Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Who she is in Christ....




My daughter Lily is quite an amazing girl. I think she is beyond her years in many ways, possibly due to her mama expecting WAY too much of her back when it was just her and I living the crazy life of working full time and running all over the place trying to get things done and so forth. One of the teachers in our Bible study today (CBS) told me that Lily is the smartest one in the class and she also is one of the sweetest with her manners and behavior. It's always nice to hear this type of feedback from others that are working closely with your kids. As a home school family, I often wonder if she's getting enough and learning enough and so forth but the more we go, the more God opens my eyes to what truly is important in life and although we do believe in a strong education, I don't believe that a strong education is exclusive to math, science, history, english, spelling, etc...I want my kids to be good homemakers, good stewards, well respected among adults (and children), lovers of purity, but mostly lovers of God. I want them to know who they are in Christ. This is something we purpose to instill in them on a daily basis...my husband is probably better at this than I am...
I often get questions from friends or strangers that wonder if we are sheltering our kids by homeschooling. I have yet to understand the meaning of this so I never have a very good answer however based on some things that have been happening lately in LIly's personal life, I have been absolutely convinced that the road we are currently on is the best for this time. Will we always homeschool? I can't say. I don't pretend to know the future and I wouldn't say that I'm a die hard homeschooler (there are some that literally scare me with their passion for it and perhaps I'm one of those people to some of you reading or some others in my life!! haha)
Lily has had one particular friend in her life comment on her weight, color of her teeth and most recently her "terrible handwriting". I literally just sit in shock when Lily tells me what her friend is saying. Why? First, i can't imagine what 7 and 8 year olds should even be aware of "yellowing" teeth...don't we spend enough of our adult years worrying about how we look and compare to those around us? (not that we should but we do) Don't we spend the majority of our adolescent and adult years worrying we are too fat or too short or whatever....why should this be starting as early as 7 or 8? My jaw really hit the floor when she said this friend is telling her she has terrible handwriting....I think she has amazing handwriting, better than my own at times...perhaps because she spends more time actually writing when i spend more time typing. Anyway, I look at my daughter's face as she's telling me these things and she is amazing in her strength. I won't say that these things haven't hurt her deeply and affected her greatly. My 8 year old now is concerned every day with how she looks and if she looks fat...etc. This only began after comments from this friend. Am I blaming the little girl? No. I think perhaps my own feelings about myself might factor into this picture although I try to never comment on my weight or looks when I'm around my kids (oh but my poor husband has to hear about it!) or perhaps the enemy just thinks he can have his way with my child but look out...Lily's parents are on a mission to save her soul from this terrible lie. (1 John 5:18)
So, although these comments have affected her, she is so loving in her response. She tells me that her inner self wants to lash out and say something ugly back to her friend, yet she calmly says "well that's fine that you think so but it's the way I am" or she says she just shrugs her shoulders and changes the subject. I am proud of her. I don't think it's sheltering her to want to teach my child how to respond to such things. Most of the things I hear coming out of kids mouths at the pool or malls or even in the churches are not exactly becoming. Where is the standard? Who are we looking to for what is and isn't appropriate? I hope the standard we have in our home is satisfying and pleasing to God and will eventually rub off on my children and stick. Ok, so does this mean Lily is always perfect in her responses? Absolutely not. But this post isn't about her shortcomings. I'm sure there will be many opportunities for that but you know, when I read God's Word, I don't see him harping on all my shortcomings. He lifts me up. He speaks words of adoration to my soul and my spirit. He speaks words of truth and LIFE over me and it encourages me to press on. And it also gives me the humility to admit when I've totally blown it. I have a daughter who admits to me when she has lied or when she has been tempted to do something I've told her not to do even though I'm not there to see. She will tell a friends mom that she's not supposed to watch a certain program or walk away from a group of people that are speaking about things that she shouldn't be hearing. I thank God for my Lily and I know that she is beautiful. God called her that before she was even formed in my womb...(Psalm 139)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Lil' Miss Can't Be Wrong....

....Ok, so Sage....she's always been quite the chubby baby but as a newborn and thru her first year she wasn't much of an eater....although I had friends (I WON'T mention any names....) that thought I might be nursing her too much.... :) Ok, well once she hit 13 months she started chowing on just about everything in sight. She likes everything except bananas... (go figure..don't all kids love bananas?)
Well, she was not so happy today when she found a chocolate chip cookie on the floor...and took a nice big bite...only to find out it was a plastic toy one!!! Hmmm....sorry Sage. That would have ticked me off too!!!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

STRETCH!!!!!


Well, tonight I was asking Doug "I can't even see under my belly anymore do I have stretch marks...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH". And he said "nah" and I said "well, yes I do but they just aren't red and very noticeable" and he said "FOURTH baby...FOURTH time this belly has stretched, I think you are looking quite amazing for that!!!" and it really hit me smack in the face....I can't believe I am carrying my 4th child. What a miracle. It's no less of a miracle the woman who is carrying her 1st child either. It's all just so amazing. I'm more amazed at it with this one...you would think it would become routine or normal or even boring...but no. The miracle of life just makes me weep. Sincerely.

We are the couple that sits on the couch and watches my stomach bounce all around and become all disfigured looking while we are drinking our hot tea...even on the FOURTH pregnancy! Some might say we have "no life" because of our hum drum night life....ha! I say we are filled with life and the little foot poking thru my rib cage attests to it! It's cheap entertainment, I'll say that!

I feel more beautiful today than I did 9 years ago before I ever got pregnant the first time. I hear friends talk about how different their bodies look after kids and how they are going to get tummy tucks or boob jobs when they are done, etc....and to each his own but I just relish in how God created our bodies to do exactly this amazing task. I'm sure the beauty I feel today has more to do with the love I have been given and the relationship I have with God but boiling it down to the bottom line of "physical beauty", I love my pregnant belly. So, even though there are stretch marks (and I really was being silly when I was asking Doug about the stretch marks) and even though my love handles will NEVER go away, I count myself BLESSED to be a bearer of blemishes all in the name of bearing children! I think I am in a family of good genes though too..THANKS MOM!!!

So, with that, here's my latest picture. 30 weeks pregnant and blossoming more and more every day. My sister, Rachel, once asked me in a past pregnancy "Oh my gosh, is that baby standing UP in there?????" I will never forget her asking me that. It certainly looked like she was standing up, my belly was SOOOOO huge.(that was my pregnancy with Holly I think but I looked the same with Sage too!) I think I was right around 36 weeks at that time and THIS year when I'm 36 weeks, it will be around Halloween and Doug is going to paint my belly like a pumpkin and I'm SOOOO excited to see how that turns out. Stay tuned for pictures of that...you'll inevitably get a good laugh!