..."too-much'ness..."

I was blessed this past weekend with being invited to fill in at my sons Children's Worship.  The fellers head to the basement each Sunday for an amazing worship at their pediatric level.  They dance... cha-cha... sing... hear the word of the Lord, discuss it in small groups... & play (childhood fellowship).

I stood amazed at the fabulous job the worship leader does. She meets them where "they are at."  Loving those little hearts & minds just as Jesus would (& does through her).

The kids sermons for the month of January have been focused on Self-Control... a fruit of the Spirit found in the book of Galatians.


The skit for the sermon intro depicted an adult playing video games incessantly, grazing on two "good things" brownies & pizza.... But too much of a good thing can make us feel ICKY... vomit as Ms. Kristen read in the New Testament (yes the kids NIV actually says vomit).

I admit dear readers, self-control is not my strong suit.  I love my favorite things.... coffee, salsa, milk chocolate chips, diet soda, wine, potato & tortilla chips, facebook, pinterest, reading on my kindle, angry bird, watching old '80's movies ... notice the list could go on-&-on ...

Too much of a good thing is what I like to call "too-much-too-much'ness." It is okay in little bits, but when we resign any form of self-control it begins to make us ICKY.

So I have embarked on a juice fast with the hubs.  We are consuming fruit & veggie juice, blended in our
new Ninja blender, for breakfast and dinner.  Lunches will stay at our norm, lean protein & veggies. We've recently been inspired by some friends who are doing the same as a couple.  Starvation makes the heart grow fonder, right?

I know it may sound wacky, but I want to eliminate the distractions that are taking my attention away from the Lord.  When I really want a bowl of chips and salsa... I want to be able to focus my desires and attention on the Lord... have self-control.... and get healthy too.

So friends,  I'm sure there will be a few tales of me about this adventure...
gnawing my arm off...
I had a "food" dream in my slumber last night, it may have involved some candy ...
I may have sleepwalked and dug out of the Halloween bags at the back of the pantry ....
We'll see how long we last....

..."quirky..."

The Lord has been at work in my life... I don't know where to begin.

As I have shared in past tales, our 1st grader has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder - SPD (formerly called Sensory Integration).  It is a neurological dysfunction where the neurotransmitters do not correctly send and receive the brain messages, resulting in inappropriate responses to his surroundings.... quirky behavior at times of stress, chaos, over-stimulation.
At school is appears to be about to explode out of his skin... fidgeting, moving, spouting out what ever comes to his mind.
At home he is calm, low registration, as his physician a occupational therapist describe. He can read National Geographic, Lego, listen to Harry Potter novels calmly... for hours on end.

We are going through the long (waiting process) of an evaluation by the LEND Program at Riley Children's Hospital, the top program in the nation for social dysfunctions.

We are praying for the Lords guidance as to what is best for our dear-sweet-uber-intelligent boy.  It seems as though he and his brain may not be cut out for the cookie cutter education America has grown accustomed to in the past 100 years.  This is hard for me, a former Kansas Teacher of the Year Nominee, who strove to bring eccentric differentiated (leveled) hands-on learning into my classroom.  We have watched God's plan for our son's life unfold... being called to Christian education for be surrounded and loved by fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. His former pre-school teacher telling me once (while he was actually in utero), "Sometimes there isn't enough play dough for some kids."
Having a kindergarten teacher who attended a conference on SPD and first introduced the disorder to our family... having 1st grade teachers who have known him since he was born & worked closely with the kindergarten teacher to meet him and love him"where he is at."

Today is day 101 in 1st grade at school. The children dressed as dalmatians, donning black & while.  They individually created projects out of 101 black & white objects.  We had to carry the project , a NASA command center, into school this morning.  It was so fun to see all of the projects; help a boy re-build after his project crumbled in his backpack; ask about their construction process.

This morning the whole school was starting the day with a chapel service. My 1st grader asked, "Mom, would you like to join us at chapel?"

