Parenting and Religion

I read a very sad edition of “Dear Abby” in our paper yesterday. Someone who works for a state agency wrote in to warn parents of a very common danger. The concern is putting poisonous items in food or drink containers. The child who was written about had drank Pestiside which had been put in a water bottle. The child is now on a respirator, and should recover- but to what cost?
The cost of medical treatment, the cost of parents thinking their child may die, the cost of guilt and shame, the cost of a child who may suffer lasting consequences of a parental error?
As a mom, I know how easy it is not to think about possible dangers, and I appreciate being reminded to consider things such as this.
I have been guilty myself of doing things in a dangerous manner, only to catch it on time to prevent any emergency. I will try to be more cautious and do things in a safe way. I hope you will too.

[tags} safety, dear abby, poison, containers, child safety [/tags]

I was babysitting a little girl the other day, and she spilled some apple juice on the table.
She sat there, and looked uncertain as to whether to tell me or not- unaware that I had seen it happen.
I walked over to her and began to wipe up her spill. I said “Oh well, no biggy!”
She looked surprised and said “You aren’t going to holler at me?”
I told her “Everyone spills things once in a while, especially me.”
She smiled, gave me a hug, and went to play.
It made me wonder how many of us make a big deal out of something easy to clean up?
In our daily lives we are confronted moment by moment with our humanity, and the ability to mess up, make spills. We have the choice of whether to clean it up, or try to hide it. When we see others mess up , especially our children, do we help clean up the mess- or do we get our attitudes of self-righteousness in the way and make a bigger mess?
As parents it is important that we let our children know they can come to us and ask us to help them- knowing we will offer them grace and a way to make it right if we know one.
We need to be honest about our own ability to mess up, and our own struggles to clean up.
We need to lead them to our Savior, the one who enables us to make less messes. When we do make messes, He is there, not only to help clean up- but to help us make less and less messes in our lives.
Grace is for getting up when we mess up.
Let’s offer Grace to our children.

Today is our first day of school. We are beginning by only someof us being home. Shawn is still in Brooklyn, and Danny went to work with Dan. Troy and Andy will be going with me to run errands, and take some friends who don’t have a car to the Dr.’s.
We always bring along flash-cards to use while we wait, and the boys love it!
Rachel is still sleeping. She likes to do things by the book. I mean she likes to use text books for her school work. Personally, I don’t like text books. I like living books, and try to use as many as possible with my younger kids, rather than or in addition to using text books.
We have a really cool book called “You Can Change The World”, by Jill Johnstone. It is written for kids to see how kids in other countries live, and what religions they practice. It tells how we can pray for them, and if they are persecuted if they are Christians. I will be doing a Country a week with my boys, and I expect to see them wanting to be prayerful and compassionate with other kids more often.
I better go, it is time for all our running errands and taking people places.
Off to our car-school (at least for today)>

My son Shawn (16), has been gone most of the summer, and boy…do I miss him.
Shawn is one of those teenagers who is just pleasant and fun to have around.
He makes me laugh, and when I am stressed he helps me relax.
It is hard letting kids grow and go, but it has to be done.
This was one of those type of summers.
Shawn decided to apply for a job at a Christian camp, and he worked 2 weeks there. He also went to camp for a week, and for a week of training.
Now he is in Brooklyn with my brother, and has been gone over a week. When he comes home it will be 2 weeks he has been gone.
When I tell people that I really miss Shawn, they automatically assume it is because he helps with the younger kids when he is home- and he does. But that is NOT what I am missing. I still have help, whether he is here or not.
What I am missing is the jokes, laughter, hugs, and weird sense of humor. I miss hearing him play guitar when I have asked him to take the trash out. I miss him arguing with his sister over the computer (well, maybe not that!). I miss Shawn.
I am thankful that I miss my kids when they are gone. I am also thankful that God gives me the grace to let them go.
Seeing them grow up, and letting them go- all with the grace of God.
It may not be easy, but it is important.

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the “working man”. It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a federal holiday by Act of Congress in 1894.[1] ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day)

Labor Day, the end of summer, a day of rest. I don’t mind the day of rest part, but I would love to hold onto summer a little longer. I can see the colors in the leaves for fall already, and we are making plans for fall activities. The stores are full of Halloween displays and candy.
School begins in 2 days, or next week if you are me and my homeschool kids.
We will do a couple of things this week, but get into the book work next week. For some reason it is hard for me to begin in the middle of the week.
Sometimes I decide to forget what is coming and concentrate on right now.
Right now we are planning a cookout at a friends house. I am making a Strawberry Jello cake, and we are going to be out in the wonderful sunshine, celebrating summer one more time- trying to get every moment we can out of this wonderful day.
Labor Day- an end of one season and the beginning of another.
Each beautiful and offering to please our senses.
Each going by way too fast.
Life in the Northeast is beautiful.