On a freezing day, GO SWIMMING!

This morning waking up to an icy wall and frozen world outside my cozy abode, I figured it would be a pj day. Cozy in my slippers with hot chocolate and rice krispy treats. Nope. My hubby thought it would be an awesome and perfect opportunity to go swimming. Sure why not? The windows on my car have an inch of ice on them. I feel like swimming!!

So we bundled up and stripped down and went swimming in the 85 degree pool at the Y. Yep.
There were actually other people swimming today also. Lex was so cute in his little swimmers. He would go under the water and say GOTCHU when he jumped on me.

We had a blast and I'm so glad I got some good excercise in. It was so relaxing and very spontaneous. We didn't even fall on our butts going back to the car afterwards. But Lex did. He slipped. I caught him tho.

So the rest of the day we chased each other around the house while my hubby worked from home. So nice.

Adam is a Dust Bunny

This weekend I went out on an excursion with my brother and sister. A feat we hadn't done together in three years. My sister brought her five year old and we were staying in the same room.
One morning he was talking ot me while I was getting ready and asked..

"Aunt Liz, what are those grey fuzzy things in the window?"
I tell him they were dust bunnies.
He asked what were those?

After thinking about it on his level, I say you know when you scratch your arm and it flakes sometimes and if you notice flakes off your scalp or when the sun shines in the window you see little particles flowing thru the air. Well those all come together in a ball if not cleaned up in vacumming and they collect into a ball called a dust bunny.

He seemed to be satisfied with that description. From that, he says, so where did humans come from.

I think a minute and give the answer that he came from his mom. He said yes I know we come from our mommies. I am saying where did the first human come from.

I was dumbfounded. A child of such innocence asks such a strong profound question.

I tell him the first human came from God.
He says so God was a human??
I said well it's hard to wrap your head around specifically what God is. I would say he is a spirit that is in everyone and everything. He is the big voice in the sky. Etc.

God made the first human out of dust. His name was Adam. Then he took Adam's rib and made Eve. Then Adam and Eve together made the first children. And so on and so on.

So he was putting that together. He says so does God have superpowers?

I said yes, I guess he does.

He says what is God's superpower.

I tell him God's superpower is LOVE.

He says so when you get the goosebumps on your arms and you get really happy to be around your mom, that is God?

Yes. It's Love.

So after we were talking about all this. I pondered over all that was discussed.
I came to the conclusion that Adam is a dust bunny. He came from the dust and God put him together from it.

Amazing Grace

I had the best most wonderful day today. It was so fullfilling.

I woke up with a plan. I wasn't sick. First plan was to not be sick.

Went to work out at this new mommy and me class and it was so great! I broke a sweat and got red in the face. That's when I know I did my job and the instructor brought it.

It was very inspiring to see all these women who just had kids and they look hot! I was happy to see that in my future. To be healthy and hot. Simple.

Then I took lunch with a pastor of mine and she was so encouraging to me. You can spend your time doing one of two things. Encouraging or criticizing. I choose the first one. So should everyone.
Why criticize or point out flaws?

Anyway it was a great day all around. I wasn't even sleepy when I got home so I was able to have some free time for myself while baby took nap.

Usually I sleep to and that really robs me of my me time.

We all need it ladies don't we?

Anyway I will work on being more encouraging in my blog also.

Sick ..Again

So our little family is expecting again. This should be our final endeavour at creating life.
So far I've been sick most of my first 9 weeks of pregnancy. Mom's out there does it ever stop? With my first one I was only sick for 2 weeks and moving on to the glowing phase.
Right now I can barely stop hugging my porcelain "God". Haha. Takes me back to college days.
Anyway with the sickness is an incredible depression that is really tough to take on with a little guy wondering around at home.
I have split up the days of cold and cabin fever for him by movies, random outings, and playdates.
For me I stick to lying on the bed watching random shows. So one of these days of sickness and they last all days folks, I was dozing while reading a magazine and I hear from my little guy

"TWO EGGS".
I jumped out of bed and looked down at my 2 year old holding two fresh eggs he retrieved from the fridge. Here is my little man banging the two eggs on a friend's printer my husband was trying to fix.

"TWO EgGS MOMMY".
Yes honey two eggs, that's right..Are there any other eggs?
We put them back in the fridge safe.
Later that evening when I was attempting to straighten and days lost of housework, I stumbled across an eggshell. I picked up my magazine from earlier and found the escapee. The yolk was working it's way into my carpet for a good stain that will last.

As a memory always "TWO EGGS".

A Theme

I'm getting a strong theme in America these days regarding our children.
It appears there is a sense of disdain and misunderstanding when our blessed ones arrive in our midst.

A little one comes into our world, maybe more than one we decide. It's great at first and sometimes it's not. There is a point and this happens to more than just me because I've had freinds who tell me. But you say I am living for this human being. For at least the next 18 years, this is my responsibility to keep happy, healthy and loved.

You are your childrens' first teacher. We teach them finance, love, everything about life. So why does this come off to us as a trap we set for ourselves? Why is there this theme that keeps coming up in our culture, in talk shows etc? It appears under the vice of where is our time? Our time?
It's your family now. You can make priorities.

