This is one of J7's cutest little phrases when he was learning to talk, and it gets Hubby and me giggling every time we think of it. :) My mantra with the boys growing up, and I still say it to this day (tho not as often), is "Say what you mean, mean what you say." T12 didn't repeat that much while growing up, but I had to say that a LOT to J7. I had to make him repeat what I said to make sure he understood what I said, and in this particular instance, "Say what you mean, mean what you say" somehow turned into, "MEAN, SAY! MEAN, SAY!" J7 gave his older brother some SERIOUS grief over that little four-word phrase, lemme tell ya!
Now comes the tough part...getting J7 to balance the literal with the general. Ugh. That boy sees EV-ER-Y-THING in black and white. There is no gray. No rainbow colors, either, come to think on it. ;) Figure of speech means absolutely nothing to him. He does not take jokes and pranks well, either. Okay, so maybe I have soooooomething to do with that. Sigh. I don't like jokes that potentially hurt feelings. I don't like them done to me, and I don't like them done to other people. J7 just takes it a ((biiiiiiig)) step further. The Bible talks plenty about joking around (you can find "jest" and "sport", as in meaning "fun", in your STRONG'S concordance), but there are some genuinely funny things that happen with words, especially if they're homonyms or homophones. He finds many things funny, especially if it's in the bodily noise department (I know, groan, lol), but if he gets the idea that you're trying to trick him with words, you are in for a whollop-packed, pint-sized showdown. After all, "MEAN, SAY! MEAN, SAY!" means "SAY what you MEAN, and MEAN what you SAY!"
It's a curious observation what he might do with this perspective. I have no idea if I have the best lawyer on my hands, or the absolute worst one you can imagine. : P
I mean, I know I'm a "wordee" myself, and from time to time I might inappropriately pick you apart about words, most times w/o even realizing that I'm doing it. ((for that, I'm horribly sorry!)) However, I'm also finding that I seem to be more scatter-speeched than ever before. I'm SERIOUS!! I feel like that I can't get a sentence together w/o inadvertently mixing up certain details in what I want to say, or I got off into a seemingly unrelated tangent. It's as frustrating as it can be! :( I know lots of parents and teachers end up naming the wrong child b/c they're talking to one while looking at another, or people will mix up a couple of words to make new ones. It goes beyond that. At any given time I might mix up some thoughts as well as words and come out with an entirely different speech altogether. My mind constantly scrambles through "the best way to phrase such-n-such", and I more often than not end up with stuff that makes no sense no matter how you slice it, dice it, or even julienne fry it. That is hardly an example of "MEAN, SAY! MEAN, SAY!"
Can you tell I do better at writing than talking?? At least I have to THINK for a long time how I want to say something, and I've got that ever blessed BACKSPACE key. : D I tell you, that's the first key that gets worn off my keyboard, lol. I thank God every day that I'm born in THIS age and time so that I don't have to spend so much of my writing time w/ the correction tape (although I should've bought stock in it the 5 years I typed!!) or the White-Out (another company I was too young to buy stock in b/c I was doing high school research papers, lol). I can spend my 3 hours to make my "perfect" two-paragraph story, lol. THAT most times ends up saying what I mean so that what I mean IS what I'm saying. : ) J7 will be happy to know that, lol. : )
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
It's Official, I'm a Neighborhood Mom
As an adult, I always thought it would be neat to be a neighborhood mom. A place where my sons' friends would feel welcome, a place they might enjoy congregating, a place where they could feel safe. So far, after fast forwarding a few years, I've not been disappointed.
When we lived in apartments, we occasionally had T12's friends come over and play, and those friends would play w/ J7, too, including him in their games even though he was very young at the time. Those were very sweet kids. :) I always liked having a reason to have treats for them, even though we were basically broke during those days.
We moved into a neighborhood completely unfamiliar with us, and it took a little while, but gradually T12 made friends with classmates who lived right around us (one across the street from us, AND he has a little brother J7's age!), and occasionally they'll pop by to visit. Now that J7 has been in school almost 2 years now (the first year we were here was very tough :( ), he's getting his OWN friends to come over and play! Plus, last year, a new family w/ a little boy about J7's age moved across the street, giving us an isosceles triangle effect, lol! They're ALL basically having a great time, and it's a joy to be a part of their lives.
