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Knights and Princesses

Last night I was out with one of my sons. He volunteered to come along with me to get some soup since I'd been feeling under the weather. As we walked through the store, he offered to carry my groceries. Then he did the self-checkout for me and carried the groceries out to the car. When it came time to open the car, he offered to take the keys, opened the door, waited for me to get in, handed me the keys and shut the door.

It's so nice to have my young knight around.

Here's the thing; too often today we are not teaching our young men how to be gentlemen. Even more so; we don't always teach our young ladies how to be, well, ladies.

I've had a few conversations with different people about this lately. It just keeps coming up; don't know why, but enough that I thought I'd write about my thoughts on it. So, let's start with my boys…no, the girls…it's hard to decide.

My girls:

I want my girls to want to be treated like a lady. Today's world is so much about empowering women. Women can do it all. Women are just as strong as men. Women don't need a man to take care of them.

And heaven forbid, we should actually teach our daughters how to cook and clean and take care of babies; because then we live in the dark ages and we are forcing our daughters to be less.

Really?

God created women with the gift of child bearing. What a gift! To be able to have that life inside of you; knowing only you have the ability to bond in that special way with this child during those precious months. Women have the ability to see a child and naturally want to take care of them; whether it is their own child or some one elses. That's how we are created! I'm proud to have been able to stay home and take care of my family for years. I love that I got to spend that time with them. I love those precious moments.

I've had other women tell me over the years:

"It's your time!" (I have plenty of time when my children are grown and gone.)

"You should be in school." (I'd rather be home and give my children a chance to go to school)

"It's not your job to be home; you should have a career." (I don't look at it as a job; I know it's an honor.)

"How can you stand being with your kids all day? I can't wait until mine are back in school again." (Wow!)

"Are you going to let your girls go to college and have a career?" (Really?)

Every one of these questions has been asked by a woman. Why is it ok for a women today to choose a career, but not ok for them to choose to stay home and take care of their family?

I've actually seen women get MAD at a man for opening a door for them because they can "do it themselves."

My boys:

They are our natural protectors. That's they way they were created. I'll never forget when my children were younger, there was a boy in my daughter's group at church choir that kept picking on her. Each week this little boy would poke her in the back with a pencil. Fed up, she came home and burst into tears one day. The very next Sunday, all three of her brothers lined up outside the classroom door, prepared to have a word with this young man. No words needed; the boy never picked on her again.

Someone gives mom a hard time; my boys don't hesistate to line up on either side of me, arms folded across their chest, ready to take on whoever it is that is messing with me.

So let me tell you about my family and the way we work!

My boys know how to cook, wash dishes, do laundry and clean a house. But I'll admit, when the trash needs emptied, I will usually call on one of my sons to take it out. I also call on them to get the spider (or cockroach), and to lift something heavy for me. I'll admit that I bought them toy trucks to play with as children. I wait for them to open a door for me and I talk to them about making sure they take care of the women/girls in their life. I remind them that they are to protect them, love them and cherish them. I've talked to them about being prepared to take care of their families financially if their future wives want to stay home and how to work together as a team if their wives have a career. My husband fills up my gas tank every Sunday night. He opens doors and drives when we are together. He also helps with laundry, makes me dinner and cleans better than I do these days! He offers his arm or hand when we are out and makes sure to help me bring in the groceries. He is my my protector, loves me and cherishes me.

My girls can lift a suitcase, shoot a gun and work in the yard. They plan on going to college and having a career, but they also talk about motherhood and the children they'll have. They'll get rid of a bug in the house if they have to, but love that they can call on their brothers to do it for them. They had a kitchen and baby dolls to play with as children. I remind them that they should want to be protected, loved and cherished. And I teach them about loving and nurturing.

I believe in ladies and children first.

I believe in men being men and women being women.

I'm not ashamed to have been a stay at home mom for 15 years; yet I willingly took a full-time job to help support my family through these difficult time.

I love that my husband is an awesome stay at home dad while he starts his own business at the same time.

What we've taught our family together is to cherish what God has created us to be. We teach our children to love God, family and so on. We teach them to want to act like ladies and gentlemen. We also teach them that you do whatever it takes to make your family work together. Sometimes that means mom staying home; sometimes it means dad staying home. There is nothing wrong with either. 

Personally, I'm proud of my knights and princesses!

