones who really make the changes. The changes that matter, anyway. For some reason, I also just can't bring myself to care much about high/low taxes, taking money from this or that person/group, or giving it, government programs, aid packages, etc. Someone always gets the short end of the stick on these decisions anyway. And who's to say it's the "right" or "best" person to get it?
So as for myself, I have almost completely 100% made up my mind not to vote. Now, if Billy Graham was on the ballot, I might make it to the polls! But, the fact is that I would be voting for the "lesser evil". Think what you will about the candidates, they all have their issues.
I believe strongly that it is not "a Christian's duty to vote." Where the heck do you get that?? I do believe that it is a Christian's responsibility to pray for our leaders and for God's will to be done in the outcome of the election.
Just to be sure to generate some discussion here, I also think that if you are a Christian voter, you have a responsibility before God to think morally first, societally (is this even a word?) second.

I wanna hold your hand

What do you think the rules should be in a Kindergarten classroom regarding hand-holding? Okay or not okay? Sam's teacher has deemed it "inappropriate". Kindergarteners should not be acting like boyfriend/girlfriend. Well, I agree if that was their intention... Sam doesn't even know what that means. It was a little hard to explain to him why he would no longer be able to hold his friend Maddie's hand in class. Anyone have any advice?

Getting to know me

I have been tagged by J Mom.
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

6 Random Facts About Me: (or, "What You Never Needed to Know")

1. I hate trends. Even if I liked it before it became popular, if everyone's suddenly into it, I'm turned off.

2. My most famous random fact: I have no bellybutton. I should've been named "Eve".

3. I wrote a novel from 6th to 11th grade. The main character was named "Elizabeth".

4. Although shy growing up, I did some pretty gutsy things, like selling the neighbors flowers to the rest of the neighborhood and swinging a stick around "just for fun" in Kindergarten (ended up hitting a girl in the eye). Huh, maybe that's where Sam gets it...

5. I have this weird fantasy involving a small space (like a submarine or something) that can only hold a certain amount of people, each bringing items to survive on in one grocery bag each.

6. I love food. In fact, my first doll was named "Hot Dog". I also, at various stages of my childhood, had pets named "Twinkie" and "Cupcake". I notice I refer to my children as "Punkin Pie" or "Sweetie". Maybe someday, we can have a "Haagen Daaz".

In turn, I will tag:
Jen at The Mulvihills, Candice at Godfrey Family, Beckie at Three Men and a Lady, Dad at Flint: The Hard Truth, Jennifer at Everlaughter Life, and Brendan (or Molly) at Ecclesia Domestica.
Follow the 6 steps at the top of my entry and come up with some random facts!

Sam the Missionary

Sam's mission work:

On the bus the other day, he asked the little boy sitting next to him (who apparently refuses to tell Sam his name) if he knew who Jesus is. The boy said no.

"He's the Lamb of God." Sam replies.

Huh, I wonder if that mother will get any interesting comments the next time her child sees a lamb.

Getting Even

Who likes odd numbers anyway?

Like 3.

4 is so much more rounded out.

Coming April 2009....

(By the way, this is also an even numbered post. And today's the 4th!)

The park rocks

I run into some pretty interesting parenting "philosophies" at the park. Now, I try not to make all these judgements about what kind of mom she is by the one incident, because hey, I too can look like less than the ideal mother (sometimes).

However, sometimes words are a dead give-away of the philosophy of the parent - conscious or not.

The mom today was begging her 3 1/2 year old not to throw rocks. Over and over. As he just laughed. Now, everyone who knows my children knows that they would never so blatantly disregard my authority.

Sense the sarcasm.

So the kid laughed and threw some more rocks, a handful of which hit me in the leg. The mother gasps, "Did you see what you just did? You hit her with those rocks! Now you stop throwing rocks please!"
The boy laughs some more.
The mom, "It's not funny!"
The boy ignores her and throws rocks some more.
The mom tries to reason with him. "Look, you can throw rocks but you'd better make sure nobody's around that's gonna get hit!"
The boy has no response. Other than more laughter. More throwing. Totally ignoring her.
Oh, and all this is always accompanied with "We're going to leave. We're out of here right now if you throw rocks ONE MORE TIME!"
I think he picked up on the fact she wasn't following through.
So she finally says, "You know what? You're going to hit one of these little kids if you throw rocks, and then you'll be in trouble.
Because apparently he wasn't getting into any trouble just for his disobedience and disrespect to his mother.
As I said, interesting philosophy.

