The 2nd child

We are currently walking through what some may call the "terrible 2's" and what I tend to call "him exerting his independence in a very strong way, and at at times, defiant way."  This morning was no different.  It seems that this week has been bad for us.  I'm not for sure what has changed this week to make him in such a bad mood, but it did.  Maybe it's me being more tired than normal.  Who knows!  I am in no way blaming it all on him because I'm just as responsible for not being as patient with him and vice versa.  I know I play a part in this past week.  I just don't know what it is/was. 

On our way to church this morning, we were running late, of course.  I, for once, wasn't getting onto Daddy T for being late again.  I am merely accepting that we just can't plan to be anywhere by 9:00.  So I never plan that!  However, church does start then, but thankfully most of the class is orchestra/choir members so many people come in late.  It works great for us! 

I began thinking about our week while B was in the back seat whining.  Ahhhh!!!!  I turned to Daddy T and told him that it must have been wonderful to be Mary and to have Jesus...so perfect, not whining, not disobeying, just perfect.  But then I started to think about the shock it would have been to have the next child.  Yikes!  To go from perfect to imperfect would have been a shock.  Think about the standard Jesus set for his siblings.  I wonder how Mary did it and how she coped with not playing favorites just because Jesus obeyed, and well...of course was the Messiah!

Just a random thought I had this morning that I thought I'd share.  So there.

Book Review: An Amish Love

There's no need for me to retell you about how much I love Amish fiction.  So it's probably no surprise that I am reviewing another Amish fiction book.  This book is three novellas that are written by Beth Wiseman, Kelly Long, and Kathleen Fuller.

Healing Hearts by Beth Wiseman is about a husband who left his wife to "find himself."  She, in return, has had to trust that God would work a miracle and had to lean on Him in ways that she had never done previously.  Upon returning, her husband has to prove to his wife that he not only loves her and cares for her, but that he's sorry for leaving in the first place.

A Marriage of the Heart by Kelly Long is about two people that find themselves getting married.  Once they are married, they come to realize what true love really is and what it means to love someone.

What the Heart Sees by Kathleen Fuller is blind and lost her boyfriend not long after the accident occurred.  Skip ahead a few years and her ex-boyfriend returns and realizes that he was wrong and falls in love.

The stories are very predictable, but they are enticing and make me want to continue reading them.  It's also a good preview as to the writing styles of the different authors.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Who Says?

I have come across many people who have told me that it is pointless to teach my children memory verses at a young age.  I disagreed.  Although B might not understand all of the words to every verse, I believe that God can still speak to him since he has hidden His Word in his heart.  (I'll argue that he knows what some of the verses mean!)  Honestly, I don't know what ALL of the verses mean, but God continues to reveal Himself to me through them one at a time.

Scripture memory is something that I was great at as a child, but not so good at now.  In fact, I remember that one week during  the summer, my father would make us memorize a certain passage of Scripture.  It was kinda fun.  And every morning before school, we would do our devotions with Mom and there was always the verse.  It became a habit for us and I'm thankful that a love for God's Word and learning more about His Word was instilled in us at such an early age. 

I decided that this week was a great week to start memorizing a verse.  I made it fun and introduced it while we were playing with his toys.  He said it back to me a few times and of course I started out easy.  I only gave him the first part of the verse and I'll add the rest over the next couple of weeks.  Now when I ask him what his memory verse is, he says "Children obey your parents."  It's so sweet!  Now...to work on the application of this verse into his life....

Sneak Peek

I can't show you the REALLY good ones until Christmas Day because some people who read this may or may not be receiving some of them as presents.  Time will only tell.  At any rate, here are some of the ones we had taken.  The experience was horrible because B wanted Daddy T to be in EVERY picture with him.  The staff did awesome at catching his smiles that occurred on occasion.  Mostly, though, he looked like this:

What do you think?  Does this reflect how our Santa pictures are going to turn out?!

Learning is Still Fun

 I love listening to B "read."  It usually makes me laugh because I will hear a bunch of random words strung together.  Usually Mommy, Daddy, Pop, Mama, Nanny, Papa, Ma, Aunt Mo, Unc Joh, Papa, and Nanny Ruth all make it into his story.  This is usually accompanied by animals that you would normally find on a farm or see on Signing Time.

