George

My sweet little Breanna...she has mommy's talent for making up her own words for songs when she can't quite remember them or understand them. Here are the lyrics as they are supposed to be:

We are AWANA cubbies.
We're happy all day long.
We know that Jesus loves us.
That's why we sing this song.
We hop because we're happy.
We jump and shout for joy!
Jesus is a friend to us.
He loves each girl and boy.

Now Breanna's version:

We are AWANA cubbies.
We're happy all day long.
We know that Jesus loves us.
That's why we sing this song.
We hop and look for George.
Jesus is a friend to us.
He loves each girl and boy.

Who is George? I am not sure, but we are apparently looking for him. I love kids.

Never Say Never

As so many things in life change around us, there was one thing my sweet husband clung to...he would NEVER own a minivan. Life is often beyond our control. Sometimes we just need to submit to God's will and run with it. Does that really include a minivan? It seems to in our life. Sorry, honey. You see, we sold our truck that I was whining about a couple months ago. We have been driving our truck. I got over the whole ego thing. I drove the old truck. I even got a little self-righteous about it. (Was your shiny new vehicle completely paid for?) So just to keep me humble, God provided a minivan for us at a price we could afford. It's reliable. It's been taken care of. We can all safely fit in it, plus friends. I was a little sad about selling the truck. We have had it for 13 years. That is even longer than we have been married. Bye, Bessie. (That was her name.) I was glad to sell her to a cute teenage girl. It's her 1st car. She was super excited. She paid cash. Somehow our driveway seems a little empty. We are down to our minivan and Brad's work van now. It's all good. Never say never.

This is NOT a Suggestion

You need to go see the movie "Fireproof". That's it. If you are married or in a relationship or know people that are, you need to go see this movie. I think that covers everyone. I'm not going to ramble on about it today. Just go see it. If you have already seen it, or if you go see it in the next few days (which you will, of course, because I told you to), I would love to have your feedback and/or comments about it. Post them in the comments section of my blog. Now go see it.

Cleaning with Joy

Yesterday morning Breanna did not want to wash her hands after she went to the bathroom. Eeeww! I finally convinced her that she needed to do so because it is just gross not to. She decided to wash her hands in the kitchen. Good. There is soap there. There is water there. There is a towel there. Good. In the process of washing her hands, she managed to spill a big glob of soap on the counter. It happens. She's 3. I then instructed her to get the dishcloth wet, squeeze it out, then wipe up the spilled soap. Again, we are good. She is learning to clean up after herself. I then went into the living room because I don't need to supervise this whole thing (see untying the apron strings from a while back). Next thing I know, I am sitting on the couch talking to Brad and we hear Breanna singing in the kitchen.
"Cleaning the counters...cleaning the counters...cleaning the counters..." Think big singing here, not just a little tune. She was really getting into it. It was so cute! She was truly enjoying cleaning the counters! Then she came out of the kitchen and proudly announced that she had cleaned all of the counters. What a great example of how I should be doing my daily tasks. I thought I was the mommy who was supposed to be doing the teaching here. So much for that idea.

Sweet Music

When Aidan started kindergarten this year, I told myself that I would not be one of those moms that took their kid to school in their pajamas. That lasted all of two weeks, I think. I do put on sweat pants or exercise pants or something on the bottom, but it is usually my pajama top under my jacket. Oh well. But every other Friday, I make myself get going and I get dressed and ready before school because I go to volunteer in Aidan's class. Oh my gosh, it is soooooo cute! First of all, Aidan is so funny when he is with his friends. One time when they were doing "centers" in the afternoon, Aidan chose the art station. This station gives them the ability to chat more while they are coloring or cutting or taping or pasting. I don't remember how it came up, but they were comparing "war" stories...
"One time I got a spanking for..."
"One time I got a spanking with the belt for...! Man, it hurt!" laugh, laugh, laugh.
You get the point. It was just funny. Last week was a special week, though. Aidan was the Star Student of the week which means he gets to bring show and tell on Friday. Since Mommy was there on this day, he chose to bring something a little bit bigger because I could keep it in the car until show and tell time. He brought his marine (aka camouflage) guitar that he got for his birthday last year. I figured he would bring it to show, maybe strum it a couple times, and then let the other kids touch it, but just in case, I asked him during recess before show and tell what song he was going to sing. I expected him to say, "Oh, Mom. I'm not going to play a song in front of my friends." He didn't. He told me exactly what song he was going to sing. At this point I have to tell you that Aidan has not had any formal guitar lessons yet. He just puts on his guitar and walks around the house "playing" and singing to it. Occasionally, he will play it with the radio with rock being his genre of choice (thank you, Daddy).

Right before show and tell, I go get his guitar and bring it in. A few of the kids see it and get excited about it, so Aidan's teacher puts it behind his desk while the kids go out to recess one more time for the day. Next, they come in and sit down for show and tell. Aidan gets his guitar out of the box, puts the strap on, and sits down in the chair in front of his peers. His teacher then asks him if he is going to play a song for the class and he nods his head. I just smile because he is so cute just sitting there holding it! Next thing I know, he is strumming and singing! Oh my gosh it was precious!!! He got about half way through the song, stopped suddenly and said he forgot the rest of the words. Who cares? The kids all clapped and were very impressed with what he had done. I wanted to cry, tears of joy, of course. I know that I would not have been able to do that at his age. I was just so proud of him. It took a lot of courage to get up in front of his peers and do that. Maybe we have a future American Idol on our hands...;)

My Reader

This will be a quick post after my rather lengthy last one. I just wanted to announce that my son is officially reading. Yesterday after school, he read an entire book all by himself. Yes, it was a very simple "Bob book", but he did it. In fact, he read 3 books. I think he was a little embarrassed that I was so excited, but I am so proud of him. He even called and read a story to Grandpa over the phone. It brought tears to my eyes. He is so precious.

