If anyone has the right to complain

Our youngest son (Bubba) got hurt yesterday.  Nothing serious…just got his arm twisted the wrong way a little bit.  That’s the backdrop for a funny story that happened later in the day though.

Our other son (Boss) got tapped on the face.  He went into a dramatic whale about how “Momma hurt me”.  I ignored him because I knew he was just putting on a show.  Here is the dialog that ensued though:

Momma:     “If anyone has a right to complain about getting hurt, it’s Bubba.”

Bubba (in his best complaining voice):    “Momma, you hurt Boss.”

Momma and I had a nice little laugh at that one.

prayers of a 4 year old

My 4 year old is starting to get quite creative with his bedtime prayers, which is awesome.  Here are a couple of nuggets from the last week or so:

1. Thank you for our mouths so we can eat.
2. Thank you for our shoes so that our feet don’t get burned on the sidewalk.

Everyday it becomes more and more obvious to me why Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me”!

Time for me to be on my own now

 

Yesterday we took our son to his first day of preschool.  It went better than we could have ever imagined.  We walked in with him and helped him find his seat.  He started drawing a picture while other kids trickled through the doors.  Several of the children were crying and clinging to their parents.  Suddenly, our son looked up from his drawing and said

“Guys, I think it’s time for me to be on my own now”.

That was our queue to exit stage right.  We hugged him good-bye and slipped out the door.

Fear

Last Sunday morning my wife and I got into the church service a little late.  We ended up sitting on the front row.  The last couple of Sundays, during the service, we have started having what is called a “Children’s Moment”.  All the kids are invited to come up to the front for a mini sermonette.  It’s just a 5 minute illustration used to help teach the kids a biblical lesson.  This week’s was about FEAR and was based on 2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

So, the woman leading the “Children’s Moment” started asking the kids for examples of things they fear.  The kids’ responses were what you would expect – monsters, the dark, getting into trouble, etc.

Then for some reason still unknown to me, she points over to me and says “What is something you are fear?”  At first I assumed she was pointing to someone behind me.  She kept pointing in my direction and finally I kind of innocently mouthed the word, “Me?” to which she emphatically nodded her head.

Out of about 500 people or so, why on earth had she decided to single me out?  Did I look like I had fears to share?  Did I look like I belonged up there sitting with the children?  I have no idea why I was chosen, but I thought I better say something.  All of this went through my head in an instant, but it didn’t get me any closer to an appropriate response.  In a fraction of a second I tried to think of something to say.  Then, in a flash, I blurted out my response.

“I have a fear of being called on to respond in front of the entire church”.

I brought the house down with that one.

What IS the matter with people? – episode 2

What IS the matter with people?

For today’s episode of What IS The Matter With People, I have two incidents to report – both involving parents disciplining their children.

1.  A couple in North Carolina decided it was ok to tie their 13 year old kid to a tree because of his disobediant behavior.  Here is the article (thanks to my wife who pointed me to it). 

2.  A 27 year old man in California decided it was ok to take his 2 year old out of the car and beat him death because he was “trash” and filled with “demons”.  Authorities showed up and the man refused to stop beating his boy so he was shot and killed.  Here’s the article. 

So, tell me,

What IS the matter with people?

Boys bedtime

On the nights I put my boys to bed, I pray this prayer with them:

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you for this day.  Thank you so much for all your many many blessings.  Thank you so much for little (4yrold) and little (2yrold) and little (babydueinaugust).  We love our kids soooo much…help them to know how much we love them, Lord.  Help them to know how much you love them, Lord.  Help them to grow and meet their milestones, Lord, on time.  I pray that they would remain happy, healthy, and strong.  And, Lord, above everything else, I pray that they would learn to love you and follow you and know you as their personal Lord and Savior.  And help them to show others around them your love.  Lord, I pray that they would have a good night’s sleep tonight.  Help us to all get the rest that our bodies need.  Help our boys to know that they are safe in their beds tonight.  Amen

At some point during the prayer my 4 yr old always reminds me to pray for his uncle and for whoever else may be on his mind that day and I do that or I pause while he does it himself.  And, my 2 year old usually bows his head and prays “Jesus….food….Amen”.

When I tuck my 4 yr old in bed, I always ask him the following three questions:

Do you know I love you?

Are you going to sleep tight tonight?

Are you going to have sweet dreams?

When I tuck my 2 yr old in, I always say, “You know you got a daddy who loves you?….and, I mean, I love you biiiig time, dude”.

I don’t know why this has become our routine.  But, it has, and I think we all like it.  I know I do.

Just here for the perks

On Saturday, I got the chance to go with my two year old to the Samaritan Inn to help our friends at Retread hand out new shoes and socks to the children living there.  What an experience.  To see all those faces light up when they opened their boxes was an incredible treat.  Then, to top it off, I wore my knees out bending down to pick up passengers for piggy back rides through the dining hall.  I must have given 50 piggy back rides.  The only one not laughing and having a great time was my two year old who thought it should be his turn the entire time!

