Nothing Says Summer Like Matching Sandels! (p)

What I've Learned From My Kids

A few simple things that I'm learning from my kids (and from the girls I watch). I say "learning" because it is still a process that is unfinished until the day I pass.

1. It does help to have someone at least acknowledge your hurt, on the outside OR inside. As an adult, acknowledging it yourself can help you move on. Kids have a MUCH better time moving on though as seen by the HUGE smile on their face as soon as you kiss the "booboo". ;o)

2. Black and white is good. When you let someone take an inch the next will try to take two.

3. As a parent, if you do give an inch, it's your right to deny that inch (or two) the next time. No need to rationalize.

4. Life is unfair, and in order to preserve sanity, a "pecking order" can be OK. Best to learn sooner rather then later who they can mess with.

5. It's not their EARS that are the problem. When they are disobeying, it's best to call it what it is, disobedience. If they really didn't hear you, it was still a CHOICE not to listen.

6. TV sucks the life out of you and can cause you to behave badly.

7. The bark is worse then the bite (unless they really do bite). They may put up an AWFUL fight, but in the end they are JUST FINE and sometimes even joyful.

8. Two wrongs do not make a right. It's hard to be the bigger person, even when you are. Yelling back does no good it just shows that you have no plan of action to right the wrong.

9. Something I am SO still learning...lesson are repeated until they are learned. The longer it takes the more difficult they get. Pain has a way of getting out attention. Make it painful!

10. They are us...on a tiny scale.

Severally Neglected (P)

If anyone EVER does happen to check this I will be embarassed at how out-of-date the posts are. So in effort to make up for lost time...

10 McConn family updates from 2010 (because let's face it, I'm sure this will be the last update again for a while)

10. Tommy's still trucking, hauling grain for local farmers. High waters really made things interesting this fall but we have our daddy back now, more or less.

9. Haylie's in Pre-K and LOVING it. Starting to get pretty restless at home but I'm glad to have her so we can TRY to enjoy our last year together.

8. Brady is getting out the house and doing "school" as well one morning a week. He never got much of a taste of being outside of the home since I was laid off when he was about 7 months old. He's potty training and I can't believe the "baby" is growing up so fast.

7. Still pushing the boulder with my Stella & Dot. Love doing it, getting out the house and having all the jewels, but the business side is slowly (ever so slowly) moving along. Having fun and that's what counts! Did I mention I LOVE the jewels?!?!

6. Have extra kids during the week. An opportunity to watch a friends little girls plopped itself in my lap this fall and though having a 2 year old, a 2 1/2 year old, a 3 year old and an almost 5 year old does keep my head spinning, it's been good for us and I'm glad to get to know the "girly's" better.

5. No AZ this winter for my mom and dad (or us), but CA for Uncle Matt's wedding this spring!! YEAH!!

4. Another niece on the way up in Fergus. WOW!

3. It's COLD! New roof from hail storm this summer = great! New windows will = even better.

2. Studying the Book of Isaiah through Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). It's a LOT of work but only because I make it such. Amazing how relevent the bible is. Kids getting the same lessons in "kid" format and every once in a while I get a glimmer of the impact it's making.

1. Can't think of a #1, so...

Who knows that the next year will bring. I would love to be able to know but that would be my terrible attempt at controlling the uncontrolable world again. Praise the Lord for the blessings, all the good and wonderful things in our lives. May you share in the same blessings and most of all the knowledge of a loving God who cares for you as His own.

KT

These all so tiring years.

I'm in the basement hiding from my kids right now. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden the life got sucked out of me. Read Isaiah 40 before I came down, trying to scrape something together to get me through the bedtime routine. Posted on facebook my status. Someone said they wanted to come and hide too. ;o) Quickly wrote, before someone else could, the all so common statement "but the years pass so quick and then you want them back." Yes, yes they do, and I guess that's what I'm holding out for tonight. Two days without much time away from the house OR any daddy. He's late again and think I've just hit my limit. On another note, but kind of the same... FINALLY got Tommy's tests results from his "specimen in a cup" that took all but half a day of running around with two kids in tow to deliver. The word, "sterile". Ugh! I knew that was the point but it didn't hit me until is was time to find out whether the "snip" worked. For a couple of reasons I'm so glad we're done. I'm sure that the jump from two to three would be even harder then one to two AND I KNOW another pregnancy would have been harder. But you can't help and think of all the people wait to find out they are sterile only to their great despair. Oh well, no looking back just forward. Forward to the fact that soon this night will be over and both kids will be in bed. And for now I will remain excited about the prospect of them being able to put themselves to bed in a few (or more) years.

Driveway Play (p)

Felt Like Taking Pictures and All I Had Was Me (and Stella & Dot)! (P)

Sowing, Reaping, Eating

Isaiah 37:30
"this will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:
"This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

This is the scripture that I was brought to when praying about starting this Stella & Dot venture. It's seemed pretty clear and yet I was unsure what it meant. Today as I picked Haylie up from school, her bad behavior made it clear to me that something has got to change. Something that I'm doing has got to change. I need to pour more time and energy into being her parent. God gave me this chance to be home with my kids, and though he doesn't care whether or not I do Stella & Dot, He does want me to do it His way. I love having something outside the of the home but I am finding that it does take attention away from the duties at home, my kiddos and my husband. It's been fun but I finding myself tempted to spend more time then I should "doing business." I really WANT Stella & Dot and I don't feel God telling me to quite, but rather telling me to cool it a little and leave it to Him, because after all, this year and next is about "eating what grows by itself." Man, that's hard to trust and understand but I should know better. It really makes perfect sense. In a couple of years four things will most likely happen: The economy will hopefully get better, Haylie will be in kindergarten, I'll have learned more about having a business and Stella & Dot will have built a reputation. Until then this scripture and Psalm 37:3-9 will be what I cling to. How neat it will be to see God do the work instead of trying to do it myself. I know I'm not alone in this so many moms struggle to find balance between work and family. Heck, guys probably do to. It's a never ending battle, one that's meant to be handed over to God, one day at a time.