Thanks to Jenny for sharing this great idea related to the fruits of the Spirit:
"We 'studied' that and did activities with it this past school year, and I'd read a cute idea on another blog and copied it. Depends if you let your kids have candy or not I guess :o) but I took an empty glass jar and filled it with runts candy (from the dollar tree). Whenever I spot the girls using a fruit of the spirit they get a fruit shaped candy from the jar. They love it, and it's good for me to recognize and point them out to them."
Fruit snacks would work for this, too. Or actual fruit, I suppose, if you have amazing children who consider fruit to be a treat. (And if you do, please tell me what it's like...sigh...)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tales from a Recovering Perfectionist
"He's perfect!" pronounced the pediatrician. Fresh from his first examination, our first-born squirmed a little in his isolette as the doctor snuggled him back into the hospital's stiff flannel blanket. Perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes, his momma's lips and daddy's hairline. A sense of reassurance washed over my swirling new-mother anxiety and hormones. He's perfect.
"His respiration rate is still high. We need to get that under control. I would like to increase the C-PAP pressure to 60 and give him some phenobarbital to help him relax. He's a sick little boy." This was not how things were supposed to turn out. I was not supposed to have a November baby. My due date was still 4 weeks away. My toddler, as a newly-minted big brother, was supposed to bring flowers to my hospital bed and seranade the new baby with the lullaby we'd practiced. Instead, our baby was attached to monitors, an IV pumping drugs through his fragile veins, a tube down his throat delivering whatever I could pump. No pronouncements of perfection. In an act that almost felt like defiance, I penned a message on the whiteboard on his NICU wall: "We praise you for Connor is wonderfully made." I wanted everyone to know--and needed the reminder, myself--that this baby was God's handiwork. God knit him together in my womb. God made him, and he was wonderful.
And he is wonderful. And healthy. And funny. And naughty. And all the things that God made him to be. There's actually no reassurance in perfection, because it's not realistic. God didn't create us to be perfect. God's love formed us from the start and continues to hold us and shape us, while God's abundant grace smoothes over all our rough edges. And isn't that wonderful?
"His respiration rate is still high. We need to get that under control. I would like to increase the C-PAP pressure to 60 and give him some phenobarbital to help him relax. He's a sick little boy." This was not how things were supposed to turn out. I was not supposed to have a November baby. My due date was still 4 weeks away. My toddler, as a newly-minted big brother, was supposed to bring flowers to my hospital bed and seranade the new baby with the lullaby we'd practiced. Instead, our baby was attached to monitors, an IV pumping drugs through his fragile veins, a tube down his throat delivering whatever I could pump. No pronouncements of perfection. In an act that almost felt like defiance, I penned a message on the whiteboard on his NICU wall: "We praise you for Connor is wonderfully made." I wanted everyone to know--and needed the reminder, myself--that this baby was God's handiwork. God knit him together in my womb. God made him, and he was wonderful.
And he is wonderful. And healthy. And funny. And naughty. And all the things that God made him to be. There's actually no reassurance in perfection, because it's not realistic. God didn't create us to be perfect. God's love formed us from the start and continues to hold us and shape us, while God's abundant grace smoothes over all our rough edges. And isn't that wonderful?
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Rejoice! Be patient! Pray!
It's been a busy week at our house...3 different people doing 3 different day camps and 2 doing swimming lessons. I decided to shorten our verse for this week to just Romans 12:12. To me, the important points are that God wants us to rejoice, God wants us to be patient, and God wants us to pray. We had a discussion at the lunch table about those three things. What causes us to rejoice? When is a time that we've had to practice patience? What are some things we have prayed about? The list is unfiltered and a good glimpse into the minds of my boys:
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