Seriously?

I am speechless.  That doesn't happen often!  What happened that brought on this amazing phenomenon?  A discussion on Facebook of all things.

A friend asked a question about a performer that is very popular right now.  Lady Gaga.  ugh, Even her name is stupid.  (Robin, I know you like some of her stuff!)  The question was posed if her music-if you can call it that-is appropriate for teenagers.  I'm thinking that that is a no-brainer.  Right?  Apparently not.

The comments were more of the line of thinking that we can not shield our children from society.  And if they have good influences then this kind of thing will not influence them.  WHAT????

I'm pretty sure that that is one of the reasons that our children are turning away from the Faith when they get older.  If parents are letting them listen to this kind of thing long enough, their thinking is going to become twisted to the world's standards.  It won't matter how strong the parents influence is; in the end sin has been given a foothold.  But, why would we as parents' want to let the world influence them in this way if we can prevent it?

Isn't it our job as parents to shield them from things for as long as we can until they are mature enough to handle it?  Aren't we supposed to guard and monitor their lives so that they are protected because we have experienced things they haven't?  Isn't that the point of having someone more experienced in your life; so that you can learn from their mistakes and successes?

Saying that worldly music and movies won't have an effect on our children if they have other Godly influences to counteract them is ludicrous.  If that were true, then why does the Bible say that "Bad company corrupts good morals"?  1 Cor. 15:33  That seems to tell me that if you are in the 'company' of bad things long enough, you will be changed for the worse.   Can a man watch pornography as long as he is going to church and doing a Bible Study?  He has Godly influences, doesn't he? 

Sounds stupid, doesn't it?  That's because it is worldly thinking.  The world says that it doesn't matter what you watch or listen to or read as long as you have other interests that are 'good'.  That is clearly wrong.

The Bible doesn't say to fill you mind with all kinds of things, good or bad, it says to fill them with good things.  "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."  Philippians 4:8  That seems pretty clear to me.

I am a little worked up about this, as my dh will attest!  Our children rely on us to guide them and protect them.  Even if that means from themselves.

Blessings with Lessons in Disguise

WARNING:  Total honesty here...I'm just sayin'!

Since I have had Bronchitis and Mono, I have been pretty much in bed or home-bound for the last three to four weeks.  I have been sleeping most days.  It has been a challenge to get school done.  That's probably putting it mildly, but we are working on it.  We are doing enough, for now.  I am itching to get back to our normal schedule and normal life.  But it is happening much more slowly than I care for.  If I do too much, I end up in bed for most of the next day trying to recover.  I'm not good with pacing myself!

This extended illness has been good for a few things, however.  One is that my girls are learning to help around the house more and to seek out ways to help before they are asked.  It is not an easy lesson and it is slow going, but they are growing in this area.

Another area of growth has been for all of us, but me especially.  When I got sick my good friend, Amy, scheduled friends to bring me meals. Honestly, it was a situation that I was uncomfortable with.  Not because I was afraid of the food that people would bring; but because of the attention it would draw.  I don't like being the center of this kind of attention.  It is hard for me to admit that I have needs and then to let someone else fill or provide for them.

I don't have any problems jumping in to help someone else and actually enjoy it quite a bit.  It is an honor and a blessing.

When it comes to me and my needs, it feels like a burden that is unfair to share with others.  It feels like too much to ask for others to help or help carry the burden with me.  It also is humbling. 

I don't consider myself that prideful.  That is until something like this happens.  When Amy emailed me with the schedule of meals, pride reared its ugly head and embarrassment washed over me.  I was embarrassed that all these people were bringing us food and embarrassed that I couldn't take care of my family on my own.  Pride.

I swallowed my pride and after the first couple of ladies brought food, an interesting conversation occurred with the girls.

One of them asked why all these people were bringing us food.  They said that it was embarrassing.  That stopped me in my tracks.  Had the way I had been acting been that evident that they were picking up on it?  Of course it was!  I had some backtracking to do and also some humble explanations to lay out.

God was working on my heart to show me that this was exactly how The Body was supposed to work.  I was willing to work in this way for others but was unwilling to let others bless me in that way.  Why? 

Because of pride. 

Ugh.

I am thankful for this lesson from a loving Father.  It has been sweet to watch the faces of the ladies blessing our family and sweet to watch the girls accept these blessings with quiet and humble hearts.  These amazing ladies have blessed me and my family beyond what words can describe.

What a beautiful thing to be a part of The Body. 

