Rina: "Jeeter Bells, Jeeter Bells. Jeeter all dah way!!!
Jeeter Bells, Jeeter Bells. Jeeter all dah way!!!
Jeeter Bells, Jeeter Bells. Jeeter all dah way!!!"
Reese: "No, that's not how it goes! It goes like this...
Jinger Bells, Jinger Bells. Jinger all dah way!
Olay fun it is to why in a one horse open sleigh!"
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Stolen Markers & Sharpened Pencils...
Yesterday was quite an eventful day for my two boys.
First, Reese came home from school...strangely hobbling off the bus in front of our house. When he stepped inside the door, he had the look of mischief in his eyes. He said, "Mommy, guess what I have in my shoe." Um...I can only imagine! "What Reese?" At that point, he whipped out a fat, black dry erase marker. "I have a marker!" he declared with a smile. Normally a marker wouldn't alert my mommy senses, but the fact that he had sneakily brought it home in his shoe caused my suspicions to surface.
"Who's marker is that, Reese?"
"Mr. Hayek's"
"Did you take this from Mr. Hayek's desk?"
"Yes."
"Reese, when you take something that isn't yours, that's called stealing. How do you think that makes Mr. Hayek feel?"
Suddenly Reese's face transformed into one of sheer despair!
"Does it make him feel...SAD?"
"Yes Reese, it makes him feel sad."
He burst into tears, and I felt like the rottenest mother ever for pushing my sweet, naive boy to tears. Especially when this was one of the darlingest thing he's ever done! But true to my role as mother, I helped him close his eyes and tell Jesus sorry for stealing. Then I instructed him to give it back to Mr. Hayek tomorrow, and tell him sorry for taking his marker. Again, Reese busted out crying, "But I want a marker!" OK, he obviously wasn't getting the concept. So the issue was dropped, and I swept him up into the tightest, kissiest hug I could give him. He is my sweetest child!
Then, Mr. Mark came home. He was beaming so bright, he could power all of New York City. What was his secret joy?? He waited until Daddy arrived home before he spilled the beans...apparently, when Mark had entered class that morning, he saw that Grace (his 3-year crush; his dream-girl; the one whom we incessantly tease him about. hehe) was rummaging through Mark's desk. "Grace, what are you doing?"
"Oh, I was cleaning up your desk for you. And I sharpened all your pencils."
Sharpened all his pencils?!?! Oh my! You'd think she'd declared her love for him! He melts into the floor everytime he thinks about her sweet, thoughtful pencil-sharpening skills. And, of course, Ryan and I see it as fresh, new material that we can use to tease him! (Mark laughs his head off when we tease him about Grace. And his face gets beet red. It's great!) So, before bed, when we brought the subject up again, we told him Grace must really like him after his amazing performance in the school play. He had the funniest reply! "She just can't resist showing me how much she likes me!" Oh please!!!! Someone please pop that big fat head before it explodes! LOL.
First, Reese came home from school...strangely hobbling off the bus in front of our house. When he stepped inside the door, he had the look of mischief in his eyes. He said, "Mommy, guess what I have in my shoe." Um...I can only imagine! "What Reese?" At that point, he whipped out a fat, black dry erase marker. "I have a marker!" he declared with a smile. Normally a marker wouldn't alert my mommy senses, but the fact that he had sneakily brought it home in his shoe caused my suspicions to surface.
"Who's marker is that, Reese?"
"Mr. Hayek's"
"Did you take this from Mr. Hayek's desk?"
"Yes."
"Reese, when you take something that isn't yours, that's called stealing. How do you think that makes Mr. Hayek feel?"
Suddenly Reese's face transformed into one of sheer despair!
"Does it make him feel...SAD?"
"Yes Reese, it makes him feel sad."
He burst into tears, and I felt like the rottenest mother ever for pushing my sweet, naive boy to tears. Especially when this was one of the darlingest thing he's ever done! But true to my role as mother, I helped him close his eyes and tell Jesus sorry for stealing. Then I instructed him to give it back to Mr. Hayek tomorrow, and tell him sorry for taking his marker. Again, Reese busted out crying, "But I want a marker!" OK, he obviously wasn't getting the concept. So the issue was dropped, and I swept him up into the tightest, kissiest hug I could give him. He is my sweetest child!
