Hot Chocolate for two

We have a new routine in our house and I am hoping it turns into an ongoing tradition. As with all great family traditions this one came about by accident, and out of chaos; but it turned into a great experience.

I wrote yesterday about my son's music program last night. I had told my children that if all went well and we had enough time we could have some hot chocolate when we got home . I had to revoke that privilege from all but one child due to their lack of obedience throughout the evening. So I let my five year old stay up after the others had gone to bed and we sat at the table together having our hot chocolate.

As I sat with him I realized the importance of this quiet time alone with him, and the impact spending time alone with me would have on him. We did not have any deep conversation, there were no teachable moments; there was me and my son, supreme silliness, fits of giggles, and a few belly laughs. I decided at that moment that I need to do this every week with every child for the rest of the time I am blessed to have them in my home.

I spend a lot of time thinking about and planning for my children's teenage years. I want them to have an established relationship with the Lord and an established relationship with me. I want them to talk to me about everything, from schoolwork to friends/relationships to their walk with God to whatever is on their minds or hearts at any given time. This is my goal and I have 6 short years to achieve it before my oldest enters teenhood. That does not seem long enough to reach such a lofty goal, especially with the world working against me. Everything the world , from the media to peers in school to my own family full of teens, teaches teens to pull away from their parents, shut them out, and strive for complete independence; here I am trying to teach my children to draw close to me, let me in, and strive for complete dependence on the Lord. It is something I will have to start working on now. I am already excited about tomorrows date with my oldest.

Our hot chocolate (ice cream in the summer!!) dates may not seem significant now, we may not delve into politics and theology quite yet; they will most likely consist of horrible knock-knock jokes, why did the chicken cross the road, and silly words like schnooger cat (which had my five year old rolling on the floor laughing) but we are laying the foundation for the relationship I hope to build. As with any project this will take prayer, planning, and persistance; there will be bumps in the road, moody kids, nights we have to skip our date for one reason or another. In the end it will be well worth the work; when my 6 years are up and my children begin to enter teenhood I will have the relationship I desire with them because I started when they were young.

Make a joyfull noise to the Lord

Nothing soothes my weary spirit more than little voices raised in song. My son had his school music program tonight; I went alone with my five children in tow and was not at all in a joyful mood. It seems whenever we go out in public it brings out the worst behavior in my children; they are loud, disobedient, wild, and disrespectful to others. At least they were tonight.

When the music started and the 1st and 2nd grade classes started singing together we were all hushed and instantly smiling. They were singing a song from my all time favorite musical, a song we sing and listen to su much my sweet baby Emery raised her hands and started cooing along. I love hearing my kids sing. This was a school production so the selections were secular folk songs that most first graders learn; I've Been Working on the Railroad, She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain, Erie Canal, etc.

Little voices raised in song is a beautiful thing. Even more beautiful is when they sing praise to their creator and songs that tell His story. God has created us to be musical, He wants us to sing His praises, to let the joy He alone can give bubble over and come out in song. As I sat amazed at how such a stressful evening could turn so enjoyable in an instant I reminded myself how amazing God is that He can turn anything into joy.

So I encourage everyone to sing, sing for joy to the Lord. At your lowest point, at your most weary, when you think it is not possible to be more stressed than you are at the moment, sing to the Lord. Just break forth in song and let it all out. As I put my baby to bed tonight I started singing His Eye is on the Sparrow without even realizing it. As I sang I was lifted and energized. Even after two sleepless nights caring for a sick child and the efforts I was making not to spread my own ailment (pink eye, yuck) to my kids; I feel great tonight know the power of praise.

Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; praise Him with string instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150 (NASB)

If you're weary and you know it

"Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart;and you shall find rest for your soul. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30 (NASB)

Lately, I have been struggling with weariness, real true weariness. I have let myself become overwhelmed by the world and the demands of everyday life. I have felt like I was drowning in a sea of endless laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, homework, transporting to and from school (although I have had help transporting Jakob to school and I have been very grateful for that), diapers, crying, and whining. I have allowed myself to be beaten down to the point where I was not enjoying motherhood, and I was continually letting things slip. By the end of the week my house was a disaster and I had a full day where I did not spend any quality time with my children.

