Recently I went to the park with a dear friend only to instantly realize that my seven year old princess had on her best "bully" out and was trying it on for size. Of course the main focus of her intentions went directly to my kind hearted, although imperfect in his own right, newly five, bright and twinkly knight. (He knows he is a king, but would rather be called a knight, I'm guessing he grasps more job description details than I can imagine.)
Back to the park, my friend knows my heart and was quick to draw Esther up when she acted out of my sight. I came to a not so fun realization, actually a few:
1. I'm not perfect (Gasp) 2. My extremely intelligent girl requires me to put my best big girl panties on and be just as powerful as she is every day.
Now this is definitely a to be continued story as my writing muse appears to be nocturnal, but I am slowly learning how to enforce boundaries, again. My excuses for not enforcing well simply are not good enough. On occasion, (Love and logic parents beware) I now feel I can lovingly use a tool in my parenting toolbox called: a swat.
Now at the park, I had such good reasons (super good) about why my seven year old is beyond that kind of discipline. But as I thought over my friends wisdom, I realized something. My children are not at all dumb. They look at me and somehow gauge my extreme sensitivity to their hearts and to keeping them whole. Tey then use this keen vision to get away with things. (Not horrible things, but making farting noises when ever a grownup speaks can be considered rude in some circles) I had to admit, in these past few months, I have allowed them to get out of hand. they are once again testing boundaries with the thought, "What would happen if I ....?"
"The park" was a turning point for me. When we got home we had this amazing confrontation. My children knew they could argue with me, knew they could find something to convince me in another direction than what I had just said.
It's not because they are bad, and honestly, I love the conversations. But conversations cannot turn into blatant brushing off of any authority. Again, my powerful kids looked me square in the face but I believe that they are beginning to see someone who will not only love them well, but will also help guide them. Even when it requires painful pruning.
Now before I seem to give consent to major corporeal punishment, I must interject that my true conviction is that I cannot control, my children. I can only guide them. There are many ways to be a guide. The very mature can follow an extremely rudimentary road map, but we all have days when we are not so mature and we need consequences to follow directions. Then when we choose to ignore consequences there is another option. Yay and hoorah for options!
Today was a very good day! Esther and I have been connecting at an even deeper level. Simeon is a love. Asher is the cause of major rioting in the streets whenever he bats an eye. Life is good. And good night!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
Oregon or bust...
That was the title of the blog that I was writing sitting in 85 degree weather on a Redding morning with thoughts of gigantic spiders creeping through my mind. At the time Oregon was a promised land with fewer exotic style arachnids and weather I could wrap up in and sip hot tea. Unfortunately, many frustrating phone sessions later, I finally accepted the fact that my phone was not a successful blogging device. Therefore this blog will have to cover a larger span of time. I'll try to condense.
As I sit here, I'm full of so much anticipation for the things that God is bringing into the next chapter(s) of our lives, and Redding is a place that holds precious memories but even more, so many precious people that will continue to hold onto tiny pieces of our hearts effectively spreading us across the globe, (with some concentration in the US and Australia).
Our last weeks in California were filled with packing, cleaning, and saying goodbye to jobs, friends and family. It was a tough, yet invigorating time as we dreamed with God and each other. Life is never what we expect, but we know the value of making plans, while what they ultimately look like is not entirely up to us, which is both comforting and frightening.
Theresa's Arts conference that Ben helped orchestrate here was a massive wave of success. Businesses on both sides of the river were given art and just thanked for being in business.I was excited to see the welcome the arts received all over. People sang, danced, decorated cookies, took pictures,wrote poetry painted and drew. It is so good to see!!
Our dreams are not simply for the arts. We want to see people released into their dreams. All of them. Business, family, creative, financial, spiritual and even health wise.... nothing is left out. It is fun to see what begins to knit together as we dream. There were aspects of Ben and I that, in the beginning, I would have thought were incompatible. Now I can see them as perfectly supporting, even contributing to the success, of each other.
Specifically, my hope is to step more into dance. I'm outing myself a little here. While I'm in no way a professional, I know that dance completes me. Watching others step into freedom of movement frees them up in their thinking and in their hearts. I hope to take more training myself and would love to see more dance happening around me. No matter what our age, when we dance knowing that we are powerful and beautiful the sky breaks wide open!
Okay, to sum up. I love this area and there is much (many) still that we miss in Redding. We are excited for what will happen next, tying together all our hopes, experiences and personalities. I look forward to seeing each of you and hugging you relentlessly . May all your dreams come true.