I wonder if there are any moms out there blogging about what they've seen me do.

Kingdom Prayer

Lord, we're broken, broken-hearted, tired of going our own way.
We've been proud and self-sufficient, but we're broken here today.
Lord, we need Your power within us, for we have none of our own.
Take this broken heart and mend it with Thy power, and Thine alone.

Lord, we're mourning, mourning children, mourning o`er the sins inside.
For they're always right before us, much too great for us to hide.
Lord we need Your power within us for we have none of our own,
Take this mourning heart and comfort with Thy power and Thine alone.

Lord, we hunger and we thirst for righteousness that's not our own,
For we see our selfish motives; we need you to take Your throne.
Lord, we need Your power within us for we have none of our own.
Take this hungry heart and fill it with Thy power and Thine alone.
Lord make us Your kingdom people, for we're nothing on our own.

Do Your will and bring Your kingdom,
Fill our hearts, and take Your throne.

*Words/Music by Dan Adler
From his "Heart of the City" worship CD

Sunday service

The announcements at church this morning caught my attention when "service opportunities" were mentioned. I've been thinking a lot about how I want to be involved in serving at a homeless shelter or something of the sort.
But the service opportunities were all within the church - you know, extra help for the nursery, check out this new program or that new group.
What about the service opportunities outside the church? The "least of these"?
Those weren't mentioned.
Our pastor then proceeded to preach a message on service opportunities - nothing specific, just how we need to always be ready for God to shake us up a bit and to embrace the changes and opportunities this brings.
At the end of his message, the congregation was invited to donate to the benevolent fund - money which goes to help those in need in the congregation and out. I'm not sure if he meant this as a tie-in to his message or not.
I think that part of the church's responsibility should be to point the congregation toward real live service opportunities - OUTSIDE the church - maybe even as part of the announcements. Some people - like me, for instance - would just love to help out if I was just shown "here" "do this". Rather than having to search this out on my own. Maybe this is spiritual laziness, but I still think that the church is missing the boat in many cases with this issue. Focusing too much on the inner needs of the church (and I'm not denying these are real) and not much, or at all, on ministries outside the church. And not just, "so and so is involved in the such-and-such ministry - here are some pictures". But, "These people could really use some extra help organizing clothing, or serving meals, etc. Why don't you sign up?" The church needs to be the encourager here for the body of believers to get involved in a community that has become the "church community" and no farther than that.
And when believers experience the joy of service to others who are lost and who we are able to show Jesus to, I believe it provides the rejuvenation, refreshment, and unquenchable joy needed to fulfill the other responsibilities of the church, like teaching a Sunday School class or rocking babies. Like turbo power or something when you're playing a video game - you start radiating the turbo light and suddenly you can go faster, jump higher, resist all injury.
The pastor talked about how when you serve in the capacity that the Lord has designed you for, you will find yourself in a place of happiness and complete joy that you haven't fully experienced before.
Christian turbo power. The Holy Spirit Glow.

H.S.G.

Never alone

Sam once again told me that I didn't have to wait for the bus with him today. He could do it all by himself. I explained that I had no doubt he'd be able to do it alone, but that it was a matter of safety.
"I don't want you standing on the corner all by yourself." I told him.

"I won't be alone. God will be with me. That's what the Bible says. Right, Mom?"

Eye exam

I enjoy People. The magazine. Glossy gossip and all.

Had to go.

I had the headlines of stories from magazine on my homepage, and maybe I'm weak, but when I see headlines that interest me - in a good or bad way - I cannot help clicking on them.

So they had to go. I actually clicked and closed those headlines yesterday.

I don't need to be reading about Ellen and Portia's wedding and L. Lohan and lover. And this is just the obvious garbage. Bottom line - there is nothing edifying about any of the headlines in People. If it is truly newsworthy, I'll see it on my CNN headlines.

Made me realize that Satan is using mediums such as this to just get us used to the garbage in a nice, glossy, comfortable way. How long will it be before Christians are acclimated to gay and lesbian weddings, and decide, hey it's not so bad - they love each other after all. It is subtle, but I believe that this is how it happens - through seemingly innocent reading curiosity.

"Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word." Psalm 119:37

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light." Matthew 6:22

It hit me that a woman's eyes are more readily drawn to gossipy types of garbage, as a man's eyes are drawn to a Victoria's Secret display window.