words of wisdom

My 5 year old daughter just announced during bath time that commercials try to get you to buy things and you don't have to buy everything you want just everything you need! I think that should be my family's financial motto in 2008: to only buy the things we need!

anger management

SO if you haven't noticed by now we are working on anger management in our house. It seems my son, who is 7 1/2 really struggles with it -- now we are trying to teach him that it is okay to get angry -- and I just read in Exodus 4:14 Then the LORD became angry with Moses. And in Matthew 17:17 Jesus replied, "You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?..... Both God and Jesus got angry with people - it is definitely a feeling that exists and I believe that trying to teach our kids not to be angry is a disservice to them! God has redirected my thinking and therefore my actions on how to deal with this. Do I want an angry child? -- NO WAY -- however I can not control my child even though I wish I could. Now when I see the signs of anger rising up I acknowledge them out loud "I can see that you are getting angry" Then I ask questions "what can you do that will help you calm down?" "how about playing the piano or guitar" "do you want to go listen to your worship cd or an adventures in odyssey cd?" "how about I read you a book?"

Now you need to realize it goes against every ounce of my flesh to do it this way. I want to say or shout STOP or GET A GRIP!! But he is 7 and I need to teach him how to manage it now -- not that it shouldn't exist. I want to help him find ways to deal now before he grows older and ends up using inappropriate ways such as: hitting or fighting, drugs or alcohol, food or smoking, spending money, crazy driving, or anything else that could harm himself or others!

I am thankful God got me to this place now! Is it easy? NO I wish I didn't have a kid that had anger troubles but you know what? Atleast I know exactly what he is thinking and struggling with -- he is not sneaky or passive at all -- it is all out in the open -- way out in the open! Is it fun when he kicks or hits me -- not one bit -- however instead of continually letting satan convince me I am a bad parent who is not doing enough I am going to CHOOSE to believe God chose my husband and I "for such a time as this" knowing that with Him we could survive this!

verse 21

Did you know that in Matthew 17 there is no verse 21? Check out your January 26th reading and look at the footnotes! So amazing that some manuscripts contain it and some don't. What do you think about the missing verse?

my mouth

Psalm 19:14

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

old testament soap opera

I just keep reading and reading and reading and reading and I still can't get over all the stuff about numerous wives, servants, lies, cheating, murder -- really I think they make todays soap operas almost seem tame. Granted they weren't doing all those things for others to watch and live vicariously through...... however I am amazed at God's patience and faithfulness to them. He kept his word -- when he made a covenant with them he followed through regardless of their future behavior. There are so many examples I do not know where to begin. Can you believe it? If, instead of focusing on the mess they got themselves into, I can focus on God and his role in it all I can truly walk away with some great lessons in parenting and marriage! I love my husband, son and daughter no matter what. On July 10, 1999 I entered into a covenant with my husband and God. -- No matter what the future holds that covenant will remain - my marriage is not dependant upon behavior it is dependant upon God! On Septmenber 13, 2000 I gave birth to my first child, a son, and no matter how hard it is right now -- he is a gift to me to raise for God and I want to do it right! On September 6, 2002 God gave me a daughter to raise for Him -- I have no idea how long she will be mine but I want to spend these days doing it His way!

As I type this I realize I do not enter into relationships lightly :) and you know what..... I am thankful for that --- it means that each relationship I am in is an important one to me - one that I want to invest in - one I want to grow with and one I want to share God with -- If you are reading this you probably already know that about me :)

life goes on part 2

Is anybody else treading water? I feel as though I am doing one of those lifeguard tests - you know the one where they ask you to have on all your clothes then you get in the water tread water for what seems like days and have to remove your clothes too? Does that sound like an impossible task? It does to me - however right now I feel like I being very unsuccessful at treading water and that several times a day I am gulping down yucky dirty water, spitting it out and trying to tread again with tired sore worn out muscles. Can I get my feet on solid ground? Why does everything seem to go way out of balance dependent upon my son's behavior? I am not talking about typical 7 1/2 year old boy stuff - I am talking about anger! anger towards me and my husband -- anger with his mouth and his arms and legs - it is crazy so crazy - and we have found nothing that works -- we have tried a lot and still feel as though we are failing -- it seems as though every other day I feel as though he is sabotaging our family! I know this is just a feeling! I know God is in control! I know this too shall pass! I also know it stinks too!

life goes on

WOW! I am realizing life goes on all around me -- and I need to keep up. There are so many things I want to get done each day -- yet there are so many things I need to do too! I am amazed that time flies -- I know people always say this but I am truly feeling that way right now. I just got a notice about kindergarten round up in March -- yes my baby girl will be heading to school - could this really be true! It seems like yesterday was Christmas and now it is tax time :( I think today I will try to get a hang of posting and contribute a few items to this blog -- I definitely have some comments on this whole bible in a year thing, then there's the new book I am reading -- From Clutter to Clarity - and then my dad's health and also my son's behavior. And that is just to mention a few things rattling around in my head!