Something To Try If You're 14

Kids And Jobs

Can I interrupt this blog with a brief soapbox?

Good.

Here are my 2cents on Kids And Jobs. Just something I’ve been thinking about as spring gets closer.

Cent 1. Kids need jobs.

I’ve learned, from my days as a babysitter, daycare worker, grade school student teacher and substitute teacher, and mom, that kids left to play all day will usually get bored at some point which inevitably result in spats, whining, fussing, and general selfishness and unhappiness. Which doesn’t make them very likeable. Or fun to be around. Kids who know they are expected to contribute to the pulling of the wagon are way more likely to appreciate those free times when their contributions are completed. Free time, as with anything else in life, is valued more highly if there is less of it.

If your kids don’t know how to do any jobs – shame on you. Teach them.

If you don’t have time to teach them – shame on you. Get a pet.

Kids take time.

None of this “quality time” business: what a joke. What a lie. It’s got to be quantity. Large quantities. Of YOUR time. Large quantities = quality. You’ve got to work with your kids. Let them work with you. And play with you. And sing with you. And pray with you. And talk with you. And work some more with you. And play some more with you. And talk some more with you. No matter what the age. Kids need massive amounts of time with you just like they need vitamin C and food and water and exercise and a good night’s sleep.

Well, and a rambly tangent besides. Back to jobs.

Don’t forget to appreciate the jobs kids do…praise is as vital to kids as fresh air and sunshine. Give it liberally and give it sincerely.

 

Cent 2. Kids don’t need to be entertained.

One word we have never allowed at this house is boring or any form of the word. I detest that word. Always have. When life is boring, when someone is bored, that means that same someone is boring.

Simple solution:

Teach kids to make themselves interesting. Give them a few ideas, but only a few: read a book, bake cookies, draw a picture, color a picture, do a puzzle, make dandelion chains, cut grass for the neighbor’s pet rabbit, call the siblings or neighbor kids together for a bike race or a trek on the Oregon Trail.

In other words: teach them to make life happen.

Meet resistance?

Give them a job (see cent 1, above).

OR

Kick them outside and let them wander in the Ugly Land Of Boredom until lightening strikes and suddenly, spontaneously, they’re doing something. Something fun. Something creative. Something, anything. Even if it takes an hour or more. Let them wander, and they’ll get there. They’ll eventually stumble on something fun and then they’ll be having so much fun creating and imagining and making and playing that they hate to quit at choretime. I’ve seen it dozens and dozens of times. It always works.

 

That’s it, that’s my 2cents,

End soapbox.

 

 

BONUS ROUND:

***when you take the time to teach little kids to work, all of a sudden  - - like BLINK  - - they grow up and then you have this army of big kids that can accomplish amazing things***

Just sayn’.

 

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work [which includes teaching your kids!] shall be rewarded.

2 Chronicles 15:7

Early Spring

Well, we’ll take it because we don’t have much choice, and we might as well like it, because like one of the kids said, we can’t change it anyway so we might as well. And we are. And I am. But I’m trying not to think about the fruit trees blooming and blossoming because we only have about 6 weeks of potential frosts yet which could certainly end any fruit crop…

kind of hard not to think about fruit trees when it’s time to prune though!

Anyway.

A few shots of life lately.

End of rink.

Almost finished.

Callie the calico cat.

Another sign of spring -

Rascal’s so funny – I stop walking to take a picture, she stops and looks back, just waiting on me.

Our fruit trees look really odd without leaves. Nothing beautiful about them at this point.

My shrinking kitchen. I think this was Saturday – can you name six kids?

Yesterday a certain unnamed someone dropped a dozen eggs down the stairs. I’m not sure how eggs got splattered all over the walls. They just did. At least only 11 eggs broke. And at least the other two dozen eggs that were being carried did not get dropped. Princess benefitted, anyways.

Also yesterday. When one hears a loud unusual crashing noise in one’s basement, one should always check it out immediately. One might find a broken shelf of one’s freezer has spilled one’s frozen goods all over one’s floor after said frozen goods pushed one’s freezer door wide open. Thankfully we were home and heard it – - - I cringe to think what it would look like if we hadn’t heard it right away like we did!

((the open freezer door beside it is being defrosted, no worries there))

Sweet visitors today seem to love being outside, imagine that!

That’s it for this time. Enjoy these beautiful spring days and don’t think about the fruit trees!

