Tonight while we were having dinner, we heard a thud and then laughter of children. We have a lot of kids on our street and after school they almost all play outside. We didn't think anything of it and went on with our meal. After dinner Mr. TD went outside to mow the lawn and discovered something dripping from our roof, and noticed the neighbors hose was drug toward our house. He looked up on the roof, and found an egg had been thrown at our house and that they had tried to use our neighbors hose to clean it up.
We have no idea who did this, although we have our suspicions. I just don't understand what would possess someone to do that to someone else, maybe it's because I am a female. Is this really funny??? I just don't get it!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Oops! I forgot one...
I forgot to add one more to yesterday's post. This is the one that started me on the thinking path I went on, but somehow in my congested head, I forgot it when I began typing. So, here it is:
Yesterday we had our library day for school. Two weeks ago we borrowed several books and one Leap Pad book. The Leap Pad book was a song book of Mother Goose Rhymes, I thought it would be a lot of fun and would help me remember all of the tunes that I have forgotten since I was in Kindergarten. Anyway, both Princess TD and Little TD use the Leap Pad and we have 2 of them so they each have their own. Little TD was playing with the Mother Goose book when he did something very trivial and made Princess TD angry. Not just cross...but extremely angry. She grabbed the book he had on the pad and tore a page from it, wadded it up and threw it across the room, just to make him mad! He brought me the torn out page, crying that sissy had torn his book. I took the page from him and called Princess TD. We discussed the whole situation, what she did, why she did it, a better way to react, the whole thing. However, at the end, I informed her that when we returned the book to the library, she had to take it to the librarian and tell her she tore a page out and use her birthday spending money to replace the book. I smoothed out the page and carefully put it back into the spirals to try to salvage as much as possible, but even with a gentle tug, the page came right back out. On our way to the library yesterday, I reminded her what she had to to when we got there and she was ready to go. (Proud Momma moment here) She patiently waited in line for the librarian and when it was her turn, she explained that she tore out a page and that she needed to pay for the book. She showed the librarian which page it was and apologized and said that she was going to pay for it with her spending money and her birthday money. I think she was proud that she was using her own money, but not about what she did. The librarian looked at it carefully and said, "I think it will be fine. We don't need to replace it." Then she looked directly at Princess TD and said, "Save your spending money for something special, and be sure to be more kind to your books." Grace.
You know I find it very encouraging to see that when we take responsibility for our actions others are more apt to forgive.
Yesterday we had our library day for school. Two weeks ago we borrowed several books and one Leap Pad book. The Leap Pad book was a song book of Mother Goose Rhymes, I thought it would be a lot of fun and would help me remember all of the tunes that I have forgotten since I was in Kindergarten. Anyway, both Princess TD and Little TD use the Leap Pad and we have 2 of them so they each have their own. Little TD was playing with the Mother Goose book when he did something very trivial and made Princess TD angry. Not just cross...but extremely angry. She grabbed the book he had on the pad and tore a page from it, wadded it up and threw it across the room, just to make him mad! He brought me the torn out page, crying that sissy had torn his book. I took the page from him and called Princess TD. We discussed the whole situation, what she did, why she did it, a better way to react, the whole thing. However, at the end, I informed her that when we returned the book to the library, she had to take it to the librarian and tell her she tore a page out and use her birthday spending money to replace the book. I smoothed out the page and carefully put it back into the spirals to try to salvage as much as possible, but even with a gentle tug, the page came right back out. On our way to the library yesterday, I reminded her what she had to to when we got there and she was ready to go. (Proud Momma moment here) She patiently waited in line for the librarian and when it was her turn, she explained that she tore out a page and that she needed to pay for the book. She showed the librarian which page it was and apologized and said that she was going to pay for it with her spending money and her birthday money. I think she was proud that she was using her own money, but not about what she did. The librarian looked at it carefully and said, "I think it will be fine. We don't need to replace it." Then she looked directly at Princess TD and said, "Save your spending money for something special, and be sure to be more kind to your books." Grace.
You know I find it very encouraging to see that when we take responsibility for our actions others are more apt to forgive.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Grace 'n Failure
This is the title of the last lesson in the Bible study I have been leading this summer. It has been an interesting couple of days here as I have been preparing for this last class. One of the days talked about letting your kids fall so that they can see their need for God's grace. It also talked about extending grace to each other. I don't think we extend each other enough grace. Here are a couple of examples of grace 'n failure I have seen since I completed that lesson.
