Can't Believe I'm Doing This...

I should have known this day would come.  At some point in their life, every child mimics their parent in some way.  I just wasn't expecting this.  Maybe in the long run it's not so bad.  Hopefully it will save me money...

I'm turning into my father, the you-must-always-turn-off-every-light-switch and don't-touch-the-thermostat  father that I used to laugh at.  For the life of me, I never understood why he made such a big deal about saving electricity.  But we recently got our first electric bill at our new house, and it was shocking!  Now I've found that I'm turning into must-find-ways-to-save-electricity mother!

To be fair, we knew our electricity rate was going to go up.  Our new house is almost twice the size of our old house and has dozens more lights.  Plus, we're no longer in the cheap county electrical co-op, and we actually had to shop for an electrical provider for this house.  Still, this house is extremely energy efficient, and with the cheapest rate we could find, we were a little surprised at our first 2- week electricity bill.  I'm sure that there were some extenuating circumstances (like the broken AC and the movers who left all doors open for 6 hours and the triple digit heat) that contributed to the first bill.  But regardless, I have put myself on a personal mission to save electricity.  

Now, I've made it a habit to check all the light switches in the house before I leave and at night.  I follow my children around during the day so that when they leave a room I can make sure nothing has been left "on."  I follow around my husband when he's home too.  I  also found the perfect way to crack all the blinds during the day so that natural light is all we need!  (I thought this was pretty genius myself.) And I'm doing my best to teach my family how to ration electricity.  It's frustrating though!  Why a 3 year old must flip every light switch to the "on" position when he gets out of bed every morning, I'll never know. I am, however, starting to understand why my Dad used to get so irritated when he would go upstairs and find me basking in the light of multiple lamps and light fixtures as I turned the upstairs into my own personal dressing suite every morning.  (I suppose, in hind site, it wasn't that funny.)

Maybe I'm slightly loco about this issue.  Maybe I just had a good electricity-saving role model in my life.  Maybe we just take after our parents whether we want to or not.  But I'm betting that my electrical bill looks a lot better next month!

Absolutely Nuts

People in California are absolutely nuts.  I know the landscape is beautiful, but the people seem to be missing brain mass.  Why else would they pass a law allowing transgender students the right to use whatever bathroom they choose?  This law has nothing to do with equality for transgender students and everything to do with "shoving it" in the faces of people who actually have morals and standards.  And once again, children are paying the price.

Equality is such a misconstrued concept these days.  Equality would mean that we either do away with gendered locker rooms entirely and just make it a free for all or that the school locker rooms are converted into miniature port-a-potty style units where everyone actually gets to maintain their own privacy.  Personally, I like option 2.  But there's nothing wrong with keeping the current status quo based on DNA.  This new law is not going to promote equality.  It's just going to continue to degrade society, create confusion, and pervert our youth.

I've got to say that "alternative schooling" is looking better and better these days.  I don't care if you homeschool, private school, charter school, unschool, TV school, or online school your kid.  At this point, any option is looking pretty good compared to leaving children in an environment controlled by half-brained pot smokers.  Okay, that's still illegal in the Lone Star State.  But once California does something, the rest of the country is not far behind.  Similar laws are already being considered in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington and Colorado. (For more info, see the Fox news report: Fox News Story.) 

The Not-So-Brainwashed Parent

The hardest thing about being a parent is making the decisions that are best for your own child.  As crazy as it sounds, there are plenty of children out there who are being raised based upon the influences of books, public opinion, the neighbor kids, government and media indoctrination, and "conventional wisdom." Too often, parents are brainwashed into believing that there is a right way to parent and wrong way.  These parents believe that everyone who raises their children differently are wrong. 

The brainwashed parents are the ones who give me tired-head.  They are the ones who would label me a bad parent because of the choices I've made in the way I'm raising my children.  It's true that I discipline, educate, feed, entertain, and engage my children differently than other parents around me.  But that's my business.  Please stop labeling me as a non-caring, non-aware parent. 

My husband and I have been very intentional in the decisions that we've made for our children.  Our priority for our children is their spiritual growth and exposure to God's Word, so all the other areas of parenting are secondary to us.  Our goal is to discipline our children in a biblical manner.  We want our children to be educated about God's world in such a way that they can be a godly influence on society.  Thus, they will be getting a Christian education--mostly likely in the home setting (have you seen the cost of private schools in Texas?!).  We also want our children to live godly lives that glorify God.  Thus, we are doing our best not to be pharisaical about the way we live, eat, and serve the community.  I know it's a novel idea, but instead of relying on self-help and parenting books, we want the Bible to be our main source of parenting guidance.

