Lessons from an Internet-less World April 7, 2009

I am thrilled with our new computer!  I would take a picture of it and post it on here but I don’t know how to upload pictures yet.  

The last three weeks without a computer have been interesting.  The first days were the toughest.  I went through some serious withdrawals… seriously.  I went from the girl who checked her email/blogs/facebook hourly, to nothing.  I was really crawling out of my skin.  But after the first week, it was kinda nice.  (Don’t tell Geric I said that.  I’ll totally deny it.)  

I did learn a few lessons while living in my internet-less world that I thought I would share before I get on to my regular blogging and catch you all up on my oh-so-interesting life.

1.  I’m an addict.  (The first step is admitting you have a problem, right?)  I’m not just talking about internet related activities either.  It could be anything, but once I start doing it I get addicted.  Since the internet was my number one addiction, I didn’t notice the others until it was gone.  But I’m totally addicting to coupons.  (Thank you Karin and Carrie for opening the world of couponing to me!) Geric makes fun of me because my new line is, “Oh, I think I have a coupon for that!” And I also became addicted to exercise over the last few weeks, but that can be partly because I had nothing else to do and child care at the gym is a wonderful thing.

2.  I’m a much better mom when my face isn’t glued to the computer screen.  Surprise!

3.  I thrive on my relationships with my blogging buddies and facebook friends.  I’ve actually gained a whole new found respect for stay at home mom’s in the 1980’s and before.  How did they not go completely insane???

4.  I take less pictures when I know I’m not going to blog about it.  Sad, but true.

5.  The internet has developed my hatred of the phone into a complete and total loathing.  I actually had to call a few people that I would normally email and I despised the thought of it.  I survived though.

6.  I read more books when I’m not hooked up to the internet.  That’s a good thing.

7.  Lack of internet = a good tan.  Huh?  When my boys were playing in the backyard, instead of running to the computer, I ran to put on my swim suit and laid out.  Isn’t being a stay at home mom wonderful?  :) 

8.  I can survive without modern day conveniences, although it’s very inconvenient.

So there.  That’s what I’ve learned.  And I dare you to turn off your computer for a week.  It’s not that bad.  You can do it.  Your kids will like you better, I promise.

Easter Shopping March 17, 2009

I haven’t vented on here in awhile (and God forbid I turn into one of those gushy mommy blogs that’s so sugary sweet that I make your teeth hurt!) So here goes.

Yesterday I thought ahead and decided to go get some outfits for the boys to wear on Easter.  I didn’t want to get those sweater vests or ties or anything, but I wanted them to look nicer than the usual t-shirts and blue jeans that they wear everyday.  And I didn’t want to spend more than $30 on both.  So i thought we would go to Kohl’s.  They always have good sales.

On the way there I took a wrong turn and ended up going WAY out of the way because I couldn’t make a u-turn for miles, literally miles!  So when we finally got to Kohl’s I was slightly annoyed.  Then I go to pop the trunk to take out the stroller.  No stroller.  Awesome.  Thank God Kohl’s have those little carts (that are as easy to maneuver as a wheel barrel full of rocks.)

So we get to the kids section and now I’m down right peeved.  Why? you ask.  Well, I found the ONE display of boys nice clothes that were priced at $25 a shirt (on sale!) and I looked around and saw a sea (A SEA, people!) full of pink and fluff and sparkles!  And most were under $15.  What the heck!?!?   Even Target had masses of pretty little dresses and (once again) ONE section for boys.  The girls even got dresses on the end of the underwear aisles.  Are clothing designers really that limited when it comes to creating something for a male toddler?  Are buyers really that narrow minded that they only select a few boy outfits and a trillion girls’?  

I’m starting to get superbly annoyed with the sexism that is going on in the children’s department of most clothing stores.  If you’re a mother of boys, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Boys need to dress nice on Easter, too.  When did it become a girl holiday? 

Maybe I should write a letter.  Maybe I should start a movement.  Mothers of boys, UNITE!

My Teamer February 25, 2009

Those of you that know me well know that when I graduated from college, I was slightly directionless.  I got my degree to be a teacher, but that just wasn’t jivin’ with me.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that wasn’t it (at least right then.)  So after some thought and talking to my pastor, I decided to take a plunge and move to Honduras.  Crazy, right?  It was.  But after a lot of prayer, I knew that that was where God wanted me.  So, I literally packed my bags and moved far, far away.

That time was not easy by any means.  I was extremely homesick.  (Remember, I’m the kid that thinks moving a half an hour away from mom and dad is too far!) And living in a third world country where you aren’t fluent in the language can make you feel isolated, so I was kind of depressed.

