Big Brown hearts...

Well, I spoke with Landon's teacher this evening after a 2nd grade "parents only" meeting at the school. I needed to discuss a potential problem with a bully before anything occurred with my Landon. She assured me that he was doing well adjusting and that she could already tell that he was a very sweet boy. DUH! He definitely has the biggest heart in our family. I told her that we were coming from a private Christian school and that Landon was very happy that they would not be drilling evolution down their throats this year... heh hem, where does he get this stuff from. ;) She was a little tickled and said...no not this year! I also informed her that Landon is worried that if he tells anyone that he loves Jesus that he will get a "strike" and end up walking the fence at recess. Though Russ and I have both reassured him that this will NOT occur, he still seems to be a little concerned. She told me to tell Landon that SHE LOVES JESUS! She is a member of the church we have been attending and was very excited to tell us all of the great things they have for the kids there. Of course, as soon as I returned home, I informed Landon of her message and he was elated! He said, "Did you ask her if I could bring my bible to school?" Isn't he just the cutest thing? Big heart!

She also informed me that Blake's teacher was also a Christian and a VERY GODLY WOMAN! YAY! Blake seemed to also feel a sense of relief and actually knuckled up with excitement about the news. Thank you, Lord! Oh, how we have been blessed by two Godly teachers who will know my boys' hearts! It is still not the wonderful Christian influence from FRCA being poured into our boys with each day, but I will continue to pray for them! May it be a blessed year!

Update...

Good News... Day 2... Sweatshirt and Blake's lunchbox from Day 1...found and brought home.

Bad News... Gavin's lunchbox that Blake borrowed due to his being lost... now left at school.

To all of you wonderful parents out there... HELP! Do I start consequences? ...taking away priveledges? Do we need to have him examined by a doctor? Is this normal? Abnormal? What is wrong with my child?

And they're off...

So yesterday was the first day of school for Blake and Landon...first day of public school at that. Blake is starting 4th (MY WORD...I'm NOT THAT OLD, am I?), and Landon is going into 2nd. They decided that they would like to ride the bus, and seeing as to how I cannot do anything but drop them off out front along with a gazillion other parents adding extreme combustion and frustration, I decided...why not. The bus was supposed to come at 7:01 am and stop directly in front of our house according to the bus list, so we were all out there at 6:46 am just to be sure there was no chance at all of being left behind. For 25 minutes we saw NO ONE! We knew the neighbor boys were supposed to also be riding on the first day, but no sign whatsoever of them. Blake was just about beside himself devastated by the possibility that they would be late. He went back and forth..."just take us"..."we'll wait"..."let's just go". Finally around 7:15am, we saw one of their buddies and their mom. I asked Will's mom what was up with the late bus and she replied that it was always more like 7:15 rather than 7:00. Good to know!

Well, the boys were off! The day went by for Gavin and Holden and I with little excitement. My homebody Gavin stayed in his PJ's all day, even when we had to run to Walmart for some ice cream fixin's for the afterschool party we were planning. We made it back in time to cook the cupcakes, pop the popcorn, set up the party table, make the signs, put out some chairs and wait in the driveway for the bus to arrive about 3:05 pm and drop the boys off right where it picked them up...right in front of our house. At that time, the plan was for all of their buddies who would be getting off with them to stop in and make their own ice cream sundae and decorate their own cupcake.

Well, at 3:00 the boys come running around the corner from the front of the neighborhood. When I asked where they came from, they said the front entrance of the neighborhood. When I asked them WHY they did not get off the bus where they got on it, they replied that the bus stopped, they did not know if it would stop again, so they got off and walked home! REALLY! As we stood in the driveway, we watched the bus come down the road and promtly stop in front of our house and let all their friends off. Blake says, "Well, it looks like we got home sooner!"

Needless to say, we discussed with them the importance of staying on and getting off safely in front of the house to which they reluctantly agreed.

Then, Blake confessed that he left his sweatshirt on the bus on the way to school. Really?! DAY 1? Oh, but apparently, it is okay, because his bus driver, Mr. Wilson, turned it into the office! Then as we were doing our nighttime routine of getting lunchboxes ready...he realized that he left his lunchbox on the bus in the afternoon. Please, please, please give me wisdom in raising this child. He claimed it was NOT HIS FAULT! I guess it was the magical fairy who flew past him on the bus and wrestled his sweatshirt and lunchbox away from him while sprinkling memory erasing fairy dust on him so that he would not remember a thing! Yep...that had to be whose FAULT it was! Seriously! (We then had the "take responsibility" talk!)

Overall, the boys said their first day was good. Blake said the library was HUGE!!! He was thrilled to check out his first two books! Landon said that he walked by and noticed how humongous it was also! Landon also informed me that even though the teacher would not talk about Jesus that they would NOT be learning about evolution this year!