Which leads me to my next statement: B has a girlfriend.  Her name is Leah and she doesn't know that she's his boyfriend.  She can be found anytime on the Signing Time DVDs.  He can sign her name and pretty much everything else she signs.  (By the way, if anyone ever wants anything from Signing Time, let me know because you get a discount from me since I am a Signing Time Instructor.)  I think he gets a tad bit jealous of Alex because he'll sign his name ONLY when we ask who he is.  He never just offers his name out there.  (Alex is Leah's cousin, so he's really no competition.)

All of that to say, I'm so glad he loves to learn and that he chooses to do so by carrying books around with him all the time and by watching Signing Time (by request).  I hope that learning is always fun for him.  I'll share some of his new things we've been working on in "Tot School" throughout the week.  Check out Tot School.  It's amazing.

Finally, I'm convinced there is nothing sweeter than hearing your child praying to Jesus and getting so excited when he pulls up into any church parking lot or when he sees a church from afar.  In fact, if we ever forget to pray before breakfast, lunch, or dinner, he stops what he's doing, puts his fork down, grabs our hands and prays.  Sometimes we have to spontaneously pray more than once during our meal.  I don't mind.  I love it!

The Verdict

If you missed out on my Sunday adventure, feel free to go back and read it here.  Otherwise, I will assume that you all read it and know what fight I chose to fight on Sunday.  I'll admit that I kept thinking "Is it worth it?"  I knew it was, but I just didn't know how much longer I could handle it. 

I must say now that it's been several days that I am EXTREMELY glad I fought that fight.  We haven't had any dinner issues at all since then.  He has eaten everything that I have put on his plate and then some.  He even ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and entire one) yesterday without me prodding him.  He also ate the crust.  That's never heard of before!  I tell him what's to eat and he simply responds "okay, mommy" or "yes, mommy." 

Looking back, it was a tough fight but I'm so thankful that God gave me the wisdom to know ahead of time that it was worth it in the end.  Not to say that we won't have some bumps in the road and I'm sure I'll face this again.  However, I will at least know that it does pay off.

Now I leave you with a picture of my two precious kiddos that love to play with each other, as much as they can at least.

Mission Accomplished

I did it!  I ran my first 5k!  I was so excited when I crossed that finish line with Aunt Mo because this had been something on my to-do list for awhile.  Honestly, though, the thought of running a race terrified me.  I don't consider myself a runner and although I knew I wouldn't be a top placer (and have no desire to be), I still expected a lot of myself to at least run it all.  I'm proud to say we ran all but around 6 minutes of it.  Aunt Mo helped me cross the finish line because I was pretty tired after the last hill.  I kept praying to God and asking Him to please keep my feet moving.  It reminded me of my Christian faith in so many ways.  I feel like I'm at a point with my kids where I'm constantly praying to stay one step ahead of them.  Just one!  I need that wisdom.

I now see why running is addictive.  It was like nothing I had ever experienced.  I know it's  just a 5k, but it's a start.  Once I complete more of those, I'll add the 10k.  Aunt Mo and I are trying to find a fun place to run a half marathon at some point.  A small fact on Aunt Mo---she used to run cross-country, so she's a great person for me to run with.  I hope I didn't slow her down too much!

I don't have any pictures, sadly, because Daddy T didn't get there in time because of Baby M's nap and the hitting construction.  That's okay, though.  I insisted that he has to take a picture of me at the New Year's Eve race that is in the hilly city.  Not so sure how I will do with these 4 miles, complete with hills, but I know I will do my best and keep training.  Have I mentioned how fun it is and how proud I am that I accomplished my goal?! 

I have several races in mind to run, so hopefully all goes well and I'll get to do those.  I'd love to do one a month, but we'll see if I can.  I actually LOVE running in the winter.  It's a little harder when it's cold and windy, but the running gear they have is quite impressive and I love running in it. 

So...that's my race summary.  Expect another one on New Year's Eve!

Worth a Fight?

Today started out as a wonderful day.  B was so excited to go to church that he went and got his own diaper (never mind the fact that it was a swim diaper) and wanted us to put it on him.  At church, he went running into his class, hung up his backpack (without any prompting) and came back to me and asked me to put his name tag on him.  I, of course, was so proud of him for taking initiative and it made my morning. 

On our way to church, we had stopped to get breakfast and he ate an entire burrito.  When he got into class, he asked to "eat."  We reminded him that he has to play first and he said "okay."  I told the lady that I didn't think he could possibly be hungry yet, but she just laughed and said that he keeps them on schedule for snack time.  Oh, my child!

