Need a pick me up?

Check out this video of Jake when we first used a web cam. This video is old school. Yah, it'll make you smile :-).



Here are a few songs I am listening to in an effort to brighten the mood. This week has been especially hard for me on a personal level. Worship music always helps. Check out these songs courtesy of Youtube.

Matt Maher: Hold Us Together



David Crowder Band: Oh My Soul



Chris Tomlin: Our God



Let me know if you like them.

School Days

It is funny to watch how kids mimic their parents. In nature it is a survival skill. Mama tigers teach baby tigers how to hunt and prowl for food. They learn from the best to survive. So how does this translate to human behavior? Kids do the same thing. They follow their parents' example. Jacob and Brock often play school. They do this partly because school is fun and partly because both of their parents are teachers. So how do teacher’s kids play school?

Jacob my oldest plays the teacher. He puts together charts for stickers and develops mini-lessons. Brock, the ever eager student patiently listens…for about 2 minutes. Then decides he knows more than the teacher. As a result a fight ensues and Jacob demands to have parent/teacher conferences where he relates to me how poor a student Brock is. He asks me to spank him to correct his behavior. Then he tells me that Brock is suspended from school without further notice and goes about to play Legos by himself.

Today Brock attempted to be the teacher of his Baby School. His school motto is “Baby School is so fun because you don’t have to learn anything, you just have to do what I say.” Every activity included singing, body movement and encouraging words. The day started well with circle time. Brock told the students (Katie and Ben) the agenda for the day. Katie quickly exited. Brock gently persuaded her to return to her seat. The ever two-year old opted to ride the trike instead. In response to Katie walking away from Baby School, Brock knocked over her chair and said, “This is my school and I will teach you.” Brock is a natural teacher, but his technique needs to be refined a bit.

After that fiasco, Brock decided that Ben, a 6 month old, was a captive audience. Brock offered the following lecture to his new found pupil:
“Do not walk away from your mom and dad when they are talking to you.”
“Do not lie to your mom when she did not see what happened like Jake did yesterday when he told dad I made something up .”
“Ben, what is lying? If I say to my mother I was going to get an instrument to sing and I don’t that is lying. Don’t lie.”
Can you tell we are having many conversations in our house about the honesty of our word?

After lecture was the reinforcement activity to demonstrate learning. Feet clapping. (see pictures below)

The day ended with quiet reflection and story time from the book Brock read, “We love our Jesus and our God.” He then proceeded to “read” a book by reading the page numbers in ordinal number. He made it to thirteenth and I was quite impressed.

So what did I learn today? Kids are fun to watch. They are especially fun to watch as they try to be grownups. They have not learned all the social conventions and tell it like it is (of which Brock is a master). They share honestly and openly. They know little, but have complete faith in what they do know. I learned that the best teachers in the world are children.

So, what IS this Wild Place?

A few weeks back, I took my middle son, Brock, on a tour of our new neighborhood. Quite near to our home is a wildlife refuge with a lot of grass, trees and lakeside. In the eyes of a 5-year-old this equates to ample space for running and playing and in his own words, “going wild.” He termed Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge, “The Wild Place.” Yes, that certainly will be a place we visit this summer where the kids can run free and go ape so to speak. But, I think the wild place is so much more than just this physical space for which my son coined a name.

The Wild Place is my life.

6:00am wake up calls. 2:00am lights out. Lunch bags. T-Ball. Swim meets. 3rd grade math I cannot do. Knotty hair. A son who hates meat and another one who would like to live off it. Green apples and red ones. PB & J, cut the crusts off please. It is grading English papers. Training for a marathon. It is enunciating T-R-U-C-K so my daughter doesn’t swear. It is moving. Flip flops and coffee cups. The Wild Place is dirty diapers and runny noses. It is game nights. Pumpkin Cake. Sewing. Planning. It is trying to find my sunglasses. Dealing with that phone call I simply DO NOT want to answer. Living without a microwave...on purpose. It is three (yes, 3) Bible studies. The Wild Place is choosing patience over insanity. Three boys and one girl for this mama who was an only child. It is brief glimpses that I am doing something right to train my children up in the Lord. It is asking that eternal question…Did I take a shower today?

The Wild Place is where God wants me to be.

Beth Moore often says that living in God’s will is the wildest ride we will ever take. I can wholeheartedly agree with her on that one. I seek nothing more than to do the will of My Father who sent me into this world. My life has been far from normal…but that is for another post. Right now all 6 of us are living in a one bedroom apartment as we await the closing on our new home. Tight family quarters for all of us. Talk about wild! Moving isn’t easy. It isn’t fun…did I mention I have 4 kids? It is life altering. It is closing doors and the willingness to open new ones. Change is hard for this coffee-addicted homebody. Give me my flannel sheets, my Bible and my pastry blender thank you very much. I don’t want to meet new people; I prefer the old ones. However, in my time of transition and moving I must keep focused on the goal – His will and not mine. Life in His will is wild so I better remember to sit down, rest in His Word and buckle up!

Welcome to The Wild Place…

ps. The picture off to the right is the lake at The Wild Place.