We now have a "neighborhood phone list" hanging on my cabinet door, complete with friends' parents phone numbers. We're all just a phone call away. :) Kinda feel a little like June Cleaver, but without the domestic goddess part...don't know how I'd deal with an Eddy Haskell, anyway, lol. :}
What is funny is when all these friends migrate from house to house w/i the neighborhood, and it's like we parents have walkie-talkies keeping up with them all. Love it! :) We've only had one incident in which T12 and his friend "forgot" to tell us where they were going, and when I called friend's mom to alert her about our boys, the hunt was ON! By the time they wandered back over to my house 45 mins later, those two boys got "The Lecture" about wandering off w/o notifying me (or whoever's mom they were visiting) where they intended to go. All is good now! :)
Gone are the days in which children could just wander off, doing whatever spontaneous ideas that crossed their minds...the good as well as the not-so-good ideas (lol)...just so they show up at supper time. Times are becoming weirder and weirder by the hour. We live in an age of virtually instant information, which can be great and not so great at the same time. We live in an age in which safety means diligently being accountable for our whereabouts. As my momma always said, "I don't care what you're doing...I may not even like or approve what you're doing...but I gotta know where my family is!" Daddy was quite an unwitting teacher for that lesson! Yikes! :O As an adult, NOW I know what she means. Yeah, I showed up at her house totally sauced one morning (yes, someone dropped me off at "home"~~while inebriated, her house directions was a lot easier to explain than to my own, lol), but she knew I where I was the night before. She was just happy I was safe, although dissapointed in the condition I was in, and knowing that in 4 hours I needed to show up for work in MUCH better shape! I hope that if a neighbor kid didn't feel comfortable talking to their parents about serious issues, I wouldn't mind helping as I can. Somehow its easier to talk with someone more objective than your parents. Children today have it TOUGH. I'm not talking about the generational differences in technology and materialism~~that's a WHOLE new post! >:D What I'm talking about is that it seems like parents today are soooooo caught up in trying to survive in this life, or so caught up in their careers or addictions of their lives, that they've lost sight of truly caring for these children. I see a growing trend in SAHMs and WAHMs, but right now, it's not enough to bring these children back home to safety. I realize that I'm not always going to be the desirable safety net for my boys, but I pray that they have SOMEONE of my friends (most of them their friends' moms/parents) who they'll feel they can trust. I pray that they'll always have friends whose parents I could trust to let them lean on w/o judging them as quickly as a subjective parent might or would.
I pray that my boys continue to pick good friends, and to continue to be wary of not-so-good people. So far I like being a neighborhood mom. Then again, I've not hit the true teen years yet! Maybe another mom will temporary adopt him/them if mine go out of my league of momma patience and understanding? I did not grow up with male influence in my life. As my momma always said..."boys are suuuuuuure different.... Maybe another's handful would click with me better, being the more objective party? I don't know. We've all got pretty green grass right now, so I don't think it's gonna be a case of the grass is always greener on the other side. :}
When we lived in apartments, we occasionally had T12's friends come over and play, and those friends would play w/ J7, too, including him in their games even though he was very young at the time. Those were very sweet kids. :) I always liked having a reason to have treats for them, even though we were basically broke during those days.
We moved into a neighborhood completely unfamiliar with us, and it took a little while, but gradually T12 made friends with classmates who lived right around us (one across the street from us, AND he has a little brother J7's age!), and occasionally they'll pop by to visit. Now that J7 has been in school almost 2 years now (the first year we were here was very tough :( ), he's getting his OWN friends to come over and play! Plus, last year, a new family w/ a little boy about J7's age moved across the street, giving us an isosceles triangle effect, lol! They're ALL basically having a great time, and it's a joy to be a part of their lives.
We now have a "neighborhood phone list" hanging on my cabinet door, complete with friends' parents phone numbers. We're all just a phone call away. :) Kinda feel a little like June Cleaver, but without the domestic goddess part...don't know how I'd deal with an Eddy Haskell, anyway, lol. :}
What is funny is when all these friends migrate from house to house w/i the neighborhood, and it's like we parents have walkie-talkies keeping up with them all. Love it! :) We've only had one incident in which T12 and his friend "forgot" to tell us where they were going, and when I called friend's mom to alert her about our boys, the hunt was ON! By the time they wandered back over to my house 45 mins later, those two boys got "The Lecture" about wandering off w/o notifying me (or whoever's mom they were visiting) where they intended to go. All is good now! :)
Gone are the days in which children could just wander off, doing whatever spontaneous ideas that crossed their minds...the good as well as the not-so-good ideas (lol)...just so they show up at supper time. Times are becoming weirder and weirder by the hour. We live in an age of virtually instant information, which can be great and not so great at the same time. We live in an age in which safety means diligently being accountable for our whereabouts. As my momma always said, "I don't care what you're doing...I may not even like or approve what you're doing...but I gotta know where my family is!" Daddy was quite an unwitting teacher for that lesson! Yikes! :O As an adult, NOW I know what she means. Yeah, I showed up at her house totally sauced one morning (yes, someone dropped me off at "home"~~while inebriated, her house directions was a lot easier to explain than to my own, lol), but she knew I where I was the night before. She was just happy I was safe, although dissapointed in the condition I was in, and knowing that in 4 hours I needed to show up for work in MUCH better shape! I hope that if a neighbor kid didn't feel comfortable talking to their parents about serious issues, I wouldn't mind helping as I can. Somehow its easier to talk with someone more objective than your parents. Children today have it TOUGH. I'm not talking about the generational differences in technology and materialism~~that's a WHOLE new post! >:D What I'm talking about is that it seems like parents today are soooooo caught up in trying to survive in this life, or so caught up in their careers or addictions of their lives, that they've lost sight of truly caring for these children. I see a growing trend in SAHMs and WAHMs, but right now, it's not enough to bring these children back home to safety. I realize that I'm not always going to be the desirable safety net for my boys, but I pray that they have SOMEONE of my friends (most of them their friends' moms/parents) who they'll feel they can trust. I pray that they'll always have friends whose parents I could trust to let them lean on w/o judging them as quickly as a subjective parent might or would.
