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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Pharaoh and Bert

 A couple years ago we started doing a nightly "Bible story time." I had read a book called Living God's Story by Jana Hoober, a woman who has 5 children. As a mother of 5, I usually read parenting books with a bit of cynicism, thinking, "Yeah, you probably only have 2 kids. You don't really know how hard this is for me." I know, it's a bad attitude, but sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed with the demands of 5 kids, and I feel like anyone with less than 4 can't fully understand what my life as a parent is like. I apologize to my many friends who have 3 or less kids for my judgmental attitude. You're all very good parents, and probably even better than me. And for you who have more than 5... kudos to you. I don't know how you do it. People say that to me too. I guess we all just do what we can, huh?

Anyway, the point is, when I read a parenting book written by a mother of 5, that means something to me. She gets what my life is like. She is living the same overwhelming chaos as I am. And this thing that she's writing about, works for her. Maybe it will work for me too. The whole idea of her book is teaching your children the Bible, and the main thing is actually READING the Bible with your kids.

So we began with a laid back, go-with-the-flow structure, to have "Bible story time" that coincided with regular "story time" right before bed time. We kept it up for several months. Then Derrick got his job at the railroad and spent 6 weeks in Georgia for training. And I dropped the ball. And I was ok with it for the time being. When he came back he moved to 3rd shift and then to 2nd, making it impossible to have any regular family-together-time. I certainly could read the Bible to my children without him there, but I want it to be a family thing that we are both involved in. So now that he's moved back to 1st shift, we have re-instituted Bible story time. Only now we're doing it at the dinner table. It's a little easier since everyone's already gathered, rather than having to re-gather everybody a couple hours later. We are now at the beginning of Exodus (we couldn't remember where we left off, so we just started at Exodus), reading about the Plagues in Egypt. The other night Sage wanted to read, and she read about 2/3 of a chapter. The only words she needed help with were "Pharaoh" and "sorcerer." She's a genius. Look at her with her cute glasses.


And on a much lighter note...

Parents: Do you ever find a random toy (or object) in your house and have no idea where it came from? It happens here from time to time. This little Bert guy was on my dining room floor this afternoon, and nobody in the house knows where it came from. As far as I can remember, I'd never seen it before. WEIRD. 

2 comments:

  1. That Burt is proof that the toy do reproduce at night while we are all asleep!

    Sage is so cute in those glasses! A little hipster!

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  2. hey neeen - i was just reading back over some of your last posts . . . wow. i wish you lived next door and you could send some of your little buddies over to my house some of the time. just to give you a breather . . .

    it will get better, though. your little guys will turn three(!) - that's when both maddie and isaac got the whole potty thing and it seemed like the first month or two of three was kind of over the top - they are growing and developing (mentally and physically) so MUCH - but then it seems like things settle in. did you notice that with jayna and sage?

    i saw that you introduced legos to your boys. good one! isaac LOVES his legos. he plays with them for lots of long quiet hours.

    also - that's awesome that you are reading the bible together at night. we do a family study and prayer and memorization time on wednesday nights - it is so good in so many ways.

    and i'm not offended by your attitude about me parenting 2 kids compared to you parenting 5 kids. just like you said - we all do what we can. and God gives grace for all our situations.

    i do have to say - reading all your poop stories - i can relate. old people who start to loose their minds to dementia do things like your little boys have done, digging and smearing and just making a huge, stinky mess. i get to leave it at work, though. i know it's not quite the same.

    anyway - i love you. i love how you love your husband and your kiddos. i'm behind you, my friend, with prayers and love.

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