There was much yelling downstairs while the kids were "trying" to play thw Wii together. If the kids are going to "enjoy" themselves on this sort of entertainment I have one hard and fast rule: as soon as there is frustration, arguing, or bickering, the Wii time is over. I mean, come on kids: its only fun until its not fun anymore!
Anyway, much yelling, mostly from jackson's lungs, got my attention. I called the boys to me and asked for an explanation as to why the fun did not sound like very much fun. Turns out Jackson was asking Davis for help, which he gladly was giving and that is the point that things turned ugly. OK Jackson, I think there was a miscommunication here because you are mad at your brother. He wants to help you like you asked. Why don't you sit and listen to him for just a moment and maybe you two can work this out. Here is the conversation that ensued once I left the room:
D: I was just trying to help you.
J: But I couldn't hear you.
D: That because YOU WERE COVERING YOUR EARS!
J: Well, yeah. Just for the boring part. I didn't like the boring part.
D: But THAT was the most important part of the whole thing!
J: Oh. Well, it was boring.
Davis, some days are like that.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
What a Beautiful Mess!
I will not pretend to be embarrassed. This mess in our basement is for a VERY good cause.
And now you see the cause. This poor excuse for a bathaundry room saw its last winter. Bye-bye crazy shaped counter. So long non-existant under-the-sink storage. Au revoir shower that violently sprays out the door if you open it - even quickly - to get in once the water has warmed up. See you never again, toilet that hardly bothers to flush.
You will (NOT) be missed.
Hello soon-to-be functional bathroom.
Hello laundry room with a laundry shoot. I think we are going to be very, very good friends. I still won't iron, and I don't plan on spending quality time with you, but I will think of you fondly while I fold laundry in front of the TV. Oh, and hello new half-bath-that-Ryan-is-so-excited-to-use-when-he-is-covered-in-mud-from working-in-the-yard. Drywall is up. Mudding will begin soon.
And I cannot neglect the widend hallway. Hello hallway. The cupboards which we removed from you to make this space feel less like a dungeon are the REAL reason the basement is such a disaster. Can't wait to install some IKEA magic along your wall!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friendly Update
To My Dearest Girlfriends,
I am typing two-handed (something I do not take for granted – yet), but I am typing amid a HUGE pile of receipts and bills. And they call my name (albeit in a rather annoying, nasal voice). Yes, it is another exciting Friday night at the Glover’s. But actually, it is a bit exciting. Ryan has been working all day (over 12 hours now) alongside our construction guys, putting insulation and drywall up in our remodel project. We are re-doing a hideous bathroom in our basement, and converting a portion of our garage in order to add a mud/laundry room (as in, making our garage smaller in order to give a portion to the inside of the house). Following the completion of that, we will replace all the interior doors and trim, re-floor the basement common areas (we re-carpeted the bedrooms down there late last year) and that will conclude the near COMPLETE remodel of the entire basement. We bought this house with a lovely upstairs (well, some of it was lovely anyway) and a gross downstairs. Admitting all vanity, I was always embarrassed when a guest saw that portion of the house (sorry I made you to SLEEP down there Heidi…) but now it will be simple but updated and definitely not gross.
Kids are all good. Basketball season ends Saturday for Jackson, baseball season started last Thursday for D and J. I do a little jig when I remember that this year, the two big boys will be able to share the same team and the two little boys are too young for sports. I take a deep cleansing breath when I think about next year, when they will be separated again and we will re-live the chaos of Spring 2009. And I shudder to think of life when all four are participating in sports. I have already determined that T-Ball is outlawed (what a colossal waste of time) and that if you are too young (scared) to stay at practice without a parent there THE WHOLE TIME, you will likely be sitting on the grandstands with Mom, not the dugout with Dad. One mom cannot be in four places at once: sometimes she HAS TO go deliver another child somewhere in the span of your practice.
