"True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value." ~ Ben Jonson ~
I know I don't say it often enough but, Thank you! To my dearest friends who have been there for me recently, Thank You! I love you and know that I couldn't get through this time without you all.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Surrendering Anger & My Boys
For our 40 days of surrender my family has decided to give up anger...
an·ger [ áng gər ]
noun
Definition:
displeasure: a strong feeling of grievance and displeasure; an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage. (Note: my boys)
anger - The Bible describes the anger or wrath of God as being his abiding reaction to human sin and an expression of his justice; it is not a sudden or passionate upsurge of emotion. He is ‘slow to anger’ (Ps. 103: 8). (Note: NOT my boys)
How's it going? Well lets just say that the boys who, by the way, are the ones who came up with the idea of giving up anger, are failing miserably. It seems that they have no concept of what it means to give up.
For example, today they hadn't been in the car together for more than 5 seconds, and no I am not exaggerating, they started in on each other. Zach got mad at Kevin for who knows what and Kevin responded in anger. This is typical of my boys. Every time they have responded in anger to each other I have reminded them, sometimes gently and others not so gently, that they are not doing a good job of surrendering. To which they usually reply, "Well he started it!" Which sets off another round of fighting. Sigh! Up until this point I can keep MY anger under control. Then I get angry. Then Ted gets angry with the boys for making me angry. To which Tori responds by yelling in anger, "Will you all just shut-up!".
So, you can see how well our 40 days of surrendering anger is going. Or, in our case, not going. I wonder if we wired the boys mouths shut for the next 3 weeks we could win the war on anger? Probably, but that would miss the point of surrendering. So we will forge on and hope for the best tomorrow.
an·ger [ áng gər ]
noun
Definition:
displeasure: a strong feeling of grievance and displeasure; an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage. (Note: my boys)
anger - The Bible describes the anger or wrath of God as being his abiding reaction to human sin and an expression of his justice; it is not a sudden or passionate upsurge of emotion. He is ‘slow to anger’ (Ps. 103: 8). (Note: NOT my boys)
How's it going? Well lets just say that the boys who, by the way, are the ones who came up with the idea of giving up anger, are failing miserably. It seems that they have no concept of what it means to give up.
For example, today they hadn't been in the car together for more than 5 seconds, and no I am not exaggerating, they started in on each other. Zach got mad at Kevin for who knows what and Kevin responded in anger. This is typical of my boys. Every time they have responded in anger to each other I have reminded them, sometimes gently and others not so gently, that they are not doing a good job of surrendering. To which they usually reply, "Well he started it!" Which sets off another round of fighting. Sigh! Up until this point I can keep MY anger under control. Then I get angry. Then Ted gets angry with the boys for making me angry. To which Tori responds by yelling in anger, "Will you all just shut-up!".
So, you can see how well our 40 days of surrendering anger is going. Or, in our case, not going. I wonder if we wired the boys mouths shut for the next 3 weeks we could win the war on anger? Probably, but that would miss the point of surrendering. So we will forge on and hope for the best tomorrow.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Quotes, Mis-spoken Words, & Silly Sayings
If you know my kids, you know that they are FUNNY! They say funny things all the time. Some just being silly, some because they are trying to be funny, and some just because they didn't stop to think before they spoke. I have been compiling them for a while now and decided they just had to be shared! So here are the funniest of the funny:
Tori-isims:
"But mommy they don't sell Mango smoothies at Walmart."
"Did that sign back there just say Man Ham?" (Said 16 hours into a 21 hour trip. Think she was tired?)
Kevin-isims: Obviously he is the one who speaks before he thinks...
"Don't worry mom, I have my pants in my backpack!" (words every mother wants to hear!)
"What's Won ton endangerment" "Umm, don't you mean wanton endangerment Kevin? What? Are you trying to scare a noodle?" (Ted said laughing hysterically)
"What do you put in a wine cabinet?" "Typically people put wine in a wine cabinet Kevin." (Tori said sarcastically)
"Hey look! They have local ranch." "Kevin, that's lo cal ranch!" ( said Tori)
"How do you say Fiesta in Spanish?" (Are you serious?!)
Zach-isims:
"That just sounds de-appetizing mom." "Don't you mean unappetizing?" "No, de-appetizing." "That's not a word Zach." Well I'm declaring it a word!" (discussion between Zach and I)
"I brought two spoons because I thought you might get generous?!"
"I will joust you!" (Said to Kevin Reynolds)
"Every time we walk by this house they have it on the fish channel."
"Are you serious? Zach! That's their aquarium!" (Tori said with a look of disbelief on her face.)
As long as my kids continue to say silly things I will continue to blog about them. Oh the joys of being a mother! And if you will note, Victoria was the one coming back with most of the sarcastic and incredulous retorts to the funny things her brothers said. She gets that from her father you know?!
Tori-isims:
"But mommy they don't sell Mango smoothies at Walmart."
"Did that sign back there just say Man Ham?" (Said 16 hours into a 21 hour trip. Think she was tired?)
Kevin-isims: Obviously he is the one who speaks before he thinks...
"Don't worry mom, I have my pants in my backpack!" (words every mother wants to hear!)
"What's Won ton endangerment" "Umm, don't you mean wanton endangerment Kevin? What? Are you trying to scare a noodle?" (Ted said laughing hysterically)
"What do you put in a wine cabinet?" "Typically people put wine in a wine cabinet Kevin." (Tori said sarcastically)
"Hey look! They have local ranch." "Kevin, that's lo cal ranch!" ( said Tori)
"How do you say Fiesta in Spanish?" (Are you serious?!)
Zach-isims:
"That just sounds de-appetizing mom." "Don't you mean unappetizing?" "No, de-appetizing." "That's not a word Zach." Well I'm declaring it a word!" (discussion between Zach and I)
"I brought two spoons because I thought you might get generous?!"
"I will joust you!" (Said to Kevin Reynolds)
"Every time we walk by this house they have it on the fish channel."
"Are you serious? Zach! That's their aquarium!" (Tori said with a look of disbelief on her face.)
As long as my kids continue to say silly things I will continue to blog about them. Oh the joys of being a mother! And if you will note, Victoria was the one coming back with most of the sarcastic and incredulous retorts to the funny things her brothers said. She gets that from her father you know?!
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