It's Ok to Wait

So recently, I welcomed a 13 year old son to my life.  That's right a teenager!  Since he turned 12 he was counting down the days until he'll be an official teen.  In my mind, I too was counting down but for different reasons.  I was ready to start "letting go" a little bit at a time.  By "letting go" I meant I was ready to slowly allow my son to grow.  Rochon and I purposely waited until he turned 13 to get his first cell phone.  We are now ok with him watching some PG-13 movies.  We can talk openly about more mature subject matters around him.  This is because we had him wait.  When you wait or teach your child to wait until the time is right you give them a sense of  a "time for everything."  Kids in America don't necessarily have a rite of passage to go through.  They don't have to get stung by 30 vicious bees to prove they are men, fight in tribal wars, shave their heads, or kill their first game to provide for their families as they are now men.  Our kids for the most part get cell phones because they can.  They watch what they want because they can.  They receive money as an "allowance" just because it's what proper parents do for their children.  I'm not saying this is wrong.  I'm just saying this is the culture that is creating the generation now known as "Generation- What Can You Do For Me." I think we can do better. Let's take our time with our children.  They will be children for such a short time versus the length of time they are adults.  Protect what they hear, listen and do.  When the time is right and maturity is being displayed you will then know to give a little "give."  This waiting game will help them in their teenage years when they have to exercise the biggest waiting time of their lives...their first time. By then, they won't be strangers to know what it's like to wait because you've helped them practice their whole lives.  It's not a guarantee, it's just a small step in helping them realize that there is strength and beauty in waiting.  For that give God all of the credit but give yourself a pat on the back.

Rocky and Adrian

Do you know what it's really like to love a man? To see his weaknesses when everyone sees his strengths? To see his fears when he is supposed to be fearless in front of the world? Do you know that if a wife does not believe in her husband he simply has nothing to live for? A wife's love for her husband means so much more than love. It means strength, compassion, understanding, passion, sacrifice, and above all faith. He cannot get this from any other person in the world except from his wife. The world will tempt him, ridicule him, doubt him, provoke him and anger him but when God has sent this man his wife He has sent him LOVE. For this love a husband will take a bullet for his wife without question. He will give his life for you. We as wives are not required to do that but our husbands will. It is with that thought alone that I am able to also show my husband a little more patience, a little more support, a little more "love" and a lot more RESPECT.

Rocky and Adrian get that. They were the underdogs. He had nothing but a will to fight. She had no one who would fight for her. Until they met. Their story although fiction is the story of many of us.

To you, DRG... I love you. You are my Rocky and I will always be your Adrian. I've got your back. Go get 'em babe.

Rocky and Adrian

Babe, the Dishwasher's Broken!!

Fantastic!  Just what I needed.  Our dishwasher has decided it has had enough of our "mess" and not work.  Oh sure you could put the soap in, close the door, push the buttons and it will turn on and "run." After the cycle is done I would open the machine and observe all my dishes sitting there... dirty.  Reminds me of when  I tell my kids to brush their teeth.  Oh yeah you see them in the bathroom over the sink with the water running, brushes scrubbing, toothpaste seeping out the tube but after a mom inspection... you guessed it.  Not the best cleaning. You appreciate the effort just hate the results.
In my quest to not get bent out of shape, after all I'm trying to get IN shape I thought of an old friend of mine.  His name was Dr. James Mullen and he was a psychologist in Dallas where I lived and worked for a couple of years.  I had just become a new mom and was feeling pretty overwhelmed with all the responsibilities that came along with motherhood.  I guess it was pretty obvious to him that my stress was getting to me.  He called me in to his office and wanted to just talk. Next thing you know I'm telling him everything.  It's hard to be a mom, go to work, cook dinner, clean the house, baby baths, be a "wife", make a dollar stretch, etc... Come to think of it, not much has changed.  Until Dr. Mullen told me this.  He said, "Karen, the next time you are sitting down folding the laundry I want you to take your baby's socks and breathe in that cute baby sock.  Hold them in your hands for 5 seconds and realize you have a baby to do laundry for.  A healthy, happy, big ol' baby." I did that that night and it brought me back to reality.
Which brings me to this.  Now that my dishwashers is broken I have to resort to washing dishes by hand.  Dishes that hold the food that we eat.  Dishes that feed a husband, a growing son, a precocious daughter and a blessed wife.  One by one I wash the plate slowly and carefully as not to drop and break it because I do care, I am grateful and there are hungry mouths to feed.  Oh, but as we all know the feeling does wear off and eventually I do want my dishwasher back.  So if you know a great repair man that can fix my dishwasher send him over my way will ya?

My Back to School Lesson

So here I am.  My thoughts are now finding their way out of my mind into my fingertips and onto your computer.  I must be careful with what I say as it will now have an everlasting "life" in the PC/ Mac world.  I'm a PC by the way.  The current thought on my mind is the anticipation of the first day back to school.  My children will be starting 4th grade and 7th grade respectively.  My daughter, Naomi has to have all school supplies new, labeled, organized and is thankful for each and every one of them.  You could say she gets the "fever" for back to school from me.  Ahh, the smell of new crayons, pencils and clean, crisp paper was enough to make me at age 9 get a little woozy.  I loved it!  To share that love of back to school fever with Naomi is priceless to me.  She gets me.  My son, Elijah... let's just say he likes to keep it simple.  He's a man's man.  For him going back to school shopping just gets in the way of him doing what he really wants to do and that's play video games.  Urrghh!  However, it was while I was attempting to rub off the "fever" on Elijah that he told me something that just stayed with me.  Well, he told me two things.  The first thing is "Mom, I really don't need new pencils.  I can just use the pencils that are under my bed!"  I couldn't help but laugh.  The second thing he told me is "Mom, it's not that I don't care about my education, I do.  I just don't care about things."  There you have it ladies and gentlemen.  Out of the mouth of babes.  My soon to be teenage son who should be focused on material things focused on the thing that really matters this back to school... education.  While it's great to get excited for our new things we need to remember that many families will not be able to buy their children new school supplies or school clothes.  They will use last years supplies and their siblings hand-me-downs to get them through this year.  Let's remind our children the privilege and the honor of getting an education.  For this I am most thankful for my son for reminding me.  However, please don't look at me funny if you catch me in the supplies aisle smelling a brand new box of crayons.  That's just nostalgia.  Happy Back to School!