This, That and the Other

Life seems to be going by at the speed of light these days!

Lots of things going on and the last thing on my mind is being on this here blog.

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Lyndsey was home last week for spring break. In her own words this morning, "Mom, break was NOT long enough!" She is back at school with only about 6 weeks left til summer break.

The Lord is so faithful!!! I can't even begin to thank Him for His provision for us. He has seen fit to pay for Lyndsey's school bill. Despite her commitment to search for a job almost daily this last semester, no job has been secured as of yet. But...God has paid her bill!

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Why is parenting sooooooooo hard some days????????!!!!!!!!

What is it about us as humans that make us so prone to disobedience (it's our sin nature)??? Why do we like to 'bend' the rules? Why do we act amazed when we receive punishment for our disobedience?

These are some of the questions I have had lately.

People told me years ago that parenting is not always easy. They were right. I thought parenting 2 kids 19 months apart in age was hard when they were babies. I think it's much more difficult parenting 2 kids 19 months apart in age when they are approaching adolescence. Oh, the fights and arguments and the scowls and the.....(insert so many things here)! The difficulty is because we MUST exercise tough love and a LOT of it right now. This mother's heart breaks when we MUST do it. I dislike punishment (come to think of it....who enjoys it at all?). But, so far they seem to be doing better (at least right now at this very moment:) ).

Another difficulty is hoping that we, as parents, are making the right decisions while raising them. Do my children see Jesus Christ in me and in their dad? Does my life make them desire a relationship with Christ more and more each day? Do I encourage them to serve God? Are my words critical or do they uplift?

More than anything else, I want my children to accomplish God's will for their lives. Walter and I have friends that have raised their children in godly homes and yet the children choose to live their lives completely opposed to the Bible (it's their choice, obviously). Oh, how my heart breaks for those parents and for those kids (turned adults), too! I pray that my children will choose to serve God as adults.

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Tyler had his birthday last month. A friend spent the night and Tyler really wanted to have a nerf gun war. With only 3 boys, that was not going to work out. So, I decided to play with them (can you believe it?).

I had the time of my life!!!! It was a blast!!! I screamed like a girl so many times!! The boys loved it.

We turned out all the lights in the house. Two would hide at one end of the house and the other two would seek. Lawrence had a laser light that we would use to see with. We played for over 2 hours. The dog had a blast, too. She gave up the hiders so many times but it was still a blast.

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We have a college student from Lyndsey's school coming out each weekend to help us with a Spanish ministry. His name is Oscar. He stays at our home.

Last weekend, Oscar was here and Lawrence stayed the night as well. He brought his nerf guns, too.

The boys really wanted to have another nerf war. I was too tired to play but Oscar decided to play. "What a sight" is all I can say! I think that was funnier than me playing with the boys! Those boys screamed like girls (all 4 of them)! They scared themselves silly! But, oh the fun they had!

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This coming weekend our church is hosting a youth rally. A group of college students will be coming from West Coast Baptist College to help us with it. Walter and I will be hosting 7 young men in our home. It's going to be a blast!!!! Phyllip and Tyler are looking forward to them being here and are hoping for a humongous nerf war with the guys!