Back in the swing of things!

So, we have had a bit of a roller coaster month in our house. :) I would rather not relive it either, but God was good and gave us everything we needed at the times we needed it.
Jeff was in Israel again this month. The day he left, Lauren came down with a virus that was accompanied by a very high fever, but the blessing is that there was not any vomiting involved, as that is not so good with small kids. Then she got better and Sean came down with it, but the blessing is my mom came down for a couple days to help. Then Sean was good and Lauren broke out with the chicken pox! Yes, both kids have had the vaccine, but we were those people who ended up with the pox anyway, but the blessing is that is was a mild case for both of them. However, I do know what it is like to have cabin fever as we just had to stay at home for a while. But that is okay as they were well enough for a wonderful trip at the end of this month with great friends in the Tahoe/Donner area. And they were able to see their grandma, who had just gotten out of the hospital after major surgery, so those things were both blessings. I guess in it all we were provided many blessings.
I am sure September will be wonderful, and I can't believe it is here. Jeff is home for a while, Lauren is back in preschool, and we are getting our routine back in order.
Happy fall to those of you with fall like weather, it still feels like summer here! :)

Found Out

Why is it that we are so afraid to be found out? We are afraid to let people in, to let them see who we are and our struggles. We (and when I say we I mean the American society) are fearful of what others might think. That we might not have "it" all together. Whatever "it" may be. That we have failure, sadness, fears, and bad days among our successes, hopes, dreams, and laughter. That sometimes we need help from others and that we make mistakes.

The funny thing is that we ALL have these things, but very few of us share them-even with people who are close to us. We are all broken in some way or another, but yet we have this innate desire to pretend. We have become great pretenders. So much that we laugh when we want to cry, lie when we should share truth, are in debt up to our eyeballs to keep up with the Jones & fake a lot of things that should be real.

Let's face it. Maybe we do it because we are just as judgemental towards others. It is like the parable of the spec of dust and the log. We are so eager to point out some one's spec of dust in their eye that we miss the log in our own. Maybe we do this because we can't face our own log. Maybe because calling someone else out or comparing ourselves with them would make us feel better. But in the end it doesn't.

I have decided I want to be the most "real" person I can be. I don't want to spend any time looking at the dust in other's eyes and want concentrate on having the Lord deal with my big fat log. Because I am sure it is even bigger than I realize.

It also makes me wonder. . .If we were all "real" would we have a lot more friends and be less stressed out?

Everyday Heroes

I have a friend that has become one of my heroes. She is amazing woman with a strength that only comes from the Lord. She is the vision of the Proverbs 31 woman. Her husband does praise her and her children will (when they get older) call her blessed. :)

First let me tell you she is a stay at home mom with 5, yes 5, children. The oldest is about 10 but then the other 4 are all under 6! She plays with them, disciplines them, teaches them about the grace of the Lord, cleans, does laundry, gets them to school and preschool, and volunteers. I think that is amazing, but if that was not enough, it gets even better. This is a women who has worked through the loss of her mother-in-law to Lou Gehrig's (shortly before her marriage), her father-in-law to cancer, almost lost her husband (who was not long ago in the hospital for days upon end), and now has found out that her brother has a cancerous tumor. Yet in all this, she still praises the name of the Lord and thanks Him for her sustenance. There is a song, "Praise You In The Storm", by a group called Casting Crowns and the chorus is as follows:

And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

This is what my wonderful friend does and I cannot say that about many people. She considers her family blessed and trials an opportunity to share her faith and who God is to her.

I have many heroes, some I have met and others I have not. Today I wanted to share with you just one who is absolutely amazing. And if you pray, please pray for her family and that the Lord will show Himself to her even in the midst of another 'storm'.

Check Myself

Look at these two!! They are adorable! (Mommy bias) Why is it then I choose to act in mean mommy ways towards them? They are kids and yes they will do stuff they shouldn't then they will do "kid stuff". I define that as the stuff they shouldn't, but it doesn't harm anyone and it is not out of defiance, but just thinking it is silly or fun.

Today I have realized I have to check myself at these times. We were in the grocery store waiting at the deli counter and they started singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" albeit a tad bit louder than I would have liked, but just singing. Then I started to get the glares from an older women, one glare, two glares, three glares and I took it out on my children stating if they didn't stop they were headed straight to room time when we got home. Although I did want to say the to women "I am sure your kids were perfect angels every time you went to the grocery store", but I didn't.

Basically I realized that I got after my kids for doing something that was a "kid thing". I let my fear of what others thought of me, my parenting skills, and a mother take control and therefore I took it out on my kids. From now on at the first glance I am going to check myself and then react. Because basically the lady was the one with the problem. No one else in line seemed to mind or even notice.

an other's parenting in a store. But after having 2 kids, (girl & boy-and let me tell you boys are completely different to parent than girls) I am also going to check myself when I feel like giving a look. After all, I never know the situation (is it past nap time, are they hungry, have they been to 5 stores before this one, does the mom have to shop or they won't have milk, etc.).

Maybe our environments would be better if we'd all check ourselves every once in a while.

POOP

So, we talk about poop a lot in this family. I know for many of you this is gross, but for those of you with kids, you might understand.
Lauren is potty trained. . well almost. She has been going to the bathroom for over a year now, but for some reason refuses to poop on the potty. She always comes to us once a day asking for a diaper. Many of you might think that the solution is a simple one, just don't give her a diaper. Been there, done that, and have a conversation from the doctor to remember it by. If I don't give her one she becomes extremely constipated and then this leads to even bigger problems and more fear about poop. (I will spare you the details.)
So, what have we done you ask? Basically if the girl goes poop on the potty I have promised her a trampoline. I know such a wonderful mother bribing her daughter, but this has not even worked yet.
Today we talked about poop on the way home from the splash park. As I once again was trying to convince her that everyone learns to poop on the potty. I mentioned the policeman in the car next to us poops on the potty and after the teenage girl int eh drive thru took my card to swipe it, I mentioned to Lauren that I bet even she goes poop on the potty. And without missing a beat, my daughter says "Mommy, I think you should ask her!" I proceed to giggle and explain why we can't ask people's toileting habits as it is not polite. Later in our conversation, I tell her that she can ask her Nana as I am sure she poops on the potty and Lauren replies "Mommy it is not polite to ask people if they poop on the potty."
Well there you have it. Lessons from Lauren. But I have not lost hope. We continue to pray nightly that God would help her to poop on the potty. I am just praying He helps before she goes to college! :)

Older

So I just realized something about my post. I am getting older. I have discovered among people I know that the older we get, the more we talk about and become obsessed about the weather. What is that about? Let's face it, what older person have you met that does not talk about the weather as the first five major talking points. . .I don't think you'll see a weather post from me in the near future. After all I am not that old!

Monsoon Season is here!!

Monsoon season is here and I love it! Monsoon season was the thing I missed the most about living in a desert climate during the time I lived in Michigan.
Monsoon rain is not like any other rain in the country. Granted it can cause horrible flash flooding and forest fires, but it is amazing. The lightning on the horizon with the dark clouds is picture perfect. In a matter of minutes it can be a huge wind/rain/lightening/thunder storm and then it can move out as fast as it came to be. The thing I truly like best about rain in the desert is the smell. There is a certain smell that is accompanied by desert rain, and for those of you who don't live here, you must come smell it as it is like no other. I just can't describe it.
It rained late last night/early morning and it was wonderful to wake up hearing the rain.
Anyway. . I am so glad to have monsoon season!