Thirteen

You’ve entered the threshold of becoming a man,

It's easy to see by how tall you now stand.

But its not just in height that you have grown,

Its also in the mature choices and character you’ve shown.

Your hands and feet have grown bigger than mine,

Seeing all these changes just blows my mind.

Because I still see the baby I brought home,

Who couldn’t do anything all on his own.

As we spent time learning and growing together,

Our hearts became entwined together forever.

You still laugh the same way you did when you were two,

It was “the howler monkey” we used to call you.

All through the years you’ve given us such joy,

Watching you grow to a man from a boy.

Your journey’s not over, you have so much life ahead,

This day marks a new phase instead.

An older, wiser, more responsible you,

Growing each day in God’s wisdom true.

Lean on Him always and He will be there,

To teach, comfort and guide you when others don’t care.

Give Him your future to hold in His hands.

Afterall, He’s the one who made you and knows the plans

He has for you in this life you live.

He knows your gifts and wants you to give

Your joy and love and knowledge away.

This will bring a smile to your heart each day.

Be thankful for hardships that come your way,

Use them to teach you how to pray.

And trust God to show you what to do,

This is what growing up will look like to you.

We will always be here to give you guidance and love,

Praying and thanking the Lord up above

For the gift He gave us in this little boy

That’s growing to a man and giving us joy!

Love, Mom

Comedy School

As I walked into the sitting room, deep in thought, Bennett asks me, "Mom, do you have a lot on your mind?"

I stop and think about it, because that's what I do.  "Hmmmm.  I guess you're right Honey.  I do have a lot on my mind.  How could you tell?"

"Women always have alot on their minds...like at least 26 things."

"That's very insightful Bennett.  How in the world did you know that?!"

"Tim Hawkins.  Everything I know I learned from him."

Uh oh.  We're in trouble. 

Lunch Lady

Today Bennett told me he felt sorry for all the kids who get school lunch.  He says, and I do not exaggerate, "Mom, I feel so bad for those kids.  They don't know how unhealthy all that food is!"  Meaning....he hears my constant monologue about needing to make healthy food choices, aka...no high fructose corn syrup, no MSG, humanely raised meat, organic fruit, veggies and milk, yadayadayada and I think some of that stuff might actually be sticking in his little brain.

Evidently his compassion on those poor souls who have to endure the measly portions of unhealthy school food day in and day out couldn't take it any longer.  He felt the need to solve this problem of epidemic proportions.  This is his solution:

"I know Mom!  How about if you get all your friends together and you guys replaced all the lunch ladies at my school.  Then I KNOW those kids would finally get to eat good, healthy food.  And maybe they'd get full at lunch too."

Afternoon Snack

One of my most cherished times of the day is when Gavin comes home and we sit down together with a cup of tea and a snack and enjoy visiting about our days.  Tea makes everything better (cookies don't hurt either).

The Solution

Bennett has come home for the past several weeks complaining about school.  My ears instantly perk up when I hear, "It's just not fun anymore."  The homeschooling mom in me wants to solve the problem immediately.  I know what to do, I think to myself.  But is that what God wants me to do?  Does He want me to always swoop in and fix all my son's problems?  Is it my problem to fix or is it God's way of teaching Bennett's little heart something more?  Or is this purely an academic problem? These are daily questions I struggle with.  And then I bring it to God.

Of course I could always homeschool him again.  I'm very aware of the problems of public schooling.  But I'm also acutely aware that homeschooling is not perfect either.  Which does God want for this child at this time?  Again another question.  Is it the academic thing that's the most important lesson right here and now or is it a heart lesson...something deeper, bigger, beyond me?

Knowing my tendency to knee-jerk reactions, I decide to wait.  I pray.  I hear nothing.  No answer.  My flesh longs to make the road less difficult for my sweet boy.  How am I to do this when all I get is radio silence on the other end?  God's end.  Then I decide to just trust...not knowing what else to do.  I trust the path He's placed us on and just continue walking, by faith, ahead.  Even when I can't hear Him.  Even when I can't see the path.

