WRAD Memories

I didn't cave. I also should have just stayed off of Facebook, but I didn't cave. Last summer I chose NOT send my kids to summer camp- even though, seemingly, ALL their friends were going. The same week. All of them. Well, not really, of course. But honestly, with Facebook status updates coming in fast and furiously- it really did seem like it. And I wondered, 'Am I a bad mom because I didn't send my kids to summer camp with their friends?' At one point, I seriously thought about calling up the camp (after the week had started) and seeing if I couldn't somehow manage to get them in anyway. I let the thought pass- and didn't cave. But I still feel a tinge of guilt about it and I'm dreading the decision about this summer already. Fast forward a few more months- to February 7, 2014 to be exact. Pretty much anyone with even the slightest interest in Lego will know what that date means. The release of their first full-length feature movie....

The first time it dawned on my was when Elijah was 6 weeks old. The first 'real' smile from our baby and Graham had gotten it. I was mad! I was also hurt, angry, confused... Why had HE gotten the first smile when I'm taking care of this baby 24/7? I'M the one that is up all night with him. I'M the one spending hours every day feeding him, changing his diaper, etc. But that's when I realized it- I was spending so much time 'taking care of' my baby that I forgot to enjoy my baby. And that's all that Graham did. Once I realized what I was doing (or rather NOT doing) I made some changes and eventually got my own smiles. But somehow, over time, I've fallen back into that rut. I've been so focused on the tasks of parenting that I've been missing out on the relationships of parenting. Teaching manners, training in chores, getting their school work done, music practiced- you know the parenting drill. Working for perfection and mis...

Over the past month or so, I've been sort of trying to figure out how to embrace Christmas in a more reflective way- to get beyond the secular to the sacred. I'm not sure it happened. Now that I'm on the other side of Christmas for another year, I find myself reflecting once again on just what exactly is the point of all of it? I did pretty much all the things that I thought would help us reflect on the WHY of Christmas as well as spend time together as a family making memories: baking, advent readings, Christmas concerts/plays, skipping school for snow days, etc. And I wonder, did I even manage to plant a seed in my childrens' subconscious minds about WHY I was having them do any of this stuff? To focus on the WHY (Jesus needing to come and die for our sins) instead of the STUFF. Somehow I can't seem to shake the feeling that somehow we (read- they) STILL missed it. Sort of like the people did when Jesus first came- they were looking for a revolutionary...

Okay, I'm just going to say it- Christmas really isn't my favourite time of the year! It probably has a lot to do with the fact that my husband intensely dislikes this time of the year. He doesn't have very fond memories of Christmas from his childhood and so it's really poisoned his attitude. As a result, most years Christmas is merely a blip on the calendar, and then we keep plowing through- basically ignoring the whole thing insofar as we can. Having said that, I decided that this year I wanted to do things differently. To slow down and put some thought into WHY we even do this in the first place. I started by getting an Advent book and candles- so that we'd have a daily reading to do. The story is quite interesting (and very gruesome at times), but as we're working our way through it- I'm realizing it's the right book to help us learn and remember. Then, I decided that we'd scale back the school work (which wasn't too difficult beca...

I knew it had been a while since my last post- but I didn't think it had been THAT long. Two months is too long. It's not that there hasn't been anything to say or write about, because there has. I just haven't had the mental energy to do it. Instead I have: - bailed on my 90 days through the Bible (after 120+ days and only getting the Old Testament done) - done 2 x 80+ page digital scrapbooks - completed 3 x 24 page mini albums - started volunteering with my son's cadet squadron - got my first term portfolios together (such as they were) - re-arranged rooms - got rid of the dog - spent an insane amount of hours on the internet collecting digital freebies of whatever kind (scrap-booking/home schooling/eBooks/etc.)- if it's free I've been getting it - started decorating/baking for Christmas - been fighting off a cold for a few weeks now - and somewhere in there, I've tried to keep the house in some measure of cleanliness, kids fed and al...

A few days ago I watched a video about distracted moms (by Carol Barnier author of the book "If I'm Diapering a Watermelon, Then Where'd I Leave the Baby?: Help for the Highly Distractible Mom"). I thought to myself, 'yeah, I guess I can get a bit distracted'. Little did I know that probably the next day I would realize just how bad it was. I was trying to explain some math concept to one of the boys and I noticed that his fingernails REALLY needed to be cut. It took EVERY ounce of self control to not interrupt what we were doing and go cut them that very second. I immediately thought back to the video. Yep. I'm a distracted mom. But something in what she said in the video really hit a nerve deep within. At first she thought that she needed to fix this distractability and become the Pinterest perfect home schooling mom. She had charts and list and everything possible to keep herself organized and on task. Only it didn't work because the...

I'm finally trying to get my home school reports in to my support teacher and I'm realizing just how much my kids have not been listening to many of the things that I have been telling them to do. It's almost like they are on a quest to see how little they can do/get away with before I get upset with them. However, I think my frustration level with this is probably linked more to my realization that I'M not doing things that I think God has told ME to do (or told me to stop doing but I'm still doing them). So, I'm reaping what I'm sowing- and I hate it. But I've also realized something else- my heart doesn't really want to change things. My head KNOWS I should, but the 'rubber is not meeting the road' at this point. After all, who really doesn't like being selfish and getting their way and doing whatever they want when they want to do it? Forget about serving others, I want to be served! And yet, it grieves me each night when ...