Stupid Things Kids and Adults Do
January 30, 2011
Where the Rug Burn Shows
My kids would love to play a racing game down the stairs. They would start at the top, count to three, yell “GO!” then they would slide down the stairs on their stomachs as fast as they could. Often this game could go on quite awhile before they all tire of it. Inevitably someone will come to me about thirty minutes post game and mention that their stomach hurts. Upon further investigation it will be revealed the child has managed to get a large rug burn on his stomach. I would rub some lotion on it, and the child would continue to go about the rest of the evening, feeling a bit like he is out of sorts. Read more
Healing Faith of a Child
January 29, 2011
Saturday Night Fever of 105
When illnesses hit, I seem to be the one “of little faith.” It so amazes me how the children are certain when they pray that they will indeed get better, or that a sibling will get well quickly. I wish I could take the credit for such faith, but I cannot. What I can do though is see the faith of my children, and help it to nurture my own faith. It’s kind of a role reversal of sorts. If I am careful to observe the faith of my children, perhaps my own faith will grow in the process. Read more
Help! My Daughter Wants a Horse
January 28, 2011
Lady and the Tramp(ling) Horse
When we first allowed Ashley to get a horse, I overheard someone tell her that everyone who owns a horse ends up with at least one broken arm. I pretended not to hear, but knew in my heart that I was not going to allow it to happen.
However, what I seemed to fail to take into account was that we allowed our daughter to buy a horse that was not yet broke to ride. Someone was going to get broken. I was voting for the horse. Read more
Baby With Jaundice
January 27, 2011
I had become convinced when I was pregnant with David that I wanted to give God total control over the design of our family. This meant that I was willing to allow God to decide when and how many children we would have. Because I had made this decision in my heart, this by no means meant that I had completely given my life over to the Lord for His will to be done. Read more
New Book Available NOW
January 26, 2011
Taking my own advice, I decided to finish my book, Gone With the Mind – Stories from a Mom of Eight. As many of you know, this is my fourth book. The first three were published the traditional way. My book, I’m Going to be the Greatest Mom Ever…Even if it Kills Me was featured at Sam’s Clubs across the country. I decided to jump out and do this one as a download book because of the way the market has changed. You can read it on your phone (in the bathroom) if you can get .pdf’s to your phone. The chapters are short for those times when you only have a few minutes. Believe me, I know what it’s like to just grab a minute or two to get some refreshment for my weary body.
Go ahead and get a little encouragement when you feel you’ve lost your mind.
If you want to read some excerpts, I have posted some under the category, Gone with the Mind.
You will learn some of what I have learned along the way.
- Potty Training
- Disciplining the Strong Willed Child
- Getting Past the Worry and Fear
- Organization and Cleaning Tips (or not)
And most importantly as you read through these stories, you will learn, What Not to Do!
Potty Training When You Have Lots of Kids
January 26, 2011
I’ve Been Working on the Commode
We have a lot of adventures that take place in our bathroom. I use the term adventures lightly. Shortly after moving into our old country home several years ago, Steve remodeled a portion of our house to be an additional bathroom. Read more
Bad Day With the Kids
January 25, 2011
Runaway Mom
Not long ago I was startled when I witnessed Bryan strike out in anger at my David while they played together with the train set. As soon as Bryan hit David, you could tell on his face that he had made a grave mistake. Almost immediately he went into the bathroom, albeit with much fear and trepidation. After our typical prayer and consultation Bryan said to me, “I wish Jesus would rewind to the time right before I hit David.”
I kind of chuckled and thought to myself that Bryan had been watching too many movies.
Fast-forward 24 hours…. The day was not going as planned for me. As I read to the kids the little ones were louder and more physical than normal. With every passing paragraph I grew more irritated. Finally the children seemed to get quiet and I was able to read about three chapters of the book. I was halfway through the fourth when they once again began fussing with each other. I tossed the book down, just a bit harder than I should have and declared reading time over and sent everyone to their rooms.
For the next forty-five minutes I heard nothing but bickering among the kids. As I tried to get a simple lunch made, I had to stop every few minutes to have a consultation with a child. I’m afraid our house was infected with a virus of unknown origin, but which had the unmistakable symptom of grouchiness. It infected even me.
After taking three times as long to get lunch on the table, I went to settle down at my computer for a bit of writing time while kids finished up lunch then went on with their usual afternoon assignments.
Within a few short minutes I was sick of hearing my own name. I was constantly bombarded with children asking questions, most of which were completely irrelevant to the assignments they had been given.