 

Mrs. Wagner

Mrs. Wagner, an amazing woman, went home to be with her Lord and Savior today. Although I am sure I don't have enough words to show what she meant to our family, I will try.

I don't exactly remember the first time I met Alice, but I know she's taught, and given, my family so much. It was just a few weeks ago that her husband of 52 years, went to be with the Lord. As we remembered him and how sweet he was, we couldn't help but reflect on Miss Alice, too.

For those who may not have known her by name; she was the wonderful woman in the suit and hat every Sunday. She never wore pants, but she loved those moo moo dresses to relax in! When Alice was around; you knew it. She had an air about her that just drew your attention to her. The thing was, the attention was because she obviously had something that you wanted to be a part of…and that was her passion for Christ!

She was an original member of Green Valley Baptist Church; one of the few members who have been around longer than hubby and I! Each Sunday, she'd expect a hug while she planted a kiss on your cheek; and you needed to make sure you didn't wipe off the lipstick until she was out of sight! She was not afraid to shout out an "Amen!" or "Praise the Lord!" in the middle of a song or sermon. And she wasn't afraid to tell you exactly what she thought you ought to know!

During my childbearing years, she'd say to me, "You about done yet?"

When I was five months pregnant with our third child, she came up to me one Sunday and said,

"You pregnant again?"

I replied with a, "Yes, Miss Alice."

And laughed when she remarked, "Oh good! I thought you were just getting fat!"

That was B-boo. Miss Alice gave her some beautiful porcelain dolls when she felt B-boo was old enough to take care of them; and every once in a while, she'd ask, "Do you still have those dolls I gave you?"

One Christmas season we were in JC Penney and we came across a blue hat like Miss Alice would wear. B-boo refused to leave without it…and so the next week, Miss Alice got a new hat to wear with her blue suit!

There wasn't a Sunday that went by that she didn't ask how my family was doing and what she needed to pray for. She called while I was sick to check in with me even though her husband was sick himself. She'd check on me and update me on Moses.

Miss Alice would sometimes call and request our presence…and when Miss Alice asked you to do something, you didn't refuse! And if that meant driving over to her house to get something from her, you did it. She'd invite us into her home, the whole while talking and telling you what to do…and you loved it, because she was just that way.

I have many good memories of Miss Alice, but mostly, I remember the lessons she taught me. I was a new Christian when I met her, yet she never made me feel less when she was teaching me about her Lord. I was blessed to have her as my caller when we had the 24 hour prayer chain. She was scheduled to pray before me, so would call when she was done and update me on whatever it was that needed prayer. But she didn't stop there. She'd always insist on praying together before we hung up and I began my prayer time. I was afraid to pray in her presence…what if I messed up? But she simply stated, "Before we begin, we need to ask for forgiveness so the Lord can hear our prayers." And she'd pray. And you knew she meant every word of it.

Miss Alice was big on manners and taught me ways to properly do things.

Her faith was amazing; when she lost her leg, it didn't seem to faze her; she stayed strong.

When Moses died, she stood up there and praised the Lord and told us not to worry about her, because she had her Lord with her.

52 years of marriage.

This morning, I was surprised to hear the news that she'd gone home, too. But I praise the Lord, for her work is done here and she is able to praise Him in person.

I can just see her up there in her white suit, bossing the angels around; and I smile.

She was one of the great ones; and she will be missed.

And I am so glad to have known such a woman as she!

Lost Get Found

Music is strong in our family. I’m really not that musical myself, although I did play the clarinet for 8 years and was pretty good at it. I love to sing and goof off, but I’m not real sure anyone would love to listen to me sing! Hubby plays the guitar. As a matter of fact, he’s been known to serenade me. When we first started dating, he came to my work with a guitar, blanket and the hood of his car! He brought me out, sat me on the car and proceeded to play and sing to me. My boss wanted to know why one of his *girls* was being serenaded in the parking lot!

My oldest son also plays the guitar. I have fond memories of he and his friends sitting on my roof, playing their guitars and singing. (Ok, and playing spoons, but that’s another blog!)

You’ve often heard of me talk about the Talented One. He is a musical genius in my humble opinion. I know I’m his mother and so there is a different swelling of pride, but when we were in Sedona last week, he gave us a mini concert the morning before we left. The resort had a grand piano, so he played. I swelled, thinking, “That’s MY son!” He plays so beautifully. There was a lady sitting on the couch in the room; tears streaming down her face. God has indeed, blessed my son with a gift.

