Excuses???!!!

We have a whole generation of adults who have been allowed to make excuses for their bad behavior. Those people who never take responsibility for their actions...it is always someone else's fault. I think it starts at home!! Bad behavior is excused by parents and kids grow up to become adults who make excuses for everything in their lives. I'm gonna bet that if you talk with your 80 year old grand parents.....you will get a very different perspective! Below are some common excuses that I hear...

*Oh those terrible two's...to excuse fit pitching
*Boy's will be boy's....to excuse brothers fighting, or even pornography as they are older
*Oh she/he is going through puberty...to excuse bad attitudes
*It's her time of the month..to excuse EVERYTHING!!
*Teenagers...to excuse stupidity...crazy how teenagers are just expected to make poor decisions because of their age!!


Look familiar??? My point is that we are raising children who's behavior has not been dealt with and even excused. They in turn are adults who make excuses for everything in their lives. I tell my kids...there are and will always be many things that are out of your control, but you can be in control of your response. A true test of character is how we RESPOND in difficult situations.

Don't make excuses for your own bad behavior and don't let your kids...at any age!

This Stinks!!!

I have had the strangest thing happen to me!!!!! I woke up last Thursday morning- 9 days ago- with a stiff shoulder. By Thursday night I was in unbelievable pain. I couldn't move my arm without terrible pain! I kept thinking it would get better because I didn't do anything to bring this on but it did not!

I finally went to the Dr. and he thinks I have a torn rotator cuff that will require surgery! WHAT! I had an MRI this past Thursday and I meet with the Dr on Tuesday. I am really drugged up so I'm not in so much pain but I still have almost no movement in my shoulder. When this happens to the arm that you use the most you become acutely aware of how many things you do with your right arm! I have also realized how much my 5 children....and husband:) hang on me! I feel like some kind of martial arts performer throwing my left arm out the second I see someone coming toward me....trying to defend myself! Obviously..typing is a slow process...this is why I haven't posted in a while. I love you guys out there in the blog world and I am praying for you!

Thumb Sucking

Lindsey had a passie......easy to take away with a bribe to trade it in for a toy at Walmart. Marshall handed me his passie's when he was 20 months and proclaimed that he was a big boy. Emily....somewhat harder.....she reluctantly traded them in for a toy and then cried for several nights wanting to take the toy back! But this soon passed. Benjamin....never took a passie...AAHHH so easy!


Then came Luke....Oh the baby????!!!!! No passie.....he found his thumb on day 2 and we all thought it was the cutest thing we had ever seen....and we continued to think that for some time. Oh but the habit!!! He is 6 now! We first tried the Thumb stuff...it didn't do anything...then we moved to the more serious stuff...it is also a paint on solution....this stuff is aweful and it stays around for days........ after many hand washings! I even tried to put red pepper in the solution....I know it sounds awful...but it didn't work!

He only sucks his thumb at night....during the night...so it is not intentional...just habitual. I have tried putting a glove on him but he gets it off in his sleep? I really don't care all that much except his teeth are paying the price!

Any suggestions??

Fruit on the tree

Do you react to the behavior of your kids? I sure do ...but I know better....and yet I find myself still struggling with my reaction! The behavior that we see in our children is just the "fruit on the tree" that indicates a heart problem. So many times we as parents "fix" the bad behavior but we never get to the heart of the matter. It takes a lot more time and effort to work on a heart matter so we just react to the behavior. I do know that changing behavior will not bring the long term results that I so desperately want for my children. My children will conform because they do not want to be in trouble but they will not understand that when they disobey or have a rotten attitude...it breaks their fellowship with the Lord and that He wants an intimate walk with them. Do you struggle with "Fruit on the Tree"?