July 4th fun

 I decided that we needed to do something fun for the fourth, but I wanted to have a garage sale out at our 'new' house to get rid of some of the contents that had been left behind.  So, the logical conclusion was to camp out at the new house and begin building memories out there.

We had never done any type of camping with the kids before.  So, our first stint just twelve miles from our current house seemed pretty safe.  Plus, we were at a house...we would just be staying outside.  Mom and Dad graciously agreed to pull out the pop-up trailer from the barn for us to stay in.  It all seemed like a good plan.

It was a lot of fun, but I am glad that we only 'camped' for 2 nights.  We were all extremely exhausted by the end and were very glad to return to our 'real' house.  But, we had lots of fun and made many new memories...and that was the goal...so it was a successful venture.  Plus, we sold lots of stuff and made a bit of money.  So, that was good too.

One of the things E is excited about for moving is the 'monkey' tree.  It is a tree that had a rough beginning but is a great climbing tree now.  A cow started by eating the top of it...and then the old dairy barn fell on it.  I remember G'ma saying that it should just be chopped down.  But, it is the perfect climbing tree now.  E loves it.  She spends lots of time hanging out in it when we are out there.

C just enjoys being outside and running off all his energy.  He's playing with a glowstick sword from the night.  He had a great time camping...as long as he wasn't going to sleep.  Sleeping wasn't his favorite thing in the camper.

Mom and Dad made the comment the night before the garage sale, "We should put a 'for sale' sign in the trailer and see if anyone buys it."  So, there was a 'for sale' sign in the house.  In the morning, I put it in the trailer.  Little did we expect anyone to show any interest in the trailer...but less than 2 hours into the sale, Mom had an offer to buy it and she sold it.  We were all shocked that anyone would want the little trailer that we had hauled all over the west...the glorified tent on wheels.  I still worry that Mom and Dad weren't really serious about selling the trailer when they mentioned it...and I sold it for them.  Oops.  Guess the moral of the story is that only mention selling something to me if you are truly serious.

The kids were pretty sad to see it go.  The lady that bought it allowed us to use it for the remainder of the weekend.  They loved the 'camping trailer' and wanted to use it again.  But, we won't use that one again.  It is off to another loving home.  I hope they'll have as many fun adventures in it as we did.  :)

To keep the kids entertained, we brought along our inflatable pool.  That was fun for an hour until all the water came out because it has a few holes in it.  The kids had fun playing in the freezing water while it lasted, however.

One of the nicest things about our sale and weekend at the house was that my mom's sister and brother-in-law were up from KY.  They brought my g'pa over and hung out with us for the two days during the sale.  That was fun.  We don't often get to spend extended time with them...they have short visits and two sides of the family to see.  But, we got to visit with them for two whole days...it was really nice.  It was a little strange making memories with the other side of the family at G'pa and G'ma's house but very special too.  We are going to love living there!!

Side note about garage sales:  I am not a garage saler nor have I ever hosted a garage sale before.  That is an interesting culture.  We had a ton of men come through, which surprised me.  We had numerous people stop because they knew G'ma and G'pa and were curious.  A few of them shared some very special stories.  That was neat.  We had our prices so low that people didn't even want change (even for $5 or $10 bills)...that was funny too.  It was an interesting experience.

The Homestead...

 We ventured to the Chippewa Nature Center at the end of June for some fun family entertainment.  On Sunday afternoons, they host 'homestead days'.  After church, we set out to check it out.

The first thing we got to do was see some sheep and explore a homestead.  The kids played with some 'toys' and checked out the home.

Then, E got to make some rope.  She thought that was pretty cool.  It took three people to make rope.  She even got to keep some and bring home.

C loved all the animals.  There were sheep, pigs, chickens and a cow and calf.  He could have stayed with the animals all day.  I think he would have even jumped into the pig pen...the pigs looked like they were having so much fun in the mud and splashing in their water troughs.
The cow didn't like C however.  She kept loudly 'mooing' at him.  She sounded very angry.  We later found out that cows think that anything under 3 feet is a predator.  So, she thought her baby was in danger...and she probably was angry.  Oops.  We'll keep C further away next time.

They had a beautiful garden.  If my garden could look like that, I'd be so impressed.  They also take all the produce to the local homeless shelters or food pantries in Midland.  Last year they donated 60+ lbs of produce.  I thought that was pretty cool.

E's favorite part of the experience was the schoolhouse.  She loved the lady that was the teacher and seeing all the McGruffy reading books.  She told me that she was glad that she didn't have to memorize all those things in there like 'Laura' did.  After the 'lesson' (learning about the school), they went outside and played games.  It took E a bit to catch on to the games, but she did great once she figured them out.