The Smart One has even been picking up the piano. His teacher at school asked him to join percussion this year at school so that he can play in the jazz band next year.

B-boo is more like me….not really musical, but enjoys listening! And being a part of whatever children’s production we are a part of. She’s great at organizing, setting up, keep the ball rolling, etc. Great at taking pictures. She doesn’t think she’s musically talented, but she is on the dance team.

Our latest project was the Drama Queen and Punky. They’ve been having fun recording, “The Lost Get Found,”  by Brit Nicole. Today, they sang it in church. I thought I’d share it with you. I love that Punky spends so much time teaching my child and that they have so much fun together. Thank you, Punky!

So Much!

There is just so much I could share from the past few days, I don't know where to start! I think I'll break it down into phases! You see, I just spent three fabulous days on a retreat with some of our youth and the youth leaders…amazing! It was so full of planning, resting, laughing, and hanging. Hmmm…what shall I tell you about first?

I know…I'll start with nature!

Something you may have gathered from the pictures I occasionally post is that the Talented One is not only an amazing pianist…he also has a love for…er…wild animals. And on this retreat, he found someone else to share this passion with. It's probably not a coincidence that this person also shares the same name as my son. Ha Ha!

It started out simple enough. My goofy friend and I were sitting on a swing, enjoying our peaceful moment, when I happened to glance over and see the two boys lifting up a massive rock together. I said to her, "They must be after a lizard."

I was wrong. Because a few moments later, they came over to show us this:

image from sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

A few hours later, we were relaxing in the cool waters of Sedona, when my friend came up to me to inform me that the boys were pretty dangerous. HUH?

It seems they'd been exploring again, and came across a cute little baby snake. The Talented One knew it looked different, but didn't realize at the time what it actually was. Apparently they came back to the group with this cute little baby snake crawling between their fingers and such. That is, until one of our fearless leaders (because by this time, most of our leaders were fearFUL) explained to the boys that they needed to get rid of it and get rid of it now. Turns out, it wasn't a cute little harmless baby snake. It was a baby rattlesnake. (BTW…the fearless leader's son was my son's twin adventurer!)

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We thought they'd manage to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day. We even managed to make it to the dark with no more wildlife incidents. For the most part. There was the moment they showed up to share another creature with us.

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Before we got a good look at it, one of the leaders asked if they'd caught a scorpian….nope. It was just a little crawdad, thankfully!

It seemed their adventures were coming to a wind down…but apparently, they had enough energy for one more adventure. They came in asking for a flashlight. Ok.

And then, they came back in hysterics. Apparently there was a certain smell in the air, so they decided to investigate. See, personally, I would have gone the opposite direction, but not these two adventurers. They went after the smell…and shined their light upon…you may have an idea where I am going with this one. They stayed long enough just to snap a picture and then RAN as fast as they could!

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I'm glad they were smart enough to know what a raised tale on a skunk means, because we didn't have any tomato juice!

Thankfully, we were headed home the next morning because I am not sure what kind of trouble these two would have gotten themselves into next!

Camp and Cuddles

The Drama Queen went to her first ever Bible Camp. It was out in the woods and without any family member for a whole week. We were a little nervous, especially considering her food allergies, but I've been up to the camp a few times and knew that they are a nut free facility…and that the chef would make sure to only feed her things that she is not allergic to…So…I managed convince her father that she'd be safe and away she went!

One of the things I love about this camp is that they post photos of your children doing various activities at camp. I got some great shots of the Smart One last year! Unfortunately, not so much the Drama Queen.

Adventure Mountain
She's in the green in the background. She looks busy…I asked her if she had fun and she stated a big, "yeah!" She talked about the lake and the walks that were four miles long (That would be why she has the name, "Drama Queen"…it wasn't four miles.) She talked of snacks and the food…and some not so good food…ha ha. She absolutely loved it.

And finally, I found a picture that proved it just a little bit!

Adventure Mountain_0001
Dancing on a table…that's my girl! Whew…it's always good for a mom to see actual proof of her child having fun when she isn't there to share in on it!

The exhausted child came home on Friday and crashed…literally on top of me! B-boo was cracking up, she looked so funny! We had time for cuddles in the morning as she talked more about her day at camp…then went back to sleep. And more cuddles again this morning before she went off with her Daddy.

Ah…there's just nothing better for a girl than camp and cuddles to come home to!