We have been in a really fulfilling small group this year. Our pastor and a friend of ours co-lead it. It has been good to get back into a small group after not participating for 3 years. This year has been The Year of Friendship Development and Enhancement for Ryan. He has established or deepened many relationships with other men, and spent a great deal of time with them. It has been wonderful to see this in his life, even if it has meant that I have had to be home alone with the kids a little more often here and there. One thing that has bonded these guys together the most has been “The Biggest Loser” competition that one of the guys has put together. It was offered up to the whole church and there are a couple dozen people participating. They all line up after service to get “weighed in” and there are prizes each week for the man and woman who lost the most weight (on a % basis). In the 13 years we have been married (actually all 17 years we have been together) Ryan has NEVER dieted. He is serious about it (grumpy, but serious). I am so proud of him for his discipline in eating and exercising. It ALMOST makes me want to exercise, too! Maybe I will when the remodel is over and we can uncover our fitness equipment from the piles of junk waiting to be put in their newly remodeled places.
We opened another clinic this year. This time we assisted another therapist in opening her own. That has been good but has added quite a load on to my plate. We are just about through the worst of it… perhaps just in time to add another one (that we would own). Ryan has two more “in the hopper.” Hopefully they won’t BOTH be in 2010. I might fall over.
Me, I am just balancing it all. And enjoying it, though I miss being able to just sit and do nothing from 8:30pm when the kids are all down until 10:30, when I fall into bed and do my Bible read-through daily assignment. I am enjoying this read-through. By the year’s end I will have read the OT once and the Psalms and NT twice. It does not take much time each night but it is wonderful to have the discipline back in my busy life!
I must sign off for now. (Those bills are STILL calling…can you hear them, too?)
I am typing two-handed (something I do not take for granted – yet), but I am typing amid a HUGE pile of receipts and bills. And they call my name (albeit in a rather annoying, nasal voice). Yes, it is another exciting Friday night at the Glover’s. But actually, it is a bit exciting. Ryan has been working all day (over 12 hours now) alongside our construction guys, putting insulation and drywall up in our remodel project. We are re-doing a hideous bathroom in our basement, and converting a portion of our garage in order to add a mud/laundry room (as in, making our garage smaller in order to give a portion to the inside of the house). Following the completion of that, we will replace all the interior doors and trim, re-floor the basement common areas (we re-carpeted the bedrooms down there late last year) and that will conclude the near COMPLETE remodel of the entire basement. We bought this house with a lovely upstairs (well, some of it was lovely anyway) and a gross downstairs. Admitting all vanity, I was always embarrassed when a guest saw that portion of the house (sorry I made you to SLEEP down there Heidi…) but now it will be simple but updated and definitely not gross.
Kids are all good. Basketball season ends Saturday for Jackson, baseball season started last Thursday for D and J. I do a little jig when I remember that this year, the two big boys will be able to share the same team and the two little boys are too young for sports. I take a deep cleansing breath when I think about next year, when they will be separated again and we will re-live the chaos of Spring 2009. And I shudder to think of life when all four are participating in sports. I have already determined that T-Ball is outlawed (what a colossal waste of time) and that if you are too young (scared) to stay at practice without a parent there THE WHOLE TIME, you will likely be sitting on the grandstands with Mom, not the dugout with Dad. One mom cannot be in four places at once: sometimes she HAS TO go deliver another child somewhere in the span of your practice.
We have been in a really fulfilling small group this year. Our pastor and a friend of ours co-lead it. It has been good to get back into a small group after not participating for 3 years. This year has been The Year of Friendship Development and Enhancement for Ryan. He has established or deepened many relationships with other men, and spent a great deal of time with them. It has been wonderful to see this in his life, even if it has meant that I have had to be home alone with the kids a little more often here and there. One thing that has bonded these guys together the most has been “The Biggest Loser” competition that one of the guys has put together. It was offered up to the whole church and there are a couple dozen people participating. They all line up after service to get “weighed in” and there are prizes each week for the man and woman who lost the most weight (on a % basis). In the 13 years we have been married (actually all 17 years we have been together) Ryan has NEVER dieted. He is serious about it (grumpy, but serious). I am so proud of him for his discipline in eating and exercising. It ALMOST makes me want to exercise, too! Maybe I will when the remodel is over and we can uncover our fitness equipment from the piles of junk waiting to be put in their newly remodeled places.