Soccer. Need I say more?

At the soccer games yesterday, I really tried to behave myself.  What that really means, is I tried to relax and not get worked up!  I sat for EVERYTHING and tried to doze between quarters.  I was completely exhausted by the end of the fourth game, but it was worth it.  The girls really wanted me there and they had a great day and had a lot of fun.

Except for...

The U8 game.

Our 7yo plays soccer for the fun of it.  Nothing else.  She likes to chit-chat and run around like a silly person.  Seriously.  That's just her personality.  She is a happy-go-lucky kind of girl and nothing bothers her too much. 

Until two weeks ago.  She was in a soccer tournament.  Now, their team is young and very inexperienced and sometimes they can't remember to run after the ball!  It's pretty entertaining.  They have a good time and we get a cick out of watching it.

At the tournament they played three games.  They lost all three, badly.  They had a ball doing it!  i don't think they even noticed that they had lost all the games.  They are a precious group of girls.

The last game, however, was a different story.  The other team was SERIOUS about soccer.  They seemed to be out for blood.  Elbows were flying and shirts were being grabbed and pulled.  It was a mess.  The other team quickly racked up points and it was obvious that there was no hope of our team winning.  Still the pushing continued.  It got bad enough that our girls stopped going for the ball. 

At one point our dd was getting elbowed repeatedly, she kept fighting to get the ball, but when the elbow landed in her stomach she stopped.  She immediately came over to me, sat down and started bawling.  She said that she wasn't going to play anymore because the other team was being mean and the ref wasn't calling it. 

She was right.

The sideline ref saw it, tried to intervene, but nothing worked.  I made her go back and finish the game, but she never really engaged again.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Our team was playing and we could tell that today was the day they had picked for socializing and not for playing soccer!  They were giggling and having fun, the other team was growling.  Literally!

The pushing started.  Our girls backed off because they just don't play that way.  It got worse and I was grousing.  I shouldn't have, but I did.  I could see the tears and frustration building and it irritated me.  Why can't the ref teach these young girls how to play or not play?   That's what they are supposed to do.

Ugh

Well, a mother from the other team was standing beside me and she started, or tried to start, an argument.  I am not kidding.  She started in about how their team wasn't the only one pushing.  I quickly agreed and said that both teams needed to be called for pushing and instructed on the rules of the game.  I thought that would be the end of it.  OH NO!!

She went on to say that our girls were pushing just as much and that only one of theirs was.  I again said that all the girls needed to be told not to push because when girls start pushing out of frustration, that the ref needed to intervene.  She started getting angrier and kept saying the same things over and over again.  I finally said that I didn't want to argue with her and that all the girls needed to be taught not to push.   I then pretended that she wasn't there anymore.

Now, I am not a competitive person.  There are times, that I can pull it out and be competitive, but on the whole, I just like to play and have fun.  The same goes for the kids.  If they play their best and lose, I am okay with that.  As long as they did their best.

But when my sweet natured, non-confrontational dd is in this position I get hoppin' mad!  I didn't care that we were losing, I cared that she doesn't want to play anymore.  We have had the whole talk about soccer being a contact sport and that you will fall down or get pushed sometimes.  But when it is intentional, that's hard to explain.  She is such a black and white thinker that it frustrates her that the rules are being broken.  (sounds like her mama!)

In the future, I will endeavor to keep my big mouth shut.  Really, I will try.  I may have to put a muzzle on, but I'm going to try.  :)
It was a very long day.  I went home and didn't do anything else for the remainder of the day.  This morning, I'm still tired.  All the girls played like there was no tomorrow and had a ball doing it.  What more can you ask?

Very Interesting or Very Scary...

Okay, before I got sick I was going to post about an incident that happened at Target.  It's nothing terrible and I didn't shout at anyone, it was rather boring in fact!

I had taken one of the girls shopping with me for a new toaster.  This is a big deal in our family because of our luck with toasters.  When Steven and I were first married, we didn't receive ANY toasters for our wedding!  Not one!  So, my mom went out and bought one for us. 

It was awful!  (sorry mom!)  It burnt every piece of toast and it would literally launch the toast toward the ceiling after it was done burning it.  It was kind of an adventure every morning trying to figure out where the toast would land.  :)

We kept that one for a while because it was easier than buying a new one.  lol  In other words, we were too lazy to go get another one.

