I've always tried so hard to NOT be...trendy. From middle school on, I barreled in the opposite direction of everything that was liked by everyone else. Music, clothes, books. I purposefully marched to the beat of my own drum. It wasn't all bad. I found some GREAT music that way. Music that most people still haven't heard of and probably never will. I know. I'm too cool for words, right? RIGHT? Anyway.
But. My quest to be "untrendy" also had downsides. As it turns out, I was cheating myself out of some really good things. One being music. Apparently there was a reason that tons and tons of people liked Dave Matthews Band. And Alanis Morrisette. And Jewel, No Doubt, and Pink Floyd. Its good! I know, I know. Duh.
Fast forward 10 years. I used to still play the "untrendy" game. This led me to not totally love bands such as Mercy Me, Casting Crowns, and Third Day. Its not that I didn't like them. I did like the songs I heard on the radio. I just never took the time to listen to the others. And then I got an early Christmas present. My lovely iPhone. And on my iPhone is an iPOD. My Hubs took the liberty of downloading lots and lots of music for me. Some new stuff by little-known artists, but some albums from the "big guys". Mainly : Third Day, Mercy Me, and Casting Crowns.
Casting Crowns. Oh. My. Goodness. How on earth did I ever live without this music? I cannot stop listening. It has ministered to me so much this month. So here's a warning: If you DON'T love Casting Crowns, or you don't WANT to end of loving Casting Crowns, then DON'T read my blog for the next few weeks. Because I'm gonna be blogging and blogging about...you guessed it. Casting Crowns. The songs. The messages. What they mean to me. How they've helped and challenged me.
And how I'm not going to try to be "untrendy" anymore!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Something Right
It occurred to me today that I must be doing Something Right. This realization came in the nick of time! Its been a long week. Stressful and chaotic. I haven't gotten much accomplished in the school or housework department. The children have been "unruly". I haven't been able to sleep. I've been tired and grouchy and the kids have definitely been taking the brunt of my moodiness...and they've retaliated! I guess the old saying that "If Mama aint happy, aint no one happy" is really true.
I've felt like giving up. Throwing the towel in with this whole parenting thing. In the words of a friend, I felt "unqualified". Unqualified at raising "good" kids. Kids who aren't selfish. Who put themselves last and not first. Who are patient, kind, and loving. Not that my children are bad. But its just that I want them to be different. Set apart. I want the world to see Jesus through them. I thought I was missing the mark.
Then today came. And I saw Something Right.
Shaun performed with his homeschool group today at an assisted living home. He did so great! I was so proud. After the performance, the children ran into the audience, to their parents. The way all kids do. Shaun didn't come to me. I sat and watched in amazement as he, totally unprompted, walked up to an elderly resident and hugged her. He talked with her quietly. Listened to what she had to say. He hugged her again, and then moved on to someone else. Same routine. Hugs, soft words, smiles. I had tears in my eyes as I watched him make his way around the room, interacting with these precious people. As he loved on them. Ministered to them. And I have never been more proud. He did all of this before I could tell him what an awesome performer he was. Before I could hug him and tell him how great he was. He put himself last. Something Right.
So, it turns out I haven't missed the mark after all. I'm doing Something Right! I'm not trying to brag on myself. I know that I haven't really done anything except show my kids Jesus. I still make mistakes, lots of them, every day. But I've also got Something Right. Jesus. And my heart is filled with gratitude to Him.
I've felt like giving up. Throwing the towel in with this whole parenting thing. In the words of a friend, I felt "unqualified". Unqualified at raising "good" kids. Kids who aren't selfish. Who put themselves last and not first. Who are patient, kind, and loving. Not that my children are bad. But its just that I want them to be different. Set apart. I want the world to see Jesus through them. I thought I was missing the mark.
Then today came. And I saw Something Right.
Shaun performed with his homeschool group today at an assisted living home. He did so great! I was so proud. After the performance, the children ran into the audience, to their parents. The way all kids do. Shaun didn't come to me. I sat and watched in amazement as he, totally unprompted, walked up to an elderly resident and hugged her. He talked with her quietly. Listened to what she had to say. He hugged her again, and then moved on to someone else. Same routine. Hugs, soft words, smiles. I had tears in my eyes as I watched him make his way around the room, interacting with these precious people. As he loved on them. Ministered to them. And I have never been more proud. He did all of this before I could tell him what an awesome performer he was. Before I could hug him and tell him how great he was. He put himself last. Something Right.
