Oh parenthood-it is a bittersweet journey...

I thought I would just share a little clip from our lives this week. This happened last night and left me laughing through the frustration. It was one of those times that I thanked to Lord for soothing my troubled heart with laughter.

We have an old laptop that has been wonderful for the kids to use online. I like that it is mobile so that I can oversee what they are doing online. My dad has kept it going forever which has been a great blessing to a tight budget! Well, last night, as I was trying to work out some things on my work computer, I realized that a file I was trying to locate was actually on the old laptop because it used to be my computer. I asked one of our daughter's(who I will keep anonymous since she has felt so badly over this) to bring the laptop to me since she had used it last. She seemed a bit hesitant and it really didn't faze me at first. I opened it up and turned it on and walked away because it takes about an hour to boot up (ok I am exagerating about a minute or so;)) But, all of the sudden I heard a gasp and came out of the kitchen to see what it was about. Everyone was looking at the laptop, see the screen was all wonky, like oil moving around and if you touched the screen it would move around! I, knew right away why my daughter had been hesitant-so i turned to her and said "spill it" Although, I was not so even tempered as I wish I could have been! She went on to explain that Noah had been jumping on it! If only you could have seen my eyes-how big and lovely they were;) Ok, BIG, NOT LOVELY. Well, as you can imagine, Dad and I spent awhile gong through the rules of how to handle EXPENSIVE and important things, how to treat blessings from the Lord, how, maybe you should have let me know when Noah decided to use it as a trampoline, or maybe confess RIGHT AWAY, we talked about how money doesn't grow on trees, and probably a few other descriptive remarks.... followed by, go to bed please-NOW.


Well, Matt and I discussed it awhile longer and then retired it, but my stomach was still in knots for so many reasons. it one of those silly times that I just want it fixed NOW and i am anxious and nervous-FOR WHAT!? Well, after Matt finished preparing for Sunday School, he turned in for the night. He came out of our bedroom with a piece of paper and was chuckling. He said, take a look at this. It was a note from our dear daughter and here is what it said...

Now, here are a few things that make me soft and calm from that anger bubbling in me. First-this is not her normal nice handwriting, this is the scared, I AM REALLY IN TROUBLE version. You may not be able to read it , but it is a list of options for punishment and the first suggestion was-You can get rid of me. I think I will laugh HARD every time I write or say this . Like that is even an option-I told her this morning when I said good morning-maybe servitude for the rest of your life, but I don't think I will get rid of you. Anyways, yes, she will have consequences that her Dad and I agree on. But one thing Matt and i agree on is that this is one of those lessons that grace will hopefully b e a very lasting impression. It is not often that we get to display such a strong example of the grace that Jesus has shown us-which , in my opinion, is not measurable in human terms and something that I could never match, but am attempting to teach my children in tangible ways such as this.

That letter-it is a keeper. And it actually makes me thankful for being a parent!

AND DAD-I will be bringing the laptop when I come out this week;)

Just To Make You Laugh....

How many of us can say that our kids come up with the funniest things to say!? But, with time, our memories just lack the ability to remember all of those moments! I know I have lost too many of those side splitting times to the abyss in my mind, and I only hope that the Lord brings those memories to the surface when I really need them! But years ago, with the encouragement of different mom friends and family, I began to write some of them down whenever possible so I did not have to rely on my ever failing memory! Now if I could just keep from losing the notebooks!....

I came across one of those notebooks from years ago with some of those funny times jotted down and thought it would be fun to share. For those of you who know our kids, well, you will laugh even harder because it so fits them! We always knew as well, that our kids were going to get us in trouble with the things they say and we have prepared ourselves for those times of squirming red faced childlike honesty!

This one was from Dec 4th 2005. And you have to have seen Elmo in Grouchland to understand this one(which, you only grin and bear it through this movie if you are a parent of little ones!)

Cole came to me after seeing a commercial on TV. He said the guy in the commercial was the same guy that stole Elmo's blanket(or wubbie) in the movie. In the commercial he was talking about our cholesterol. Cole proceeded to tell me he thinks this man is lying and that he really wants to steal our cholesterol! IF ONLY THAT WORKED!


This one was from Dec 14th 2005

The kids were licking chocolate left over from dipping pretzels for Christmas. They of course were covered with it. Madison looked at Cole and said, "Gee Cole, I wish you were a statue so I could lick your face off!"

This was on Dec 16th 2005

Matt told me one night as we were getting into bed, that Madison told him he should put name tags on them(our kids) because he always calls them by the wrong name! Matt said the birth of our fourth child threw everything off and name tags would not even help! - Imagine our trouble now that we have 5!


This was from Feb 2nd 2006

As we were getting ready for church this morning, Joslyn told Matt, "Dad, you're getting too old, I don't think I can keep you!"- We are in deep trouble I think:)

This one is from March 3rd-2006

Today when I was picking up, i found a piece of papaer that Cole had written some phone number's on. He had heard a commercial about cash and thought he ought to write the number down and give it to me. The number was 1-800-needcash. The other was 1-800-bathroom.

Now that bathroom one! I probably could have used a few months ago if your remember reading the bathroom demo blog of mine! Hum? I wonder what Matt and were talking about that week that Cole was tuning into!? :)


This was from June 11th-2006

This morning as we headed off to church, we locked ourselves out of the house(and our cars) Of course, Matt and I blamed each other and it quickly turned into yelling. (I cringe to think of our neighbors watching out their windows saying "hey honey, listen to the pastor and his wife getting ready to go to church) After Cole climbing in our window to rescue us from ourselves, I stormed in, said we are not going and that was that. Joslyn says to Matt, "Daddy, you amd mama need to give up the madness!" Oh, the insight of child. Well, we sat down(reluctantly) apologized, prayed and did make it to church. (For the later service:)- Not exactly one of our prouder moments as parents or a couple, but I know I am not the only one who has had a moment like this!


This was from Feb 13th-2007

Tonight, during family devotions we were talking about the Holy Spirit being symbolized by a dove. Madison then mentioned the dove from Noah's Ark. Joslyn then went on to tell us that the dove had brought back "weed" to the ark. After practically rolling on the floor in laughter, we continued to about the Holy Spirit coming down when Jesus was baptized, Joslyn once again shared her Biblical knowledge that God put His Son in the ocean to baptize him.-Needless to say, we may need to work on Joslyn's interpretation of scripture:)