I don't expect other parents to make the same decisions for their children that we make.  Our decisions are based on our understanding of God's will for OUR lives, not theirs.  If they want to force-potty train their child at 12 months, eliminate hot dogs and bacon from their diets, start them in sporting or school activities before they can walk, teach them to be bilingual before they can read, send them to non-medical doctors, and solely rely on positive reinforcement for their behavior issues, then these parents should go for it.  God gave them children to raise.  So they should honor Him and do it in the best way that they know how. 

Parenting shouldn't be one huge guilt trip.  It should be an honorable role that we gladly assume.   Let us not forget that even parents were created to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

He's Pretty Wonderful

My husband is wonderful.  I'm thinking about changing his blog name from Dear Husband to Mr. Wonderful.  To be honest, he thinks Dear Husband sounds cheesy and old fashion.  I personally don't think that there's anything wrong with being old fashion, but whatever.  If he likes Mr. Wonderful I am happy to oblige.  After all the work he did this weekend, I'll call him whatever he wants. 

My to-do list for the weekend really wasn't that long, but I feared it might take long to complete.  And I was right. 

The first project that we had was to remove a bush from our landscaping.  I'm not sure what kind of bush it was, but in my opinion, it belonged in the African Savannah rather than in my front yard.  It was wild and huge and when I attempted to prune it, the leaves would stick to my ankles like tendrils and slice my hands.  To make matters worse, the silly bush grew as if on steroids.  So I could either commit to destroying my hands once a month or remove the bush and plant something pretty and flowery.  So bye-bye ugly bush.  Mr. Wonderful and Fabulous Father (my dad) spent hours wrestling the crazy bush out of the ground.  But at last it's gone.

Once the bush had disappeared, the guys moved on to project #2: remove the weed cloths and add mulch to the flower beds.  Someone did an excellent job creating beautiful flower beds around my house.  The problem is that they never planted any flowers.  Instead, they  covered some weed cloth with enough mulch to hide the cloth, but not enough to keep the weeds from growing.  Thus, we had lots of green bushes with tons of green weeds to match growing in these beautifully designed flower beds.  It was atrocious.  In just 3 weeks I have pulled more weeds at this house than I ever pulled at my previous home during the 7 year period we lived there.  So, once again, Mr. Wonderful and Fabulous Father obliged and brought a truck load of mulch to fill out my flower beds.  I'm sure my parents had better things to do no Saturday, but their efforts are greatly appreciated.  I still don't have any flowers planted, but the weeds are finally gone.  Project 2 completed.

Next, I begged Mr. Wonderful to help me paint my office.  I knew that this task  would be harder for him than for me, because the walls in my office are too tall for me to do much.  Plus, Mr. Wonderful is the only person I know with a professionally precise hand.  Thus, he was the only person I wanted going near my crown molding.  As a result, he spent hours yesterday going up and down the ladder in my office in order to create a cozy workspace for me.  We still have a some curtains to hang and some items to add in order to finish off the room.  But Project 3 was completed.

Then, just because he's amazing, Mr. Wonderful got out his hammer and level last night and helped me hang pictures.  That was a huge surprise, because that task was NOT on my to-do list!  I can't tell you how impressed I am with the way Mr. Wonderful's projects turned out.  Thanks to his hard work, our house is starting to look like WE live in it.  I have no doubt that his muscles are sore from all the work this weekend.  And I'm sure he has a sun burn and bug bites to show off this morning too.  I just hope he knows how much I appreciate him.  I think he's pretty wonderful!

The August Mulligan

 
Is it really August already?  August 1st is officially the back-to-school season opener around here, which means that summer is on it's way out.  Well, in Texas we might feel summer for another 3 or 4 months, but in reality, August means that I can start pulling out my tall leather boots and fall "mom bag" and pretend that it is fall.  August is also time to stock up on our college game-day gear for the whole family, because college football is getting ready to take us by storm.  Pretty soon, Starbucks is also going to be getting in the spirit of things and will be bringing back pumpkin spice for my lattes.  And there's a good chance that Kohl's is getting their Christmas trees ready for display (they always seem to be on the extreme front end of the seasonal curve).  Thus, August 1st is the ultimate indicator that change is coming.