But one of the best things that could have ever happened to me, happened while I was there.  I met Robin Hanna.  We totally clicked from the get go. We made up nicknames for each other and called each other “Teamer” the whole time I was there and it evolved into “Teater” and then to “Teat” and then to “Teat-a-leat”  eventually into the really annoying, “Teat-a-leat-teat-teat-teat-teat-teat-teater!”  Super annoying, right? 

But Robin is just amazing!  Have you ever met someone that just shines Jesus out of their pores?  That’s her.  She lives life with her eyes glued on Jesus and taught me so much about following Him and being completely surrendered to His will.  I mean, she’s not deaf, nor are any of her family members, but she decided as an adult to learn sign language and then, on a missions trip to Honduras, decided that her calling in life was to teach Honduran deaf people to communicate through sign.  (Most of them didn’t have a way to communicate and were shunned by society.)  So she left the comforts of home and moved to Honduras ALONE to fulfill God’s call on her life.  She is so faithful and so in love with Jesus.  She started an organization called Signs of Love, or Senas de Amor in Honduras, and their mission is to teach the deaf how to communicate and to tell them about Jesus in the process.

While I was there, Signs of Love was just taking off.  We mostly traveled and scouted out where the deaf were, and started these small little sign language classes.  But I got her newsletter today and it seriously blows my mind at how much this ministry has grown.  They had summer camp with 136 people!  The deaf church that was such a baby has totally grown and become a real church.  It’s so awesome.

What’s even more awesome, is that Robin has finally found her real Teamer.  She has always talked about finding the right guy and getting married and having that partner in life, and I got an email a few weeks ago and it’s finally happened.  I haven’t met him, but he must be pretty amazing, because she is one special lady. 

 

 

One more thing, in the newsletter I got there was an article about a book that has been written about a deaf boy in Honduras.  For all you CBCers, it was written by Ben Fudge and illustrated by Tim Edmonson.  It’s a picture book and I thought some of you might be interested in getting it for your kiddos.  I did.  It’s called Enrique Speaks With His Hands, and you can find it on amazon.com. 

Oh, one more thing. (I was lying before when I said, “one more thing.”) If you’re a praying person, add Robin and Jeff and Signs of Love to your list.  They are such servants and so faithful and just awesome.  Pray that God continues to use them touch the hearts of the deaf in Honduras and to make a kingdom difference.

B February 18, 2009

A typical Wednesday for us consists of me going to Bible Study in the morning while Geric hangs out with the boys and then we meet up at Wahoo’s for lunch.  Yes, it’s always Wahoo’s.  We like it there. 

Today I was sick and I didn’t want to infect all my Bible Study buddies, so I skipped it.  But we still wanted to go out to lunch, because that’s what we do on Wednesday.  We look forward to it.  We budget for it.  We HAD to go.

But Riverside doesn’t have a Wahoo’s.  A travesty, really.  Instead, we thought that we would try out this little place that someone had told Geric about.  (I’m not telling you the name on purpose… you’ll see why in a sec.)

So, we’re walking in and as Geric is holding the door open for me he smiles and casually points to something in the window.  I glance, don’t really notice and I keep walking.  As we’re being seated at our booth it hits me.  I realize what I just saw.  A big blue B… as in, the rating for the restaurant. 

I panicked.  What does a B mean???  I mean, it’s almost an A.  If I would’ve gotten a B in school I would be happy.  So maybe a B in a restaurant means something really minor like they just forgot to wear hair nets, or the spatula fell on the floor and someone yelled, “5 second rule!” and picked it up, or maybe they just noticed only one employee that forgot to wash his hands before returning to work.  (Insert barf sound here.)  It’s not like it’s a C or they had to shut the place down, but still…

After the waitress handed us our menus, I looked at Geric and whispered, “I’m a little worried.”  He asked why, and trying to be subtle and not advertise to all my fellow diners that they might just mightbe eating unsanitary food, I mouthed, “the B.”  “What!”  Geric practically shouted.  I tried mouthing it slower, “the B.”  “Huh?” he says as he gives me a blank stare.  Seriously?  Didn’t he just point it out???  So I wrote it in the air while mouthing, “the B.” 

Geric’s response:  “Oh Erin, that was just one day!  One day when the health inspector came, something went wrong and they got a B.  Don’t worry.”  He continues browsing through his menu.  Mind you, my husband actually dreams of living in a third world country one day.  So, while every fiber of my being was shouting, “Run away!  Don’t let your children eat poop!” we stayed.

Long story short, Jacob has had the runs all day and I have a massive headache.  I realize that Jacob probably just drank too much juice and my headache is all psychological but I have resolved to never eat in a restaurant with less than an A rating.  It’s not too much to ask, is it?

