"Sometimes I can't be good."

This past week we've been learning about the letter I. I just posted our Letter H week. I usually post the crafts, etc from the week prior, but I wanted to share something that happened this week. Our scripture from this week is:

"May my prayer be set before you like incense." Psalm 141:2

Typically, at lunch time, we talk about our memory verse and what it means. Then we listen to our Songs for Saplings CD and sing our verse (and previous verses). The boys LOVE singing. I just wish there were more kids scripture CD's out there. It's great for them and for myself! It's so easy to learn verses set to music!

So, we were talking about what incense means. I told the boys that in the Bible incense was something that they used to worship God. They would burn spices to praise and worship God. So, we talked a lot about what it means to worship God. Worship is singing and praying to God, reading our Bible and obeying God. As we continued our talk we focused on obeying God being a form of worshipping Him. So, Luke was curious about what 'obey' meant. We use this word a lot in our home and I'm pretty sure he knows what it means but I was glad he was asking questions. So, I explained that it means to follow rules/instructions. We must obey God. We must obey our parents, which is a commandment from God. We continued talking about different ways we obey and disobey. During our discussion Luke said a very profound statement:

"Sometimes I can't be good."

This was music to my ears. Yes, son!! You are right! Now, many parents would have corrected their child. Oh, sure you can, we can all be good if we just try to do the right thing. But the Bible tells us that there are none good (Romans 3:10).

At that moment, I was just so thankful that he is learning that he can't be good on his own. So, I took the opportunity to share with him that the only way we can be good is through Jesus. I also took that opportunity to thank God that I am home with my children to take advantage of moments like that.

My prayer is that we will be diligent in teaching our boys the truths of the gospel and that God will give Luke & Eli wisdom to see themselves in great need of rescuing. And may we also be diligent in teaching them that there is only One who can rescue them!! Oh Lord, save their souls!

Family Matters - Luke Edition

Taking a moment to journal a few things about the family this week...

Luke will be four in a month on June 5th! Wow. Four years old! This child is full of drama! Everything is a major deal to him! This is great when he gets excited about fun, happy, exciting things. But.. not so great when he's upset or something doesn't go his way! Just this morning he went nuts over the fact that his underwear didn't have two 'pockets'. He just noticed the little hole or 'pocket' as he calls it on his underwear for the first time today. Well, of course there should be two! He has two pockets in his blue jeans, right? Why not his underwear? And when I say, he "went nuts", I'm not talking just a little whiny over his one-pocketed underwear. I'm talking wailing over it. I am really having to control myself because to me it's ridiculous, but to him it's not. So, we've learned that in these types of situations (which happen frequently through out the day) we just have to let him calm down and then explain things to him. Once he understood why the 'pocket' was there, he understood why there was only one! HA! He's also very big into sequencing things. Like, first we're going to eat lunch, then Eli will take a nap, then we will play with play dough. Don't dare throw anything in the mix! It totally messes things up! Yesterday, after church the Hubs had told Luke they would clean the van out together, after Eli got to sleep. Well, I was taking Eli to rock him and the Hubs was getting his lunch (he was on the phone while we ate). It just really messed with Luke that it wasn't lunch, Eli nap, clean van. He'd already eaten so why in the world did Daddy have to throw a curve in their plans by eating while Eli napped?! Oh me. At the same time, Luke is a very reasonable child. It's just that he needs to understand things. He's very inquisitive. He asks a lot of questions and loves to know how things work and what things do. He's learning (the hard way) to pick up his toys and clean his room. He's having to learn responsibility and the importance of taking care of things. This isn't always easy but we're learning. He's typically very polite and says please, thank you, and you're welcome. He loves to play with other kids and really wishes that Eli would play with him . (Too bad Eli isn't at that stage yet!)

Right now, he's really into the Magic School Bus DVD's! I love that he loves these educational shows. It feeds his curious mind! Of course he still loves to watch Blue's Clues, Toy Story, and Alvin and the Chipmunks, too! I really have to keep a watch on his TV and movie watching (he LOVES it!). Even during 'no TV' time when the boys are playing, Luke will pop a DVD in on his own. He is getting better about asking me though! He loves to pretend playing store, cars, restaurant, etc. He also loves to cook with me, do crafts and make things!

I am proud to say that he has been diaper/pull up free for 2 and a half weeks now! WOO HOO! I honestly thought this day might never come! We are still on medication, a few times a week, to keep things regular. We've had a few accidents but not many! And he's sleeping all through the night completely dry! He's doing great!

Well, that's about all that's going on with Luke right now! Here's a sweet picture of him after we finished doing a craft! I love him so much I could burst!

Training them up..

Isn't it funny how a child can go from menace to angel in a matter of minutes!?! We went to Target today to mainly look for a shower curtain for the new bathroom. We had a few other things to look at too but that was my main focus. Luke and Eli both got Toy Story and Toy Story 2 for Easter from Gram and Grandad. They got these about 2 weeks ago and since then we've watched both movies several times. Also since then, Luke has asked for a Toy Story toy. He goes back and forth from wanting the slinky dog to wanting Buzz. Well, since we got our refund (yay!) I thought I'd let the boys pick out a toy! Mommy and Daddy are spending a little on themselves, so it's only right to let the boys get something! Not to mention that they rarely get toys with me. We just don't have the money.. and thankfully the grandparents keep their toy supply overflowing anyway!

