Barney Is So Not Vogue

Cole (age 5) has been working on his reading skills and I decided to purchase a dvd to help his progress along. Hoping to save on online postage, I searched high and low at our local Walmart for one that might be beneficial. Though they had lots of dvds, most of them didn’t seem very educational.

I finally did find a Barney one I thought would help him out. When David tried to encourage its viewing in our household later in the day, this is how it went:

David: Hey guys, here’s a really great dvd for you to watch.

Ashley: No way! I’m not watching Barney!

Jonathan: Dad, you KNOW Barney is for babies.

David: (With a silent “help me out here” look toward his older, less than helpful, offspring) Well, if you must know, Mom really bought this for Cole. I just thought you ALL could watch it together.

Jonathan: (Finally getting the nudge) That’s so cool, Dad. Come on Cole—let’s go watch it.

Cole: Try Nicholas, Dad! I’m not into big, fat purple dinosaurs.

Oh well. I tried. I guess I’ll have to find something online for the “more mature” pre-kindergartner.

Maybe I’m Ungrateful

Recently the athletics department at our small school held their annual raffle to raise money for our sports program. In the past we have been more than dutiful, buying up boatloads of these tickets . . . and last year I even won a few taper candles. Whoo hoo!

This year we decided not to participate since Ashley didn’t play basketball and because we couldn’t actually attend the event. But because my daughter can be OBSTINATELY PERSISTENT, David finally gave in on the final day of sales and purchased one, lone $3 raffle ticket.

Wow did our phone ring off the hook that evening! To my most arduous chagrin, David WON the grand prize!

What’s the chances? I vowed to never let my kids (or husband) ride one of these. Can someone please explain this to me?! Did the planets line up? Should we be playing lotto (even though we don't believe in gambling), are we just lucky unlucky? (Oh yeah, we don't believe in luck either).

We do believe in blessings—and receive them daily . . . I'm just personally not convinced this is a blessing. (Unless, of course, my husband would let me sell it . . . )

Any takers?

Oh The Things A Mom Will Do

I have found in life there are many things that are simply not fair. Personally I have an absolute abhorrence for frogs. One might then deduce I simply don’t allow frogs to be part of my life . . . that would be an inaccurate premise with faulty deductive reasoning. (Logic 201, 1983).

After carefully budgeting the amount of money we were going to spend on Christmas presents last December . . . I (not we) purchased all of the kids’ gifts, wrapped them, put them under the tree to await the anticipation of Christmas morning. It was at this juncture David decided the Christmas shopping wasn’t quite finished. (Even though the budget was). He was quite sure his kids absolutely NEEDED a Tadpole Habitat where his dear children could at their leisure raise frogs. Did you get that?! RAISE FROGS!! (These are the kinds of things we inadvertently forgot to discuss in the dating phase.)

Without my blessing he, of course, was rewarded by all three of our older kids being in agreement that this was not only the best gift of Christmas 2007, but the best gift they have ever received! Whatever.

So now, while my children are at school, our kind mailman brings right to my door little packages with warnings about live creatures inside . . . blah, blah, blah. To add to my angst, one corner of my daughter’s bedroom has now been draped with a blanket and a warning for me to not come near. Whatever happened to a parent’s ability to say, “Not under my roof . . .”?

So I guess I am now resigned to the small fact my house is a breeding ground for the creatures I hate most on this planet. Do you think one day my kids will look back on their growing up years and recognize the personal sacrifice their frog-hating mother engaged in for them? I’m preserving it here on the internet so that one day maybe they’ll understand.

In the words of Charlie Brown, “Aaaarrrrggghhhh!”

God Answers!

A big thank you to everyone who has been joining me in prayer in their laundry rooms. In case you haven’t heard (I hadn’t until my good friend J-Lynn informed me) Pastor Balaev (highlighted in my last post) was released from prison on March 19, 2008! You can read more about his story here.

Wow! How incredible is that?! I know God hears and answers when we call. How faithful He is!

“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” James 5: 16 (NLT)