Book Review January 22, 2009

I am well aware that there is a large group of my friends who are reading rubbish, AKA the Twilight series.  I know, Edward is amazing and the story is so gripping and blah, blah, blah, I’ve heard it all… from the jr, highers at youth group!  Haha!   I thought I would share my thoughts on a couple other books I have read, just in case you all want to venture outside a fourth grade reading level.  I kid, I kid.

Okay, the first book I LOVED was Water for Elephants.  The characters we so well developed and you think its going to end one way, but then there’s a twist and you’re like, whoa, didn’t see that one comin’.  You really end up feeling for the characters and I couldn’t put the book down.  It goes back and forth from the present to 50 years ago with a traveling circus.  Really original.  Two thumbs up!  But I will warn you, there are a couple of extremely explicit sex scenes and you can’t fast forward a book, you know?  So, if you don’t like that kind of stuff (not that I like that kind of stuff, but I can see the forest for the trees, people) you might want to skip a few pages here and there.   

The other book that I read in one day (and I haven’t done that since fourth grade when I was obsessed with Babysitters Club… oooooh, you Twilighters might like that series!  Ha!  I just can’t get enough of this!)  Anyway, the other book I read in one day was Sarah’s Key.  Sooooooooo good.  It takes place during the Holocaust, which usually makes me tummy hurt when I read about it, but this was such a good story.  I cried, I laughed, I was so sad when it ended.  But i loved it!  Two thumbs up, way up!

So, does anyone have any good suggestions for a good read?

Freaky Weird 20/20 January 21, 2009

Did anyone happen to catch 20/20 a few weeks ago when it was about a bunch of different aspects of mothering?  I recorded it when I saw that it was going to be about women who find the birthing process pleasurable.  I thought, “Hmmmm, I should watch that since I’m planning on having more kids and I’m not messing around with another epidural that probably won’t work anyway.”  I finally got around to watching it, and it seriously blew. my. mind.

The first segment was about women that find the birthing process pleasurable… very, very pleasurable, if you catch my drift.  I was sitting there, mouth wide open in complete disbelief when the newscaster said that 21% of women find it this pleasurable.  Whaaaaaa?  I have never heard of this before!  You obviously need to have a natural birth to experience the full effects of… the pleasure.  And to prove their point they actually had footage of one woman who was having a very pleasurable experience, under a tree in a hot tub.  I’m all for finding ways to alleviate the pain, but all that pleasure in front of nurses, doctors, God knows who else is in the room (my Dad!), well, that’s just embarrassing.

Commercial Break.

The next segment was all about these WEIRDO women who collect really lifelike looking baby dolls.  Two of the women they showed didn’t have children of their own, so they carried around these dolls like they were their real live babies.  They change their clothes and their diapers and have complete nurseries for them!  Whaaaaa?  Crazy, right?  One lady actually takes her “baby” to the park and leaves disappointed if no one tells her how cute she is.  And she took her baby out and about in the city and one woman stopped to tell her how cute her baby was and the “mother” let the lady go on and on and on, until the lady realized  that the baby was cold, so the “mother” finally told her that she was a doll.  TOTALLY WEIRD!!!

Commercial Break.

Although my mom disagrees, I found this next segment the weirdest of them all.  It was about breastfeeding, which for some reason is really controversial.  I’m all for breastfeeding.  Both my boys were breastfed and it was great… fabulous… good times.  Anywho, this was about mothers who are breastfeeding kindergarteners… and third graders!!!!  They actually showed the third graders shoving her head under her mom’s shirt to nurse.  Whaaaaa?  Shiver me timbers, that’s freakin’ weird!!  My mom said she can kinda understand, because it’s how these kids soothe themselves, similar to a binky, but I say a piece of rubbery plastic is totally different than my boob!  Third grade???  Alert, alert, not okay, totally not okay.  I don’t know that there is a “right age” to stop breastfeeding, but I do know that if your kid is in third grade, you passed it.

So, did anyone else see this?  I know I’m probably going to catch some flack for my sarcasm.  Oh well. Maybe my mean faked named commenter buddy will come out of the woodwork and lay a doozy on me.  But this was just too freakin’ weird not to share with the blogosphere.

Worth the drive? November 28, 2008

I got one of those newspaper flyers in the mail for a grocery store called WInco.  Have you heard of it?  I had, but it was a long time ago and they were always located in areas that… left something to be desired, if you know what I mean.  So I never wanted to pack up the kids and take a trip there.  Plus, I have a special place in my heart for Stater Brothers.  They’re my people.  No fancy stores or outfits or starbucks in the entrance… just some cheap food.  Remember when the Stater Brothers brand food was a brown box with writing on it?  Nothing else, just a brown cardboard box that said, “Macaroni and Cheese” in black boring font.  Those were the good ol’ days. 