But, what a great experience.  One of the staff at Samaritan Inn started asking me questions related to the shoes.  I told her to talk to my friend Kyle because I was only here for the perks!  And, that is exactly what it was.  Each child that came in the room perked up when we found the shoe box with their name on it.  It was so fun watching each expectant set of eyes melt into extreme delight.  And the giggles that came with the piggy back rides (which I am still paying for two days later) were worth the time, the sweat, and the wear and tear on my body.

My friend who lives at the Inn got a call while we were there that she and her kids had gotten the house that they were hoping for.  It was such a happy moment for her.  She has been burned in the past, so she maintained a cautious optimism, but I could see the twinkle in her eyes that told me she thought it was for real this time.  My family has formed a special bond with her and her kids.  My wife picked out all the shoes for the kids for the day, but she took special care to pick out just the right shoes for the 4 kids in this family.  Someone told her about that and she told me to give my wife a special hug for her.

My weed

Let me state right up front that this post has absolutely nothing to do with marijuana.  Sorry for anyone that may have stumbled their way into my blogosphere thinking they were going to hear all about my stash of hash.

OK, now that that is cleared up…

Mowing the yard used to give me a small sense of pride and accomplishment.  Now, it only makes me feel like a complete failure.

I just came in from mowing my weed.  One weed…singular.  As in my entire lawn is one big weed.  I honestly don’t know where I went wrong with this lawn.  And, it’s not like I don’t have any experience in this area.  Afterall, mowing yards was my main source of spending money during high school.  But, somewhere between then and now, I have completely lost control of my landscape situation.

I feel like I have covered all the basics.  I fertilize. I water. I edge, weed-eat and mow…but it just keeps getting worse.  This spring, I even aerated the entire surface.  And, it even worked…now my weed is growing like never before.

So what the heck do I do now?  Do I throw my hands in the air and hope the problem just goes away?  Do I pay a professional landscaper to swoop in and rescue this miserable turf?  Or maybe, do I just rip it all out and lay completely new sod?

I wish I had the answer.  Oh well.  But, I do know one thing for sure.  In the grand scheme of the world, there are certainly worse problems I could be facing.  I am very blessed to have a roof over my head, let alone a luxurious weed to encircle it.  I am even more blessed to have a beautiful family who, truth be told, probably takes my time and attention away from that wild plant growing outside our windows.  And, if that raging source of frustration between my house and the sidewalk is nothing more than a sign that my priorities are in fact in the correct order, then I guess it is what it is.  This weed may grow wild, but maybe it’s best if I simply aim to contain it.  Instead of trying to get my arms around this as a problem, I will focus more on keeping my arms around my wife and kids.  Instead of trying to attack this issue at its core, maybe I should just let it go…let the weed go where it will.  Maybe instead of feeling like a failure whenever I try to tame this out of control growing patch of chlorophyll, I should feel like a success where things really count.

I don’t know.  Maybe I am just trying to cheer myself up and make myself feel a little better.  But, it may have even worked…now my weed is growing like never before.

Bye-bye, Lello

My two year old is so much fun.  I have two boys, 4 and 2, and they are both just a bundle of energy and joy.  The 2 year old in particular is at an age that is just so much fun right now.  My 4 year old was the same way at that age.

He is just learning so many new things right now.  Everything new thing he sees or hears, he says “Whassssssaaaatttt????”.  He is learning to say so many new words.  A few months ago, we were keeping track of the number of words he said…now we are trying to keep up with all the new words he is learning each day.  It is truly amazing how quickly he has gone from saying just a handful of words to now putting complete sentences together.

Another thing that is just hilarious to watch right now is his facial expressions.  He just cracks me up.  He will point at an outside grill or at a toaster or something such as that and say “Thasss Ott” (That’s hot).  But, the expression that goes with that is absolutely adorable.  He kind of crinkles his nose and nods his head in the direction he is pointing and give you a look that just says “I know you know this daddy, but just in case you didn’t, I wanted you to be aware that that grill can be a danger if exposed to your skin”.

He is also picking up lots of little fun phrases.  We take him to Dallas Mavericks games and the PA announcer loves to make a spectical of himself everytime a Mav goes to the foul line for a couple free throws.  He will say “Twwwooooooooooooooooooo shots”.  Well our son has picked that up and he will say that exactly the same way every time he tries to take a shot at his little plastic basketball goal.

He also has the ability to quickly recognize the Mavs logo and anything else basketball related.  Occassionally, I will wear a Mavs shirt or cap or something and he will automatically assume that means we are going to get on the “Lello choochoo for da bakabal gang” (Yellow train to go to the basketball game)  Unfortunately for him, the Mavs are done for the year…maybe I will have to stop wearing my Mavs gear until next season!

Oh, and one more cute thing about my son.  He has a blanket that he is completely attached to.  Our oldest son never got himself attached to anything quite like this.  But, our younger son somehow has gotten himself to a point that he cannot go to sleep without this little yellow blanket which he refers to by the name of “lello”.

(We have had episodes where the blanket has gotten dirty or wet and isn’t clean and dry by bedtime.  Believe me, that situation is disasterous and it is to be avoided at all costs.)

Anyway, he knows that he isn’t allowed to leave the house with that blanket.  So, whenever we get the kids ready to go in the morning for whatever the day has in store, he will walk his little blanket to the door, gently lay it down on the floor, waive at it, and say “Bye-bye Lello”.