Cute Comments from my Kiddo's

Little Man really likes Batman

So Little Man and I were enjoying a nice ride in the good ole mini-van last week...on our way to pick up the girls. I'd just picked him up from school and we were talking about his day.

Somewhat abruptly he softly (but excitedly) asked, "Mommy....is that Batman in front of us?"

In front of us was a man (I'm assuming), on a black motorcycle, with a black motorcycle helmet, black shoes, and a black leather jacket. I quickly controlled my urge to giggle at the adorable innocence of my Little Man's desire for that to REALLY be Batman.

"No buddy, that's not Batman", I told him.

"But.... he's on a black motorcycle with a black helmet..and a black"....[and you get the picture].

How cute. It's so easy to forget those days when we all (or at least some of us) believed in Super Heroes and Santa Claus.

"Crapping" or "Flapping"??

My hubby has been putting birdseed on our back patio and our kiddo's love sitting at the back door and watching the "birdies" and a squirrel every now and then....eat up the seeds. Tella and Sissy REALLY like the "birdies". So one night at dinner my dear hubby commented that there were some birdies eating the birdseed and Tella got very excited.

She was waving her hands as she exclaimed, "Mommy, the birdies are crapping!!"

.....ummmmm, what was that?

I looked at hubby as he suppressed a smile and we both listened closer as she exclaimed again...

"The birdies are crapping!!"

So hubby and I are now laughing, Sissy and Little Man are looking at us like we're from outer space and Tella is repeatedly announcing to us all that the birdies are crapping!

Still not sure if she meant, "the birdies are clapping"????

Complacency

Life has been moving a bit too fast these past few weeks. Thus, no posting on my part.

If God has taught me anything in 2008 it's that trials really are a blessing. The past year has been difficult. I'm quite aware that, in comparison to some, it's not been so bad. But the difficult is what I need...apparently. You see.....I'm a bit stubborn.

But the point is that has God shown me, over and over this year, that He is always faithful to His promises. And regardless of how hopeless things may seem, He always has a plan and it is always far beyond what I could ever ask for or imagine.

That being said, I'm sorry to say that after hitting the high of seeing God's mighty hand clearly moving in my life, I slowly drifted into complacency. Unaware for months, I began lowering the expectations I have of myself. Expectations of the kind of mother, wife, and friend I desire to be, and more importantly, that God desires me to be.

As the days have passed.......my level of complacency grew.

God used last Sunday to show me how far I've drifted from who I want to be and who He wants me to be. He showed me some truths that I really didn't want to accept.

It's so easy for me to slip into behaviors and attitudes that are destructive...oftentimes without even knowing it. And over time...these behaviors and attitudes become such commonplace that I'm not even aware of them.

I don't think I could ever be thankful enough or praise God enough for dying on the cross for ME so that I could KNOW that I am forgiven and KNOW that there is always hope in the Lord. Without that......there are times I really don't know how I could function.

So......I handed my complacency over to God........and started the trek back onto His path.

The Lord has answered LOTS of prayer this week.

Thank you Father.

"Respect My Authority!!!!"

So anyone even semi familiar with South Park can now, clearly and crisply, hear Cartmans voice screaming in their head, "Respect my authority!!"

Not such a good parenting tool. Doesn't teach much....other then that yelling is highly ineffective. Doesn't inspire respect and certainly doesn't make the "yeller" feel better.

I'm often telling my kiddo's, when I know they're tired, that they still have to make good choices. That being tired is no excuse for poor behavior.

Well...you guessed it. I'm tired! I miss my hubby terribly and I stayed up waaaaay too late last night... bad choice on my part. So tonight I found myself utilizing a bit of Cartman's technique with my kiddo's.

Effective?
Nope!
Inspiring?
The opposite!
Discouraging?
Absolutely.

Little Man has been having some struggles at school lately and has been praying for God to help him make better choices. Tonight he prayed for God to help mommy make better choices. Thanks Little Man.....I needed that.

Now I think I'll do some praying of my own. Then I think I'll get a step ahead on good choices for tomorrow by going to bed!!!

PS - 60-60 sort of slipped away over the weekend. I'll begin again tomorrow, seeking to connect with God every hour with my heart and ears open to His voice.

Grandpa's and bunk beds?

Got a call from my Dad today to say he'd be in town in a few days. I'm excited......because I have a love for my dad that's steadily been growing which I can't say had been there before. God has done some miraculous things in my heart. I give Him all of the credit.

I love my dad. It's funny how growing up tends to change the way you view the past. I told dad that I had been thinking about calling him for the last couple of days. His response, likely unrealized by him...meant the world to me. He said, "I think about calling you too.......pretty much every day." Those are the types of comments, so often said in passing, that really make a girl feel special.

Some day I'll share my testimony. It's probably hard to understand why that little comment meant so much to me without knowing a bit about our past.

Anyway....I knew the kiddo's would be excited about a visit with Grandpa so I shared the news of his visit as soon as I picked them up. Yes...they're very excited!

So tonight while I was putting Little Man to bed he shares with me how he wishes daddy wasn't working at night anymore so that he could sleep ALL night (emphasis on all) in bed with Little Man.

To which I responded, "but I want daddy to sleep in bed with me!"

Little Man replied, "Hey, how about you and daddy sleep on the top bunk....since I DO have bunk beds, and I'll sleep down here." He was quite impressed with himself at this point.