We opened another clinic this year. This time we assisted another therapist in opening her own. That has been good but has added quite a load on to my plate. We are just about through the worst of it… perhaps just in time to add another one (that we would own). Ryan has two more “in the hopper.” Hopefully they won’t BOTH be in 2010. I might fall over.
Me, I am just balancing it all. And enjoying it, though I miss being able to just sit and do nothing from 8:30pm when the kids are all down until 10:30, when I fall into bed and do my Bible read-through daily assignment. I am enjoying this read-through. By the year’s end I will have read the OT once and the Psalms and NT twice. It does not take much time each night but it is wonderful to have the discipline back in my busy life!
I must sign off for now. (Those bills are STILL calling…can you hear them, too?)
Friday, March 12, 2010
Movin' and a Shakin'
The baby seems to have dropped his morning nap. The delightful three-year-old is painstakingly dropping his one and only (still very much needed) nap. In six short months the six-year-old will be in school all day. Last night the eight-year-old took it upon himself to read to his three-year-old brother and then put him to bed - and he was successful.
All my boys are growing up. Sniff. Sigh. A tiny piece of me is nostalgic but the rest of me just loves the move the boys (especially the older two) are all making toward independence and responsibility. What I am finding as we slowly enter this new season is that our roles as parents are changing. The mother-hen, nurture, keep-em-close, protect their world role I have had is giving way to a you-can-do-it mentality (thank you, Ryan, for pointing this out to me). At home, they need to be trained and expected to do more and more things for themselves. As they increasingly face the world on their own, I must create create an atmosphere in our home that is safe for them to synthesize what they encounter out there.
I am hungry for wisdom and resources - and I have found one recently that I think will help equip both Ryan and I for this new season (and it informs parents in the preschooler-season as well). It is a Parenting DVD series that I am previewing for our church and hoping to offer to other families in the fall. (I thought I would tease you fellow C-stoners a little bit...) My favorite concept so far has been this: It is one thing to want to do a good job raising kids - to have well-behaved kids who know their Bible and know how to act in church. It is another thing entirely to raise great kids who are all that God intend for them to be as adults. The two can go hand in hand, but the second one can also be missed, especially in a home that relies too heavily on either legalism or license.
I am excited for what the Lord has for us in this new season - and anxious to share what I am absorbing with my friends!
All my boys are growing up. Sniff. Sigh. A tiny piece of me is nostalgic but the rest of me just loves the move the boys (especially the older two) are all making toward independence and responsibility. What I am finding as we slowly enter this new season is that our roles as parents are changing. The mother-hen, nurture, keep-em-close, protect their world role I have had is giving way to a you-can-do-it mentality (thank you, Ryan, for pointing this out to me). At home, they need to be trained and expected to do more and more things for themselves. As they increasingly face the world on their own, I must create create an atmosphere in our home that is safe for them to synthesize what they encounter out there.
I am hungry for wisdom and resources - and I have found one recently that I think will help equip both Ryan and I for this new season (and it informs parents in the preschooler-season as well). It is a Parenting DVD series that I am previewing for our church and hoping to offer to other families in the fall. (I thought I would tease you fellow C-stoners a little bit...) My favorite concept so far has been this: It is one thing to want to do a good job raising kids - to have well-behaved kids who know their Bible and know how to act in church. It is another thing entirely to raise great kids who are all that God intend for them to be as adults. The two can go hand in hand, but the second one can also be missed, especially in a home that relies too heavily on either legalism or license.
