Casual picture

Jeff and William were hanging out and having a fun time. Jeff all of the sudden asked me to take a picture. It seems that times like this are the ones you want to remember, when you are just relaxing and hanging out and having a great time with one of your kids. Pictures will never do this justice.

"Box"ing day?...more like boxing weekend!

This weekend we drug out the washing machine and dryer boxes. The kids put them together into a club house and they started decorating it. JJ was concerned with blacking out the writing. AnnaLisa put yoga mats on top for "roofing tile". They got out a few foam mats and tried to make beds inside. Even Rosie and William seem to get involved, although beyond manager and inspector, I can't really say what their contributions were.

The kids played in it all weekend, including two over nighters in it (why anyone would voluntarily sleep on the floor is beyond me).

Amazingly enough, the boxes are still standing. Mommy did a little re-enforcing before the kids played in them and they have stood the test of 7 kids (we had a cousin over for the weekend). Mommy is even debating about sticking them in the garage for the month and pulling them back out for Christmas vacation. I wouldn't mind another week or two of the quietly playing together like this past weekend.

Double birthday for double the fun

AnnaLisa and JJ shared a birthday cake for the family birthday party. It was real tempting for both of them to blow out each other's candles!

We had lots of fun, family, and friends. JJ and AnnaLisa both got bean bags for their birthdays.

JJ Thanksgiving Feast

Here is JJ's class on their Thanksgiving Feast day. JJ is one of the "Indians" in front.

JJ and his mommy

JJ made this Oreo turkey with frosting, M & M's, and frosting. It was cute!

A soft answer...

“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” - Proverbs 15:1

When I was younger I read this and thought, “I will try this next time someone is angry at me, and it will “turn their anger away”. Well, I tried it, and it did not work. In addition to it not working, it made me angry because they were not doing what they were suppose to, and on this point, the bible must be wrong.

As I have grown and matured over the years, I have revisted this thought and scripture. I have 6 small children at home, and sometimes we find ourselves in situations of wrath or contention. I tried this again, and still no luck. Recently I had an experience that has finally clarified this for me. As I reflected on this scripture, it hit me that it is not talking about the other person. This whole scripture applies only to reader. So next time I found myself with someone who was “in their wrath”(we have lots of opportunities to work on this) towards me, I tried to apply this new understanding. Instead of answering softly and expecting them to calm down, I answered softly and felt myself remain calm. A realization came over me that using a soft answer helps me to stay in control and helps me not to raise anger (or add to the anger) of others.

I have (at least) one child who struggles with his anger. He will get upset about something and within moments will blow up into uncontrolled rage. He has thrown objects at others with the intent to hurt them, as well as being extremely reckless with his body. This has caused a lot of harm to members of the family. When you see one child hurting other of your children, it is very hard to remain calm and loving (soft). I have found that when I am calm, I don't escalate my child and I can have inspiration come to me about things that I can do to distract or relieve his anger.

Today in my scripture study, I read another Proverb 29:22, “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” As I read this, I realized that in the past, I had allowed myself to become angry and then I stirred up strife with my child, who choose to escalate his behavior (in our house we call that “pushing each others buttons”). I realize now that not only is the Proverb true, but that the scriptures in whole need to be applied to me personally.