So, Judah and I  had some time yesterday. I thought we hadn’t had an intentional Family Fun event in awhile, so….why not grab some pop, some mint candies and create a reaction of some kind.  Here’s our adventure.

Judah was excited for the candy

Not sure what to expect.

so I kinda freaked out a little - I hate getting dirty.

Impressive, huh?

Even Judah was a little unsure

1st round over. Diet Coke shoots pretty high.

hmmm, Judah you think Diet Dr pepper would shoot higher? Let's try.

Judah starting to get into this pop experiment stuff.

pretty high too.

funky shot

All done. Judah loved it and Diet Coke worked best in case you wondered.

Esther, Judah and I were setting up for a sleep over in the basement and it was decided that jumping off the couch would be more fun.

Setting up for our sleepover in the basement

Getting side-tracked. Couch jumping to ensue.

Judah about to launch...

Getting some good air.

attempting a 360.

crazy jump attempt #1

crazy jump attempt #2

dual jump

didn't turn out so good for Judah

My blessings.

Moose & Juice - man i love 'em!

Esther is turning six and grade one is looming around the corner. I say looming because what was once clear in my mind is not so very clear anymore.

Context:

I was home schooled from grades 7-12. I didn’t like it very much at all. Notice, I didn’t say it wasn’t beneficial for me. However, I always promised myself that I would never home school my kids. This past year Naomi and I decided to home school Esther for Kindergarten. It ended up being a wonderful experience for both of them. I figured no big deal. Kindergarten isn’t mandatory anyways, so no big deal.

However grade one is the real deal. This is official. I have been quite adamant about my stance with Naomi, and I have had to ask for forgiveness on a couple occasions because I have been a little over the top in my attitudes and responses back to her.

Dilemma:

I’m actually starting to lean towards homeschooling. Amazingly and frustratingly I think that is the educational route we as a family are potentially suppose to take. It’s frustrating, because I still have my stubborn pre-determined opinions, but my heart is slowly changing.  So, what would you do? Or, what did you do?

Just for clarity:

We have no issues with our educational systems, no political agendas, just a passion to raise godly children. And we are still discerning God’s will for our family. No decision has been made yet.

Being a parent is much more difficult than I ever thought, but I love it!

As a family Naomi and I try and have consistent family fun events with the kids. I found great comfort when someone once told me that these don’t have to be the big, well thought out events we sometimes think we need to plan as parents. Often they aren’t even close to being well thought out. They are however intentional times where we as a family can laugh, play and have fun together. This time round I decided to do a quick round of “Egg Olympics” prior to me leaving for church.

Pre competition prep while the kids still sleep

Kids just waking up

The choosing of the eggs

Choosing which egg will run in the first race

Judah taking his mark

Esther still sleepy but getting ready to race

They're off!

Almost at the finish line

Winner of Heat #1 Esther!

A little less enthusiasm from Judah with a second place finish

Next Heat, egg smash. Egg left standing wins.

Judah's egg starts to explode (wish I had set a faster shutter speed)

A mess is now unavoidable

Oh, oh!

Judah declares himself the winner & incredibly Esther believes him.

Good sportmanship

It was declared a draw.

The spoils of battle go to Jackson

Anyways, a quick snapshot into some “Egg Olympics” at the Herbold household early Friday morning.

When I was a child and living at home, I remember getting grounded, spanked, chastised, given the “you disappoint me line” when I “talked backed” to my parents.  I course then proceeded to pout and rationalize that they just didn’t know what was best for me. Besides telling a lie, talking back was a definite “no, no” in the Herbold household.  Now that I have kids of my own, and I love them to pieces, but there are very few things that can upset me as quickly as them talking back to me. And afterwards they of course pout just like I did when they don’t get their way. I realize I have a serious lack of patience, and God is using them to work on me, but seriously, sometimes I feel like putting my head, or someones, through a wall. (I said I feel like that, not that I actually do that to anyone. )

While reading in Romans 9 today God reminded me that I sometimes, just as my kids, pout, and talk back to God when i don’t get my way.  Romans 9:20-24.

“But who are you O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “why did you make me like this?”

I am so thankful that He is much more patient with me than I am with my kids.  I’m working on it with His  help and strength and asking for forgiveness from Esther and Judah as I walk this journey with them. Most days I think that I am learning more about life from parenting than my kids are by my parenting.

What is God saying to you?

Here is the same passage taken from the Message. (This helps view the passage in a slightly different light)

Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right?

I have been reflecting on the special moments when my kids look at me. I thought a quick video would be a good reminder for me the next time I don’t pay attention to the depth behind each expression my child shares with me. During the process God met me. I love how He interrupts our journey to speak and remind us of truth. For me it was that even though I quickly forget the special moments He gives me with my kids, He has never forgotten anyone of the expressions of my face when I look to Him. He is faithful, He sees me, enjoys me, is proud of me, and loves to laugh with me. He has never forgotten.

I hope that my kids will always know how much their dad loved and loves them and that he treasures every moment with them.

I trust that He will also encourage and remind you of special moments with Him and others.

A big shout out to Carlos Whittaker and this post. It was the still images in his video that started me down this road…

You’ve probably seen the many surveys people pass around on facebook. I’ve actually never filled one out. However Naomi did a little survey with Esther (Our 5 year old daughter) about me. To be honest I was a little nervous to read it. Why? Kids are brutally honest and they know you better than most. Maybe something for you to do with your kids.

So I realize that my blog is often on the “heavy” side.  So I thought I would try and write some more about things that happen with our family. So, here’s how I impressed my kids with some totally useless knowledge.  They did have fun with it, even if it only lasted for 5 minutes, but Dad was “cool”…not that we do things to be “cool” , right?  :)

So, what fun, but useless tricks have you taught or shown your kids. i would love to hear them so I can impress my kids further with useless skills.

Should be fun to read.

You should follow me on Twitter here

Naomi and i have been sponsors of two great kids through Compassion International. Every couple months we get a letter in the mail from our kids.  I say our kids, because they are part of our family. Our own children love to draw pictures and write notes back to them and treat them as their own unseen siblings.

I’ve been really drawn to the situation that many of these kids live in. And not only the physical need, but emotional need to be loved and cherished and taken care of.  Meriam, is our newest sponsor child and in her latest letter she ended by asking, “Do you love me?” My heart broke when reading that, and it is still breaking thinking and writing about it now. Yes, Meriam we love you very much and hopefully one day we will be able to meet you.

I know there is a lot of need right here in our city and our neighbourhood. And I’m the last person who wants to guilt people into anything, but I have been trying to be more open to His leading in my life and I felt I should share Meriam’s 4 word question and let it mull and sit in your mind as it has for me since I read that over a month ago now.

I read a lot of books, and i know lots of sites give reviews and recommendations. I’m not into giving huge reviews of books, but I have started to list what I am reading and my one or two line thought on the book. (and you can probably judge the personal impact a book had on me by how much I blogged about what I learned through it, but I don’t traditional book reviews.) If you decide to purchase a book i happen to be reading we would be grateful if you used the Amazon link through my reading list as we will use 100% of the commission to help support Compassion.