I am excited for what the Lord has for us in this new season - and anxious to share what I am absorbing with my friends!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Facebook and Me
My Facebook account has all but eaten my blog. Usually FB is nothing more than a place to reconnect or (more frequently for me) a place to waste time. But last week, it stimulated some heavy thinking! I fell into a conversation thread with a couple of dudes that considered religion to be a "mental virus." He wrote:
"all theistic religions are mind-control cults. People, think for yourselves! All the merited aspects of religions follow from common sense and are very public domain--religion didn't invent them and religion can't take credit for them. Only the negatives, i.e., the manipulation, the mind-control, the subjugation, the vilification of reason, science and free-thought, the greed and the chauvinism are proprietary to each individual cult according to their method..."
Quite a "take" on all things religious. What pulled me into the conversation was this comment: "The attempt to connect (dogma) to mythological figures and parables (such as Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, and the stories of their adventures, et al) is a way to alert the primitive mind to a crude distortion of spirituality..."
Did you just call Jesus, Moses and Mohammad mythological figures? WHAT!?
As the conversation progressed, the agnostic said there was not sufficient evidence to support the existence of God and therefore he does not bother his brain to ponder that which is unknowable. Then he gave me the opportunity to support my view - that there IS sufficient evidence in support of the existence of a Creator-God. The conversation was wild from there, and in the end - as you can imagine - he found my arguments weak. And they probably were, having never given a defense of my faith to a hostile agnostic before.
But it begs the question: if YOU were asked "Why do you believe that there is a God, what would you say?" Here is what I said:
Scott, I am by no means practiced at conversations like this. I spend my time raising our four boys and assisting my husband in running a medical practice. I am not a philosopher, theologian, or debater. I consider myself a thinking person who at one point during my youth put my “knowing hope” in a God I cannot see and have continued since that point to pursue the God of the Hebrews and the Gentiles. I don’t think I have it all figured out, and acknowledge that there are areas unknown to me in which I am either mistaken or misguided. On that last point, who of us could honestly assert anything different?
First off, I do not put my faith in ‘religion.’ As Robert (another participant in our 'friendly' debate) said, religion has a lot to answer for over the years and I agree wholeheartedly. It would be foolish, however, to blame human mistakes (lumping here a wide spectrum of historical failings and atrocities) on the Creator. A simple analogy to make my point: We cannot blame the creator of baseball bats for some abusive father beating his kid with one, can we? It is that father who has committed the atrocity and it is the father who must answer for the crime.
Point B: I would argue that there IS overwhelming evidence of a Creator-God.
1. The intricate order found in animal, mineral and vegetable points to that Creator (you may argue a theory void of God, inserting the passage of millions of years as explanation for the order we see today. Such Darwinian thought is not necessarily false but without the participation of a Creator this theory is simply drunk on the passage of time: the evidence for something of that scale defying the laws of thermodynamics for such a prolonged period of time defies logic.
2. There is a consistent existence and perpetuation of a belief in a higher power throughout human history, in nearly all societies whether linked or isolated from other tribes or nations. You consider it as merely a psychological instrument to for humans to cope with life and the unexplained. But the alternate view I put forward here is that this Creator that I see evidence for everywhere I look has put into His creation a deep inner knowledge of His existence. I am not appealing to tradition here, trying to assert that "since X has always been true, it must be true." I am suggesting that perhaps the reason there is such an historical presence of a 'higher power' in the psyche of humans is because there is.
And if point 1 and point 2 are true, He is a Creator that not just created us but He also desires - for some inexplicable reason - to be known by his creation. I assert here that if the Creator of the Universe desires to be known, then we would be wise to know Him.
3. This one is not scientifically or historically provable but it is something that cannot be ignored: humans have a soul. You will no doubt argue this word or point in some way, shape, or form, but the undeniable truth is that there is something in us that connects our mind, body and spirit together. There is no reason for a soul other than to assist in following (or rejecting) a moral code. I assert that this moral code is a product of our Creator not a product of evolution (over the course of history I would not dare claim that we have evolved much on this front – humans have struggled with incomprehensible evil in every era).
