Sure looks fun

Our first winter in Iowa.  The boy's first 'taste' of snow.  It sure looks fun.  But I know enough now to say that  looks can be deceiving.  It's all fun and games till someone has to shovel the driveway.  Glad to be back in sunny Arizona complaining about the chill of sixty degree weather.

Following the Rules

"I say this because there is an uneasiness in things just now. Waiting for something to be over before you are forced to notice it. The pollarded trees scarcely bucking the wind and yet it's keen, it make you fall over. Clabbered sky. Seasons that pass with a rush." -John Ashbery

Glad to be in a new week.

Contented, even, to be in a new season, though the shift of seasons can be rough.

Seasons, so metaphorical for a reason.

As the air, the leaves turn, so we do and our children.

We skipped church yesterday.  That is, we passed on the hoopla that can sometimes surround worshiping in a church building.  We stayed in and did church at home.  We read about the Ten Commandments and we played a Bible board game.

And we learned.  A lot.  Mostly about sin nature and how it always fights against rules.  The game was played and the game was won. It's all fun and games till someone loses.

 And one of the children could not handle the fact that they were not the winner.  The names, 'Cheater' and 'Liar' were thrown out against the winner. And I was faced with this child asserting an attitude I had not yet noticed in his years here.  I was faced with a problem which required wise parenting.  Really, I could just not believe that this anger was coming out of my son...over losing a game.   And so.... a discussion ensued.

We talked about truth and winning and losing and making up rules to suit our own desires.  There were tears but it was an important lesson we all learned.  I feel like God knew something needed to be addressed in this growing boy.  Something needed to be tamed.  So we fought that battle.  But the war wages in us all continually, only to be won by prayer.


Counting:


lessons learned (even the hard way)
church where you're at
tears that change you
revelation