So I tagged along in my gray velour sweat suit, sat on the floor Indian style between two 1st graders.  The chapel began with singing lead by Covenant Christian High School students (a few babysitters that watch the fellers). Then the message was given by a CCHS senior about being different.  She was born in South Korea & due to an infection as an infant, has hip & pelvic dysplasia. She was adopted by a DeMotte family, and shared how the Lords plan for her life has unfolded.

She shared that we have to take the differences in how the Lord uniquely created each of us and use it for His glory.  She asked the students what they wanted to be "when they grew up" (I didn't raise my hand, I'm still figuring it out).  She brought the mic to my little fellers face and he replied, "An engineer."

What followed was a flood of joyful, fearful tears down my cheeks.  For the Lord knew I needed to be present at chapel today... To let Kim's story be used for His glory for our families ears to hear. My 1st grader whispered in my ear, "Why are you crying Mom?" "Because God has blessed me," I replied.

"Please stop crying," he pleaded. Boys will be boys.

The kindergarten teacher approached us after chapel had concluded... embraced me in a hug, hugged my son & told him how proud she is of him and his dream to be an engineer.

There are many other parts to this tale...
other ways the Lord has spoken to me through His gospel...
through my small group study of Bartamaeus ...
through other mothers He has placed in my life to be my sounding board ...
.... but those are tales for another day.

Kim ended her testimony with a passage from the New Testament....

1 Thessalonians 5

New International Version (NIV)

^"16 Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Words of wisdom from God's word... shared today by a teenager... the Lord uses all of us, the meek, the weak, the quirky, the crazy... for His glory.

Rejoice... pray... give thanks... 

In the words of John Ortberg, "Everybody's normal, until you get to know them."

..."childhood sing-a-long..."

My husband's younger brother and wife live in our former city, a quarter of a mile from our old house.  What fun it would have been if we had stayed put and not moved 3 states east to Indiana... raising cousins in the same neck of the woods. But... that was not in God's plan. (I dont' know why the crazy website is formatting this with underline....)

My tale today is however set in that little Kansas suburb.  I love my sister-in-law dearly.  She is an only child, and calls me her "sister-by-a-different-mother."  She is an excellent sounding board for me, and will keep me in check if/and/when I get too crazy,
being one of my voices of reason...

Last weeks phone "conference" included a delightful tale about our 

3-year old nephew.

The local school district (where I happened to have joyfully taught & lived) continues to offer the Parents as Teachers Program.  An amazing feat as school districts are struggling with funding all over our nation.

Parents as Teachers hosts a weekly playdate in a preschool type playroom in one of the districts classrooms.  To wrap up the playdate the instructor gathered the children for circle time on the carpet.  They were singing songs, taking requests shouted out from the wee-ones... "The Wheels on the Bus," "Mary has a Little Lamb..." 

Our little nephew shouted out "Jesus Loves Me."  All adults were dead silent.  The instructor gave my sister-in-law a wide eyed look that silently said, "Tell him, no we can't sing that here."

But my steely-loved-one remained silent & gave the instructor a shoulder shrug and look back that said, "I am not going to silence him."

So the intructor asked the towheaded tri-year-old, "Can you help me?'"  Our sweet little nephew began singing... soon all the children were belting it out.... the parents were even joining in... in this "public school" sing-a-long.

What I find interesting is this... everyone knew the words, but were scared to sing them.  It was the children who had to lead.  Once they started singing, it broke the ice and the others (the grown-ups) followed.

What lesson is to be learned from this tale?  In the New Testament books of Matthew & Luke,
Christ tells his disciples to not hinder the wee-ones...

"Let the little ones come to me.... do not hinder them... for the kingdom of heaven is their's."

Sometimes the most poetic words are from the mouths of babes. How will you sing dear reader? Quietly? Silencing your inner child?  Will you belt it out for all to hear?

..."treasure..."

Happy birthday to my baby.... 7-years can pass you by in a flash.

Our youngest son turned 7 this weekend.  What fun it was to see the smile on his face...the joy in his heart.

It seems as though the circumstances of his life have robbed it of that joy lately.  He has been filled with frustration, a scowl on his face a large part of his days.  I can see it as body language defense.  He has to spend 7-hours of the school day "trying to hold it together." The tone and inflection in how others say his name. His body needing to bump or touch another object to "calculate" it's place is space. Bumping into something to hard and tipping it over, flipping a chair, rolling off the bouncy ball & body slamming into the table....
So many things triggering this negative body language.

