Creation-Deprivation Disorder

Creation-Deprivation Disorder

That's what I've got. 

And I've diagnosed my family with the disorder, too. 

I don't believe we were created to be so sedentary or confined, and I've craved more interaction with nature, but I haven't known how to make it happen.  

I've recently begun reading this book, hoping it will inspire me, so I can inspire us:  

 

The author labels this generation's lack of being outside as "Nature-Deficit Disorder" but I prefer to call it "Creation-Deprivation Disorder".  I'm craving being surrounded by creation so I can know the Creator better and to worship Him as I see Him in what He has made.  I want that for my kids, too.  

Today, I was reading the book and making excuses about it being too cold outside, when I heard the sound of a Disney movie trickling down the stairs.  I decided Prince Charming and I needed an adventure, so I bundled us up and got on my bike and left our neighborhood.  

Thankfully, it doesn't take long for us to get away from our concrete subdivision.  First we said hello to some of our animal friends- 

Then we stopped at a dried out creek bed on the edge of our neighborhood and played and explored, romped, and threw lots of rocks:

It was gray and cold.  The only color was Prince Charming's jacket.  But it was the perfect backdrop for imagination. 

We had a lot of fun on our adventure! 

Well...at least for awhile. 

Then the wimp came back out in us.  : ) 

It's been about three days that I've been very intentional about getting myself outside and encouraging the kids to do it, too, and I can't believe how great I feel from the walks and bike rides.  They've left me hungry for more.   

When the girls came home from school I showed them this website and sent them outside to build their own Fairy House. 

They are mid-construction, so I'll save the update on their progress for another post.  They said I could share the end result as long as I reminded you all not to scare off the fairies.  : ) 

Here's to more adventures to come!  

Q4U-  Do you feel like you or your kids are creation deprived? 

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{{Hugs}}

My oldest princess has been so independent from the beginning. 

She crawled at 5 months, walked at 9 months, and had a new baby sister that needed our attention one month after her first birthday.  She didn't seem to have much time or need for snuggling- she was on the go and she was the big kid, not the baby. 

Recently, she has been doing more growing up.  You know that kind of growing up that happens when you are almost nine, when you start changing, and everything seems so overwhelming?  Along with that changing and growing up has come a lot of emotion- tears and frustration and bickering. 

I felt this ache in my heart as I realized how quickly she is growing up and how disconnected she and I have been this winter.  I"ve been frustrated with her and she's been frustrated with me and more than a few nights I've cried and prayed about how sad I was to be losing my little girl to the tween years.  As I prayed, God gave me some direction that was different from what I expected.  You know what He told me to do?    

Hug her more.      

I was so surprised.  Every once in awhile she's asked for a hug or snuggle time, but it always seemed to come when I couldn't (or didn't want to) give her that kind of attention.  It appeared to come when she wanted out of something like going to bed at night or when I was right in the middle of something like cooking dinner or finishing a project and my answer had to be, "I can't right now.  I'm busy."  

I hadn't noticed how little physical affection I had been giving her lately, and I hadn't noticed how hungry she was for it.  Until I started giving it to her. 

Instead of opening the door in the morning and saying, "Rise and shine.  Get up for school!" I've been going in to her room a few minutes early and snuggling with her until she wakes up.  At school, I won't let her leave my car in the morning without a kiss and hug goodbye, and throughout the day, I've tried to grab her as often as I can and hug that little girl that she still is and will always be to me. 

I didn't know hugs were her love language, or how empty her little love tank had become, but she's blooming lately and seems like a new, more peaceful girl.  She needed Mommy hugs, and I'm so thankful God showed me she did, because what I didn't know or expect was how much I needed those hugs, too. 

I love my girl! 

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When a Princess has a Crisis of Faith

Make sure you don't miss your chance to win Lysa TerKeurst's newest book, Made to Crave by clicking here. The winner will be announced on Friday.

I've always said I didn't want to shelter my kids or give them an unintentional message that I was afraid for their faith to be challenged.

I wanted to raise them to not be afraid of the tough questions because what we believe is True, therefore it can stand up to skepticism and challenge and still be True.


Both King Charming and I have also raised them to be critical thinkers, to not just take something as true because someone (or the Internet) says it is true, but to test what they are told.

We want them to use their minds and although it is an act of faith, they do not need to check their intellect at the door in order to place that faith in Jesus. Faith in Him is reasonable.

All of that sounded great in theory, but recently I had to put that confidence into practice and I must admit my gut reaction was to panic.


Sometime in mid-November, I began to notice changes in one of my princesses. In order to protect her privacy, I won't go into great detail, but I was so worried about how resistant she suddenly became to any activity that had to do with church, the Bible, praise, or prayer. For two months I fretted and worried and tried to get it out of her what was wrong, but she wasn't letting me in.


And then I finally got smart enough to pray about the issue. Why, Oh why don't I remember that is where I'm supposed to go first?


The answer was to pray more. Somewhere along the way this past year I got off course with my prayer life and I realized I had stopped consistently covering my family in prayer. And when I started praying for her, the guard came down one night at bedtime, and in tears she started sharing a list of questions she had and let me see how doubt had crept in and how she was afraid and not so sure that what we believed was true anymore.


I wish I could say I was able to calmly and rationally reassure her, but emotion crept in and turned my mind to mush. I didn't have all the right answers. I just tucked her in to bed and ran to King Charming for help. : )


The next morning, I sat back in awe and listened as he led her through a set of questions that helped her come to logical conclusions on her own about the real evidence her faith was built upon. He also praised her for being a critical thinker and let her know he was proud of her for thinking through this stuff. Later that night she prayed, "Thank you, Lord for showing me you are the true God."