So, I talked with Luke this morning and explained our plans: go to Target, Mommy will look for her stuff, last stop will be the toy aisle. His instructions: obey = toy. Disobey = no toy. While I was looking at spice racks Luke knocked over some thermos. So, I told him no touching.. well, that lasted a whole 2 seconds. I then told him, as we were heading over to the shower curtains that he was on thin ice because he was not following instructions. He started complaining and whining about wanting to go get his toy. Long story short, at our last stop before the toy section, I just told him he wasn't getting a toy. Well all hades broke loose! Screaming and crying, "I WANT A TOY!" LOUD, really, really LOUD! So, we went straight to the check out and he was screaming even louder. I kept repeating, "Luke, you are NOT getting a toy. No matter what you say, you are NOT getting a toy." I calmly (while my son screamed) told one of the ladies at the front that I would be back for my buggy but that we needed to take a trip to the bathroom. He continued to scream and I calmly told him that we would stay in that bathroom all day. I was not going to try to talk to him while he screamed! Finally he got quiet and we talked about his behavior. I asked him if he deserved a toy.. and he said, "yes". Ha! He continued to whine, not as loud but he was still crying and whining. We talked again about his behavior and about how he had disobeyed me, which is also disobeying God. He had broken God's rules about honoring and obeying me. Finally, I asked, "Do you think after screaming at Mommy, disobeying Mommy and God that you should get a toy or a spanking?" He said solemnly, "A spanking." Yes, sir. So, a spanking he got. Then he said, "I have lots of toys at home. And next time I'll be nice when we come to Target." I hope so! And while all of this went on I was also attempting Eli to not touch the toilet and trash can!

We checked out and he was fine. We decided to go eat at Chik Fil A. We went in and had a nice time. They boys got Veggie Tale CDs in their kid's meals. On the way home we listened to one about being a friend. Luke said, "Mommy, this song is about Daddy." I said, "It is? How come?" Luke: "Well, because Daddy is my friend and he helps me brush my teeth!" What a sweet moment! And how drastically different from just an hour before! I couldn't wait to tell the Hubs about it!

Going back to the whole toy thing... As he was screaming about the toy the thought entered my mind, "If I just get the toy, he will hush. We can go on about our way and all of these people will quit staring at me!" But I knew I couldn't do that. I care too much about him to just give in. Yes, giving in is usually easier. But it's not better. And so many people just give in. As I thought about this, God brought this verse to my mind that really stuck out to me when I was reading Shepherding a Child's Heart:

"Discipline your son, for their is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death." Proverbs 19:18

Tedd Trip says this, "The discipline of a child is a parent refusing to be a willing party to his child's death."

Some may think that's a little far stretched. Giving in.. letting some things go... turning your head to avoid seeing something that needs disciplining just because you don't want to deal with it (I'm speaking to myself!!!) .. especially for young children... doing those things won't really lead to your child's death. Will it? I mean come on, we're not talking about a teenager drinking or doing drugs. We're talking about a three year old. Lets put things in a more eternal perspective. My desire, hope and prayer is for my children to know Christ. I want them to know Christ above all else. I'd rather them know Christ than be healthy, successful and wealthy. And when does that training and disciplining start? As soon as they are given to me! Where my child will spend eternity is at hand! I must be intentional in discipline. I must be intentional about training them up. I must be intentional in teaching about Christ. Slack now will only lead to an unruly child/adolescent and "I don't even want to think about it" teenager. My child may make choices one day that go against God's Word. But I want to do everything in my power now to train them up and I will hold tightly to God's promise:

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Finding a minute..

I have totally been in a blogging rut!! I have lots of things I want to blog about but I just can't find the words, nor can I find the time!

So, I just decided to sit down while I have a minute or two and just write. Who knows what's going to come of this. We'll see.

I feel totally terrible admitting this but remember my last post about Eli's horrid sleeping issues?? Well, I wrote that on a Tuesday and the next Thursday I ended up having to take him to the Dr and he had a double ear infection. Makes total sense now!! And according to Dr C "Mommy, his ears are really, really bad"!! And that made me feel like poop for complaining and whining about him being up all hours of the night. The poor baby was in PAIN! And guess what? He slept ALL night Thursday and Friday nights. He was pumped full of tylenol and ibuprofen though. Thank you Jesus for pain medication and antibiotics! This was his 3rd ear infection in 4 months. :/ So... we we're that if he gets one more in the next few months we'll be going to see an ENT for tubes. We had a recheck today and his ears look much better! We have had one bad night since last week but it's his teeth. Eli has the two front teeth (the two on the sides of the front two) that I knew were coming in because I could see them. And then when the Dr checked him today he has one molar coming in the back. I could see it underneath the skin! Bless him, he can't get a break!

Luke is doing much better with his poop issues. He still goes in his pull up but I'm just glad he's going! He's no longer holding it in and he gets really excited when he goes (and so do I!). He's still on his meds but he doesn't get it as often. I think the combination of his meds and the lack of pressure to go on the potty has helped so much. I know he will get there in his own time. As far as his behavior issues.. well, we have good days and bad days. I know he's at the age where he's testing his limits and just plain wanting to be in control. We've been talking about what sin is and that there are consequences when we sin. I want him to understand that ultimately he is disobeying God when he sins. I know he is young but I think children understand more than we give them credit. I also want to couple this sin/disobedience talk with talk about who God is. That He is loving and kind but also must punish and correct us. Of course Luke must see that through the way the Hubs and I parent. I just want Him to know the character of God while we explain sin. I think if we constantly talk to a child about his disobedience and how it is against God's 'rules' without talking about all of the other things of God, we are painting an untrue picture of who God is. It's a delicate thing but there must be a balance. The goal is to teach our children who they are in light of who God is. And I pray everyday for God to give me wisdom.

Well, that's enough for now... we're off to eat dinner with my parents tonight!