Point C: (Dare I tackle this one here?) the historical accuracy and reliability of both the Old and New Testaments is a fascinating study. Of course none of this is interesting if you believe Jesus to be a lunatic or a liar, but supposing there is room for the possibility that he is indeed Lord, you might be interested in the manuscript evidence of the New Testament. You can find this widely accepted evidence in a myriad of places. Here is one that details what I am talking about.
Point D: Viewing the Bible for its historical value, you will find recorded there (and substantiated in other historical texts) a group of 11 men (excluding Judas Iscariot) who were lousy followers of Jesus. They were always saying things that Jesus found appalling, had a faith in Jesus’ Lordship that was weak and pathetic. They even argued against Jesus when He said it was time for him to be crucified. These disciples completely abandoned Jesus at his greatest time of need. But then something really interesting happened to all of those yellowbellies and as a result 10 (perhaps all) of them, one by one, was killed for their unwillingness to recant their claims about Jesus. It is my conclusion drawn from this evidence that something life-changing happened. I believe they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. And for refusing to deny their first-hand testimony, every one of them, save one, was violently killed (torn in half, crucified upside down, etc, etc.). This evidence goes far beyond the existence of a Creator and moves into the finer points of my faith and the love story written in the Bible about the God of the Bible.
This was a very fun exercise for me and I thank you for the opportunity to write. I did not write this to convince or argue. I wrote this knowing that when you and I add up 2 + 2, we come up with different answers… and we both think the other person’s answer is 5.
"all theistic religions are mind-control cults. People, think for yourselves! All the merited aspects of religions follow from common sense and are very public domain--religion didn't invent them and religion can't take credit for them. Only the negatives, i.e., the manipulation, the mind-control, the subjugation, the vilification of reason, science and free-thought, the greed and the chauvinism are proprietary to each individual cult according to their method..."
Quite a "take" on all things religious. What pulled me into the conversation was this comment: "The attempt to connect (dogma) to mythological figures and parables (such as Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, and the stories of their adventures, et al) is a way to alert the primitive mind to a crude distortion of spirituality..."
Did you just call Jesus, Moses and Mohammad mythological figures? WHAT!?
As the conversation progressed, the agnostic said there was not sufficient evidence to support the existence of God and therefore he does not bother his brain to ponder that which is unknowable. Then he gave me the opportunity to support my view - that there IS sufficient evidence in support of the existence of a Creator-God. The conversation was wild from there, and in the end - as you can imagine - he found my arguments weak. And they probably were, having never given a defense of my faith to a hostile agnostic before.
But it begs the question: if YOU were asked "Why do you believe that there is a God, what would you say?" Here is what I said:
Scott, I am by no means practiced at conversations like this. I spend my time raising our four boys and assisting my husband in running a medical practice. I am not a philosopher, theologian, or debater. I consider myself a thinking person who at one point during my youth put my “knowing hope” in a God I cannot see and have continued since that point to pursue the God of the Hebrews and the Gentiles. I don’t think I have it all figured out, and acknowledge that there are areas unknown to me in which I am either mistaken or misguided. On that last point, who of us could honestly assert anything different?
First off, I do not put my faith in ‘religion.’ As Robert (another participant in our 'friendly' debate) said, religion has a lot to answer for over the years and I agree wholeheartedly. It would be foolish, however, to blame human mistakes (lumping here a wide spectrum of historical failings and atrocities) on the Creator. A simple analogy to make my point: We cannot blame the creator of baseball bats for some abusive father beating his kid with one, can we? It is that father who has committed the atrocity and it is the father who must answer for the crime.
Point B: I would argue that there IS overwhelming evidence of a Creator-God.
1. The intricate order found in animal, mineral and vegetable points to that Creator (you may argue a theory void of God, inserting the passage of millions of years as explanation for the order we see today. Such Darwinian thought is not necessarily false but without the participation of a Creator this theory is simply drunk on the passage of time: the evidence for something of that scale defying the laws of thermodynamics for such a prolonged period of time defies logic.