After being miserable and pregnant last year, I forgot how much I love fall and everything that comes with it!  Just thinking about mums on my front porch and fitting into my wool coat again is making me forget how quickly I started sweating on our walk today in our 100 degree heat (there's no "glistening" when it's triple digits outside.)  Something about the back-to-school season just gets me excited and jumpy. 

When I was in school (which was for most of my life up until 2 years ago), back-to-school time marked a fresh start.  It was better than New Year's, because it meant a new teacher, new clothes, new friends, new grades, and clean slate.  I've never been a fan of the New Year's resolution, but I've always enjoyed the "do-over" that I get every fall. 

I think us adults who don't ever really get a back-to-school, fresh start each fall need to give ourselves a mental break and a personal clean slate.  We need to give ourselves permission to take a mulligan and start over.  It might mean interrupting your work-out schedule that you haven't really been keeping and starting a new one.  Or it might mean starting a new Bible-reading plan because you never got yourself caught up after missing a few days on your previous plan.  Or it just mean sending some old clothes to Good Will and going shopping for yourself (doesn't every girl need back-to-school clothes every year!?).  I love starting over. 

So happy August!  I hope you find something fresh and new to celebrate over the next 31 days.  

Finally Home

 

We have finally moved into our new house.  By the grace of God, the paperwork somehow came through in time for us to close and get our keys last Monday.  How the funding was able to go through after the Fed closed and how the title lady had the willingness to stay late in order to get our documents put together on that rainy day I will never know.  Only God could work it out. Thank you God for answering our prayers.

We listed our home on May 16 and had the movers physically move us into our new home on July 16.  The entire process was a headache, nerve-racking, and an inconvenience to say the least.  Yet, it only lasted 2 months!  And now we are home!!!  (Can an Aggie somewhere give me a "whoop?"  I'm not an Aggie, but the whoop feels appropriate under the circumstances.)

During our first week in Derby House (doesn't every house need a name?) we've managed to unpack all but a couple of boxes, paint the laundry room, flood the laundry room twice, host a birthday party with the family, discover and fix a leak from our boys' bathroom, get the downstairs AC unit repaired, set up TV and internet, and actually eat home-cooked meals almost every night.  In addition, Dear Husband started his job with a new law firm and our oldest son turned 5.  Since we were kind of in the mood for change last week, we even upgraded our TVs and cell phones.  We kind of felt like we might as well rip the Band-aid off in one fell swoop and make as many changes as we could at the same time.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am that Dear Husband and I did not buy a house that needed "work."  I'm talking about the houses you see on HGTV where the new owners have to rip up floors, reconfigure kitchens, and update bathrooms.  People who buy project houses are amazing people.  I admire them and their accomplishments in transforming their homes.  But we are not these people.  We are both lawyers who know how to read and write and problem solve.  We are not handy.  We seriously considered buying a major project house, but common sense prevailed when we calculated the cost of contractors and subcontractors and inconvenience. 

So ultimately, we bought the barely lived in house--the couple who built it and owned it for the last 4 years didn't have kids! Thankfully, the only change that our house really needed was some color.  (Who really wants to live in a beige and brown house?)  The fact that our house only really needed paint is good, because the ONLY handy skills that Dear Husband and I possess involve a paint brush.  So, one of these days when we get our painting done, curtains hung, and furniture delivered, I'll share some pics.   Until then, there is more work to be done.  But at last, we're home!   

For those of you who might need my new address, feel free to shoot me an email or text and I will be happy to share my new contact information with you!!!

Mommy Got a Surprise!

 

What a surprise to find my Baby G standing up in her pack-n-play yesterday!  She's only 7 months old.  I'm not ready for her to become independently mobile quite yet.  And now I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about the huge curved staircase in the house that I'm buying on Monday morning.  What have we gotten ourselves into?!

God is Handling the Details

If you decide that you want to do something where you pretty much have no control over the process, then try to buy or sell a house.  It won't take long to realize that nobody seems to really care about set dates--even when they're negotiated and in the contract-- and nobody seems to get the concept of good communication. Let me just say, that if I practiced law the way these bank and title folks work, I'd be disbarred.  I mean, how hard is it to meet a deadline?!  Or to return a phone call?!

