Happy Thanksgiving!

I love thanksgiving... it's my favorite holiday - the blessed combination of good family fellowship and good food minus the pressure of gifts (unless you do christmas early!)

And good grief, we in America have so much to be thankful for... but we're pretty much to the point of being the spoiled rich kid that takes everything for granted (myself included in that statement!!). In our society thanksgiving gets glossed over in hopes of creating a longer Christmas shopping season; or it's known as "turkey day" and you partake of the bird while you watch football on the television... but let's face it, there is little to no marketability in thankfulness and for that I am very thankful.

So I hope that you do take time this thanksgiving to think of all the things that you are thankful for and more importantly, Who you need to be thanking. Myself? I'm thankful for (in no particular order)...

• a great family that puts up with me and lives so close, lending their many hands
• great friends to go out with and laugh and forget the day-to-day stresses and frustrations
• my husband - he's so smart and keeps a level head about everything, has taught me a lot in terms of staying calm and peaceful (there are many times that I need to learn more!)
• my kids - they are so sweet and really they don't cause me any more grief than any other child might bring. more importantly they bring me joy and contentment
• my job - while I don't feel like I can devote the time it deserves, it totally provides a creative outlet for me and is a position that I'm really passionate about.
• my house - so much room, so much fun, so much to clean :)

So have a great day - go hug a turkey... or eat one! mmmmmm....

I'm Blaming Others...

Just wanted you to know that I have absolutely no time to get on here and complete a post these days. I have the beginnings of countless one-way conversations in my edit box all with the red italicized "draft" next to them and I can't sit down to finish the thoughts - and often time when I sit down to look at them again that train of thought has totally pulled out of the station, ya know what I mean?

My hubby is an internet nut these days - looking up stuff on government corruption, the negative effects of the federal reserve and hunting down future guests for his weekly radio interview news program. He comes home, we have dinner, we goof around as a family and then I put the kids to bed while he jumps for the computer chair.

I don't have enough time on hand during the day to sit down and type a full post without an argument starting, a near death experience occurring, an annoyed (or annoying) child appearing or a conspiracy to trash the house is formed. And these days every. time. I sit down to use the computer Miss Lillie comes up and begs "boo coo" while flashing her little hands at me in Blue's Clues style. She wants to watch the episodes we found on the internet over and over again...

So I blame everyone but myself as to why I keep racking up the drafts but not the posts. There may be a time in the near future when I can sit down and think, not be interrupted, and actually get some stuff documented. But as for right now I've got a little girl directly to my right repeatedly saying "boo coos" - I'm not giving in... but I am getting annoyed.

Sold!

We finally signed all the paperwork that sold our old house to new owners. The buyers seem very nice and I think will be great neighbors to our great neighbors (did you follow me? I'm not sure I did...)

Anyway, glad that bridge is crossed and we can totally focus on ONE house... which is the way I prefer it for sure.

Just Want You To Know...

that every time I tell you about how something is working out or how I handle certain things, you can pretty much guarantee that it all changes once the post is published.

Since talking about how our school day is structured - yeah. it's all different now.

Since telling you about my breakfast and lunch menu - ummm, I do still have a breakfast menu, but it's different than that one.

And since just yesterday when I told you that Avery has regressed in the potty department, I have a little boy that diligently goes pee in the appropriate places again... and seems to be softening his heart towards the other job (I told him I would throw him a "poopy party").

So it looks like if I want anything changed or (un)done around here, all I need to do is blog about it.

So I will now tell you that Avery absolutely, positively refuses to be completely potty trained, and he will never, ever decide that it be any other way! *wink, wink*

Lets Talk About Poop

Specifically? Avery's poop. I am sooooooooooo tired of changing his poopy pants. He still refuses to poop in the potty. He has done it once, and while it wasn't a traumatic event and he was very pleased and proud that he had done it.... he also only went half way and proceeded to do the rest of the job in his underwear.

I had a point of being ok with it, because he was completely trained to put the other in the potty. So while we had one accident a day to deal with, it was only one accident. But he is now regressing and becoming lazy and will do everything in the pull-up because he can.

I've tried everything... and seriously I mean everything (short of laxatives!) But I can't convince him and he doesn't seem at all hurt or convinced by my disappointment, pleading, bribes, punishments, encouragement, etc. etc.

He's four now and yes I must admit I feel a little bit like a failure as a potty trainer... but really how in the world can you make someone else poop?

So I will continue to try and try again and grit my teeth and change another poopy diaper - but man, I'm pooped.

Look At That Bamboo Grow

Chuck Swindoll, a few months ago, gave a message on parenting based off of the Ephesians 6 scriptures that has really helped me put many things into perspective. The overall theme was that parenting is all about nurturing - we are to supply the environment that our children need to grow... and by now many of you are probably thinking right now, "ummm. duh." But really, to me, that little message totally switched my focus.

As a parent of now 4 children it is really easy for me to slip into the reactive mode instead of attempting to stay proactive. It is also especially easy for me to focus on the temporal rather than the eternal. The whole idea of nurturing sets my sights on the long term rather than the craziness that is ensuing in the here and now. When I was a younger mom and quite naive, I used to see my parenting role more as that of a blacksmith... you apply heat and force to the areas you want to mold. Yeah, that doesn't work... well, let me qualify that - it does work with the naturally very compliant child... but I digress (I will go ahead and say that if you continue to have chilren and a majority of those are boys, the odds of them being those naturally very compliant type is slim to none.)

His message combined the few verses on parenting in Ephesians chapter 6 with the famous parenting verse found in Proverbs, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." (22:6) Swindoll intertwined that verse with the Ephesians passage so that we could further understand the concept of nurturing. He broke down and defined each phrase of the verses, unpacking the Hebrew words and bringing further clarity and guidance to parents.

I will not sit here and rewrite the whole of Chuck's message - that would not do it justice. But I will tell you some solid points that I took away from it...

1. A parent needs to create and cultivate a thirst within their child for that which pleases God.

2. A parent needs to train up a child according to his/her way... the nurturing mother makes a study of her child - adapting the training according to the way her child has been made. Because families have been given a particular child with a particular set of bents... this process takes effort and time.

3. You correct the wrong but you encourage the right - you spend more time

He ended with an illustration about how to grow the supreme grade of bamboo found in Malaysia. The caregiver will plant the seed of this plant and nurture it and fertilize it -- taking great care in applying what it needs everyday for years... with no visible signs of growth. This goes on for 4 years... constant care with no physical signs of fruits to their labor. Until year five. That plant will grow 90 feet in 30 days. Boom. Just like that. Ninety feet in no time flat. Kids are so much like that - you poor your efforts, your life itself into those children with sometimes no visible results. You cry out, wondering if they will ever "get. it." and then boom. One day you look at them and you are amazed - you are seeing the fruits of your labor.

Why do I bring this up now? Two of my kids turn a year older this week - I now have an 8 year old and a 4 year old. Children that I have poured so much effort into and children that have shown me so much resistance and there were many times that I wondered if they would ever see the right path. And boom. They are sweet boys that have shown me that my efforts and God's faithfulness is there whether I feel it, see it, recognize it or not.

So happy birthday to my sweet kids. I know I'm biased but I feel that I have reason to be proud of them. :)

Go listen to that broadcast from Chuck Swindoll, it's not too late... Go to Insight.org and out of the Broadcast Libraries choose May 11-13, 2009 "Secrets of a Nurturing Home."