Our son has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. I need to interject that he is WICKEDLY intelligent, contemplating scientific theories and dillemas of history. The nuero-transmitters of his brain do not always send and receive the "messages" correctly. It has been described as a traffic jam in the brain. Like a puzzle with chunks of pieces missing.

His body feels like being an old Buick with no bells and whistles. Bumping into the guardrail to find it's position on the road... hitting a patch of black ice & skidding out of control, having inoperable speedometer & gages.  The rest of us are like Cadillacs.  We have all the fancy sensors in our brains, like a backup video camera, sensors to tell us if the road is slick, tailgates that can automatically open and shut...

His birthday however was filled with complete joy.  We ate piles of pancakes for breakfast and headed to the Lego Store, his two birthday requests.  When we fist entered the store, it was overwhelming for him.  Focusing in on building a mini figure meant too many decisions to make.  Eventually he thought through the process, selected one mini figure body part at a time & began to relax and enjoy.... to create.

One of the mini figures he received as a birthday gift came with a treasure chest.  He asked the Hubs if he would help his snap the lid on.

Our son then went into an oration about treasure,
"Some people would want gold or jewels in their treasure box. Me, I know the best treasure of all is Jesus, and you can't box him up.  You've got to share Him with everybody... showing His love and kindness to all the people you meet."

WOW!

Peter talks of treasure in the New Testament of the Bible.....
1 Peter 1:7

New Living Translation (NLT)

^"7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials..."

Demostrating rafting safety before
heading onto the Yellow Stone River.

So this weekend, I am thankful for my treasure.  The son the Lord blessed me with 7 years ago.  I pray that God will use me to show my son Christ's love and kindness.  To fill him with joy, rather than nag & be his "joy robber."  I am thankful that God is using my son to remind me of my faith... and the treasure that it holds.  When it is locked up in the treasure chest, you forget about it, do see it... you've got to let it out... to see, share and enjoy!

..."a game of..."

..."a game of..."

The fellers have taken up chess. Granny gave them a learning chess set, it tells which direction each piece can move.  They also practice on a chess app on the iPad. It will only allow you to move the pieces correctly.

So the two of them concocted a plan to meet at the the bench on the playground... between the lower elementary area and the upper elementary area. (big brother's in 4th grade, little brother's in 1st)

I go to school during morning recess to engage our youngest in sensory therapy, part of his sensory breaks ordered by his physician for Sensory Processing Disorder.

When I arrived the 1st grader (who usually lolly-gags & does not make it out doors very quickly) was already waiting on the bench... feet dangling, legs swinging back & forth.

"I'm waiting for ---- (insert brothers name) mom." he called out to me.

This was a precious sight... I will burn into my brain for eternity.

The big brother showed up.... empty handed.

"Where's the chess set?" the little brother inquired.

"The teacher didn't think it should come outdoors," the elder replied.

"That silly 4th grade teacher..... Let go swing, I'll push you," and off they went. Engaging in excellent sensory play.

The 4th grade teacher wouldn't allow the chess set to go out, she wanted the boys to understandably play and exercise. I spoke with her & she consented to allowing the chess match for the longer lunch recess.

This has me thinking about our relationships in Christ.  We are called to be brothers & sisters to fellow believers... to play together, break bread together, to support and love one another.... as well as those who do not yet know the Lord.

Peter expresses the critical-ness of this...

2 Peter 1: 5-7

Painting that hangs in our entryway...
...the beginnings of brotherly love.

5 Supplement your faith with a generous  provisions.........with 7brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

So today they are trying again.  "Meet me at the bench for lunch recess," the elder called as they walked to their classrooms this morning." the sweet sounds of brotherly love....

..."lab rat..."

The fellers have been reading Harry Potter. They started the series on
the 30+ hour sojourn to grandma's for Christmas ... now the are
Hogwarts addicts. One of the main characters has a pet rat .....