2. There is a consistent existence and perpetuation of a belief in a higher power throughout human history, in nearly all societies whether linked or isolated from other tribes or nations. You consider it as merely a psychological instrument to for humans to cope with life and the unexplained. But the alternate view I put forward here is that this Creator that I see evidence for everywhere I look has put into His creation a deep inner knowledge of His existence. I am not appealing to tradition here, trying to assert that "since X has always been true, it must be true." I am suggesting that perhaps the reason there is such an historical presence of a 'higher power' in the psyche of humans is because there is.
And if point 1 and point 2 are true, He is a Creator that not just created us but He also desires - for some inexplicable reason - to be known by his creation. I assert here that if the Creator of the Universe desires to be known, then we would be wise to know Him.
3. This one is not scientifically or historically provable but it is something that cannot be ignored: humans have a soul. You will no doubt argue this word or point in some way, shape, or form, but the undeniable truth is that there is something in us that connects our mind, body and spirit together. There is no reason for a soul other than to assist in following (or rejecting) a moral code. I assert that this moral code is a product of our Creator not a product of evolution (over the course of history I would not dare claim that we have evolved much on this front – humans have struggled with incomprehensible evil in every era).
Point C: (Dare I tackle this one here?) the historical accuracy and reliability of both the Old and New Testaments is a fascinating study. Of course none of this is interesting if you believe Jesus to be a lunatic or a liar, but supposing there is room for the possibility that he is indeed Lord, you might be interested in the manuscript evidence of the New Testament. You can find this widely accepted evidence in a myriad of places. Here is one that details what I am talking about.
Point D: Viewing the Bible for its historical value, you will find recorded there (and substantiated in other historical texts) a group of 11 men (excluding Judas Iscariot) who were lousy followers of Jesus. They were always saying things that Jesus found appalling, had a faith in Jesus’ Lordship that was weak and pathetic. They even argued against Jesus when He said it was time for him to be crucified. These disciples completely abandoned Jesus at his greatest time of need. But then something really interesting happened to all of those yellowbellies and as a result 10 (perhaps all) of them, one by one, was killed for their unwillingness to recant their claims about Jesus. It is my conclusion drawn from this evidence that something life-changing happened. I believe they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. And for refusing to deny their first-hand testimony, every one of them, save one, was violently killed (torn in half, crucified upside down, etc, etc.). This evidence goes far beyond the existence of a Creator and moves into the finer points of my faith and the love story written in the Bible about the God of the Bible.
This was a very fun exercise for me and I thank you for the opportunity to write. I did not write this to convince or argue. I wrote this knowing that when you and I add up 2 + 2, we come up with different answers… and we both think the other person’s answer is 5.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Hi! My name is Weston
Hi! My name is Weston and this is my nap journey this week.
Day 1: I complained all day long that I was hung-gee (Mom says that when I say, "I'm STIWWLL hung-gwee" what I really mean is that I am tired. She's crazy. To proved her wrong, I spent 2 hours in my room and for the 13th day in a row, I successfully fought sleep.
Day 2: Mom did not make me nap today. She said, "I'd rather put him to bed at 5:30 tonight." Not sure what THAT means.
Day 3: I was very "blinky" today. Mom kept on commenting on it whenever she saw my big hard blinks. I think she's seeing things.
Day 4: I read books for a long time. When I woke up, it was dark and dinner was on the table. And BOY did I feel better! (Still a bit blinky though...)
Day 6: Nap? No thanks. I would rather be cranky and push my baby brother down a couple extra times today.
Day 7: I rubbed my eyes today and mom said, "do your eyes hurt? My eyes hurt when they are tired" I said, "No. My eyes is not tired. My eyes is just hung-gwee"
Day 8: Sleep overcame me despite my best efforts. When Mom woke me up dinner was ohvwer and all my bwuhvers were already in bed. This is what I look like after napping for five-and-a-half hours:Do I plan on napping tomorrow? HA! What do YOU think!?!?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Getting My Priorities Straight
Can I pull my thoughts together long enough to make sense of what is spinning around in my head? I'd say the chances are 50-50. You be the judge (but please be kind...).