So, it turns out I haven't missed the mark after all. I'm doing Something Right! I'm not trying to brag on myself. I know that I haven't really done anything except show my kids Jesus. I still make mistakes, lots of them, every day. But I've also got Something Right. Jesus. And my heart is filled with gratitude to Him.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
He's gaining!
Weight, that is. Shaun's gaining weight. He's come a long way since last spring, when were were switching meds and having blood tests to see what was up with his weight loss. Since then, a lot has changed.
As most of you know, we've changed Shaun's (and our!) diet to accommodate his food sensitivities. This means that, for the most part, we are : wheat-free, milk-free, high fructose corn syrup-free, MSG free, food dye-free, white potato-free, grape-free, additive-free, preservative-free...and...medication-free! Since May. Yes, it has been tricky. And a pain. We've had screaming matches in the car over where we were NOT going to eat. And I'm sure I've hurt a few well-meaning people's feelings along the way. But it is so worth it.
He is a different child. He has self-control. He can control his anger. He no longer has seizures or mood swings. He isn't extremely hyperactive (most of the time! He's a boy...a little hyperactivity comes with the territory!) He's more out-going.
I wish Chris hadn't lost our camera cord so that I could post a picture of him. His skin tone is healthy. We can no longer count his ribs! He actually eats! His cheeks aren't sunken. He looks great! We've had to buy new pants because he couldn't button the old ones. What a wonderful problem to have, especially when I remember last spring, when he would literally not eat a bite all day long. He weighed 52 pounds back then. So skinny! I just weighed him and now he's up to...74 pounds!
He's healthy, too! Only one cold so far this winter. A huge improvement over winters past, when he'd have a runny nose and cough pretty much the whole winter. I'm so excited to take him in for his 10 year checkup in February. We haven't had the need to visit our doctor since May. I can't wait to see his reaction to all these improvements.
I owe it all to Dr Chris, our homeopathic specialist. And prayer. Of course prayer. I remember praying with Chris last spring for an answer. An answer that didn't involve adding new meds. We were literally watching our child waste away. I didn't realize just how bad he looked until a few weeks ago when I came across some old pictures. Anyway, we prayed hard for God's guidance on what to do. A few days later a friend gave me Dr Chris's name. We went for an appointment, and the rest is history.
I still have trouble believing that Shaun is on no medications and his "symptoms" are still being controlled. At one point he was on seven medications. SEVEN. No wonder he had no appetite! He was being treated for ADHD, Epilepsy, Bipolar Disorder, anxiety, and a sleeping disorder. Turns out the issues he was having were just reactions to certain foods.
Now, I know this may sound bad. But I'm so happy that those lablels are not attached to him anymore. I praise God for it every day. I also get irritated at doctors. Psychiatrists, especially. I don't understand why medication is always the first step in finding solutions for behavior disorders. My child is proof that there are better ways. More complicated ways, perhaps, but better for children. And parents....just because a doctor tells you your child needs medications does NOT mean that you have to do it! Especially psychiatrists. I had to learn this the hard way. Now, I know that some conditions do require medications, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. But sometimes, you need to go with your gut. I was told by our psychiatrist that Shaun would never be able to function normally without medication. And look at him now.
At the beginning of last year, I had started to research alternative solutions for behavioral issues. When I brought it up to Shaun's doctor, she laughed at me. That's right. She laughed and said that homeopathy was ridiculous and didn't work. If I had time, I would love to take Shaun for a visit. I wonder what she would have to say. But, I don't have the time to drive to Buford and wait three hours for a ten-minute appointment. So I'm thinking of sending her a letter instead. Nothing mean, just informative. But I probably will never find the time to do that, either!
So there you have it. I'm off my soap box now. But give me a little time and I'm sure I'll be right up back on it again!
As most of you know, we've changed Shaun's (and our!) diet to accommodate his food sensitivities. This means that, for the most part, we are : wheat-free, milk-free, high fructose corn syrup-free, MSG free, food dye-free, white potato-free, grape-free, additive-free, preservative-free...and...medication-free! Since May. Yes, it has been tricky. And a pain. We've had screaming matches in the car over where we were NOT going to eat. And I'm sure I've hurt a few well-meaning people's feelings along the way. But it is so worth it.
He is a different child. He has self-control. He can control his anger. He no longer has seizures or mood swings. He isn't extremely hyperactive (most of the time! He's a boy...a little hyperactivity comes with the territory!) He's more out-going.