I'm talking about when there are these things said that you don't have time left for yourselves because it's all spent on the kids. I can't wait to get away to work.
We can't pay the bills because I'm trying to pursue my dreams.
One of those dreams can include kids right?

There was a story about a family that was trying to pursue their dream while they could barely make ends meet with four children at home. It was suggested the mom get a part time job and maybe they only keep the dream open for a few days a week.

Our children only are with us in our midst under our guidance for a season. And then they are on their own. How do we want to spend that time?
Struggling? We don't have to. It's all about your planning, and attitude. You can adjust your attitude. I did.

When I first was married, I was very selfish and I still am at times. I didn't think I had to stay home with my kid. Why couldn't my husband do that. I didn't have to wash the dishes or do the laundry. But guess what happened when I did do those things? My family was calm. My husband had a smile. He and I have a brilliant relationship. He gives me back more than I could ever imagine because I do just a few things a day. With a happy heart. Resentment is terrible.

So it didn't happen overnight. I just realized I was being silly. Don't be a slave to our culture and what it assumes is best for you. Realize how you need to live. Then do it.

Everywhere Christians

I subscribe to "The Voice of the Martyr". A Christian publication that comes to my email. It tells me sometimes what horrendous acts are being done on Christians overseas in other countries where it's not free to practice Christianity. I just think of our youth and how easy it is for them to come to our events at the church. How easy it is to talk about your faith, your fears, express your passions and ambitions here in America. We can decide not to go to church. That baffles me. The extreme difference and what we take for granted every day. We have loving mentors, people who spend countless hours working on lessons for Sunday school. We may sleep in. Or come up with nine other priorities that are more important.

Difference. : A man and his wife are axed because they profess they are Christians in India.
The man loses his life. What is that wife doing in icu thinking? There are homes burned down, all over other countries. Some day its going to get to that point here in America. Some day we won't be able to have the freedom to say I believe. So take every moment and pray for those people who risk their lives and lose them. They are so grateful to be missionaries to send God's word all over. There isn't much time left. So lets learn all we can.

Love
Liz

Homeschooling

The word presents a problem. Immediately our culture today deems kids who are at home, unsocial. Not adept to handle social interaction and pressures of kids today. Hm..I think we've been fandangled. I read an extremely helpful article in Family Circle this month's issue with an inside look to a family that was successfully homeschooled. That being that all three kids had achieved 90 percent or higher on their standardized tests. So that being said the mom also attempts to take her kids to social clubs and cheerleading stuff like that. No problem.

I'm working on deciding whether I would like to homeschool my child. I think first of all I consider whether or not I'm able to do it. The patience thing. Also will I be out of the workforce to long to get myself back in. Nonsense. Those are all silly thoughts. Well they are my thoughts, but when I evaluate the value behind actually spending time with my child in his education, I think that's not a far-fetched idea. Especially if my husband makes it available for us financially to do so.

The other thing I was thinking of was my personal public education. I believe I stopped learning in middle school. I just clammed up and never learned another thing unless it was on my own.
My grades went down and that was too much for me. I couldn't imagine not getting a b. For some reason my male-chauvenist science teacher didn't like me, so I got my first C. After that I just stopped paying attention. Then while everyone in my math class seemed to be feverishly scratching away at their math homework I raised my hand for help and never got any. I wasn't a football player who had a game to play in. If he didn't get a good grade on the test, he wouldn't play. No need for extra tutoring. That didn't help either. How come when I took a test, I could get placed in advanced classes, but when I sat in with the actual teachers, I couldn't figure it out.

When I would come home crying with my math book or my science book, my mom would coax me and tell me it was ok. She told me I just learn differently. Like her. She was left-handed as well. When she explained something to me, I just got it. No pressure, no worries. I was free to learn. And I did. So I was able to complete my assignments and get thru school.

When I reached high school, that was another thing altogether. Whether or not I was pregnant. That truly was the only way to have any friends was to be going to parties to drink, or have sex. I wasn't interested in that, so I hid in the guidance office and typed out scholarship apps for college. I looked forward. It was so awkward for me in high school.

So here's a thought. This comes from this article I read in the Family Circle. Her son was in parochial school and they wanted him to learn about religion as well. He was given detention and withdrawn from school even though he was smart. So they tried homeschooling him as an alternative. Thats how they ended up making the choice ultimately. They teach the kids through unconventional methods, for example they read books they choose to learn about history and literature. That's interesting. Then the oldest learns a new language each year. He picks. Then has pen pals thru those languages to practice. I can't come up with a better way to apply it other than doing it. That's such a great idea.

So maybe we things that don't come natural doesnt' always mean they aren't the best and making a little sacrifice may make all the difference in the world whether our children grow up believing they are ignorant or just can't learn.

Maybe this is one reason why we have low scoring schools and everything because us as parents are dropping the ball. We assume our kids will be well-adjusted and learn the important things they need in class. Well then why do we spend the least amount of time with the things that are most important. Or should be? We pay our teachers and our caretakers of our elderly the least amount in our society. That's just crazy. I say we stand for a change on this. Just think about it. Make a consideration. Whether you decide to homeschool. I'm personally still deciding or whether we should spend more time with our children when they get home .