X had fun playing the games too.  He especially liked the ring toss.  Both kids liked trying the stilts, but that was a skill neither mastered...nor did I for that matter.  They are tricky!

C just enjoyed tooling around as always.  He goes with the flow pretty well.  He was checking out the cow again.

To end our excursion, we took Jut to the main building and showed him the museum inside and did a few of the activities set out in the classroom.  Then, we walked a bit down the river and found a nice bench at the intersection of the Chippewa and Pine Rivers to have a bit of a snack.  It was a fun afternoon.

Wordless Wednesday

Guess who loved finding the mulberry tree in the soccer field?!

Guess who wasn't happy about being pulled away from the mulberry tree?

The Newest Craze

Craze...crazy, maybe.  Who gives a 3-year old a nerf sword that's as big as he is for his birthday?!  Oh yeah...grandma.  Grandma's can get away with murder.  Well, said sword was 'hidden' all winter because the teething toddler loved chewing on the foam sword.  The toddler is finally finished teething (for a bit). The sword gets 'rediscovered' and 're-purposed' as a lightsaber.  That's safe.  A 3.5 year old with a sword is so much safer than a 3 year old with one.

Well, what's better than having 1 sword...having 4 of course.  Several years ago, the high school week of camp used the nerf swords for something that went along with the theme.  They have been sitting around for a couple of years.  Jut though it would be fun to bring them home.  C.R.A.Z.Y.  What house with 3 children ages 6 and under doesn't need nerf swords?!  Ummm...my vote is this one.

But, they are having a lot of fun fighting with their light sabers.  No one has been hurt *yet*.

Sometimes, I know I'm not ready for this world of boys that I've been thrust into.  But, I have to admit that they did have a wonderful time and were hilarious to watch.  Notice E...my ever cautious first-born...wanted to participate but didn't have to be right in the middle like the boys.  I can't tell you how many pictures I have of C charging...boys and girls...so different!

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E's Dance Recital

E had her first dance recital last weekend.  She was in 'creative movement' or something of the sort.  Her class were all different animals.  E was a lion.  She loved it.  She loved preforming on stage.  She'd gotten tired of dance this spring and didn't want to do it any longer...then she got her costume.  That changed everything.  Then, she got to practice on stage...that was lots of fun too.  She loved the recital.  She grinned the entire time on stage.  She did great.  It was fun to watch.  Rehearsals went a bit better than the actual show, but they were all so cute, it didn't matter how the dance went.  E ended up in the wrong line at one point in time, but it didn't phase her...she just kept on dancing.  :)

Sunday School Rant

I sat in a meeting the other night.  The group was discussing Sunday School and how to draw people into Sunday School classes.  They were bemoaning the fact that its the same 30 people that attend every week and no one new ever comes.  So, they spent some time coming up with ideas of 'catchy' classes to draw people in.  Then, they discussed how they point-blank ask some people in their 30's to join class and get turned down.  I heard that "it is a spiritual maturity issue" and that people won't come until they learn that they  "need" to come.  So we need to spend time teaching people that to be a 'good' Christian, one must come to Sunday School.

After listening to all this for entirely too long, I finally had to speak up.  I made my confession.  I hate Sunday School.  It doesn't have anything thing to do with the teachers or classes.  I just don't enjoy Sunday School.  I haven't for years...long before we started attending here.  I teach our second hour 10 months out of the year so that I don't have to attend Sunday School.  Teaching is much more enjoyable.  Honestly, in the 2-month break I just had, I went to Sunday School once.  One time in nine weeks...isn't that a lovely example to set?!

The reality is that people that do see the need for church don't necessarily see the need for Sunday School.  "Sunday School" implies that you are going to school to learn on a Sunday.  Let's face it...I can learn about Jesus any day of the week.  I can read my Bible.  I can listen to guys on the radio, internet or tv.  I can pick up a great book to stimulate my Christian thinking.  I don't need to do that necessarily on Sunday morning.  My brain gets stimulated in church.  The service typically gives me something spiritual to mull over for the next few days.  I don't need more to contemplate...that just clutters my brain and makes me forget something that I wanted to ponder.

Besides, most families have two working parents.  Most families have very busy (potentially over-scheduled) children.  Most weeks are filled to the brim with working, eating, homework and extracurricular activities.  Saturdays are filled with the chores (laundry and groceries) and social obligations and maybe a bit of fun squeezed in, if a family is fortunate.  Is it really a surprise that after scrambling to get everyone out the door for church on a Sunday morning that a family is just ready to go home and relax for a few hours after service?  They haven't sat in the house together all week long.  Maybe they haven't eaten a meal around a table all week long.  If a families leaves after first service, they would be home by 11.  It is *relatively* easy to get a meal ready for the family to enjoy if you are home by 11.  We typically get home at 1.  If lunch isn't in the crockpot or a bunch of leftovers, we don't eat until 2...that is not a relaxing afternoon nor pleasant.  The idea of forcing a family to stay for Sunday School knowing that it will destroy (or make it unpleasant because of hunger issues) the little family time that they have within a week does not sit well with me.

