Dilemma

Matt and I faced a new parenting dilemma tonight.

See, we had roast for supper. A big 'ol chuck roast with potatoes and carrots and onions cooking slowly in the crock pot all day. The kind that smells the entire house up with it's comforting aroma.

Then we sat down for supper.

As Luke spit the first bite of roast out and then continued to move his carrots, potatoes and meat from one section of his plate to another, Matt and I reminisced.

We reminisced about when we were little. And our moms made roast. And we wanted to cry. See, we both HATED it. That comforting aroma I mentioned, that is now that I am 27. 20 years ago the smell made me dread supper. Not just a "oh yuck, roast" sort of way, but in a way that I can still vividly remember almost being sick thinking about having to eat it.

And then the flood of memories came back.

Crying at the table because I hated it. Chewing and chewing and chewing and it never fully dissolving away. I couldn't swallow it because I would gag on the dryness of it (probably wasn't that dry, just that I had already sucked all the juices out of it by chewing it so much). Mom telling me to eat it with ketchup. But I was never a ketchup kid...only with french fries...not meat that has sat on my plate for 40 minutes. Lukewarm meat with cold ketchup. Gross. So I would again chew and chew and chew and then take a big gulp of milk hoping to rinse it down. And to my horror, not all of it would go down. So I would do it again. And again. And then my glass was empty and my parents refused to give me a seventh glass of milk until I ate my roast. Sometimes I could sneak it from my mouth into a napkin. Just a little bit, but hey, it was a little bit less I had to swallow. Those nights I thought I was going to die.

Please understand I am not exaggerating. I have very few bad memories of being a kid. Eating roast though, is one of them.

So back to our dilemma. What do we do about Luke and his supper? Is it just a right of passage that you force your kids to eat roast? Since we're the parents now is that what we're SUPPOSED to do? Is that just a part of being a kid that you have to deal with? Like skinned knees and early bedtimes? Anybody know????

So in our parental wisdom...we offered him ketchup. And he ate it. Just the ketchup, not the roast.

Since the lingering memories of our youth were still fresh to us (and since we're still not crazy of roast ourselves) we let the little guy off the hook. I hope he understands someday just how much we love him.

All By Myself

I went on a walk early this morning.
It was quiet.
The sun was coming up.
The moon was still shining bright.
I walked out of town.
The earth smelled good.
I swung my arms because I wasn't pushing a stroller.
I just thought...
and thought...
and thought.

And I decided I love peace and quiet. I love mellowness. I love my handsome husband and my cutie, Lukey. I love our little family. I love my new swing. I love our little home.
I love my life.

Wisdom

Today is the day.
The first day without any plans that we've had for quite awhile. And the first day we are going to try to nip Luke's whining in the bud. Or maybe we've past that point, but we're going to start taking it on anyways. And his obeying. He ran out in the road the other day which scared me! I told him to stop and come back and he looks at me and takes off running the opposite direction. Into the middle of the road. Thankfully we live on a slow road and that no one was coming. Unfortunately this was definitely not the first time he looks at me and takes off faster the other way.
He did listen to Matt last night when he was trying to go down to the barn by himself. He stopped and stood there and waited for us to come catch up with him. But you should have seen him! Funny! His little feet stayed planted, but boy his little body kept wanting to move. It looked like it took everything in him to stay put.

Anyways, I read this today in a devotional and thought it was perfect...

1 Kings 3:7-9
"Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

Thankfully I am not king or trying to govern millions of people, but mom over this little one. But I still feel like I need the same amount of wisdom!

Quote

"God says our first steps are to be toward Him: seeking His face, following His laws, putting Him first and self-centered pursuits last. When we line up with Him, He leads the way and all we have to do is follow. As we look to Him, the glory of His image gets imprinted upon us. When our self-image gets so wrapped up in God that we lose ourselves in the process, we're free."

-Stormie O'Martian in The Power of a Praying Wife

Quote of the day...

"Life becomes so much simpler when there aren't so many costume changes."

A quote from Beth Moore in her Daniel study discussing integrity. I thought it was kind of funny and oh so true!

Malachi 3:16

Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

How neat that our "God conversations" are recorded in heaven.

Teaching Our Children...

"I still want to protect my children from so much. . . I want to shield them from the realities of the effects of sin in the world. And yet if they must learn about the brokenness of the world — and they must — I want them to learn about it in the context of God’s redemptive plans. I want them to see hope and healing. I want them to internalize that what Christ has done is real, and will really impact their lives. And yet. . . we still suffer the effects of sin, we still see persecution, and we still know that God will triumph over all. " from www.tulipgirl.com

I had a comment on my blog from someone so I thought I would take a look at her sight. This was listed in one of her posts and I thought it was amazing. I have been thinking about this a lot lately with all the trash that is everywhere. What a beautiful way to teach our children...