I wish Chris hadn't lost our camera cord so that I could post a picture of him. His skin tone is healthy. We can no longer count his ribs! He actually eats! His cheeks aren't sunken. He looks great! We've had to buy new pants because he couldn't button the old ones. What a wonderful problem to have, especially when I remember last spring, when he would literally not eat a bite all day long. He weighed 52 pounds back then. So skinny! I just weighed him and now he's up to...74 pounds!
He's healthy, too! Only one cold so far this winter. A huge improvement over winters past, when he'd have a runny nose and cough pretty much the whole winter. I'm so excited to take him in for his 10 year checkup in February. We haven't had the need to visit our doctor since May. I can't wait to see his reaction to all these improvements.
I owe it all to Dr Chris, our homeopathic specialist. And prayer. Of course prayer. I remember praying with Chris last spring for an answer. An answer that didn't involve adding new meds. We were literally watching our child waste away. I didn't realize just how bad he looked until a few weeks ago when I came across some old pictures. Anyway, we prayed hard for God's guidance on what to do. A few days later a friend gave me Dr Chris's name. We went for an appointment, and the rest is history.
I still have trouble believing that Shaun is on no medications and his "symptoms" are still being controlled. At one point he was on seven medications. SEVEN. No wonder he had no appetite! He was being treated for ADHD, Epilepsy, Bipolar Disorder, anxiety, and a sleeping disorder. Turns out the issues he was having were just reactions to certain foods.
Now, I know this may sound bad. But I'm so happy that those lablels are not attached to him anymore. I praise God for it every day. I also get irritated at doctors. Psychiatrists, especially. I don't understand why medication is always the first step in finding solutions for behavior disorders. My child is proof that there are better ways. More complicated ways, perhaps, but better for children. And parents....just because a doctor tells you your child needs medications does NOT mean that you have to do it! Especially psychiatrists. I had to learn this the hard way. Now, I know that some conditions do require medications, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. But sometimes, you need to go with your gut. I was told by our psychiatrist that Shaun would never be able to function normally without medication. And look at him now.
At the beginning of last year, I had started to research alternative solutions for behavioral issues. When I brought it up to Shaun's doctor, she laughed at me. That's right. She laughed and said that homeopathy was ridiculous and didn't work. If I had time, I would love to take Shaun for a visit. I wonder what she would have to say. But, I don't have the time to drive to Buford and wait three hours for a ten-minute appointment. So I'm thinking of sending her a letter instead. Nothing mean, just informative. But I probably will never find the time to do that, either!
So there you have it. I'm off my soap box now. But give me a little time and I'm sure I'll be right up back on it again!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Not Me! Monday
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I am NOT (healthily) obsessed with The Twilight Saga. Nope. And since I'm NOT obsessed, my 9 year old son has NOT seen the movie and knows nothing about it. Therefore, I did NOT catch my children playing Twilight last week. It also goes without saying that I did NOT overhear these words coming out of my oldest son's mouth while I was eavesdropping on their "play acting" : "Jordan. You can be James. Just give me your arm so that I can throw you down and break the floor". After hearing these words, I most certainly did NOT heave a sigh of relief when I realized that Shaun is totally "Team Edward". NOT ME!
I did NOT adopt my * "Thursday" attire today. Just because I was so, so tired.
I always possess complete control of my children. So NO WAY would I ever turn a blind eye while my 3 year old ran around the house completely nude...just so that I could finish up Shaun's math lesson. NOT ME!
Organization is my middle name. I am totally on top of everything, all the time. So I would NOT forget to check the gas level in our Propane tank...until I felt the hot water run out in the middle of my shower. That's right, I would NOT let us run out of Propane on the coldest weekend of the season. NOT ME!
*See previous post
Blessings to you all!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursdays
On Thursdays, my hair will not be styled. I will most likely be wearing a hat with the brim pulled down over my face so that I'm somewhat unrecognizable. I will not be wearing makeup except what may be left over from the night before.
My clothes will be the same ones I wore to church the night before, if they're not dirty. I reason that since I only wore them a few hours the night before, this is okay.
There's a good reason for all this sloppiness: I'm just tired on Thursdays! Thursdays are our hardest days. We stay out late on Wednesday nights. We have church. Its 9 or 9:30 before we leave. Not because service is that long, but because we love our church family and spend time socializing afterwards. When we (finally) leave the building, we usually go eat. El Sombrero is our usual choice...the staff has come to expect us! We go with friends and eat and talk some more. Usually we close out the place.