Covered By The Blood

Days Are Just Flyin’ By In A Joyful Flurry Of Busyness - - -

Like this - - -

And this - - -

And this - - -

This is how you settle a stoop a little more firmly into the dirt. “One, two, three, JUMP!” Pretty techy, huh?

 

And that’s a little glimpse of what we’ve been up to lately.

Also lately, we’ve been listening to this song which is on an album we got the kids for Christmas. If you’re having a down day, think on these words.  And rejoice for the blood which redeems us!

 

Covered By The Blood

Once in sin’s darkest night I was wandering alone;
A stranger to mercy I stood.
But the Savior came nigh
When he heard my faint cry,
And He put my sins under the blood.

Refrain:

They are covered by the blood;
They are covered by the blood;
My sins are all covered by the blood.
Mine iniquities so vast
Have been blotted out at last,
My sins are all covered by the blood.

From the burden I carried now I am set free,
For Jesus has lifted my load.
O the love and the grace I received in its place
When he put my sins under the blood.

Refrain

I can ne’er understand why He sought even me,
Why His lifeblood on Calvary flowed.
But sufficient for me,
Since He died on the tree,
He hath put my sins under the blood.

Refrain

Now He comes to my heart and removes every care;
He bears all my cumbering load.
In a pathway replete
With His love are my feet,
Since He put my sins under the blood.

Refrain

Now

Now is the time to love. Tomorrow is too late to rock the baby. Tomorrow the toddler won’t be asking questions. Tomorrow the schoolboy will not need help with his lessons. Nor will he bring home his school and neighborhood friends to share in family fun. Tomorrow the teenager will have made his major decisions and will not feel a need for the nearness he longs for and which we can give him now  And tomorrow our child will be close to us or a stranger to us depending upon how we use our time for him now.

~John M. Drescher

 

 

 

*in case anyone is wondering why this blog has been neglected lately*

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17

Look For The Beauty

Well of course the beauty was easy to see on Saturday. I mean, who couldn’t see the beauty in a 65 degree sunny still day in spring? Oh wait, it’s not spring yet. It’s not even March yet. Which made the beauty that much more beautiful. Or something.  Maybe we just appreciate spring more when it’s not spring yet? Whatever.

This was clearly beauty:

And not just the brilliant blue sky. But wow, wasn’t it gorgeous??? I also love the beauty of Ben helping Dad.

And Josh helping too.

And Dad teaching his kids.

Beautiful orchard.

A strong healthy young man pulling the last branch

and pulling the last branch

until it finally broke off.

More beauty – an old tree that was a bear to take care of and didn’t produce good fruit is now gone, soon to be replaced by a new tree which will be easier to manage and will bear good fruit. That’s beauty!

Beauty of a job well done: hauling said tree and lots of useless watersprouts to the burn pile.

Beauty of a special birthday Saturday night. Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Beauty of fun with cousins.

Yesterday – not quite as beautiful of a day outside as Saturday was. Although the beauty at church about raised the roof as two dear friends were wed. A Godly marriage is beauty.

See the tiny white spot above the house in the center of the picture? Well, just a moment before I took the picture, sunrays were streaming through that hole. Really, really beautiful.

No blue sky, but there’s still beauty if you look for it.

Beautiful cows?

Well sure!

And this smile today – how beautiful is that?!

Easy to see the beauty here!!

Truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Someone thought this was beautiful.

Well I guess it is then!

I found a few pictures from last week on the kids’ camera – more beauty.

Last but not least, this little man. Just beautiful.

Cloudy or sunny, gray skies or blue, cold or warm, sick kids or healthy ones, hard day or easy, there is beauty everywhere. Sometimes it’s a little harder to find. Sometimes our vision gets a little clouded by sickness, spattiness, or stress.  Sometimes we can’t see the beauty for the tears, tempers, and tantrums. Sometimes we forget that we need help to find the beauty. But it is there, every day; it’s there somewhere.

You just have to look for it!

 

 

The Difference…

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day:

I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task.

“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered. He answered, “You didn’t ask.”

I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;

I wondered why God didn’t show me. He said, “But you didn’t seek.”

I tried to come into God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock.

God gently and lovingly chided, “My child, you didn’t knock.”

I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day;

I had so much to acomplish that I had to take time to pray.

Author Unknown

 

 

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8