At our church, one cannot use the justification that the children need to be in Sunday School to persuade parents to stay.  All children to grade 5 attend Sunday School during service.  No pull for the parents to have them repeat the same lesson and stay another hour.  I am not opposed to Sunday School during church but it just furthers the reason that people in my generation do not stay for Sunday School.  The youth group kids will get a lesson in the evening...so they will eventually get a lesson especially geared for them, also.

Now, I think Sunday School serves a purpose to those that attend and enjoy attending it.  I'm not saying that we throw the whole idea out the window and stop offering classes.  But seriously, we need to be realistic.  We aren't going to attract very many new people to a Sunday School program...that is not what the culture is looking for.  I don't think we've ever had a new member come to our church because of our stellar adult Sunday school program.  We need good, solid classes that the 30 people that attend will enjoy and learn from but we aren't going to recruit new faces.  We need to stop spending 1.5 hours discussing the problem that has no solutions.  We need small groups meeting throughout the week to encourage each other, strengthen each other and build each other.  We need more groups that meet at different times to meet the scheduling needs of the members.  Spending hours discussing the problem of Sunday School attendance...that is futile.  Building a vibrant small group ministry...that has potential.

Contentment...

I have been struggling lately...Struggling with allowing our nation's consumerist mindset to influence our buying choices and yet not allowing my kids to feel that we can't afford things because of a lack of money.  We took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class this winter.  It was a wonderful class to focus our spending habits and get us on the path that we want to be on.  However, I end up telling the kids all the time, "Its not in the budget this month...maybe next month."  We talk about being content with what we have and how we are fortunate to have so much.

The reality is that we live so much better than most of the world...I mean, for goodness sakes, we have 'houses' for our cars!  We are blessed beyond measure.  Comparing ourselves to world equates to us living as royalty.  However, we live in the United States.  If you compare us to the Jones's, they look like they are living as royalty...multiple vehicles, tons of toys, vacations, etc.  But, we have clean water to drink, healthy food to eat, electricity, running water, a house with multiple rooms...so much more than the majority of the world's population.  We tell our kids all the time that we live like royalty.  We compare what we have to our sponsor children in 3rd world countries. We talk about their dad's trips to Haiti and what life is like there.  I believe we are making headway in building a heart for the world and building contentment in their lives.

Then things like birthdays happen.  The desire for more, more, more erupts like a plague.  E has been reading all the American Girl books this spring.  Her g'ma gave her a small, display-type AG doll and a couple of books.  She was so excited to find the postcard to send in to receive the actual AG catalog. Her dad helped her fill it out and get it ready to mail in.  Then mom struck...I made her cry without intending to...I felt so guilty.  But, I asked her if she could look through the magazine and be content just looking.  We discussed that the dolls and accessories are expensive and it wouldn't be the best use of the money that we have to purchase them at this point at time.  So, she could send away for the magazine, if she could still be content with what she had.  With tears in her eyes, she honestly replied, "No mommy.  I couldn't.  I won't send in the postcard."

Wow!  What honesty!  Broke my heart because in that moment all I wanted to do was buy her one of those dolls...and I thought to myself, 'How many times do I fail to do what she just did?  How many times do I know that it is not the best to do some online browsing because it fuels feelings of discontentment?  How many times do we run to the store and window shop for things?'  Ugh.  Her honesty cut me to the core.  She's smarter than I am about the cycle of (dis)contentment...or at least more honest.

As we work at building an attitude of thanksgiving and contentment within the kids, I'm also working at building it within myself.  Looking at E's honesty made me examine my own actions.  Is it true that window shopping doesn't hurt?  I think window shopping does hurt...it hurts the heart.  It makes me discontent with what I have and long for things that I don't need.  I have learned in the past few years that if I stay home, I don't spend money but maybe there is more to it.  Maybe I need to unsubscribe to a bunch of email lists...maybe I need to stop tempting myself when I know there isn't money in the budget for those unnecessary items of life.

Contentment...that is a tough order in today's society.  But, we are working on it.  Counting our blessings.  Choosing the wisest place for our money to go.  Comparing ourselves to the vast majority of the rest of the world and not the relative minority that seem to have everything.  I am certain it will be a constant battle throughout life but hopefully one that we can win.  I want our kids to focus on how much we have and are blessed with and not the things they feel that they are missing out on.  Contentment...it is a work in progress.