We usually make it home around 10:30 or 11:00. Chris and I get the kids to bed. Chris goes to sleep himself. I do a load of laundry or read or Facebook because I'm too wired to sleep. I finally make it to bed, but then we have to be up and back at church for Shaun's performing arts class.
So, I'm tired. And maybe I'm a slacker, but I'd much rather spend an extra 30 minutes sleeping than drying my hair. That's just me. I used to stress about this. I even went so far as to try to rush home from church without interacting with anyone in order to get home and into bed earlier. But that doesn't work for us. We love our Wednesday nights. The kids do, too. So we're keeping things the way they are. We'll keep living it up on Wednesday nights and I'll keep looking disheveled and sleepy on Thursdays.
But I wouldn't have it any other way.
My clothes will be the same ones I wore to church the night before, if they're not dirty. I reason that since I only wore them a few hours the night before, this is okay.
There's a good reason for all this sloppiness: I'm just tired on Thursdays! Thursdays are our hardest days. We stay out late on Wednesday nights. We have church. Its 9 or 9:30 before we leave. Not because service is that long, but because we love our church family and spend time socializing afterwards. When we (finally) leave the building, we usually go eat. El Sombrero is our usual choice...the staff has come to expect us! We go with friends and eat and talk some more. Usually we close out the place.
We usually make it home around 10:30 or 11:00. Chris and I get the kids to bed. Chris goes to sleep himself. I do a load of laundry or read or Facebook because I'm too wired to sleep. I finally make it to bed, but then we have to be up and back at church for Shaun's performing arts class.
So, I'm tired. And maybe I'm a slacker, but I'd much rather spend an extra 30 minutes sleeping than drying my hair. That's just me. I used to stress about this. I even went so far as to try to rush home from church without interacting with anyone in order to get home and into bed earlier. But that doesn't work for us. We love our Wednesday nights. The kids do, too. So we're keeping things the way they are. We'll keep living it up on Wednesday nights and I'll keep looking disheveled and sleepy on Thursdays.
But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Not Me! Monday
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I did NOT scream like a scared girl in the Kroger parking lot last night when I was surprised by a well-meaning buggy boy who had walked behind my van to unload my groceries.
I did NOT feed my children leftover Thanksgiving food (again) for supper last night and then sneak off to Subway once they were asleep for Chris's and my own dinner. Because we were NOT sick to death of Thanksgiving food!
I did NOT find that grocery shopping is really enjoyable when listening to your ipod.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Not Me! Monday
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
My husband did NOT volunteer us to host our family's Thanksgiving meal this year. He loves me and appreciates my lack of stress control, so he certainly did NOT also put me in charge of cooking the turkey. On that note, this will NOT be my first time cooking a turkey, and I am NOT clueless on how to go about it. I truly hope this meal will NOT be disgusting! And I'm NOT soooo relieved that my sis-in-law is bringing some ham...just in case!
While making lesson plans for Smith University's (my affectionate name for our home school) unit on Thanksgiving, I did NOT realize that I needed to brush up on the topic myself. So, I did NOT need to google "The First Thanksgiving" for information to fill in the gaps. Not Me!
I did NOT join the throngs of silly teenage girls seeing the movie "New Moon" over the weekend. While my friend and I were NOT at said movie, these things also did NOT happen:
*After dinner and finding ourselves with a little time to kill, my friend Jody and I did NOT
go to Publix to try to find the "New Moon" collectors edition of People magazine. And we
were NOT mad and disappointed when we failed.
*We did NOT arrive at the theater an hour early so that we would get good seats.
*The following words did NOT come out of one of our mouths when the line finally started
moving and some crazy teeny-boppers tried to break in line:
"Oh! These girls are running! GO! RUN!"
*It was NOT so entirely fun to act like a teenager again!
I did NOT have some friends over for a get-together last week. We did NOT stand outside and laugh so hard that my neighbors probably thought (incorrectly!) that we were drunk. I am also NOT incredibly grateful that "church ladies" can have so much fun.
I did NOT receive this text from my hubs during my get-together:
"Just wanted to tell you that I love you. And thanks for everything you do. I couldn't make it
without you.". These words did NOT make my heart skip a beat and my bones did NOT turn to mush. Sigh!
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