Well, the flyer I got showed that there was a Winco in a nicer area, right by the Walmart that I oh so love!    Plus, there was a coupon for a FREE orange juice and a FREE dozen eggs, no purchase necessary.  So I thought I would check it out.  It reminded me of Costco, but you don’t buy everything in bulk.  They had everything on my list, too.  I hate that when I go to Trader Joe’s or wherever and they don’t have something and I have to go across the street to Vons.  Talk about a pain in the hiney!  They also had these big dispensers of spices that you buy by the weight, instead of just buying a REALLY expensive small container off the shelf.  I was highly impressed. 

Long story short, I spent LESS than $100 on groceries for the whole week!!!  That’s amazing!  I usually spend around $125, at least.  We cook dinners and eat at home a lot.  So, I just wanted to share the wealth.  If you have a Winco in the area, it’s worth the drive!

Blog Backup and Other Stuff November 2, 2008

I have been SUCH a lazy blogger lately!  Actually, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I’m busy!  I know, we’re all busy, but I’m busier than I used to be.  We literally have something going on every day of the week.  Monday is running all my errands and family night, Tuesday I work, Wednesday I have Bible Study and youth group, Thursday I sometimes have MOPS and I work, Friday is Geric’s day off so we’ve been going to Disneyland or something like that, Saturday we have church, and Sunday we usually hang out with my parents.  It’s a crazy life, people!  It leaves me pooped and with little time to blog, so there is a major blog backup going on over here!  I have a lot of pictures and a lot of posts in my head, but alas, no time to publish them.  But I will, eventually.  So, if you see pictures from Halloween closer to Thanksgiving time, bear with me, k?  Show a little grace.

Speaking of grace (nice transition, eh?) I’ve been thinking lately about how little grace we show each other as parents.  Here’s my story:  We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend (I have pictures, no post yet) and Caden was jumping in a jump house that had a bouncy area and stairs with a slide.  You couldn’t really see the stairs from the outside of the bounce house, but Caden went back there (presumably to climb up) with a little girl and two older boys.  A minute later the girl ran out crying saying that someone had pushed her.  I immediately thought it was Caden and I called to him and asked him if he had done it.  He said no.  I know what you’re thinking… “You took the word of a three year old???”  Yes, I did.  He is usually very honest about his naughty behavior.  He tells me when he does something naughty in Sunday school even when the teacher says he was good.  So, I figured it must have been one of the older boys and I let him go back and play.  Well, it happened again.  I was standing by the little girl’s dad when she came running out, crying, and he turned to me and said in his best mean voice, “Why don’t you get your kid to stop pushing my little girl!”  I was seriously shocked at how he was talking to me.  I kinda wanted to hit him.  But since I’m not violent I just said, “Don’t talk to me like that.  He’s a three year old little boy.”  And I walked away and got Caden and left.  But for the rest of the time I was at the pumpkin patch I was peeved!  I was thinking, you know, even if Caden HAD been the culprit, all he had to do was tell me in a kind voice that my child is being aggressive with the other kids, that I might want to intervene.  But no.  This guy showed me no grace as a fellow parent and instead treated me like I was the worst mother on earth.  It sucked.

I saw another incident similar to mine the other day and it just made me think, why don’t we show each other some grace?  I mean, we’re all in the same boat here.  We all have little kids and we all know they act up from time to time and we all know that sometimes they do things out of our control and sometimes those things embarrass us and make us feel like rotten parents.  So, if we all know this, why do we treat each other like we don’t?  Why do we throw condemning looks, or talk smack about toddlers, or judge each others parenting skills on the actions of a three year old boy?

I know, I’m on a soapbox, but at least it’s a breather from all the political soapboxes people have been on.  I just thought I throw this out on the good ol’ blog and hopefully plant some thoughts in my fellow parent’s heads.  How about next time you see a child acting up, remember the last time your child acted the same and realize that, hey, if my kid isn’t a monster, then that kid probably isn’t a monster either and instead of passing judgment on the mother’s parenting skills, cut her a little slack and show her a little grace.  She’s probably having a rough day.

Behavior Modification October 24, 2008

I love Caden so much!  He has my crazy sense of humor and he loves to cuddle and he plays with my hair at night and he’s a mama’s boy and he’s all boy… and he’s incredibly strong-willed.  Maybe I should call it high spirited.  That sounds better, doesn’t it? 