Then it happened on accident.  The answer came.  I didn't know it was the answer until a whole day went by.  Bennett and I were cuddling before bed one evening talking of life and the hardships he was experiencing at school.  I told him what I did when things were especially hard...I look for things to be thankful for.  I told him that when I look around and all I see are all the things that are frustrating me, that's all I'm ever going to see.  But if I change my focus and start looking for things that I'm thankful about, it starts to change my outlook.  My situation hasn't changed, but my heart has.  I wasn't even sure if he was listening.

I found out today he was.  He couldn't even wait until he got in the car to start telling me about his awesome day.  "Mom!  I decided to start looking for all the things I was thankful for from the beginning of the day and it was one of the best days ever!  I have so many things to write down tonight about my thankfuls.  You know, it worked.  When I started looking for things to be thankful about, I didn't have time to sit and think about all the stuff I didn't like."

So there you have it.  God knew what Bennett needed all along.  I'm reminded of how He encourages us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to "give thanks in all things for this is God's will for you".    All things - not only good things, not only things we like, not only when things are going the way we want them to.

To quote Madame Blueberry in Veggie Tales, "A thankful heart is a happy heart."  How true that is.

Majesty

Every morning I am given the most breath taking gift.  Each day I am awed all over again.  I await the sunrise with such giddy eagerness each morning.  And as soon as the first subtle rays of color come peaking over the horizon, I gasp anew each time.  Like each sunrise is the first I've ever beheld.  I will never tire of the special gift God makes for me each day.  How can I have anything less than the most wonderful day when it starts like this?  I stand in awe.

"On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works I will meditate." Ps. 145:5

Decorating Tip

When we first moved into this house, I couldn't stand my doors.  Still can't.  They are as flimsy as a piece of paper.  They are hollow-core, ply-wood looking and lack any type of character.  We vowed they would be the first things to go.

Turns out, they have come to be one of my most special treasures.  Because we didn't care what happened to the doors, we started taping pictures on them.  Then sticky notes started appearing everywhere on them.  I never would have defaced beautiful doors.  But these ugly things...it didn't matter.

What I thought was an eye-sore in my house is exactly what makes my house a home.  It has personal touches of us all over it - but especially on the doors - which are now beautiful to me.  They scream "love" every time I pass them.

Here are some of my beautiful, ugly doors:

I doubt you'll see this decorating tip on HGTV.  It's a secret.  Only people who truly value those in the house more than the house itself will ever find this tip worth while anyways.

Pre-teen Awesomeness

Apparently, our boys like to show off their new and improved, buff bodies to us, their ever present parental audience.  Gavin takes tae-kwon-do 3 nights a week, Bennett practices basketball incessantly.  Thus, the reason for the improved physiques.

Gavin takes off his shirt after dinner and announces, "Look at my two pack!"  Like we should be in awe.  In case we couldn't see it, he shows us, "See...this line here down the middle of my stomach, that delineates my two pack.  Pretty soon it will be a 4 pack.  Then a six pack.  Then an 8 pack.....(ad nausium)."

Not to be outdone, Bennett lifts up his shirt and says, "Look. I'm muscular and slim.  Except for like right now after we eat, then my stomach fills out a bit more" as he proceeds to impersonate a pregnant woman.

Just a few of the daily dinner time diddies we enjoy on a regular basis.

Hidden Beauty

 These pictures don't tell a story...they speak of so much more.  We were at one of our favorite hiking spots on a cold gray, day.  The peace of the place enveloped us.  This place is gorgeous in the fall with all the yellow leaves gracing the trees.  I wasn't excited about going this particular day.  But then I would have missed out on the hidden beauty found only on a cold, gray day.  These pictures spoke to me.  This is what they said:

Freedom

Friendship

Finding My Own Way

Introducing The iPed

Daddy was the genius behind this Lego creation.  Apparently he left it in Bennett's room and it became Bennett's by default.  Bennett does not yet have his own personal cell phone, nor does he need one.  He decided to remedy that and introduced the rest of the family to his new cell phone.  He carried it with him EVERYWHERE for a few days.  He even had to recharge it at night he told me.  He would change the two green buttons in the top right hand corner to two red buttons.  That was the sign that it was low on batteries.