Princess TD has learned to ride her bike sans training wheels. Last night we were out riding and she was getting dangerously close to parked cars. I stopped her and told her a story about when I was about 8 years old and I was riding my bike. We lived in a small neighborhood that had a block that was about 1/4 mi around, so all of us kids would just ride around and around and around all day long. I was on my 5th or 6th lap and I wasn't paying attention and as I came around a corner, I ran smack into the back of a parked car. I went over the handlebars and landed on the trunk! I told her about going to the door and telling the owner of the car that I had hit their car and how scary that was (in that day, we didn't need parents to go to our neighbors homes, so I did this alone). She was astounded that I had hit a car. I think she was trying to figure out how I could have made that mistake, but I explained that it was an accident. The owner of the truck that she came dangerously close to hitting was in his front yard and heard me tell this story. After I got her back on her way, he told me that he has had to buff out at least a dozen scratches from the boys in the neighborhood (who never told him, BTW) and that it was "ok" if she hit his truck. He said that he appreciated me trying to teach her not to hit it but if she did, he knew it was an accident! Grace.
Ok, here's what happened in the end of my story: The lady who owned the car actually saw me hit her car out the window. She was impressed that I came right away to tell her about it. She insisted that I sit in the shade and have some cookies and lemonade! Awesome Grace.
My dear friend, Erinlo, has a post regarding a similar situation to this on her blog. Go check it out and tell her what you think.
I have always been a perfectionist (I know, no surprise). I do not like failure and do not like to admit (or even acknowledge) when I have failed (or am wrong). When I was younger, I was very critical of others choices that didn't match my "correct" way of thinking. I was watching a DVR episode of Dr. Phil from yesterday and I saw myself in the overcritical, overachiever big sister. It made me think about the hurtful things I have said to several of my lifelong friends and family members. Even with all of the hurtful things I have said, they have forgiven me and still love me. Grace.
I also see some of these same critical, "always right" tendencies in Princess TD. I am praying for the right situation to come up and the right story to help her to see that it's not the way to go, that she needs to extend grace to others.
I pray that I can find a way to teach this to my children. We are all a failure. We all need Grace. Each of us in our own lives in our own way is rejoicing, hurting, serving, being served, playing, working, stressing, relaxing, holding on and letting go. Grace to us all.
Princess TD has learned to ride her bike sans training wheels. Last night we were out riding and she was getting dangerously close to parked cars. I stopped her and told her a story about when I was about 8 years old and I was riding my bike. We lived in a small neighborhood that had a block that was about 1/4 mi around, so all of us kids would just ride around and around and around all day long. I was on my 5th or 6th lap and I wasn't paying attention and as I came around a corner, I ran smack into the back of a parked car. I went over the handlebars and landed on the trunk! I told her about going to the door and telling the owner of the car that I had hit their car and how scary that was (in that day, we didn't need parents to go to our neighbors homes, so I did this alone). She was astounded that I had hit a car. I think she was trying to figure out how I could have made that mistake, but I explained that it was an accident. The owner of the truck that she came dangerously close to hitting was in his front yard and heard me tell this story. After I got her back on her way, he told me that he has had to buff out at least a dozen scratches from the boys in the neighborhood (who never told him, BTW) and that it was "ok" if she hit his truck. He said that he appreciated me trying to teach her not to hit it but if she did, he knew it was an accident! Grace.
Ok, here's what happened in the end of my story: The lady who owned the car actually saw me hit her car out the window. She was impressed that I came right away to tell her about it. She insisted that I sit in the shade and have some cookies and lemonade! Awesome Grace.
My dear friend, Erinlo, has a post regarding a similar situation to this on her blog. Go check it out and tell her what you think.
I have always been a perfectionist (I know, no surprise). I do not like failure and do not like to admit (or even acknowledge) when I have failed (or am wrong). When I was younger, I was very critical of others choices that didn't match my "correct" way of thinking. I was watching a DVR episode of Dr. Phil from yesterday and I saw myself in the overcritical, overachiever big sister. It made me think about the hurtful things I have said to several of my lifelong friends and family members. Even with all of the hurtful things I have said, they have forgiven me and still love me. Grace.
I also see some of these same critical, "always right" tendencies in Princess TD. I am praying for the right situation to come up and the right story to help her to see that it's not the way to go, that she needs to extend grace to others.
I pray that I can find a way to teach this to my children. We are all a failure. We all need Grace. Each of us in our own lives in our own way is rejoicing, hurting, serving, being served, playing, working, stressing, relaxing, holding on and letting go. Grace to us all.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Pictures as Promised
Here's some video taken today of Princess TD riding her bike! She did awesome! She was even able to take off from the curb by herself! She has Daddy and Mommy beat as far as how quickly she learned!
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