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My Kids Amaze Me

      Loving others is not as easy as it sounds. To not judge another human being because they are different from me. To not retaliate when someone judges me. Those are really difficult things for me. Today was the last day of swim lessons for my two younger guys. At the end of each lesson the kids get about five minutes of free time. My middle son is nine. Ever since he was little, every adult who would describe him to me always used the word "sweet". Now, he is also my most sensitive kid. Today I was watching him during free time and thinking, "If I were nine years old and I were going to pick a friend, it would be my nine year old son. He is friendly and fun. He is kind to everyone." There was another boy in his class he was playing with and this boy kept splashing my son in the face. Every time he did it my son would wipe his face and just keep playing with this boy. Now the third time you could tell he was a little upset, but he just wiped his face and kept on

Fostering

We spent this week doing respite care for two little boys who are in foster care. They are 8 months and 22 months old. Whew! That was a learning experience for all of us. My 9 year old and my 15 year old both got to experience feeding a baby. I thought it was sweet. They weren't so thrilled. My 15 year old had a lot of fun with the 22 month old though. Giving high fives and filling his sippy cup with milk. I'd love to post pics, but we are not allowed. :( They even got to celebrate Easter with us. By the end of the week, my husband and I had decided we are too old for a baby.  It was tiring, but it was a great experience to open up our home and our family to these little guys. They were fun and we all had a great time. I hope as we continue to do this my sons will have the same desire when they grow up. I think these are the things that matter.

Focused on the Wrong Battle

I have been lost on this whole technology thing. I have three sons who are 16, 9 and 5. They ALL love video games. My five year old tells me the only things he loves more than video games are me and God. Which is pretty awesome I think. I was just reading this article on wikiHow titled "How to Get Your Child to Stop Playing Video Games". Wait. What? I think we, as a society are afraid of technology. I live in the midwest. It is April and it is cold. My kids are home all day because they don't go to school. What else are we supposed to do all day? The first suggestion is to set boundaries. Tell them they have an hour a day to play video games and not after 8 on school nights. That got me thinking, what if someone told me I could only be on my phone or computer for an hour a day? And not after 8? I read another article recently talking about unschoolers and how there are a lot of stories about the incredible kids with a ton of drive. Stories of the child prodigies and s