Being that this is Bennett, he had us in stitches explaining all the apps that his phone came equipped with. Since it is a combination iPod, iPhone and iPad...it made perfect sense to Bennett to christen it the iPed.  My favorite app is the "Guilty/Life Coach App".  He informed us that this app tells you how much you've wasted every day, whether that is time, money or resources.  It's sole purpose is to make you feel guilty.  Thankfully, it also includes a "LifeCoach" app which tells you when you need to brush your teeth, put on deodorant, do your homework, and fix all the stuff that left you feeling guilty.

Another of my favorites is the "What Should I Wear Today" app.  I think that speaks for itself.  I can see how men would flock in droves to this handy tool.  And like father like son, it has over 4 ESPN apps all very important and useful information (he only came up with this idea because he saw 4 ESPN apps on his father's phone).  If Dad has it, it must be super important, right?

Hopefully his iPed will keep him happy and creative a few years longer because that's as close as he's getting to actually having his own iPhone unless they start handing them out for free and giving away free data plans.

It's the little things in life.

What I Learned Today

I love this precious girl!  I love seeing the world through her 7 year old eyes.  That's why everyday after school I have all the kids blog about what they learned that day.  It could be something academic, spiritual, an interesting fact or just about anything...as long as it's new.

This was Chloe's exact entry from two days ago:

 Hi! Do you want to know what I learned today?

  Okay, so if your mommy tells you to do something

 you should not storm off or else she might send

 you to your room and if you're too loud whining you

 might not hear her say when you can leave your room.

What practical wisdom she gleaned from her circumstances, I'm so proud of her.  I always tell her that we all mess up.  What matters is what we do after we mess up...do we learn from that mistake or do we feel sorry for ourselves.  If we choose the latter, we will most definitely find ourselves going through the exact same situation again.

Here are a few of her other posts that made me chuckle.  I think that maybe she has read one too many Junie B. Jones books.  Her writing style is very similar.

Hi.  Today on the morning announcements 

they said if you do not have snow boots/pants

you cannot play on the playground.  So I learned

even if you can't get what you want sometimes

you should still be happy.

Hi.  My reading group was today and when

the other girls just kept talking when it was  my

turn to read I just started to pout.  So then after 

that I decided that I should learn patience.

Did you know that being responsible is really

important?  Well it is and sometimes when you're

not listening and being responsible it could turn out

bad.  What if you were going to your horse lessons

and you are playing with your friend and you are late

to lessons?  How would that make you feel?

Don't Argue With Mom

I was sharing something I had learned yesterday with everyone at dinnertime.  I was telling them how thankful I was that God kept all the passages in the Bible where people are arguing with him or questioning him or pouring out their despair, anger, confusion.  I love that he's not scared by our emotions.  He let's us argue our point.  Afterall, he named his chosen people, Israel, which means "strives (or wrestles) with God."  He knows our nature.  He created us...He's not scared or cornered by our arguments, doubts or emotions.

Apparently Gavin saw an immediate correlation to real life.  He informed me, "Mom, arguing with God is like arguing with you."

Oh really?!  Do tell...

"You're always right.  No matter how good a reason I think I have or how right I think my argument is, you always have a better one.  And I can't help but agree with you."

What a sweet boy.  If only that were true.  But in his little mind it is.  What I appreciate about him is that he actually will come to me with a disagreement instead of let it fester for hours or days.  And once he comes to me and we get a chance to talk things through, he always keeps an open mind.  He's always wanting to learn and weigh what he knows against what someone else claims to be true.