After church, I went back to get him and he aided me in waking up his sister very lovingly and even held my hand to walk to the car WITHOUT whining or complaining.  Amazing!

So you can see why I might would think this would be a great day.  On our way home, I told him that we were going to get fettuccine for lunch.  He loves it and hasn't had it in a while.  I figured it was something that wouldn't cause a fight over dinner.  WRONG!  We got home, I put it in a bowl, and he refused to touch it.  After whining (which bugs me), I took the food away and informed him that since he wasn't going to eat then he could go to bed.  Off he trotted, very willingly.  I figured he must have been really tired.  But when he woke up, he wanted to eat.  So I warmed up his noodles and again, refused.  So I sent him back to bed.  We did this several times.  Now, before I get comments that I should have just let him go because he may not have been hungry, that was not the case.  He was wanting snacks and juice, not his food.  He was plain refusing to eat.  And I, being just as stubborn was refusing to be a restaurant and cook something different when I had just gotten this. 

This made for a very trying afternoon.  While he was in his room crying and laying there, I was in my room with Baby M...and I was crying and praying for wisdom and what my next move should be.  I was feeling pretty discouraged when we made to church tonight.  My kid's choir was singing for the Hanging of the Green and honestly, I wasn't feeling very Christmas-y since I was still quite frustrated with my afternoon.  I picked up the kiddos from the nursery and headed back home to meet Daddy T who had just gotten home.  All the way home, B begged to eat.  (They must not have had snacks today in the nursery, which was perfect for my case!)  I informed him that he could eat his noodles when we got home.  He informed me with the word "no."  I said "it's noodles or bed."  He quickly chose the noodles. 

When we made it home, he hopped in his chair and I warmed up his noodles.  Needless to say, he ate ALL of his noodles, part of my sandwich (which he never touches), an orange, some of my dessert that Daddy T surprised me with, and popcorn.  To show him how pleased we were with him, we had a family movie night with the new VeggieTales sing-along that his Aunt Mo had just given him that weekend.  It was a wonderful end to a very frustrating afternoon.  Now to see if he has learned his lesson....

Book Review: Unto the Hills by Billy Graham

I have the older version of this book that someone had given me.  It was well-worn by the time I received it, so I was excited to get a nice, new copy of this book.  This devotional is very encouraging, thought-provoking, and reminds you that through it all, God remains.

As a Christian, we aren't guaranteed to never face trials.  In fact, Jesus said that we WILL face trials and persecution.  It wasn't really an option.  I think with the modernization of Christianity, the message has somehow gotten twisted to "if you become a Christian, life will be great and nothing bad will ever happen to you."  Billy Graham does a good job of reminding us through this devotional that even though bad things happen...I like to call it life...that God will still be there, faithful to walk with us through it all.  He doesn't pick and choose the trials He will join us in.  Instead, He joins us and holds our hand as we pass through the valley onto the moutains. 

These daily devotions are short, but Billy Graham uses God's Word to pack a message into each one.  If you are just starting with your quiet times and want something structured, I think this is a good book (along with the Bible, of course) to start with.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Challenges

As I've mentioned a few posts ago, I did join Weight Watcher's.  I have difficulty losing weight when I'm nursing because my weight never budges.  I'm always afraid to cut back on my food too much because I don't want to decrease my milk supply.  Anyway, for that reason, I am doing Weight Watcher's and am enjoying it.  I am also getting my mom to do it, so hopefully we'll both lose weight.

So, my goals for this week?  Simple.

1.  I am working on rehearsing my order for when we go out to eat.

2.  I am working on eating a bigger breakfast so I don't get so hungry.

3.  I am working on chosing better snacks and more often.

These three goals are a challenge for me because I tend to get so busy that I forget to eat breakfast.  Most of the time, it's well past 9:00 before I get everyone fed/dressed/ready for the day.  At that point, I am then "allowed" to eat.  I'm realizing that I might need to get up earlier to eat my breakfast so that I can make sure it gets done when it should get done.  Sad that I have to plan my breakfast early, huh?!  Oh well.  That's the stage I am in at the moment.  One day, I'll miss it and say "remember when I had to get up early just so I could eat breakfast before the kiddos woke up?"  That's what I always tell myself when I start to feel frustrated.  It helps with my perspective.  Anyway, that's where I am at with this whole losing weight thing.  Perhaps I'll share a recipe in the next few days....