It was cute....and might be fun.....so I told him we'd see.

This was when he got very excited and exclaimed, "Hey...I know! How about Grandpa and I have a sleepover and he can sleep on the top bunk!"

I had to laugh at the image of my dad sleeping on the top bunk......but that would be so cool for Little Man. I suggested that he talk to Grandpa about that in a few days when we're all together. His response was a resounding, "Yes! I think I'll do that!"

Bitterness

God has blessed me with an amazing church family. Today Pastor Tim preached on Bitterness. I was really looking forward to the service today because of the testimony of Bill Vail. I had heard a bit of his story and was excited for the opportunity to hear more of where he has been and what God has done in his life.

Unlike some of the previous messages in this series The Enemy Within (which has been awesome) I didn't walk in looking for answers. Bitterness, I thought, wasn't something I was struggling with. However, as Tim spoke, God showed me that bitterness has played a huge role in my life. He also showed me the one person I am most bitter towards. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. During the service I wrote down 4 names. 3 of them are people that I've always known I've got baggage with.....but believed I had resolved and forgiven. It was the first name on the list...that again....was a shocker.

I took some time after the service to journal what my real feelings are towards this person. I didn't hold anything back. All of the anger and pain and hatred that I felt quickly came up to the surface. I felt myself wishing that person was there so I could scream at them and hurt them the way they hurt me. Hate is such a strong word...and one that it scares me to think I actually feel/felt towards this critical person in my life. But I had to be honest with myself and with God.

I ended up with 2 pages of all of the things that had happened to create the bitterness in my heart. Before today I had always struggled with my feelings towards this person. Logically, I should love them but in my heart I could not make that connection. I had never taken the time to seriously consider why....until today.

When I opened the door to my anger all of the memories (or lack thereof) came back in a rush and I could hardly keep my pen up with my thoughts.

For a long long time I've prayed for God to release me from my anger....and then gotten angry at Him for not doing it! I've wandered what I'm doing wrong, doubted my salvation (after all, how could a true child of God act the way I acted?) But that is lie that the Enemy wants us to believe.

I think that God showed me today that much of my anger is a result of bitterness that took root in my heart when I was a child.

Even though I know that forgiving this person is taking my control back and obeying God....it was very difficult to let go of my bitterness. Why is that? Why would I rather harbor this anger towards this person...rather then live my life free?

I had an emotional conversation with God about it......and know that I am free.

But it's still hard.

Why is it that some of the most important, critical people in our lives are the ones that hurt us the most?

Hubby, Handsome Boy & 60-60 Day 2

Kudos to my hubby. He has been working his tail off at work for the last couple of months. Working a ton of hours in an un-air conditioned building at KU, 12 hour days.

When I found out he was going to be working nights I was a bit dismayed and wandered, "why God?"

But, the blessings that have come from him working on this job are countless and continue to pile up. His hard work and dedication have paid off and I am so proud of him!

____________________

On to my little man...who officially turned 6 years old yesterday. So hard to believe. The boy is obsessed with Batman, which I find odd since he's never seen a Batman movie, cartoon, or anything Batman related to my knowledge. When he got up in the morning he proceeded to instruct each of his sisters to tell him happy birthday. Where does the time go?

____________________

Day 2 of 60-60

Still only had hourly alarm reminders up until 1pm. I need to figure out a good way to get my hourly reminders through out the entire day.

Today was different in that I did stop every time and prayed for direction from God. At times it does seem a bit robotic. I don't think it will be effective if it turns into me just doing it to say that I did it, so I'm trying/praying for real connection and re centering in God's will.

Those brief moments usually start off a bit mechanical, but always end up with me having made a connection with Him.

Something I read recently in the book "Soul Revolution" really spoke to me...and I'm curious as to what anyone who might actually read my blog.... :)......thinks about it...so here it is.

"God's 1st concern is not our behavior, but our hearts....Our behavior simply indicates how willing we are to love and trust and follow God. Relationship is what God desires; faithfulness is what pleases Him most."

60-60 Experiment - Day 1

I'm trying out this experiment, the "60-60 Experiment". Reconnecting with God every 60 minutes. Seeking His will for my life every 60 minutes. Or...just taking a moment to talk to Him about whatever!.....every 60 minutes.

Yesterday was day 1......not sure I can even call it Day 1. It was a very lackadaisical attempt on my part. I set the alarm on my cell phone to go off every hour. Unfortunately my phone would only allow me to set so many alarms...and so I had them going up until 1pm.

Last night I was really shocked at what the reality of my relationship with the Lord has been....... based on the results from Day 1.

I did manage to stop and pray almost every time the alarm went off. Honestly though.....several of those times I didn't feel connected to God when I did it.....but I did it anyway.

There were a few times that I simply disabled the alarm and went on with my day. But not without a soft tap tap tap on my shoulder from the Holy Spirit reminding me that I had just chosen my day, my priorities, my coffee, my conversations, my whatever over taking a minute to ask God what He wanted from/for me in that moment...in those next 60 minutes.

I also discovered just how quickly I lost sight of God. In an instant my world revolves around me....not Jesus and His will. I remember thinking, pretty much every time the alarms went off, "man...it's already been an hour?!" It surprised me how fast that time would go by and how, within seconds, I would take my eyes off Jesus and put them square on something else.

And that was only with alarms going up until 1pm.

So....today is Day 2, we'll see what happens.