And then I breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. : ) I was so thankful for the answers to my prayers for her. And I'm so thankful for the continued peace I see in her lately.


She is such a smart little girl and so young to already be going through these times of doubt. But it was so cool to see how God carried her through and encouraged her. I believe her faith will be stronger now then ever because she is learning that He is worthy of her trust, and I'm glad that her faith is becoming her own, not just something she believes because her parents do.


I learned a lot going through this first little crisis of faith with one of my children. Here are some highlights:


• Don't stop praying for them. I pulled out this list again to help focus my prayers.

• Don't panic, just pray even more. The more I panicked, the worse pressure I put on her.

• Remember God will cover where I fail. He answered her questions even when my stumbling and stammering couldn't.

• I'm thankful my husband is so smart. : )


Thank you, Lord, that you are worthy of our trust. Thank you that you are real and what we believe is True with a capital T. Thank you for loving my family even more than I do, and for answering my prayers. Thank you for helping my sweet princesses grow up to be beautiful women of God.

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Adventures of Super Mom: A Day Off or Just An Off Day?

Wednesday night, I snuggled up to my husband in bed and said, "I'm excited because tomorrow I get a day off.  There's no school so I don't have to set the alarm, and I don't have to be Mama Taxi Driver.  It's going to be a great day!"
 

As I fell asleep, I fantasized about a day of reconnecting with my kids.  The girls had been so busy lately, maybe we would go for a bike ride.  Maybe we'd play board games or snuggle on the couch for a long cozy chat. 

Then I had the bright idea of starting potty training.  Prince Charming has shown interest, and has had some successful bathroom visits over the past few months, with a four day weekend ahead and no where to go, wouldn't this be the perfect time to give potty training a shot?

I sighed contentedly and fell asleep with great expectations for the next day.  

Ha!  Isn't it funny how a day can unfold so differently from what we expected it to be?   

Here's what really happened:

1.  Because of a late school event the night before, we woke up to all of the dinner dishes waiting for us: stuck on, greasy meatloaf crusted plates and pans = grumpy start.

2.  Potty Training-  I'll spare you all the gory details, but after several tantrums, an extra large bottle of bubbles dumped on the bathroom floor, and an absolute REFUSAL to point his "thing" down so he wouldn't pee on Mommy's face, Prince Charming made it VERY CLEAR that he was NOT ready for this new skill.  I tendered my potty training resignation after only two hours of trying.  : )

3.  By this time in the morning, a large crowd of neighborhood kids invaded the house stopped by to visit.  Gone were my dreams of quiet, cozy fireside chats in the living room with my kids. 

4.  Then Littlest Princess found me to tell me the upstairs toilet was clogged.  While she came looking for me, Oldest Princess went in and flushed some more trying to "fix" the problem.   By the time I made it up the stairs, a crowd of children had gathered to see the fascinating toilet fountain that had flooded the bathroom floor and was seeping in to the hallway carpet. 

I sweetly asked them all to exit my home while I figured out how to stop the fountain and clean up the flood.  (Confession- maybe not so sweetly at all.  Maybe I'm a little afraid of the stories they told their parents that night of my teeny tirade) 

5.  I'm still trying to block out the memory of the screaming match with my children outside in the front yard for all the neighbors to see and hear while I convinced my oldest two that it was their duty to watch their little brother while I rescued our home. 

And then it happened.  

I walked back in the house, into the laundry room, and reached up to the top shelf and accidentally knocked this container of Oxy Clean down on my head.  : ) 

It was at the moment, standing in the laundry room, covered in white powder, watching water leak from upstairs, that I finally just laughed.

I couldn't help but see the "I Love Lucy" comedic aspect to what was happening and there really wasn't anything else left to do but laugh at myself.     





And It Was Only Noon!

Being Super Mom is just harder work than you think. For some reason, though, I don't think I'm ready to ask for another day off any time soon.

Here's to us all having a weekend with low expectations!  LOL!

Happy Friday!

Love,

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IT Won't Depart from Them- A New Look at Proverbs 22:6

As moms, many of us carry a certain amount of burden for the spiritual condition and future of our kids.

I think about it often. I wonder, Will my kids have their own faith? Will they stay faithful to Jesus after they grow up? Am I doing everything I can to make sure that happens?

Sometimes it is scary. What if I'm doing it all wrong?

There is a verse in the Bible that says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV).

That can be a comforting verse, or it can add guilt if your child grows up and does depart from it. Then the question changes to What did I do wrong?

Ravi Zacharias was on my car radio the other day teaching on parenthood. He discussed Proverbs 22:6 and said in the original language the verse could lend itself more to Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old it will not depart from him.

That interpretation was comforting to me because I was reminded ultimately my children are responsible for their own relationship with the Lord, as we all are.

I can't do it wrong because it isn't up to me. My children have freewill and all that I am trying to pour into them will not depart from them when they are old. It will be in their hearts to draw from as they live out their own faith.

If they stray, they will be haunted by it until they return to Truth. It won't depart from them.

My dream for my kids is that they will continue in the faith and will not have to ever know the emptiness of a life without purpose, a life without hope, a life without true love, a life without Jesus. That they will be rescued from sin and will spend Eternity in Heaven with Him.

I'm thankful that He will not let go of them. And I'm thankful for their beautiful childlike faith right now, a faith that is so strong despite my failures and successes as their mom.

It is all their own.

It will always be their own.

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