Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Profound Truth found in a strange place...
Do you remember that old show Kate and Allie? I loved that show. I still like watching the reruns although I don't agree with everything that goes on. This is NOT an endorsement of the show. There was however a profound statement made on one of the episodes.
Allow me to set the stage for you if you will...Their teenage daughters are angry and having an argument. Kate tells them to calm down.
Allie cuts in and says, "They're valid feelings. They are entitled to express them...Let your feelings out or they will overwhelm you." To which Kate replies, "Sure, then you let them out and they overwhelm everybody else."
OUCH! I was so convicted...while watching a secular sitcom. Which, in itself, is hard because the reason I was watching was to "escape for 24 minutes". lol :)
Anyway, I was thinking that night, and the next night, and the night after that, and again today about how I justify my words sometimes with, "well I was just upset" or "I needed to get that off my chest" or "I should be allowed to say what I think!", etc.
I have to be honest though...the Bible talks about bridling the tongue. (In fact, I'll bet that the entire book of James was written just for me.) In Proverbs God talks about the power of life and death being in the tongue. Cringe. I have the power to speak life and encouragement over others or death and damaging words.
I want my tongue to be a spring of encouragement and life. I don't want to get caught up in myself where I think that whatever I want to say I should have a right to say.
I'm not saying that we should bury our feelings or thoughts. I'm saying that we should take them to God and express them to Him and then let Him take them to the cross. We should ask His forgiveness if we've sinned. I think that would be a much better way to live. What do y'all think?
Allow me to set the stage for you if you will...Their teenage daughters are angry and having an argument. Kate tells them to calm down.
Allie cuts in and says, "They're valid feelings. They are entitled to express them...Let your feelings out or they will overwhelm you." To which Kate replies, "Sure, then you let them out and they overwhelm everybody else."
OUCH! I was so convicted...while watching a secular sitcom. Which, in itself, is hard because the reason I was watching was to "escape for 24 minutes". lol :)
Anyway, I was thinking that night, and the next night, and the night after that, and again today about how I justify my words sometimes with, "well I was just upset" or "I needed to get that off my chest" or "I should be allowed to say what I think!", etc.
I have to be honest though...the Bible talks about bridling the tongue. (In fact, I'll bet that the entire book of James was written just for me.) In Proverbs God talks about the power of life and death being in the tongue. Cringe. I have the power to speak life and encouragement over others or death and damaging words.
I want my tongue to be a spring of encouragement and life. I don't want to get caught up in myself where I think that whatever I want to say I should have a right to say.
I'm not saying that we should bury our feelings or thoughts. I'm saying that we should take them to God and express them to Him and then let Him take them to the cross. We should ask His forgiveness if we've sinned. I think that would be a much better way to live. What do y'all think?
Last Day of Swim Lessons
Jumping in before class.
Thomas diving for rings.
Judah diving for rings. He finally figured it out!!
Canonballing...
...into the deep end.
Judah attempting a dive.
Thomas dives with beautiful form but he needs to dive AWAY from the edge. :)
Judah treading water
Judah enjoying the water. It was such a pleasure to watch him in the deep end yesterday. All anxiety seemed to be totally gone and he was having a blast!
TOO close Thomas!
Relaxing
Playing
Enjoying
Judah passed the Guppy class with flying colors.
Thomas did too.
Well, I can breath easier in the water now when I have all three boys and it's just me. :) That's NOT to say that this Mommy won't be watching her kids closely but at least my heart doesn't have to beat 500 mph now. :):)
Hope you enjoyed the pics. Blessings!- Angela :)
Thomas diving for rings.
Judah diving for rings. He finally figured it out!!
Canonballing...
...into the deep end.
Judah attempting a dive.
Thomas dives with beautiful form but he needs to dive AWAY from the edge. :)
Judah treading water
Judah enjoying the water. It was such a pleasure to watch him in the deep end yesterday. All anxiety seemed to be totally gone and he was having a blast!
TOO close Thomas!
Relaxing
Playing
Enjoying
Judah passed the Guppy class with flying colors.
Thomas did too.
Well, I can breath easier in the water now when I have all three boys and it's just me. :) That's NOT to say that this Mommy won't be watching her kids closely but at least my heart doesn't have to beat 500 mph now. :):)
Hope you enjoyed the pics. Blessings!- Angela :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Been Busy, Will Update soon,
But, for now, a joke to hold you over! :)
An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell
from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was
well taken care of.
