Ethan and Tomatos

A great learning opportunity for Ethan happened last week.  On one of his daily adventures in the neighborhood with Danny (his BFF) they decided to begin smashing tomatoes in a yard behind us.  Obviously, this was a poor choice!  Mr. Johnson was upset and he let us know it!  Ethan is in the process of learning how to have fun WITHOUT being destructive, but it is a hard lesson for him to learn and definitely counter-cultural.  The lesson was obviously for me in humility and the nail was driven in when Mr. Johnson brought me a bag of his beautiful tomatoes to enjoy.  He forgave Ethan and showed me what being a neighbor is all about.  

Encouragment for Moms - 1

"Whoever would be great among you, must be your servant." Matt 20:26

"The world may not applaud us for wiping runny noses, driving in carpools, or talking with our teenager into the wee hours of the morning. And until they are trained, our children might not thank us either. But as we set aside our own selfish desires and glorify God by joyfully serving our children, we are pursuing true greatness according to the Bible. Let us do so with tenderness, affection and with a smile!"
"But what if you have lost your smile? How do you find renewed joy to sacrificially serve and tenderly love your children? Our only genuine source of refreshment comes from God. In Him alone do we acquire fresh strength to carry out this enormous task of mothering."

-Carolyn Mahanney The Feminine Appeal

Dealing with Anger

I thought I would share a very helpful list I am currently meditating on - it is called "25 Ways that parents provoke their children to anger." The list is based off the verses in Eph and Col that speak of NOT provoking your children to anger.
I have realized that there are major anger problems in my two oldest boys, and that the first place I must look for answers is in my OWN life and how i am handling the day to day situations.
This list is taken from Lou Priolo's book, The Heart of Anger. It is a TON of information and to be honest, I got overwhelmed with how much work I am going to have to do to really address this anger issue. So I decided that the first thing that has to change is me. All I have to say is that I am SO thankful that the Lord's mercies are new every morning and that He who started a good work in me will be faitful to complete it. So instead of trying to be perfect (which is a major problem of mine), I will choose to walk in each moment, and WHEN I fail, to seek the Lord and His forgiveness, and then to GET BACK UP and TRY AGAIN!!! Modeling this in front of my children will be the first step up this MOUNTAIN. So I hope this encourages you and if any of you have kids with anger issues, maybe this will be helpful for you as well. I encourage you to get the book because there are verses and wonderful explainations that go along with each thought.

25 Ways that Parents Provoke their Children to Anger

Lack of Marital Harmony
Establishing and Maintaining a child-centered home
Modeling Sinful Anger
Habitually Disciplining while angry
Scolding
Being inconsistent with Discipline
Having double standards
Being Legalistic
Not admitting you’re wrong and not asking for forgiveness
Constantly finding fault
Parents reversing God-given roles
Not listening to your child’s opinion or taking his side of the story seriously
Comparing them to others
Not making time “just to talk”
Not praising or encouraging your child
Failing to keep your promises
Chastening them in front of others
Not allowing enough freedom
Allowing too much freedom
Mocking your child
Abusing them physically
Ridiculing or name-calling
Unrealistic expectations
Practicing Favoritism
Child training with worldly methodologies inconsistent with God’s word