Then, Mr. Mark came home. He was beaming so bright, he could power all of New York City. What was his secret joy?? He waited until Daddy arrived home before he spilled the beans...apparently, when Mark had entered class that morning, he saw that Grace (his 3-year crush; his dream-girl; the one whom we incessantly tease him about. hehe) was rummaging through Mark's desk. "Grace, what are you doing?"
"Oh, I was cleaning up your desk for you. And I sharpened all your pencils."
Sharpened all his pencils?!?! Oh my! You'd think she'd declared her love for him! He melts into the floor everytime he thinks about her sweet, thoughtful pencil-sharpening skills. And, of course, Ryan and I see it as fresh, new material that we can use to tease him! (Mark laughs his head off when we tease him about Grace. And his face gets beet red. It's great!) So, before bed, when we brought the subject up again, we told him Grace must really like him after his amazing performance in the school play. He had the funniest reply! "She just can't resist showing me how much she likes me!" Oh please!!!! Someone please pop that big fat head before it explodes! LOL.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Dusty Magazine
I don't usually read "motherhood magazines" because I find them awfully dull and redundant, and usually pretty cheesy. But, today I decided to take a moment to flip thru a Christian Women's magazine that my sis had sent to me last spring. It's been collecting dust next to my bed since then. (Sorry Lindsey!) Immediately I was riveted by the wisdom saturating the articles. One phrase totally struck me...like a wooden 2x4 smacking me across my thick, stubborn skull. "When our faith is secure, we will be touched by circumstances, yet governed by the Holy Spirit. This we decide every day, with every issue."
Wow! A simple, timeless message. There is so much truth packed into these few short words. It starts with our faith being secure in Christ. But how do you just come up with secure faith? I think it starts with a decision. "Lord, I choose to trust You. Period." Then, we go about our business and find ourselves touched by circumstance. Okay, that hits home with many of us nowadays. So many circumstances are swirling out of our control lately. But our response to the circumstance is governed by the Holy Spirit. I love that they chose to use the word governed in this sentence. I think this requires a constant interaction with Him. "Lord, how would you have me respond today? What should I say? How should I feel?" Then, the part about, "this we decide every day, with every issue," suggests that it is a continual battle within us to do what is right; to respond with faith. And through this repetitive cycle, I truly believe that we will be brought back to the initial concept: SECURE FAITH. When we allow Him to, He proves Himself faithful. And our faith has a chance to grow.
Alright, Lord. How I've blown it, even this week, by responding to circumstance with ugly attitudes or hurtful words. Thank you for another kick in the pants. Today I choose to start at the beginning: Lord, I choose to trust You. Period. Help me live a life governed by you, at every circumstance. And may my faith continue to grow more secure in You.
And thank you for cheesy Women's Magazines.
Wow! A simple, timeless message. There is so much truth packed into these few short words. It starts with our faith being secure in Christ. But how do you just come up with secure faith? I think it starts with a decision. "Lord, I choose to trust You. Period." Then, we go about our business and find ourselves touched by circumstance. Okay, that hits home with many of us nowadays. So many circumstances are swirling out of our control lately. But our response to the circumstance is governed by the Holy Spirit. I love that they chose to use the word governed in this sentence. I think this requires a constant interaction with Him. "Lord, how would you have me respond today? What should I say? How should I feel?" Then, the part about, "this we decide every day, with every issue," suggests that it is a continual battle within us to do what is right; to respond with faith. And through this repetitive cycle, I truly believe that we will be brought back to the initial concept: SECURE FAITH. When we allow Him to, He proves Himself faithful. And our faith has a chance to grow.
Alright, Lord. How I've blown it, even this week, by responding to circumstance with ugly attitudes or hurtful words. Thank you for another kick in the pants. Today I choose to start at the beginning: Lord, I choose to trust You. Period. Help me live a life governed by you, at every circumstance. And may my faith continue to grow more secure in You.
And thank you for cheesy Women's Magazines.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
"The Talk"
The dreaded "Talk."
It's enough to incite every ouce of anxiety in a parent, right?
Well, we had "The Talk" with Mark on Sunday night.
Ryan and I thought the time was right because Mark will be entering 5th grade next year. And he will be attending public school. Plus he has lots of guy-friends on his football team and in his wrestling club. With all these other influences, we wanted to make sure WE were the ones to tell him the details, before he heard a distorted version from his friends. And we suspected that once we started probing, we'd find out that he already knew more about the topic than he'd let on.