He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head;
he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the
hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.
An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, g reeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.
Curious I pinned a note to his collar: ' I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'
The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'
An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell
from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was
well taken care of.
He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head;
he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the
hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.
An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, g reeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.
Curious I pinned a note to his collar: ' I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'
The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'
Thursday, June 19, 2008
He looks like such a big boy in his swim shorts!
I LOVE my Daddy!
Pictures of Gideon swimming
Almost by himself. Usually Gideon makes the teacher keep his hand under his belly. Today Zach had him doing it with Gideon holding onto his wrist.
I'm almost there. Yeah!
This swimming stuff sure is tiring.
Walking carefully around the pool. Thankfully he has that down really well.
Judah learning to tread water.
Thomas learning to dive.
Judah's turn.
Judah swimming in the 9ft water. He is doing much better at not being so nervous.
The End. I would have taken more of the older boys but the battery ran out.
Y'all have a great day now, ya'hear!!
-Angela :)
I LOVE my Daddy!
Pictures of Gideon swimming
Almost by himself. Usually Gideon makes the teacher keep his hand under his belly. Today Zach had him doing it with Gideon holding onto his wrist.
I'm almost there. Yeah!
This swimming stuff sure is tiring.
Walking carefully around the pool. Thankfully he has that down really well.
Judah learning to tread water.
Thomas learning to dive.
Judah's turn.
Judah swimming in the 9ft water. He is doing much better at not being so nervous.
The End. I would have taken more of the older boys but the battery ran out.
Y'all have a great day now, ya'hear!!
-Angela :)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Day 3
Today was day three of swim lessons. Today Gideon let his teacher hold him, swim with him, instruct him, and Gid followed the instructions very very well. He now knows how to (with a float on) kick his legs, blow bubbles in the pool, jump in far enough not to hit the side, and stick his face in the water. Today they learned to float on their backs with the belt on. I stuck swim shorts on him yest and today and it's AMAZING how much different it makes him look. It definitely makes him look older and less babyish. Of course, he still has the swim diaper on underneath.
The older boys learned to dive in the DEEP END today. WOW! I was 17 years old before I learned to dive into the deep end. Heck, I was 14 before I learned to swim. :)
They were a bit afraid and it took some coaxing from the instructor to get Judah to do it but he did it. I was SO proud. I happened to be standing near when Judah started to get nervous and I said to him, "Judah he's not going to let you drown. He'll get fired. He'll loose his job." The other kid in their class (just turned 6) laughed. So did the 17 year old teacher.
Tomorrow I will take some more pics of their progress. They are having a blast. It is SO worth the money (and it was MORE than we wanted to spend) to do this. I'm really glad that they are learning to conquer fears and learning to save their lives. heehee Every time Judah says, "I'm AFRAID!" I tell him this, "That's why you are learning to swim. Once you know how you don't have to be afraid of the deep water because you can swim." :):):)
I took Gideon out on a date with me last night but it wasn't as blogworthy as the others. Mostly because he kept asking for, "DADA" the whole night. He is that age where little boys always want their Daddies around. It was still fun. We still had fun but he was sad that Michael wasn't there. :( You should see his face when Michael asks him to go anywhere in "the big truck" with him. He gets this 1000 watt smile and jumps up and down. Cute. The only time he does that with me is when I ask him if he wants to nurse. Hmmm could that be why I haven't weaned him yet? hhhmmmmmm That's not really why. I am a fan of child led weaning. However, Gid doesn't seem to be moving in that direction so we are going to be cutting back to twice a day. This should get interesting here pretty quickly. Especially since he is cutting his 2 year old molars. Fun Fun.
Well gotta go. I'll try to post more pics tomorrow.
Blessings!- Angela :)
The older boys learned to dive in the DEEP END today. WOW! I was 17 years old before I learned to dive into the deep end. Heck, I was 14 before I learned to swim. :)
They were a bit afraid and it took some coaxing from the instructor to get Judah to do it but he did it. I was SO proud. I happened to be standing near when Judah started to get nervous and I said to him, "Judah he's not going to let you drown. He'll get fired. He'll loose his job." The other kid in their class (just turned 6) laughed. So did the 17 year old teacher.
