Parenting is Like a Bowl of Cherries

If you have been a parent for any length of time you have become aware that there are just some things that you:
A) have not been told about the journey,
B) you really do not know how you will handle certain situations (even though you were 100% positive that you would know exactly what to do), and
C) you need help.

I will attempt to explain--

No one tells you that there might come a time when you will be awaken in the middle of the night by the sounds of a child who is having a major explosion from his/her nether regions and did not quite make it to the proper seat in the house. Such an occurrence might result in you dragging out your mop bucket and a gallon or more of bleach and cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom.

On a more serious note--

No one tells you that boys get rather, ah, hormonal, pretty much in the same fashion as girls. But here's the thing: moms are not boys!!! Moms know what to do with the girls. Been there. Done that. "Sure, honey, you take some Tylenol, eat a piece of chocolate and go take a nap. You want the heating pad?" With boys??? I can answer technical questions, but do I really have the right to? Since I homeschool, I am with my boys much more than their dad. No fault on his part, he is doing what he is supposed to do--go to work to support his family. But "guy" questions do not come up between the hours of 6 PM and 7 AM only. They can come up at any and all times. Also, no one talks about boys being "hormonal". Any mom who has sat by when their pre-teen or teen son has resorted to tears for a minor thing knows what I am talking about.

Can you guess that I am in the middle of boy hormones? Can I say, "Yikes!!!" So I am in need of some guidance. I found a source of guidance in a place I wasn't looking--here. I do not remember what took me to this blog: probably something to do with homeschooling or natural eating. At any rate, am so thankful that she is posting these wonderful gems. I have not yet decided if I will purchase Brooke Meglothlin's book, but I am enjoying going through these verses. I am looking forward to sharing them with all my children, male and female alike. Here's the thing, parenting is not always a bowl of cherries. Well, maybe it is a bowl of cherries. God did know what he was doing when He made cherries. Tiny bites of pure happiness wrapped around a rock-hard pit. Have you ever eaten a cherry and bit the pit? It absolutely hurts. So, yes, I will say that parenting is like a bowl of cherries, pits and all. It is dealing with those pits that is so difficult. Getting to the heart of behavior is what is necessary, but I do not always know how to hit behavior at the core. I tend to take care of symptoms; something I despise in the medical community. The trick is to figure out WHY the child is behaving in a particular manner and to guide him or her to the correct heart position. Hmmm, not so easy. For me, I am at a total loss. I want to say, "It's wrong. Just don't do it." But that method doesn't work so well. It is necessary to make a child, or ourselves truth be told, seek out the reason why behavior is inappropriate. That is what fosters the desire to change the behavior. Discipline and correction for a symptom does not heal the problem. This requires work on my part. I have to research and pray and do some deep thinking in order to discover what is right and why. In the process, I learn a thing or two and most likely have to correct a hundred things or two hundred in my own life. But in the long run, it is worth it.

So, I will continue to eat my bowl of cherries and do my best to deal with the pits.

Ahhhhh

Well, our VBS is behind us. We have worked hard for the last two months. (Well, it has been two months for me. For the wonderful ladies I worked with, it has been longer.) The week went well. The children learned and had fun. Four children made decisions for Christ. This experience was fun, hard work and a learning opportunity for me. Also, I got to know some people better and THAT is a blessing.

Now it is time to begin planning for our upcoming school year. Hopefully I will have a framework in the next two weeks, and we can begin work. I have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head for things we should do and things I would like to do.

For now, I am looking forward to hitting my pillow and having panda-free dreams.

Beautiful Song

At the graduation ceremony for our homeschool group this year, this song was played while the parents were seated. It brings me to tears, but it is such a blessing.

Tatertots & Jello Hosted Give-A-Way

Jen over at Tatertots and Jello is hosting a Word Whipped Give-Away.

My personal favorite is the Custom Family Rules signs.

Check it out and sign up!

Happiness is . . .

hearing your children say how happy they are to have clean rooms. Especially when they are the ones who did the cleaning. We had our carpets cleaned today. In preparation, I had the children pull everything moveable out of their rooms and dust. We cleaned baseboards. After the carpets were cleaned, (CLEAN CARPETS, YEAH, BABY!) they put everything back into its place. We are happy, clean campers here.

*P.S. Bubbie Boy wants to make sure that everyone knows that he moved his dresser out of his room all on his own. And he is 8.

A List of Blessings

Several weeks ago I received a weekly sales email from CBD in which was advertised a book called One Thousand Gifts. I looked at it and even visited the author's website. For some reason, I decided that it is not a book that I wish to read. This morning, I received my daily email from Heart of the Matter Online and it contained a giveaway for this book. I read through the post, entered the giveaway and decided to join the blessings link-up. You see, the reflection on what I am thankful for calmed my spirit and made me even feel like my body temperature dropped a couple of degrees. In no particular order . . .

1. A little boy who LOVES, LOVES, LOVES me
2. A beautiful daughter growing into a lovely young lady
3. A son growing strong and tall much sooner than I thought possible
4. A husband who provides and protects
5. Juicy, ripe, sweet strawberries
6. HEALTH
7. Music
8. Encouragement from others
9. Croaking frogs
10. Singing birds
11. The sound of water

Hmmm, I could get carried away and that would be a good thing. Maybe I will come back and add later. Probably I should.

Bathmats & Veggie Treasure Box

Please do not measure the accomplishments in my daily life by my blog posts. I have been keeping myself occupied during the last two weeks, I just haven't said much about what has been going on. But now . . . I have a couple of bloggy minutes.

So, I have this weird thing about bathmats. I do not like the cute rug type mats that have that strange rubber stuff on the back. When you wash those, you have to lay them out to dry. Then, if you are me, you forget about the mats and they end up decorating your back yard and disintegrating into nothing in the hot sun. In the mean time, you end up using bath towels to stand on when you are dripping wet.

Now, I do like the bath mats they have in hotels. Low pile, thick towel-like mats. Alas, those are too pricey for frugal little me.

What's a girl to do? I really do not like using out bath towels as mats on the floor. They are, after all, going to be used once again on our freshly showered bodies. Yes, they will be washed, but it is the idea of it all.

I thought I had come up with a solution. I was at Target and found these wonderfully colorful 100% cotton rugs that I thought would fit the bill. I brought them home and discovered they were very slippery on our tile. No problem. I am resourceful. I simply cut a piece of drawer liner to put under them. Problem solved. However . . . new problem—they were approved for spot clean only. Who, in their right mind will just spot clean a bath mat.

So, back to the drawing board. And am I ever so happy now! I bought an inexpensive towel from Wal-Mart, cut off the decorative edges, then cut two 18” wide pieces. The ends are already finished. On the cut ends, I added colorful bias tape. These work great! They add a splash of color. And the cost? Wait for it . . . $2.50 to $3.50 each. I have already sewn four, pinned bias tape on two more and will probably make at least two more. (We have three bathtubs/showers, and doing laundry . . . well that should be a post in and of itself.)

O.K., so one problem solved. Moving on to the next thing. Remember my Vitamix? I still love it, but I didn't love having to wash veggies every time I wanted to blend something. So I scrubbed and peeled, allowed the freshly-washed veggies to drain dry, then loaded the whole kit and caboodle into a large plastic container with a lid. Boy this little guy makes me so happy every time I pull him out of the fridge. I can whip up a soup or a salad in no time. Then I just pop the lid back on and put the whole thing away. Hey, I just realized that I am also saving myself the aggravation of digging through the fridge for all the bags of produce, then stuffing them all back in each and every time I need veg. Yea, me!!!