I pray that my boys continue to pick good friends, and to continue to be wary of not-so-good people. So far I like being a neighborhood mom. Then again, I've not hit the true teen years yet! Maybe another mom will temporary adopt him/them if mine go out of my league of momma patience and understanding? I did not grow up with male influence in my life. As my momma always said..."boys are suuuuuuure different.... Maybe another's handful would click with me better, being the more objective party? I don't know. We've all got pretty green grass right now, so I don't think it's gonna be a case of the grass is always greener on the other side. :}
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Resurrection Day 2010
((for whatever reason, I kept this in my draft folder. I guess I had this vision of adding to this, lol. well, this is what it is...on to the next blog entry, lol. : } sorry, folks!))
May you each have the most blessed Resurrection Day today. Today marks a day of reflection for me. My Saviour, Jesus Christ, was crucified, died, was buried, and was the first resurrected soul who opened the gates of heaven for the rest of us. Have a most Blessed Easter.
Who was it that is famous for saying, "And now, the REST of the story?" LOL. ;) Finally getting to the rest of this post (only Wednesday after Easter Sunday...at least it's this WEEK, right? ;) ). We'll see if I can complete it now, lol.
RESURRECTION DAY 2010
"Taste and see that the LORD is good."
No, not talkin' 'bout those chocolate bunny ears, Jelly Belly jellybeans, deviled eggs, ham, lamb, roast beef, hot cross buns, or any other food treat; tho they do have their place, lol. : }
The Lord IS good to me. I am so glad that I allowed Him to be Lord and Saviour of my life. I have had to make some decisions in my life, and while that process hurt and I felt like a fumbling failure, the results of those decisions have had the greatest impact on my life.
May you each have the most blessed Resurrection Day today. Today marks a day of reflection for me. My Saviour, Jesus Christ, was crucified, died, was buried, and was the first resurrected soul who opened the gates of heaven for the rest of us. Have a most Blessed Easter.
Who was it that is famous for saying, "And now, the REST of the story?" LOL. ;) Finally getting to the rest of this post (only Wednesday after Easter Sunday...at least it's this WEEK, right? ;) ). We'll see if I can complete it now, lol.
RESURRECTION DAY 2010
"Taste and see that the LORD is good."
No, not talkin' 'bout those chocolate bunny ears, Jelly Belly jellybeans, deviled eggs, ham, lamb, roast beef, hot cross buns, or any other food treat; tho they do have their place, lol. : }
The Lord IS good to me. I am so glad that I allowed Him to be Lord and Saviour of my life. I have had to make some decisions in my life, and while that process hurt and I felt like a fumbling failure, the results of those decisions have had the greatest impact on my life.
Friday, April 2, 2010
A HELL of a Message
It is not often that I speak of hell. However, belief in hell and heaven is critical to understanding my relationship with, and my faith in, My Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Understanding what He endured upon his death for me, for YOU, for each and every one of us--past, present, and future, fills my heart with unspeakable wonder and joy. The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified, had died, was buried, was resurrected, and IS alive today, giving us the Holy Spirit to help us live this crazy world called LIFE. Today marks Jesus' descent into the place of, the torment of, and the spirit of, hell.
Hell is a hell of a place.
It's a REAL place. What scientists call the core of the earth is actually, Biblically speaking, the location of hell. Prov 15:24; Is 14:9; Amos 9:2, plenty of others. The abyssal depths of the sea contain creatures that live under phenomenal and rather "unearthly" circumstances. The Bible talks about worms that never die. Mark 9:44. Jonah talks of the deep depth of darkness in the pit in chapter 2. Jesus tells us repeatedly that hell contains unquenchable flames and fire (Luke 16:27-30; Mark 9:43-44.