Tomorrow I will take some more pics of their progress. They are having a blast. It is SO worth the money (and it was MORE than we wanted to spend) to do this. I'm really glad that they are learning to conquer fears and learning to save their lives. heehee Every time Judah says, "I'm AFRAID!" I tell him this, "That's why you are learning to swim. Once you know how you don't have to be afraid of the deep water because you can swim." :):):)
I took Gideon out on a date with me last night but it wasn't as blogworthy as the others. Mostly because he kept asking for, "DADA" the whole night. He is that age where little boys always want their Daddies around. It was still fun. We still had fun but he was sad that Michael wasn't there. :( You should see his face when Michael asks him to go anywhere in "the big truck" with him. He gets this 1000 watt smile and jumps up and down. Cute. The only time he does that with me is when I ask him if he wants to nurse. Hmmm could that be why I haven't weaned him yet? hhhmmmmmm That's not really why. I am a fan of child led weaning. However, Gid doesn't seem to be moving in that direction so we are going to be cutting back to twice a day. This should get interesting here pretty quickly. Especially since he is cutting his 2 year old molars. Fun Fun.
Well gotta go. I'll try to post more pics tomorrow.
Blessings!- Angela :)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Swim Time
The boys had their first of 8 swim lessons today. When we got ready to leave the house I told Gideon that he wouldn't be swimming with the boys because he was too young. When we arrived at the pool they asked up if Gideon wanted to sign up for the preschool class because they only had 1 girl and they would have to cancel her class. His class wasn't as expensive so we said yes. He was very excited!!
The rest is a picture post so that you can see what happened. Enjoy!!
Learning to enter the pool backwards.
Getting used to the water.
Learning to kick. They played red light green light while they learned.
On their way across the deep end.
Whew! All this kicking is tiring.
Thomas got tired about 1/2way across the deep end and got on the side to rest.
Judah was proud of himself for making it all the way across.
After they swam across the deep end of the pool with the life vests and noodles they came back to the shallow end and dove for rings.
Diving For Rings
Judah didn't get the hang of it. He never did grab one off of the bottom.
He finally snagged one with his foot. Smart kid.
More ring diving
I GOT ONE!!
They were both excited to see Gideon in the water too. Judah immediately picked him up to play while his class went to another part of the pool. I had to tell him to stick with his class. It was really cute/funny.
Boards! This was the last part of their class. They enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait to go back tomorrow. :):)
Gideon WOULD NOT get into the water with the instructor. He wasn't afraid of the water. He was afraid of the stranger. Thankfully Michael was allowed in the pool and it went just swimmingly (pun intended) after that.
He got used to the water.
He learned to kick his feet.
He became quite good at it.
Aha! We discovered that if the swim teacher had a toy then Gid would swim to him. :)
He threw rings into the pool.
And then jumped in after them.
He even learned to blow bubbles in the pool. This kid wasn't shy at all...except of the instructor.
Michael learned to kick his feet too. Isn't he talented?
The rest is a picture post so that you can see what happened. Enjoy!!
Learning to enter the pool backwards.
Getting used to the water.
Learning to kick. They played red light green light while they learned.
On their way across the deep end.
Whew! All this kicking is tiring.
Thomas got tired about 1/2way across the deep end and got on the side to rest.
Judah was proud of himself for making it all the way across.
After they swam across the deep end of the pool with the life vests and noodles they came back to the shallow end and dove for rings.
Diving For Rings
Judah didn't get the hang of it. He never did grab one off of the bottom.
He finally snagged one with his foot. Smart kid.
More ring diving
I GOT ONE!!
They were both excited to see Gideon in the water too. Judah immediately picked him up to play while his class went to another part of the pool. I had to tell him to stick with his class. It was really cute/funny.
Boards! This was the last part of their class. They enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait to go back tomorrow. :):)
Gideon WOULD NOT get into the water with the instructor. He wasn't afraid of the water. He was afraid of the stranger. Thankfully Michael was allowed in the pool and it went just swimmingly (pun intended) after that.
He got used to the water.
He learned to kick his feet.
He became quite good at it.
Aha! We discovered that if the swim teacher had a toy then Gid would swim to him. :)
He threw rings into the pool.
And then jumped in after them.
He even learned to blow bubbles in the pool. This kid wasn't shy at all...except of the instructor.
Michael learned to kick his feet too. Isn't he talented?
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