This little high spirited child of mine can be very naughty at times (as i’m sure all kids can) and he doesn’t really respond to discipline so well (either he doesn’t care at all or he cares for a little bit and then stops caring.)  He’s so high energy that I figure if I can help him to channel his energy into good things he can be become something amazing, like captain of the soccer team, or ASB president, or President of the US!  (I know that was huge leap from ASB president to president of the US, but you get the picture.)

So, Supernanny inspired me the other day and I decided to make a reward chart for him.  I channeled my inner teacher (I miss her) and came up with this!

   

It’s a magnet board I bought at Target and I thought of five behaviors for Caden to focus on.  (The last one one says, “Stay in your bed.”  It gets cut off in the blog.)

We talked about it and he was on board!  So we check the reward chart before his nap and before bedtime and we talk about if he deserves a happy face or a sad face, (Magnets I made from wooden circles that I painted and hot glued to magnets.)  He’s been so honest about whether he deserves a sad face or not.  I was surprised.

At the end of the day we count up his happy faces,  If he gets 8 or more, he gets to put an animal sticker in the Zoo Sticker Book I made for him.  Each day says, “I was good today!  Let’s go see the elephants!”  (Or tigers, or hippos, etc.)  Once he fills up his whole sticker book, we’re going to take him to the zoo.

The first couple days were a little rocky, and I was being really lenient because I wanted him to feel the joy of the reward at the end of the day.  But now it’s going great!  All I have to say is “Are you being a good listener?” and he remembers his happy faces and changes his behavior.  So far, so good.  Hopefully this lasts longer than a week!

Socially Inept October 19, 2008

Sometimes, that’s me.  I don’t know what causes it, because I’m not always socially retarded.  Some times I’m downright friendly, quite delightful actually.  But then, I’ll be walking through church and it strikes.  I lose all my social cues and bumble around like an idiot.

Last night was awful.  I don’t know what was wrong with me!  Well, I do, partly (like I have justification for some of my rude behavior) but mostly I was just feeling a little socially retarded.  I got to church a little late and there is a new check in system for the kids where you scan a keytag to check them in.  (I know, it’s totally a sign of the end times… my children have become bar codes!!!)  Anyway, some people didn’t have their key tags yet and so there was a really big crowd in the lobby.  One lady said that if we already have our keytag we can go to another kiosk in front of the church.  So, we hightail it over there.  On the way, we pass the sanctuary and I can hear that church has already started and the guy that I love to lead worship is leading this week and I’m missing it!  So, we get to the other kiosk and there’s another long line.  I grumble under my breath, and one of the assoiciate pastors walk up and says that there is another place to check in in the main lobby (where we just came from)  and I say exasperatingly, “They just told us to come here!”  I know, in writing, it doesn’t sound that rude, but in real life, it sounded a little bit… exasperated.  And I was slightly embarrassed when I realized that it was an associate pastor, someone I’ve met, someone Geric works with.  I don’t know if he thought I was a jerk, or if he didn’t even notice, but I just thought, “Good one, Erin.”

So, we finally get checked in and I’m walking through the lobby to get the kids in their classes when I make eye contact with two other pastors at the church.  I didn’t even say hi!  How rude!  I can justify my behavior by saying this, right after I saw them, I saw a filipino guy out of the corner of my eye and he looked a lot like an ex-boyfriend and my heart literally jumped into my throat.  I don’t like unplanned meetings with ex-boyfriends.  I don’t even really like planned meetings with ex-boyfriends.  But it wasn’t him, but I still didn’t say hi to the two pastors.  Rude.  I did smile though.

So, I finally get Caden and Jacob in their classes and I’m sprint walking back to the sanctuary (because I’m missing all the good worship) when I fall in step with the senior pastor.  That’s the guy that seriously intimidates me.  I don’t really know why, cause he’s just a guy, but he’s such a good teacher and really smart and confident, that, I don’t know, it intimidates me.  So, he’s like a foot behind me but we’re walking into the sanctuary together, and do I say hello?  Maybe a friendly side hug and a “Hi, Pastor Dan”?  Nope.  Nothin.  Just kept walking.

I know I’m being a bit dramatic (but would this story be blog-worthy of I wasn’t?)  Sometimes I blame this blog for my problem.  Here, I have time to think before I divulge my thoughts.  I can write a whole paragraph and go back and delete it if I want.  I can even publish a post and go back and edit it.  Out in the real world people expect me to respond immediately!  And once it’s out there, it’s out there, there’s no taking it back!  Sometimes, that too much pressure.   And sometimes, it make me feel like I should just go home and stay inside for a few weeks until I know how to function in society again as a friendly-natured person.  Please tell me you can relate.