Well, when we got fed up with burnt toast we purchased another one.  It wasn't much better.  It wasn't as much fun either.  It never hurtled our toast at us, but it often ate it.  It is not advisable to use a knife to dig out toast bits while the toaster is plugged in.  Don't ask me how I know.

That toaster lasted until we started having children.  Then we saw something that would change our lives forever.  A 4 hole toaster.  It was a thing of beauty.  It was sitting there on the shelf at the store all shiny and new and it called to us. Okay, to me really, but it was calling none the less.  There were dreams of making toast for two people at once and peace would reign supreme.  It was so lovely standing in the ailse at Wal-Mart imagining my peaceful life serving my family breakfast made with this wonderful invention. 

I was hooked and I HAD to have it.  I convinced Steven that it was the most logical choice since we were only going to have MORE kids and they would want MORE toast everyday.  He, being the wise man that he is, agreed!

When I unveiled the new appliance, there were squeals of delight heard throughout the house.  Okay, it was mostly from me, but there was quite a bit of it!  I was sure that this would simplify my life and make our family breakfasts more peaceful.  heehee

This poor little toaster served us faithfully for 8 years.  It mostly toasted our bread the way we wanted it and only ate a few for itself every now and then.  It has been a wonderful addition to our family.

Well, a few months ago, one of our dds was making toast and wasn't treating the toaster with as much love as she should have and she broke it.  GASP  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  (And maybe some whining on my part.)  I did not handle it like a grown up.

I mourned and pouted while trying to decide how to proceed.  Could we survive without our toaster?  What were we going to do?

Steven came home to the turmoil and promplty took control of the situation.  He took pliers and moved the broken piece to the correct setting and declared it usable.  He was so proud of himself.  Too bad that he didn't realize the toaster was now tainted and the broken side couldn't be used any longer.  We humored him and thanked him profusely for solving this problem for us.

The next morning after he was gone, the broken side was declared off limits.  Now, everyone would have to WAIT for their toast and chaos would reign. 

What was our life coming to??  Nothing good, I was sure of it.  I pouted and whined every morning for a month.

I finally relented to buying another toaster. 

Now, to the shopping trip.  We looked for another 4 hole toaster because we needed to be kept in the manner that we had been accustomed to.  I was shocked to find not a one like the one I had sitting on my counter at home.  There were some very nice, expensive ones and then there was the one I picked. 

I have to admit that I was just buying one to get it over with and didn't put a lot of thought or time into it.  I just bought the cheapest 4 holer I could find.  It didn't feel right and I didn't want to be there buying a new one. 

We took it home and it sat in the box for a week.  I just couldn't bear having a different toaster in the house.  It wasn't MY toaster.  The girls got tired of not getting to toast their bread and finally opened the box to use it.

It wouldn't work.  It was broken.  Seriously.  One side would not even accept the bread.  This toaster had attitude!  I knew it was the wrong one.

I let it set in the box for another week before I worked up the courage to try and find another toaster.  I prepared myself for the shopping and gathered up the defective one only to find that I didn't have the receipt any longer.  ugh  This just gets better and better.

Well, I decided that if I was going to have to buy another new toaster, they were just going to have to refund my money w/o my receipt.  I was getting a little testy by this point.

We got to Target and walked up to the Customer Service Counter.  The lady was smiling and asked if she could help me.  Quite a few things went through my mind at that point but the only thing that came out was that the toaster was broken and I needed a new one.  She asked for my rec't.  I braced for a fight and told her that I didn't have it.  Her next words left me speechless.

"That's alright."  That's what she said, seriously!  She went on to explain that if I had the card that I put the purchase on, she could pull up the receipt that way.  Dumbfounded, I handed her my debit card and watched the computer work its magic.  A few seconds later, there was my purchase with the toaster on it. 

Am I the only one creeped out by that?  How is it that they can do that?  I felt invaded and unprotected.  Who else can do that?  What are they doing with that power?  These are questions that were swarming through my mind when she gave me my cash back and wished me a good day. 

I'm still not sure what I think about it...

I did finally make it back to the toaster aisle and spotted the one I wanted.  It was a beautiful 4 holer that called to me.  It had a setting for bagels, frozen bagels, toast, etc.  It was beautiful.  And they were out of them. 

To say that I was distraught would not have been an understatement.  I couldn't even look at the other ones.  They were just mere shells in comparison.  But, I had to pick one because if I came home without one, Steven said that HE was going to come and get one!  aagghh  I couldn't let that happen.