One overarching priciple that drives my parenting is this: What my kids learn in their growing-up years about respecting and responding to my and Ryan's authority will inform how they, as adults, respect and respond to the Ultimate Authority of the Lord. I want my little boys to grow up to be men who have hearts tender for the Lord - eager to please their Lord, ready to do hard things when asked.
Ryan and I agree on a lot of things. We agree foundationally on faith, politics, money, and on many parenting-related topics. But there are a handful of things that we don't see eye-to-eye on. None of these things are foundational Biblical truths but rather secondary and tertiary issues. For example, the methods we use to teach our kids how to respond to the Lord's authority. We both agree that our kids need a healthy and accurate view of God - we both desire that they place themselves under the Lord. But how we get there - we don't always agree.
My Ultimate Authority is the Lord, but the Lord has put me under my husband. The way I respond to and respect Ryan's authority over me is a direct reflection to my kids of how they should handle authority. It is also a direct answer to whether or not I submit to the God's authority. When I married Ryan, God placed Ryan over me. And every day after that, I must choose to come under him.
(I bet you just heard my audible sigh.)
I love Ryan. He is a wonderful man. And even being married to a wonderful man, this task is a difficult one. So often I have my own ideas. I have my own experiences to base my ideas off of. I have my own desires. And sometimes we just plain disagree on the best way to arrive at our destination.
Sometimes the way we differ is how we prioritize the various character qualitites we are building in our kids. What I think is priority numero uno falls much farther down on Ryan's list. How challenging it is to release my own priorities in favor of Ryan's. It is painful to even type that. I want to push my agenda and disregard Ryan's. But ultimately when I do that I have set myself outside of God's protection. I might have a great idea that God would otherwise smile at but if I am pursuing that without the blessing of the man He has given me I am wrong.
It is more important to remain where God has placed me - under the headship of my husband who will take responsibility for me at the judgment seat of Christ. When my flesh wants to go its own way, I can rest peacefully in that blessed assurance.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a fortress of glory divine!
One overarching priciple that drives my parenting is this: What my kids learn in their growing-up years about respecting and responding to my and Ryan's authority will inform how they, as adults, respect and respond to the Ultimate Authority of the Lord. I want my little boys to grow up to be men who have hearts tender for the Lord - eager to please their Lord, ready to do hard things when asked.
Ryan and I agree on a lot of things. We agree foundationally on faith, politics, money, and on many parenting-related topics. But there are a handful of things that we don't see eye-to-eye on. None of these things are foundational Biblical truths but rather secondary and tertiary issues. For example, the methods we use to teach our kids how to respond to the Lord's authority. We both agree that our kids need a healthy and accurate view of God - we both desire that they place themselves under the Lord. But how we get there - we don't always agree.
My Ultimate Authority is the Lord, but the Lord has put me under my husband. The way I respond to and respect Ryan's authority over me is a direct reflection to my kids of how they should handle authority. It is also a direct answer to whether or not I submit to the God's authority. When I married Ryan, God placed Ryan over me. And every day after that, I must choose to come under him.
(I bet you just heard my audible sigh.)
I love Ryan. He is a wonderful man. And even being married to a wonderful man, this task is a difficult one. So often I have my own ideas. I have my own experiences to base my ideas off of. I have my own desires. And sometimes we just plain disagree on the best way to arrive at our destination.
Sometimes the way we differ is how we prioritize the various character qualitites we are building in our kids. What I think is priority numero uno falls much farther down on Ryan's list. How challenging it is to release my own priorities in favor of Ryan's. It is painful to even type that. I want to push my agenda and disregard Ryan's. But ultimately when I do that I have set myself outside of God's protection. I might have a great idea that God would otherwise smile at but if I am pursuing that without the blessing of the man He has given me I am wrong.