Hell is a place of torment and torture, containing unending and unrelieved pain, trouble and sorrow. Whatever "hell" you believe you are experiencing here on this earth will be incomparable to the ETERNAL hell described in Luke 16; 2 Samuel 22:6; Psalm 116:3. We have the promise that whatever sorrow you're experiencing now, there WILL be an end to it; sorrow it but for a time; weeping may endure for a night, but JOY cometh in the moring. There will never be joy in hell.
Hell wasn't even originally for humans, but for Lucifer, the one-third of the angels who followed him, and it grew (enlarged) to accommodate the wicked and the nations who forget God. Psalm 9:17; Isaiah 14:12-15; Mt 25:41.
We humans are creatures who each bear a body, a soul, and a spirit. Our bodies are destined to die on this earth. Our bodies were used to function in this world of earth and are barely (if at all) conscious, or aware, of the spirit realm. Once our bodies die, our soul and spirit are separated from the body, and we become more aware of the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm then becomes more real and permanent than our physical realm on earth. Our physical realm is the place where we MUST make the decision to believe on the Name above all names, Jesus Christ. Choose ye THIS day whom you will serve. Joshua 24:15. If we fail to make that decision, confessing with our mouths to men and believing with our hearts that He truly was the Son of the Living God, who was crucified, was buried, was resurrected, and is alive forevermore, then that decision WILL BE MADE FOR YOU upon your death as a rejection of God's only begotten Son and His gift of eternal life in heaven. I don't want that for anyone!! God doesn't, either.
Ye must be born again. Don't let Jesus' atonement for your sins pass you by! Jesus loves you so much that He was willing to die for our sins and became the sacrifice for all of mankind; giving us a new start in life with God. He wants His children to want to be with Him. He is THE Father of all fathers, and we become His children throughout eternity. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life...ETERNAL LIFE. NO man can come to the Father but by Me. There are many roads that lead to Jesus, but there is only one road that leads to God the Father. There are many gates to hell. The paths to hell are broad, and many people follow after that path. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Prov 16:25. Let Jesus shine His Light, His Goodness, His Love, onto that narrow way. Put away that old man, and let Jesus make you into a new creature. Let His work begin in you.
Hell is a hell of a place.
It's a REAL place. What scientists call the core of the earth is actually, Biblically speaking, the location of hell. Prov 15:24; Is 14:9; Amos 9:2, plenty of others. The abyssal depths of the sea contain creatures that live under phenomenal and rather "unearthly" circumstances. The Bible talks about worms that never die. Mark 9:44. Jonah talks of the deep depth of darkness in the pit in chapter 2. Jesus tells us repeatedly that hell contains unquenchable flames and fire (Luke 16:27-30; Mark 9:43-44.
Hell is a place of torment and torture, containing unending and unrelieved pain, trouble and sorrow. Whatever "hell" you believe you are experiencing here on this earth will be incomparable to the ETERNAL hell described in Luke 16; 2 Samuel 22:6; Psalm 116:3. We have the promise that whatever sorrow you're experiencing now, there WILL be an end to it; sorrow it but for a time; weeping may endure for a night, but JOY cometh in the moring. There will never be joy in hell.
Hell wasn't even originally for humans, but for Lucifer, the one-third of the angels who followed him, and it grew (enlarged) to accommodate the wicked and the nations who forget God. Psalm 9:17; Isaiah 14:12-15; Mt 25:41.
We humans are creatures who each bear a body, a soul, and a spirit. Our bodies are destined to die on this earth. Our bodies were used to function in this world of earth and are barely (if at all) conscious, or aware, of the spirit realm. Once our bodies die, our soul and spirit are separated from the body, and we become more aware of the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm then becomes more real and permanent than our physical realm on earth. Our physical realm is the place where we MUST make the decision to believe on the Name above all names, Jesus Christ. Choose ye THIS day whom you will serve. Joshua 24:15. If we fail to make that decision, confessing with our mouths to men and believing with our hearts that He truly was the Son of the Living God, who was crucified, was buried, was resurrected, and is alive forevermore, then that decision WILL BE MADE FOR YOU upon your death as a rejection of God's only begotten Son and His gift of eternal life in heaven. I don't want that for anyone!! God doesn't, either.
Ye must be born again. Don't let Jesus' atonement for your sins pass you by! Jesus loves you so much that He was willing to die for our sins and became the sacrifice for all of mankind; giving us a new start in life with God. He wants His children to want to be with Him. He is THE Father of all fathers, and we become His children throughout eternity. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life...ETERNAL LIFE. NO man can come to the Father but by Me. There are many roads that lead to Jesus, but there is only one road that leads to God the Father. There are many gates to hell. The paths to hell are broad, and many people follow after that path. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Prov 16:25. Let Jesus shine His Light, His Goodness, His Love, onto that narrow way. Put away that old man, and let Jesus make you into a new creature. Let His work begin in you.
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