Our House Rules

Our House Rules

Love God and Love each other

Be Generous with Hugs and Warm Words

Be Patient and Respect each other

Practice Forgiveness
Be Kind and Tenderhearted

Pray Often Live with a Thankful Heart

Prayer for Parents

O Heavenly Father, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me. Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me. May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power. Let me not tempt my children to lie or steal.

And guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all that I say and do that honesty produces happiness. Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. And when I'm out of sorts, help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue. May I ever be mindful that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgment of adults. Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions. Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm. Make me fair and just and kind and fit, O Lord, to be loved and respected and imitated by my children. Amen.

prayer by Fr. Anothony Coniaris from Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home

Gratitude Continued

i have a new goal. I haven't figured out how to link to it, but there is a circle of bloggers who are aiming to reach 1,000 things to be thankful for, so I am going to cumulatively count my thanksgivings. I know what you're thinking..."Better you than me" :)



6. in honor of my last post, i am thankful for my curly-ish hair ;) i don't always give in to the curliness, but i love that i have the option.

7. i am grateful for my friday night Bible study circle of friends. really, they are so much more than that. how can you limit a group of friends to one time slot, lol. i can't. these are my core group of friends that i know that, no matter what, they care about me for who i am, strengths and weaknesses and all, and it is such a joy to be a part of their lives.

8. i'm grateful for my hubby, who works hard to provide for our family, and that he doesn't make me feel bad about it in order to make himself feel better.

9. i'm thankful for the opportunity to play tennis with my son. even if the ball rarely makes it back over the net. (stop laughing!) hopefully when he is famous one day he'll credit me with having pointed him the the right direction. haha.

10. i'm thankful for the free swimming i'll get to do at the ymca this week, just because of where i work. what a cool perk to have this week, and a great way to end the summer with my kids.

the wonders of acidophilus

woohoo! I am in shock right now! I started ds on acidophilus about 5 days ago, hoping that probiotics would help him with his intestinal/constipation issues. well, of all things, it's helping his warts!!! He's had 2 nasty warts on the bottom of his feet, and today i checked his feet and realized...his warts are almost completely gone! I am beyond thrilled, as i have been concerned about them, and almost to the point of taking him to the dr. to treat them. i really wanted to be able to spare him the discomfort, and have been waiting it out, hoping that it'd go away on it's own. Thank you Lord!

so now i am trusting that this will also help his bowels regulate and that we'll eventually be able to pull him off of the laxatives. i'll keep ya posted ;)

child's wonder

Rachel Carson wrote, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

just guide gently

This blog entry has been really inspiring to me....

http://aholyexperience.com/2008/08/how-to-parent-just-guide-gently.html

Busy getting ready for surgery

4 days 'til surgery! It's hard to believe it's coming up so quickly. I'm ready for it to be over, and not have this heavy mass in my uterus. At the same time, it's a finality to my fertility. However, in some ways i reconciled a long time ago that i was not made as a fertile person, and am very blessed to have the two that i do. If for some reason they decide to take my ovaries during surgery, i think that i will have a much harder time dealing with that.

so, i am a bit nervous about what it will be like to be recovering afterwards. I'm writing out some verses on a spiral index card to take with me so that i can read them at the hospital. i'm taking sudoku, and some love inspired novels, lol. The one movie that i should swear to myself i will not watch after my surgery are any of the "love comes softly" series. oh my goodness. talk about being a wretchedly emotional mess while watching those movies. my absolute fav movie of all time is While you were sleeping. i could watch that movie any time. i need to send hubby out movie hunting for me, or have him run to the video store and rent it for a week.

Thankfully my mom is coming for 2 weeks. It has been about 4 years since she was here to see us, so it will be nice to have her. I am trying to view this recovery time as a forced vacation, lol. I'm allowed to be lazy. honestly, i probably do more for my kids than i need to. I'm trying to work on that, and shift to them being more independent. this certainly will help, don't ya think?!

so, i am currently in crazy-mode, trying to prep the house, and thinking ahead to what i can do to make it easier on my family while i am caputz. I worry about ds's allergies, so i am trying to prepare for that the best i can. The school has done great and been very understanding and cooperative. I feel like we're on the same page. I must work with ds to be more vocal though about when he is having an allergic reaction. My hubby called while i was at a school open house, and said that ds's mouth was hurting, and what should he do. he didn't see anything wrong inside his mouth, and he'd tried a cough drop and water and it wasn't helping. I could hear his pitiful cry in the background :( i was like "GIVE HIM BENADRYL" and of course i raced home to make sure he was alright (and he was fine by the time i got home...thank you God for benadryl! so, i am working with ds on a script: "my mouth HURTS. i need BENADRYL...right now!" repeat above phrase until the adult with you complies, lol.okay, i'm off to bed now. toodles :-)

God working in the midst of adversity

As i lay down to fall asleep, i was pondering about the positive things that i've seen happen, seemingly in the shadows of the adversities of this past weekend.

I had to rush ds to the ER with abdominal pain friday nite while we were at bible study. i hate seeing Tigeroo suffer. I got to see the love of my sister in Christ in action, as she dropped everything, took my keys, and drove me to the ER, waiting with me till dh could join me. she kept dd for the night.

DS was in the ER all day saturday, running multiple tests, and i had to watch him in discomfort. He kept saying "i wish i were YOU mommy", and I kept saying "I wish I were You tigeroo, so that I could have that pain for you" I was blessed to have the reminder that Jesus DID put himself in my place, he bore my griefs, carried my sorrows, was wounded for my transgressions, and was crushed for my iniquities.

Hubby and I were both sick that night, and the following day after we got back from the hospital. We laid on the couch commiserating with each other. I'm so glad that we had that time to have compassion on each other. usually when i am well, it's difficult to empathize with my hubby when he is sick and vice versa. I saw dh put my needs before his as he stayed home from work and shopped for me and drove me to Tigeroo's dr. appt. and was grateful for the inner knowledge that Christ's love is still at work in our marriage.

I spent the previous week frustrated with my son's high energy, and focused on his weaknesses and areas that I felt were lacking and developmentally behind. I've spent this week with new perspective, grateful that my son is still with me, that i have yet another day to treasure him and love this little guy. I've been reminded of the gentle spirit that i don't always take time to see.

And then God reminded me of Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." The trials we went thru this past weekend weren't good in and of themselves. But I'm so grateful for the way God has worked good things in my heart in the midst of the difficulties. And I'm wanting those adversities to become mere shadows, in the light of Jesus himself.

Earth is not my final destination. Should i truly expect my time here on earth to be free of trials? What is my purpose here on earth? Am I living it for my purposes, or am I living my life in response to the one who created me? If i had no adversity here on earth, would i see how i fall short, and how much i need God's grace? would i long to be united with Christ one day? Would i be inspired to share the hope that i have in Christ? Would i experience that everything is rubbish compared to the worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord?

These are my ponderings as I head to bed.

A mother's prayer

O Lord,
I need your help today.
I want to care
for those you've sent into my life,
to help them develop the special gifts
you've given them.
But I also want to free them
to follow their own paths
and to bring their loving wisdom
to the world.

Help me
to embrace them without clutching,
to support them without suffocating,
to correct them without crushing.

And help me
to live joyfully and playfully, myself,
so they can see your life in me
and find their way to you.
Amen.

http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/mother.html