The girls talked me through the panic and I finally looked at the 2 holers.  Logic won out and reminded me that the girls were old enough to wait a few minutes for their toast.  I bought the shiny silver 2 holer and gave up on my vision of peaceful breakfasts forever.

It was sad, I was in mourning and refused to use the shiny new foreigner that was sitting on my counter taunting me.  That is until I needed to toast my bagel.  I debated about whether to just eat it cold, but our oldest encouraged me to just give it a try.

Wow!  It was wonderful!  It worked perfectly and toasted my bagel to perfection. 

There haven't been any fights break out because someone had to wait for their toast.  In fact, it works so well, that they enjoy making toast for eachother. 

Maybe peace will reign for breakfast after all!

Life is just that way sometimes

Well, since the last post I got bronchitis and mono. Yup, you read that right. bronchitis and mono. How did I get sooo lucky, you wonder?

Well, that is just my life. It really is. I am the 1% of the population that gets the rare problems. You can count on me to be the weird girl that baffles doctors! lol Enough frustration and bitterness...

For the last week I have been lying in bed all day every day. Sleeping and moaning! While I was moaning between naps I was feeling incredibly guilty that the girls were left to fend for themselves. They had to feed themselves, do chores, and take care of the younger ones. Sometimes I could hear them scurrying about or fighting and I really didn't care. They could have burned the house down and I would have just laid there and watch!

It didn't occur to me until around Wednesday that we would be behind a week in school after this. (it had to be the drugs, because I am usually much more with it than that!) I told the girls on Monday that if they would just keep up on their Math and Language, we would figure out the rest later.

That memory came to me in the middle of the night and gave me an anxiety attack. Did I really say that? Seriously?

Yes, yes I did.

I understand that they couldn't do some of the Tapestry stuff without me, but what was I thinking?

Oh yeah, sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

Well, I came to terms with being behind. It's not that big of deal, really. We have room to wiggle with but learning that I have mono makes me wonder how long I will need to modify our schedule.

That makes me nervous.

How long will this last? How far behind will we get? Once I'm back to 'normal' will the girls cooperate and get back to a regular schedule? Is there really time with their schooling to do this?

I don't have any answers. I'm sure that I haven't even thought of all the questions even. I guess with everything else, we will take it one day at a time and trust God's plan for our family and our school.

What's been happening?...

I am a bad blogger. I know, I am. It has been almost a month since I posted and I can't seem to care too much. lol That's terrible of me. Right? Of course right. Because I have so much to say and it is so important that everyone of you is dying to read it! hahaha Sometimes, I am just too funny. ;-)

Well, in the last month what have we been doing? hmmm

We have been doing school. Shocker, I know! It has been going relatively well, I think. Nothing outstanding or life changing, just normal everyday stuff. boring!

We have been doing soccer. Yes, I mean WE. When you have four children playing on four separate teams, EVERYONE in the family is intimately involved in the games. Practices are on Mondays(2 of them), Wednesdays, Thursdays(2 of them), and now Tuesday night is being added for our 10 yo. We were soo thrilled with that addition to the schedule. Not.

Steven has been doing BSF on Tuesday nights and loving it. We have been loving the downtime. That is until next week when the new schedule starts.

We have had several sunburns and windburns and maybe some frostbite thrown in there from being at the soccer fields from 8am until 4pm. Yup, you read that right. ALL DAY. Why did we do this? Don't ask, because right now I'm not sure.

We have been volunteering at church in the Middle School Dept. and the Grade School Dept. Again, wondering why? don't know. If wishes were horses....

Oh yeah, we got the flu. Our oldest had it for two weeks and then gave it to me. She is so thoughtful to share with her mother. I in turn gave it to Steven. And in all reality, it will probably come back to me in the next week or so. It just works that way.

Our 10yo auditioned to be in a Christmas production with Music Theatre for Young People and made it. Yay! Boo! We thought rehearsals would be on Sundays only. NOPE They are on Sundays and any other night of the week they schedule them for. Can you say sucker? I can.

I had another infusion. It didn't take because I got the flu two days afterwards and my calcium only rose .2points. Niiice.

Our computer crashed. You know the one that we put all of our digital pictures on for the last 8 years? The same one that we burned all of our music library onto. It's also the same on that has all the school info and stuff I have gathered for the last 7 years. Yeah, that computer.

good times

Tonight is just one of those nights that is dark and gloomy. Tomorrow will be better no matter what happens. God is in control and we can always rely on Him to get us through.

I'm clinging to that, remind me of it sometimes, will ya?