I tried to calm my nerves, but could do nothing. Just when I would take a deep breath, once again I would hear from another room, “Moooooooommmmmmm, can you come here?”
I began to count my blessings and thought momentarily that I had too many. Suddenly all the blood rushed to my head and I let out a scream. It didn’t relieve me; it only made me feel extremely embarrassed. Then to make matters even worse I told my husband that he was now in charge because I was leaving!
I slammed out the door, got in the car and began to drive. I contemplated the airport, but knew that would not help.
Recently I had been feeling quite depressed and completely without reason. Searching my mind for a way out of the depression I opted for a perm. I drove for forty-five minutes. The alone time with the Lord was extremely helpful. In fact, I thought that perhaps I was okay to just go home. However, I had driven all that way, I may as well get the perm. I reasoned to myself.
As I sat being tortured, I thought to myself that I really deserved this pulling of my hair after the childish way I acted at home. It almost comforted me to know I was getting a smidgen of what I deserved for my behavior.
I don’t often find myself in a depressed mode for very long so it had taken me a little by surprise. I was also quite upset that I couldn’t seem to just pull myself up by my bootstraps and be happy and content. Even though I had spent a good deal of time alone in the car talking to the Lord, I still didn’t think I was quite out of the yucky feelings.
For some reason I was convinced that getting a perm so I would look like Julia Roberts would make me all better. The only problem I had of course was that I am way too short to look like her. And I don’t have nearly as many teeth. As the stylist worked on my hair I glanced into the mirror and noticed that I looked a lot like my mom. It wasn’t the look I wanted.
When I arrived home nine smiling faces all full of forgiveness greeted me. All the kids loved my hair. Then Steve casually mentioned that I looked like my mom. Tears welled up in my eyes. I ran up the stairs and began to bawl. I don’t want to look like my mom! She’s twenty years older than I am. I want to look like Julia Roberts!
I finally composed myself and returned to the family who seems to manage to love me in spite of myself. As we sat in the living room I looked at Bryan and said, “Hey Bud, do you think I could rewind today?”
He looked me right in the eye and said. “No. Only Jesus can rewind your day.”
He was right. As much as I wanted to forget how badly I felt and behaved, I was powerless on my own to do anything about it. I needed the redemptive power of Jesus Christ to come to me who at the time was worthless for Him.
Barb Shelton once said this about redemption. “Redeem is to take something of little or no value (me when I’m too frustrated to act rationally) and turn it in to one who has great wealth and power and in exchange receive something of great value.”
Within moments after praying for Jesus to restore me, I had the great value that I so needed. I had forgiveness, and a clean slate! What a gift! It was much better than a perm and He didn’t even use the remote to rewind the day.
Even though I know I’m washed clean, I still occasionally slip up and do or say, sometimes both with tremendous force, the things I know that I should not say or do.
Play With Your Children
January 24, 2011
I Am Child – Hear Me Roar
At the age of four, Bryan loved to play animal and dinosaur. He would often come find me wherever I was. Even if I would be taking a nap, he will come over to me and “ROAR” as loud as he could. Sometimes I wondered if he was trying to show me his strength. Other times I think he prefered to be around me and wanted to find me wherever I may roam. Perhaps there is also the possibility that he thought I might one day forget him in the crowd so he needs to make his presence known to me in such a dramatic way. Read more
It’s Tough Raising a Strong Willed Child
January 23, 2011
The Good, The Bad, and the Bryan
My stomach hurt, I felt nauseous, and I couldn’t eat. My head ached and I couldn’t think. You could even say my brain hurt. Some of you are grinning right now thinking to yourself, “I bet she’s pregnant.” No, it wasn’t a pregnancy. But I was suffering from a child-induced illness. The illness I’m referring to is “The Battle of the Will!” Read more
Help! I Have A Mouse in My House
January 22, 2011
Of Mice and Children
As much as I try, there are still a few things that scare the heebie jeebies out of me. One of those things is a mouse. I do not like to awaken in the night to the sound of a little critter in my room.
When I was a lot younger, I was baby sitting a family in our town. The children were allowed to all sleep on the floor in the living room. They had been watching television all cozied up with their blankets and pillows when they eventually fell into a sound sleep. Of course I couldn’t fall asleep. I was in charge. As I sat on the couch watching the TV. I thought I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and stared, but didn’t see anything. A few minutes later, again I thought I spied something in the doorway leading into another room. Squinting to see I stared at the open doorway. Suddenly a mouse ran into the living room, and over one of the children. Read more
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