I realized today, while reading the blogs of two very dear friends, the reason for my weariness was my inability and stubborn unwillingness to fully submit to the Lord in all areas of my life. I was good with most things, I had given God my time, I had given God my commitment to raising my children for Him, I had given God my talents, I had made myself a willing servant in the church. Some may even say I was over committed to serving in the church, I have to say, however, that my service in the church is the one thing in my life that did not feel like a burden; my time in the nursery, in our children's plays, and in Teen MOPS are truly refreshing to my soul. It is easy for me to serve, and I feel I could even take on more.

So why then was I so fulfilled and refreshed at church but so weary and burdened in my highest calling? God reached out and spoke to me today through my two incredible friends and their wonderful blogs. I have not surrendered this part of my heart and my life fully and completely to Him. I have taken on a heavy burden for myself and I cannot carry it, I cannot even lift it. Christ says "take My yoke upon you and learn from me" (Matt 11:29a) I was refusing to take Christ's yoke and surrender my mothering and my homemaking to Him. I have not been following His lead. In my service at church it is for Him, I have taken His yoke and surrendered myself to Him; His burden is light, His yoke is easy. I am not burdened, but cheerful and joyous when I serve Him completly.

So today I promise to let go and give all of myself to Him. He will ease my burden. He will lift me up and give me the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control (Gal 5:22-23) I so desperatly need and long for.

I would like to thank my good friends for their honest and bold words that touched my heart, and praise the Lord for the message I so badly needed to hear.

It is a Zoo out there!!

Today was free day at the Denver Zoo, and let me just say it was a total zoo!! Pun intended. As I watched people milling around it became clear to me that phrase was really about people and not animals. We were surrounded by a sea of people acting as if they thought they were the only people in the zoo who wanted to walk anywhere or see anything, we were inundated by parents screaming obscenities at each other and there children, we were overwhelmed by girls in less than modest clothing; all I could think was "This is a total zoo!"

My little RJ looked up at me as we were attempting to make our way toward the exit, "Why are people bumping me, don't they know it is rude?" I didn't know what to say. All day long I was asking my children to watch out, hold doors, and keep moving so that everyone behind us would have a chance to see. Although hot, tired and frustrated we treated each other, and everyone else, with kindness and respect; all we got in return was pushed and shoved and stared at as if we were from mars (whenever we did something kind and honoring for someone else, or whenever my children listened the first time to a kind, gentle instruction) I'm not saying we were perfect there were some arguments over who got to hold the camera and the map, there was a lot of whining toward the end of the day, and we were a little agitated at times, but I really think we were a light of respect in a world darkened by selfishness.

"For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" Gal 5:14 (NASB)

Tickets Please

The past week the most common phrases heard in our house have been "do you have a ticket for that? "; "you did great, you get a ticket"; and "sorry, you lose a ticket". In a great attempt at cutting back on our t.v. and video game time I devised a system of t.v. and playstation tickets we all earn by going above and beyond what is expected of us. Each of the kids have a set of four 15 min t.v. tickets and a set of four 15 min playstation tickets. They earn them by doing chores before they are asked, or doing acts of kindness for each other; they lose them if they hurt each other with words or actions, if they don't get their chores done, or if they behave disrespectfully.

The last week has been full of the regular ups and downs, but we have cut down on screen time by about 50%. Mostly because I have a system to keep track of how much we are actualy watching. I have held myself accountable to the ticket system as well, I earn tickets and when they are gone they are gone no exceptions. My night time t.v. watching is way down and I am spending my time trying to do bible study and prayer as well as keep up with the house. We are all getting more down, there is less arguing, and everyone is taking care of each other ( this of course applies only to those old enough to understand)

I am trying to replace my time previously spent with the t.v. filling myself with scripture and the nourishment of the Lord, and it is reallly refreshing. I highly recomend taking the time to moniter how much of a day is spent in front of the screen, it was really eye-opening to me one day last week when I realized that the kids had 4+ hrs of screen time in one day; I tried to justify it by the fact that most of them were not well that day but the reality was it was excessive. Cutting down on screen time has forced ust to find other ways to spend time together and we have begun interacting in much better ways: playing dolls or action figures, reading, playing games, coloring, making up stories, and other fun activities are our favorite passtimes now and we are much better for it.