We gave each of the boys an assignment for their first day...remember the name of at least 1 kids name in your class. Blake very excitedly reported that he had a boy in his class named Bennett. I asked him if that was all he could remember and he said that he had tried to remember everyone's name, but they just slipped right out of his head...all 27... must be that fairy dust again. (Yes-I said 27, he has 29 kids in his class, but hopefully, they are going to make a new class, fingers crossed).
Landon, of course, knew several names if not all! Of course, the social aspect of Landon is probably what will cause him to score many a "strike" from his teacher's discipline policy! Oh, my boys! Calgon...you know the drill!

I would like more ...

We were sitting at the table eating lunch on Saturday when Gavin (very politely) says, "May I have some more turds please?"

"What?" Russ asks him with a slight hint of confusion in his voice.

"Well, whatever they are called." Gavin replies.

"Do you mean "tater tots"? Russ asks him as we all just about choke on our food as we double over in laughter.

Gavin looks at us all, a bit confused himself by now, just laughs and says, "okay...tater tots".

This kid CRACKS me up!

Judgement Day

Today, Russ and I had to meet with the admissions team and preschool director at the preschool we are trying to get Gavin into. It is at the Christian school affiliated with the church we have been visiting. SInce it is a covenant school, we needed to go in and tell them our testimony of our salvation experience so that they could recommend or not recommend our family for admission into the school. Let me start by saying, that is great! I am fine with the interview process and with telling them all about my excitement about coming to Christ and the impact Christ has had on my life.

What I will say that I am not too crazy about is the waiting... as we sit and wait for a decision board to decide if we are worthy or not to attend, it frustrates me. I KNOW my walk with Christ. I KNOW the power of grace and forgiveness God has given me undeservingly! I hate feeling like someone other than my Savior is judging me based on a 30 minute meeting. I will say, that my life is not wrapped in a pretty little bow perfect and unblemished. Every single day is a new day and a new struggle to make the right choices to follow my God and to seek His face. Not everyday do I give it all to God. I am not a perfect Christian, there was only one of those and because of Him, I am not perfect, but forgiven.

So, we will see...

That's Not Fair.......

If I have heard those words once, I've heard them ten thousand times! Really! I know life is not fair... I have lived it longer than the three boys of mine that constantly tell me how unfair it is! "It's not fair, he doesn't gets to go to a private school. It's not fair, his school starts later than ours. It's not fair, he gets to have his own room. It's not fair ...", the list goes on and on.

Today, my reply was simple. Do you think Jesus was complaining as he was dying on the cross. Yelling at his Father in Heaven...shouting, "It's not fair...I have been blameless and without sin my whole life and yet here I am being beaten and tortured while nailed to cross...dying for the entire world, most of whom could care less, just so a bunch of sinful selfish people can experience forgiveness and Heaven. That is sooooo unfair!!!!!"

So, I will take no fair... and just be thankful that Jesus did too.

Is it just me?

Still Walmart...different state...

So, I took the boys into the Walmart hair salon for a shape up/trim. The hairstylist was quite talkative to me... a total stranger. I learned all about her recent fainting spell at work a week ago that landed her in the hospital. While there, she found out that she was pregnant, which she found quite shocking since her tubes are tied, as well they might should be, since she has 9, count them 9 children. I am somewhat certain that this was NOT a religious decision seeing as to how she is going through a divorce from her second husband and she was impregnated by her boyfriend of eleven months. Her boyfriend does not yet know about this pregnancy, (and unfortunate miscarriage shortly thereafter), as he lives in Minnesota and suffers from high blood pressure, she concluded that he did not need to know because it would probably just cause him unnecessary stress. Total strangers are free game... who cares what my blood pressure is or how much stress she could cause me by all of her business that she unloaded upon my shoulders or the fact that I have to explain all of her choices to my big eared children (figuratively - of course)!

So, is it just another day in my life...or does this kind of thing happen to others as well?

Why Me?

This morning in church, the pastor had a very powerful message. I found it to be very true and thought I would share. He stated that there are two type of people that come to church:
1. Those who think that if you do A, B, and C ... then God will do D, E, and F. In otherwords... if I do this this and this, then God will do this and that for me. That God's love is conditional on our actions. I have found myself in that place more times than I would like to recount. In a place where I felt like maybe things were not going my way because I was not loving God enough or doing enough to please him. Or... that things were going well for me because I was being a pretty good Christian! How sad would that be?

2. Those who think, WHY ME? Why would God in all His perfection forgive ME of all the nastiness that goes through my mind, or comes out of my mouth. Why would He pluck me out of all the unbelievers around me and allow me the ability to see His truth? Why would a God so PERFECT and SINLESS love someone as IMPURE and SINFUL as ME? I do not know WHY? But, I am so very very thankful!

If I am honest, I would have to say, that I do not fully appreciate ENOUGH the true GRACE and MERCY of my God! I tend to take my salvation for granted some days, just going through the motions, caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of life. It is my prayer, that I will take the time to slow down and that EVERY DAY and EVERY MOMENT I will remember the Cross that my God died upon for ME!