raising your kiddos the big picture way.
i’m a rules person. i believe in the law. i think i could’ve lived in old testament times. i like knowing what to do and invariably what happens when i don’t. just give me the guilt offering and i’d know just what to do with it.
and then i had kids.
and i want to rule with an iron fist. that’s what rules are for. and i have to follow through everytime because the whole world would fall off its axis if i didn’t, right?
and then God gave me my husband. my balance. my other half. we are one fussin’ couple (ask about the remote control incident sometime!), but we complete each other. when i say, “no, i told you not to raise your voice again in the van or you wouldn’t get any ice cream at sonic like we all planned. and you raised your voice. so guess what, my 5 year old? no ice cream.” and my husband says quietly to me on the phone as i’m relaying to him the latest sin of our child, “let him have the ice cream.” “WHAT?” “let him have the ice cream” “but, but, he… but… i said…” “let him have the ice cream. and tell him about grace. and mercy. and that we all sin. and that he doesn’t deserve it. and that daddy won’t have ice cream today. that i will take his punishment for him even though i didn’t raise my voice in the van.”
10 Comments
June 6, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Hmmm… I dunno. You know I”m a rules freak too. lol If I say something I stick with it with the kids.. otherwise the kids, in my opinion, won’t believe you’re serious in the future when you try to lay down the law. Grace is good… so I try to use it by NOT saying something like “if you do that again, then ‘this’ will happen” in the first place. Then my “rules” aren’t questioned yet I’m still having ‘mercy’ on my imperfect children.
June 6, 2007 at 4:33 pm
how does that work for us, though? God said don’t do a lot of things that i routinely do. like forgive others. and the punishment for sin is death. and yet i live. how? through his grace we don’t deserve. how better to teach that to our children than to occasionally demonstrate His love. don’t get me wrong… we lay down the law enough that the expectation is follow-through and the lesson of mercy takes.
June 6, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Yeah we dont follow through but seem to always miss that teachable moment as well:(
June 6, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Trying again . . . hope it doesn’t show up twice.
I may have a spanish curriculum somewhere around here. I’ll check on it and get back to you.
June 7, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Blah blah blah,
and blah blah blah.
Well, blah blah blah.
Sometimes we blah blah blah, and blah blah blah.
OH BOY! BLAH BLAH BLAH!
blah.
LQI
(that’s “Laugh Quietly Inwardly” for you that aren’t hip to my new web lingo.)
June 7, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I love this pic of Josiah! He looks like he is saying “mom! quit taking my picture already…” =) Loving it!
August 8, 2007 at 12:05 pm
[...] this child anything until he was at least between 6-8 months. i’m a rule follower at heart, remember? and he’s my last, you know. i wanted to savor the nursing for as long as possible. and [...]
January 17, 2008 at 3:37 pm
here it is. my favorite post. and i love the pic too.
June 18, 2008 at 12:57 pm
[...] this child anything until he was at least between 6-8 months. i’m a rule follower at heart, remember? and he’s my last, you know. i wanted to savor the nursing for as long as possible. and [...]
June 21, 2008 at 3:51 pm
[...] this child anything until he was at least between 6-8 months. i’m a rule follower at heart, remember? and he’s my last, you know. i wanted to savor the nursing for as long as possible. and [...]