Dear Husband and I are slated to close on both of our houses on Monday morning.  Only by the grace of God will this happen.  (I know, theologically speaking, only by the grace of God does anything happen.  But trust me, dealing with all these people would be 100% impossible without God.)

I've always heard the phrase that "God is in the details."  I just didn't really understand that phrase until now.  I totally get that God is in control.  But this entire real estate experience has demonstrated to me that not only is God in control of the entire process, but His timing is perfect for every single element of the process--as in every single piece of paper required for this to all go down.   He doesn't always allow things to get done a few days in advance (like lawyers prefer), but God always makes things happen when they're supposed to.  What a relief that He's in control and I'm not!

All I can do at this point is wait and trust that God is going to work it out.  I've packed all my boxes.  I've set up utilities for Monday morning.  I've booked my movers.  And I'm just letting God work it all out.  What a relief to know that He can do the impossible!

Oh Happy Day...

 

Music is a huge part of my life.  I've always loved music.  And more specifically, I've always loved church music--gospel music, hymns, praise songs, etc.  So it shouldn't be a huge shock to those who know me that I'm trying to make music a part of my children's lives too.

When many of my friends have asked me how I trained my kids to sleep through the night, they're often surprised when I say that I music-trained them.  Each child has had his or her favorite CD's of church music that I turned on each night as I tucked them into their cribs.  Within a day or 2, they would fall asleep to their music.  Or in some cases, they would sing themselves to sleep while they listened to their music.  So precious!

As the boys have gotten older I haven't done a great job continuing the church music exposure at home.  At night, they talk to each other before they sleep instead of listening to music.  In the car, I have historically forced them to listen to talk radio (as I am a political junky).  And at home, I just haven't been playing much music in the house.  It recently occurred to me that I really need to crank up the hymns and praise songs more when we move into our new house.  I'm even converting the designated "media" room in the house to a home music studio/fine arts room.  Doesn't every family need a sound-proof room to make music?  And doesn't every happy house need to have praise music flowing through it's halls on a daily basis? 

Anyway, despite my failures to promote musical awareness with my oldest children, last weekend I was pleasantly surprised.  As Dear Husband pulled into the church parking lot on Sunday morning, he said that our oldest son started singing Here I am to Worship.  Dear Husband was quite impressed! 

Our younger son also got our attention on Sunday night.  We overheard the boys playing in the room when the younger one started singing, "Oh happy day, happy day..."  As we heard him singing on key, Dear Husband and I gave each other those smug, we-are-such-awesome-parents-looks.  But then my 3 year old continued, "...happy day, when I washed my hands and rubbed them together..."  Okay, so he doesn't exactly understand the song.  He was close; but he missed the theology in its entirety.

What a good reminder for Mommy of something to work on at home.  We shouldn't leave the singing and praising God for just at church.  Wouldn't it be awesome if our homes were characterized by praise and worship on a daily basis too?!  I can't think of a better environment for raising a child.  And I think it's a great way to teach our children how to praise and worship God.

They're Starting to Get It

There's nothing more exciting than those moments when you discover that your child "gets it."  You know, those days when you overhear your child talking about God or praying when you're not around.  Lately, Dear Husband and I have been in awe of what God is doing in the life of our 4 year old.  Hallelujah!  What a change we're seeing in our formerly strong-willed son!

In addition to being very vocal about his faith lately, my son has also been on a spiritual high ever since his week at Vacation Bible School.  Not only has he been vary conscientious of his need to obey, but he's also been very quick to repent for those moments where, as he describes, "I had a dirty heart." 

It's been so fun to hear our oldest tell his little brother about the lessons that he's been learning. One night we even caught him teaching his brother the slogan that they learned at Bible school.  We overheard the two boys saying "Facing fears, trusting God" over and over again until the little one figured out the hand motions.  Later, as the boys were playing with their medieval castle and their knights, one of the boys told their daddy that the knight had just saved his wife, the Queen, from the Philistines.  My son quickly explained that the knight wasn't afraid of the Philistines, because he trusted God!  I was truly amazed at this statement.  Not only are my boys memorizing biblical truths, but they're even understanding the application of those truths.

In the midst of all the craziness that comes with moving, changing jobs (Dear Husband starts working for a new law firm on the same day that we close on our house), parenting, homeschooling, and everything else we do, it's so great to see that God is not only working in our lives.  He's also at work in the lives of our kids.   How awesome!