Our neighbor boy is a freshman at Kansas State, majoring in Animal
Science. He's home for winter break and heard we were vaccinating 49
steer calves that arrived last week. He offered to give us a hand. On the trip to the farm he filled us in on his first semester at our Alma Mater .... he bought a pet rat for his dorm room....our boys were facinated by his "tales."

So the boys began researching....
Rats cost $9-15. Cages .... can be pricey.
At recess the next day, the 1st grader asked his former preschool teacher (who had a
class hamster) if she knew of any second hand cages for sale (gross,
huh)?  She happened to have a ferret cage someone had donated in
storage at the school.
So the fellers came home yesterday with a cage. They soaked, scrubbed
and disinfected it; loaded into the trunk for a future stop at the pet
shop.

This morning they were working on the Hubs. He called it the "full rat
press." My husband grew up on a farm, where you keep rats OUT of your
home .... not in them. He whispered in my ear before heading off to
the mill to feed America ...."Do not get a rat in Valpo today."

I predict  future rat-takes will follow.

The full rat press included such persuasion as,"God created rats, they
are one of His creations."

To tie this life lesson into the word of the Lord, I found a passage in the Old Testament in Leviticus.

Leviticus 11:29

The Message (MSG)

 ^29-38 "Among the creatures that crawl on the ground, the following are unclean for you: weasel, rat, all lizards, gecko, monitor lizard, wall lizard, skink, chameleon. Among the crawling creatures, these are unclean for you. If you touch them when they are dead, you are ritually unclean until evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that becomes unclean no matter what it's used for, whether it's made of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth. Put it in the water—it's unclean until evening, and then it's clean. 

The Old Testament was written before Jesus the Messiah had come to Earth.  The Jewish people lived a life of ritual, following the laws of the Old Testament.  The amazing thing about the New Testament and the fullfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah is that we are no longer bound to all of those rituals.  We are "washed clean" by Jesus, the Living Water.  Jesus died for our sins, and we are washed clean by our belief he is our Savior.

So even though we have negative feelings about "creatures that crawl on the ground," my boys can keep working towards their goal of having one as a pet.... as long as they are good owners, having providence over them ... cleaning up after them.

P.S. (post script) The "full rat press" continues.  We visited the pet store in a neighboring town.  Rat prices there are only $4.99 What a bargain.  The boys have called a family meeting to practice their persuasive skills on their dad, a farm boy at heart.

..."rocket science..."

Rocket Science...

The fellers have been doing a little chemistry.  The younger one has a knack for science, always inquiring how things  work.... Loves watching "How It's Made."

He had finished a bottle if flavored fizzy water and declared that he wanted to fill it with something to make an explosion.  I got out the box of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) & the remainder of a bottle of vinegar (acetic acid) and let him experiment.  Soon his older brother was joining in.... next they wanted the box of Borax we had used to make silly putty at the 1st grade Christmas party.
Once they had run out of baking soda & vinegar they where planning the next experiment, once they had replenished their supplies.

My husband makes agricultural animal feed. Baking soda is a key ingredient, it settles the cows and pigs stomachs. My husband and I have even been the guest of a soda mine owner in Telluride, Colorado; touring the mine where the baking soda comes from. Brock orders it by the truckload, priced by the ton.

So the fellers decided to put this connection to work.... asking Dad to bring home more sodium bicarbonate.... more chemistry ingredients.  He brought a "gigantic" bag to the car after school... charging them $3, but it beats the grocery prices.

The boys had fun changing the variable of their experiment. Greater amounts of baking soda... greater quantity of vinegar... Predicting and measuring the size of the reaction.  The we're controlling the variables.

This has me thinking about my relationship with God. How many situations do I try to tinker with the variables in His plan... trying to create the predicted or desired outcome?

Lately I have had to force myself to trust in the Lord, rather than try to tinker with and be in control of the situations in my life.

A recent verse in a sermon two Sundays ago is swimming around in my mind.

Proverbs 5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart....lean not on your own understanding."

I'm thinking God is reminding me to lean not on my own control over my life.... To fully trust. To allow his sovereignty to reign over me.

After all, life is NOT rocket science, not an experiment .... rather divine providence.