Sure enough, as we began the conversation by asking questions, Mark spilled the snippets of info he'd heard from friends here and there. It wasn't much, considering the conversation that unfortunately permeates average boys' dialogue these days. But, it was still more than we'd realized he had ingested. So, we took the opportunity to fill in the gaps and explain things the way we wanted him to hear it.
Surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as horrible or terrifying or weird as I had envisioned all these years. When Ryan and I approached it in a very casual, informative way, it helped Mark to stop writhing on the floor with fits of nervous laughter, and he was able to look at us face to face and finish the conversation very comfortably. Of course, I'll never forget his initial response: "Eew! Why would anyone wanna do THAT!?!"
It ended up being a very sweet, special conversation. And we were super proud of some of the wise conclusions he drew without our intervention. An example is when we explained to him the way many guys in our culture view sex. They think it makes them cool and macho if they've been with several girls. Right away, Mark looked horrified and said, "But, that's cheating!" To which we responded, "Yes. That's cheating on your future wife." We discussed the importance of choosing your dates wisely; girls that hold the same values as you and have a common desire for purity. Again, he thrilled us when he decided that he wanted to start praying for his future wife, that she will make right choices, just like he is going to do. What a sweetie!
After it's all said and done, I think we accomplished our goal: to explain the basic mechanics of how it works, to reiterate that it's God's plan for marriage, and to reaffirm the fact that when people don't remain within God's rules for sex, they open the door to ugly consequences. Now, I'm pretty confident that when he hears kids make ignorant comments on the topic, he will be equipped with the truth. I also realize that this conversation isn't the big climax that I thought it would be! It's simply a stepping stone. A prerequisite to many more conversations. And hopefully he will always remember that he can talk to us about ANYthing! Lastly, we drilled into his head that he may NEVER tell his friends or siblings about the things we had just discussed. It is the job of each parent to engage their own child in "The Talk."
Phew! One kid down...2 more to go...
It's enough to incite every ouce of anxiety in a parent, right?
Well, we had "The Talk" with Mark on Sunday night.
Ryan and I thought the time was right because Mark will be entering 5th grade next year. And he will be attending public school. Plus he has lots of guy-friends on his football team and in his wrestling club. With all these other influences, we wanted to make sure WE were the ones to tell him the details, before he heard a distorted version from his friends. And we suspected that once we started probing, we'd find out that he already knew more about the topic than he'd let on.
Sure enough, as we began the conversation by asking questions, Mark spilled the snippets of info he'd heard from friends here and there. It wasn't much, considering the conversation that unfortunately permeates average boys' dialogue these days. But, it was still more than we'd realized he had ingested. So, we took the opportunity to fill in the gaps and explain things the way we wanted him to hear it.
Surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as horrible or terrifying or weird as I had envisioned all these years. When Ryan and I approached it in a very casual, informative way, it helped Mark to stop writhing on the floor with fits of nervous laughter, and he was able to look at us face to face and finish the conversation very comfortably. Of course, I'll never forget his initial response: "Eew! Why would anyone wanna do THAT!?!"
It ended up being a very sweet, special conversation. And we were super proud of some of the wise conclusions he drew without our intervention. An example is when we explained to him the way many guys in our culture view sex. They think it makes them cool and macho if they've been with several girls. Right away, Mark looked horrified and said, "But, that's cheating!" To which we responded, "Yes. That's cheating on your future wife." We discussed the importance of choosing your dates wisely; girls that hold the same values as you and have a common desire for purity. Again, he thrilled us when he decided that he wanted to start praying for his future wife, that she will make right choices, just like he is going to do. What a sweetie!
After it's all said and done, I think we accomplished our goal: to explain the basic mechanics of how it works, to reiterate that it's God's plan for marriage, and to reaffirm the fact that when people don't remain within God's rules for sex, they open the door to ugly consequences. Now, I'm pretty confident that when he hears kids make ignorant comments on the topic, he will be equipped with the truth. I also realize that this conversation isn't the big climax that I thought it would be! It's simply a stepping stone. A prerequisite to many more conversations. And hopefully he will always remember that he can talk to us about ANYthing! Lastly, we drilled into his head that he may NEVER tell his friends or siblings about the things we had just discussed. It is the job of each parent to engage their own child in "The Talk."
Phew! One kid down...2 more to go...
Little Star
Mark's comment this morning, regarding his school play tonight, in which he landed the main role: "We HAVE to go out for icecream with everyone else afterward. For the first time in my life, I'm popular!"
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Christmas Pics
Here are some snapshots that we took after church today. I think some of these will be going on our Holiday cards this year!