A Splendid Review

I recently finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Wonderful book. I can't say that it was a happy and joyful book. There were moments of joy, but there was a lot of heartache. Most of our American schools don't have much of a world education, it seems to me. We tend to stay mostly focused on our history (and we're not very good at that anymore), and just brush over the history of other countries. Fine. I'm all for our country, even as messed up as it is. We still enjoy a lot of freedoms that we do take for granted that people in other countries couldn't even dream of. A Thousand Splendid Suns tells just such a story. It really was beautifully written. The overview that it gives of an average life in Afghanistan is just amazing. It wasn't always an official Islamic state like it is today. Women were not always oppressed like they are now. Things seem to be slowly getting better, but change takes time. I don't want to go into too much detail other than to say, go read it for yourself. I also enjoyed The Kite Runner by the same author. It has some of the same insights into Afghan culture that Splendid does, but it is a completely different story, and it deals more with where Afghan and American cultures meet. Also a very good book. Go read it.

Speaking of other cultures...recently I got an e-mail from a friend that essentially called me racist. It bothered me. I don't believe myself to be a racist person. I really do believe that we are ALL God's creations--each and every person on this ever shrinking planet. Do I believe we are all God's children? Not so much. I'm not into this whole politically correct "what I believe is true for me, but if you want to believe something else that is true for you" thing. It is completely contradictory. That belief would negate both beliefs, in my opinion. There is only one way to heaven. Another friend of mine, Jesus, said, "I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the Father except by me." Period. He didn't say, "I am one way." THE way. That's it. What does any of that have to do with racism? My dictionary defines racism as "the assumption that one race is biologically superior to another." Like I said before, we are ALL God's creations. All people were created equal. I'm struggling here to find the words that I feel adequately express my feelings about all this. Let me back track a minute. Next Tuesday is election day. I always vote--always. I believe that it is part of my responsibility as an American citizen to vote. I encourage everyone to vote. I know that not everyone will vote the same way that I do, but that's how the system works. We all put our voice in and in the end the one with the most votes wins. I believe this election is probably one of the most important elections of our time. I am not so naive to think that any one candidate is perfect. But we do have to look at the whole big picture of what each candidate represents, and we have to look at specific issues that are important to us. I am going to back track even further here for just a second. Several years ago when Bill Clinton was having an affair with Monica Lewinski, I remember watching the news (which I don't normally do) and hearing the interviewer ask people on the street if the extramarital affair affected Bill Clinton's presidency. It shocked me to hear people say that it didn't because "that was his personal life" and somehow "his personal life is completely separate from his political life." How does that happen? Was Bill Clinton somehow superhuman and can just turn off parts of his brain? I don't think so. In other words, what we do in our personal life affects all areas of our life. Another example on the other end of the spectrum is the BTK killer from a few years ago. That man was a serial killer, but during the day he had a job and a wife and went to church. Are you telling me that these things were unaffected by his hobby of murdering people. Probably not. Fast forward to today and next week's election. There are some serious questions raised about Barack Obama. I am not against this candidate because he is black, or because he lived in Indonesia, or because his grandmother lives in Kenya. I am against him because he wants to take all my money because he thinks I'm not smart enough to handle it myself. He wants to handle it for me. I will readily admit that I have made some huge mistakes with my money. If you've read any of my past blogs, that is pretty apparent. The point is that they are my mistakes. I am now working hard to rectify them--because I can. I am not and did not ask for the government's help to fix my mistakes. To ask or expect them to is foolishness. We all need to take responsibility for our own choices. Speaking of choices, Barack Obama supports abortion and partial birth abortion, at that. It makes me literally want to vomit to even think about it. In a partial birth abortion, the doctor partially delivers a live baby, then sticks scissors into it's brain and scrambles them up until the baby is dead, then finishes delivering it. When I found out I was pregnant with my son, my husband and I were not planning to get pregnant. Many people could have easily justified an abortion of my baby by saying we were not planning that pregnancy, or that I had a very ill father to take care of and we couldn't afford to have a baby. There were any number of reasons that I could have chosen not to have him. But we chose to have him. He is a creation of God. He is a blessing. He is not perfect, but he is precious. I can't even begin to imagine not having Aidan. By choosing to support abortion, I would be saying that I know better than God. I can do a better job controlling and planning my life than the creator of the universe can. Really? Probably not. I know women (dear friends) that have had abortions. Here's what I know about that. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. ALL things work together for good to those that love God. It doesn't say all good things. ALL things work together for good to those that love God. God can use anything for good. With that I will wrap up my rambling rant for today. I hope that I have made some sense today. I'm not here to change your mind, just to express my opinion. This is my blog. Have a great weekend.