As I sit here, I'm full of so much anticipation for the things that God is bringing into the next chapter(s) of our lives, and Redding is a place that holds precious memories but even more, so many precious people that will continue to hold onto tiny pieces of our hearts effectively spreading us across the globe, (with some concentration in the US and Australia).
Our last weeks in California were filled with packing, cleaning, and saying goodbye to jobs, friends and family. It was a tough, yet invigorating time as we dreamed with God and each other. Life is never what we expect, but we know the value of making plans, while what they ultimately look like is not entirely up to us, which is both comforting and frightening.
Theresa's Arts conference that Ben helped orchestrate here was a massive wave of success. Businesses on both sides of the river were given art and just thanked for being in business.I was excited to see the welcome the arts received all over. People sang, danced, decorated cookies, took pictures,wrote poetry painted and drew. It is so good to see!!
Our dreams are not simply for the arts. We want to see people released into their dreams. All of them. Business, family, creative, financial, spiritual and even health wise.... nothing is left out. It is fun to see what begins to knit together as we dream. There were aspects of Ben and I that, in the beginning, I would have thought were incompatible. Now I can see them as perfectly supporting, even contributing to the success, of each other.
Specifically, my hope is to step more into dance. I'm outing myself a little here. While I'm in no way a professional, I know that dance completes me. Watching others step into freedom of movement frees them up in their thinking and in their hearts. I hope to take more training myself and would love to see more dance happening around me. No matter what our age, when we dance knowing that we are powerful and beautiful the sky breaks wide open!
Okay, to sum up. I love this area and there is much (many) still that we miss in Redding. We are excited for what will happen next, tying together all our hopes, experiences and personalities. I look forward to seeing each of you and hugging you relentlessly . May all your dreams come true.
Monday, February 25, 2013
I.Dignify
Hello friends!!!
Life is an adventure! Right now the birds are singing outside and I have the coldest house in Redding due to a large basement and all hardwood floors, most days I'd be thrilled but today I'm just hoping my feet thaw sometime. Okay....now on to actually writing ;)
I have recently started pursuing one of my life long passions. I'm taking a class through a ministry called IDignify. There aim is to educate and certify people to work alongside individuals that have been rescued form sexual trafficking.
Even when I was a young girl in Nevada, my heart broke when we went places and saw women out on the corner. I didn't even understand quite what they were doing, but they all looked cold and sad... Even though some of them were laughing... Fast forward to now.
I thought it would be difficult/ impossible for me to work in this arena since I made the choice to marry and have small children. That was until I met two beautiful women Kimberly Johnson and Rebecca Hathaway. Both of these women have young children, Kimberly and I were both carrying our third child at the same time. Rebecca works with a ministry called Unlikely Heroes out of SanFran and Kimberly and her husband Bob founded I.Dignify here.
I'm only taking my fourth week of class and you guys come in because I'd love some help with homework. I've written a survey and I'd so appreciate your involvement. Thank you so much and I'd love to hear what you think!!!
Please copy and paste the following in you search bar to participate:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=rqb0rbtrsjjvyvg99196
Thank you!! Blessings and more love than you can imagine!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renah
Life is an adventure! Right now the birds are singing outside and I have the coldest house in Redding due to a large basement and all hardwood floors, most days I'd be thrilled but today I'm just hoping my feet thaw sometime. Okay....now on to actually writing ;)
I have recently started pursuing one of my life long passions. I'm taking a class through a ministry called IDignify. There aim is to educate and certify people to work alongside individuals that have been rescued form sexual trafficking.
Even when I was a young girl in Nevada, my heart broke when we went places and saw women out on the corner. I didn't even understand quite what they were doing, but they all looked cold and sad... Even though some of them were laughing... Fast forward to now.
I thought it would be difficult/ impossible for me to work in this arena since I made the choice to marry and have small children. That was until I met two beautiful women Kimberly Johnson and Rebecca Hathaway. Both of these women have young children, Kimberly and I were both carrying our third child at the same time. Rebecca works with a ministry called Unlikely Heroes out of SanFran and Kimberly and her husband Bob founded I.Dignify here.
I'm only taking my fourth week of class and you guys come in because I'd love some help with homework. I've written a survey and I'd so appreciate your involvement. Thank you so much and I'd love to hear what you think!!!
Please copy and paste the following in you search bar to participate:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=rqb0rbtrsjjvyvg99196
Thank you!! Blessings and more love than you can imagine!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renah
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