It is more important to remain where God has placed me - under the headship of my husband who will take responsibility for me at the judgment seat of Christ. When my flesh wants to go its own way, I can rest peacefully in that blessed assurance.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a fortress of glory divine!
Friday, January 8, 2010
One Week Down, 3 to go!
For anyone who is still reading my sorely-neglected blog, you might be interested to know that I survived week one of January. Check these off the list:
One New Years Eve party hosted
One New Years Eve party cleaned up
One 9.5 hour long business meeting for the new clinic. Check. (Don't YOU wish YOU were in an all-day meeting on a Saturday in January? It was really exciting, actually. Yeah, I am that kind of dork.)
One Sunday School lesson taught.
Can I just tell you that ALL THAT was done in a period of 3.5 days, from Thursday night to Sunday morning.
The rest of the week's focus: getting the new clinic listed as "in network" at a bjillion insurance companies. The mounds of paperwork associated with that is impressive.
This new clinic we are starting up is quite exciting to me. We are working with a company that just started up. Seeing the woman who started this hand therapy practice her go through this process - all the thousands of tiny (yet huge) decisions that have to be made - reminds both Ryan and I of where we were four years ago. It is a monumental thing to go into business for yourself. Add to that the complexities of healthcare and insurance contracting and you have yourself a big task. Turns out you eat this elephant just like any other piece of meat: one bite at a time.
That is where Ryan and I come in: we are guiding and facilitating the consumption of this elephant. And we are using our prior elephant-eating experience as a guide. It is incredibly satisfying to assist someone else get started with their own business. (It would have been A.MAZE.ING to have someone hold our hand through the process, as the learning curve was tremendously steep.)
So we end this week, Ryan and I, with a date. We are taking our two big boys up to the mountain for a day of skiing (lessons for half the day for them, while Mom and Dad attack the mountain). Thanks to Maryann for watching the little ones while we enjoy being otherwise irresponsible.
And about skiing.. Ryan has been absolutely giddy with excitement. He told me today that he is excited because he is skiing with ME. I love that he wants to spend time with me. I am so blessed to be married to this man.
One New Years Eve party hosted
One New Years Eve party cleaned up
One 9.5 hour long business meeting for the new clinic. Check. (Don't YOU wish YOU were in an all-day meeting on a Saturday in January? It was really exciting, actually. Yeah, I am that kind of dork.)
One Sunday School lesson taught.
Can I just tell you that ALL THAT was done in a period of 3.5 days, from Thursday night to Sunday morning.
The rest of the week's focus: getting the new clinic listed as "in network" at a bjillion insurance companies. The mounds of paperwork associated with that is impressive.
This new clinic we are starting up is quite exciting to me. We are working with a company that just started up. Seeing the woman who started this hand therapy practice her go through this process - all the thousands of tiny (yet huge) decisions that have to be made - reminds both Ryan and I of where we were four years ago. It is a monumental thing to go into business for yourself. Add to that the complexities of healthcare and insurance contracting and you have yourself a big task. Turns out you eat this elephant just like any other piece of meat: one bite at a time.
That is where Ryan and I come in: we are guiding and facilitating the consumption of this elephant. And we are using our prior elephant-eating experience as a guide. It is incredibly satisfying to assist someone else get started with their own business. (It would have been A.MAZE.ING to have someone hold our hand through the process, as the learning curve was tremendously steep.)
So we end this week, Ryan and I, with a date. We are taking our two big boys up to the mountain for a day of skiing (lessons for half the day for them, while Mom and Dad attack the mountain). Thanks to Maryann for watching the little ones while we enjoy being otherwise irresponsible.
And about skiing.. Ryan has been absolutely giddy with excitement. He told me today that he is excited because he is skiing with ME. I love that he wants to spend time with me. I am so blessed to be married to this man.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
