Spirited Sons

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Schooling two active boys has never been more... interesting. That's the word I'm looking for! I love my boys! God has given them the blessing of strong, active bodies and minds. We continually pray the first will remain intact, and the second will remain engaged with Him first, and then the school work. You'll meet my sweet sons, both entirely different, but both loving God to the best of their ability in the way He made them. I lovingly refer to them as my Bell Pepper Boy and my Habanero or Hambone. That should say it all! This blog is an eclectic mix. The events, conversations, and the thoughts behind it all will be in here. Every once in a while I'll try to capture something I don't want to forget. I hope you find things you enjoy. Please let me know if you do! Blessings!

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Friday, July 25, 2008

If You Give a Mom a Garden. . .

Posted in Mom Things

If you give a mom a garden . . .

She'll want some compost to go in it. And, once she's worked that in to the soil, she'll see it needs more amendment.

Off to the store she'll go, hoping to get a good price on topsoil and peat, too.

While she's at the store, the mom will notice the aisle of shiny tools: shovels and hoes and bulb planters and trowels. She'll have to test each one for weight and durability in her very own hands. After she sees they are not as nice as the heavy tools she has at home, she'll remember she was in the store for the garden she's making.

She'll walk toward the topsoil and peat, and the aisle of fertilizers will be right in front of her. The mom will have to look at the various kinds of fertilizer and think about what she'll need. Knowing there are no plants in the garden yet, she has no need of the fertilizers. But, that reminds her that there are no plants in the garden, so the mom will have to look at those, too!

After the mom experiences *all* of the lovely plants, she remembers she came only for soil amendments. She gets them and pays for them.

When the mom returns to the garden, turns in the amendments, and steps back to look at her job, she is happy. This reminds her that a job well done is really a joy, but also a lot of work.

The mom soon realizes she is thirsty, so she goes in to enjoy the air conditioning and a cup of tea. The tea reminds her she is hungry, so the mom also eats a cookie. The cookie crumbs remind her the kitchen table is dirty, so she finds the spray and paper towels and cleans the table.

Seeing the clean table reminds her there is dirt on the floor, too. So, the mom gets the broom and dust pan and sweeps the dirt from the floor. She dumps the dirt into the garbage can under the sink, which reminds her she was working in dirt earlier in the day in her new garden.

The mom goes back out to the garden, sees there are no flowers, and ponders the situation. Seeing there are flowers in other parts of the yard, the mom decides to move them to the new garden.

Three hours later . . .

The mom steps back from her nicely planted garden, rubs her sore back, looks at the huge pile of extra Brown-Eyed Susans, and thinks, "I really need to make another garden over there with the extra ones."

*sigh*

And, after she has cut the new garden in to the barely grassy area in another part of the yard, she decides she needs some compost to go in it.

Have a great day! This is a bit of a dramatized version of my day. I thought you'd get a kick out of it.

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Friday, July 25, 2008

M-o-o-o-o-o-o-m, Where's. . .

Posted in Boy Things

If you have anything like my home scenario, you are used to being asked questions about the whereabouts of various things . . . from two rooms away. I never know what it is, and sometimes I don't know where it is, but I know the intro to the question. It's that long, drawn-out, almost whiny tone to my name, Mom.

*Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about.*

Anyway, this was a pretty good thing all the way around. It went something like this:

Habanero: Mom, where is the story of Eli in the Bible?

Me: It's in the Old Testament, son.

Habanero: Where is it, Mom?

Me: Ummmmmm.

Bell Pepper: It's in 1 Samuel.

Hmmmm. I love when they're quiet times are showing. ;') You just never think anything might be sneaking in there and remaining, and then you get a glimmer of hope in moments like this. Why did my son know where it was? His answer: Because I read it.

Love it!

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

No Longer Coveting?

Posted in Boy Things

The Bible reminds us not to covet our neighbor's things, including his donkey! After my initial conversation with Habanero about his fascination with a pet donkey, I toyed with heading to that place in Scripture. I refrained, though, since I knew I didn't want to squash all hopes of a donkey in that way. I am thankful God can speak through a donkey and *to* the topic of a donkey in many ways! You're wondering what I mean? I'm getting there. I promise!

Last night, our family took an impromptu trip to the county fair. I love the county fair. I've lost count of the number of fairs I've visited. My parents took us every year. Many years my sisters and I submitted projects to the fairs through our little 4-H group in the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun. (I just don't want to talk about the birdhouse, okay. Let's just agree not to discuss that project.) :'D

Well, we went to the fair as a family. We tried all the various foods that are completely unhealthy, but completely "fair faire" that you can't miss. A funnel cake (with strawberries and whipped cream for fruit and dairy representation), cheese fries, corn dogs, and sweet corn . . . pretty much in that order, too. It was wonderful!

My favorite part came next: the animal exhibit barns! I love these barns for lots of reasons, not the least of which being that I get to see animals I can't keep, and then go home at the end of the night to "wash off" the animal smells. ;') But, I wasn't sure who enjoyed them more. Habanero was thoroughly into the animals.

I knew the topic was coming. The donkey would be mentioned. You can only walk past so many cages of rabbits, chickens, doves, waterfowl . . . only so many stalls of sheep, goats, and calves. The bigger farm animals would be discussed, and I knew the donkey was hot on their hooves.

This is where I insert my excitement that God can speak through a donkey and *to* the topic of a donkey. And, He used a bovine to do it! Whoever you are, you big hunk of shiny, black bovine, I am truly thankful to you! When your tail went half mast and you delivered your HAY-load, it did not go unnoticed! I am grateful for your ability to work yourself into teachable moments! *grin*

Suffice it to say, Habanero is completely over his donkey fascination. I am quite okay with that.

In other news, we have a future firefighter on our hands. Habanero would have slid down the fire department's pole at the display a lot more times than he did. *sigh* The fair has hours, though. ;')

Lastly, our local forest preserve department has been printing things on new paper. Have you all seen this kind of thing before? It's tree-less paper made from leftovers from stone (granite and brick manufacturers, I believe). It says it bio-degrades into a mineral powder in less than 9 months if left out in nature. You so KNOW we have to find out if that's true. Bell Pepper is heading up an experiment with nine of the brochures (which will be mailed to us) and chronicling the whole process. I know I just want to see the pile of dust at the end! That's what we're supposed to be left with. We shall see . . . .

Have a fabulous week, friends!

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Monkeys and a Wrench?

Posted in Boy Things

I think at some early point in my blog I said something clever like, "These are the memories I want to put down." Of course, not all the memories are cherished in quite the same way. Some are not really "cherish-able" at all, I fear.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you had a fleeting thought? For me, it usually sounds something like a quick whisper in the dark corner of my mind. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. Well, yesterday I had one of those moments. It was in the middle of cleaning up our school room for this coming year. I was rarin' to go. Of course, things get messier before they get better, but I was willing to live with that. This is neither here nor there, since the whole beginning of this entry takes place in the school room several hours before the "event" with the monkeys. *sigh*

My school room has a workbench area for all things science, or the child who needs to work privately for a little while. It looks something like this:

See that innocent-looking red toolbox on the floor under the taller work bench? In there rests the lovely set of tools belonging to my handsome son, Habanero. On this particular day, I noticed most of the tools were not in this lovely red toolbox.

Enter the fleeting thought: You really should tell Habanero to bring all of his tools back to the toolbox right now.

Nothing to that effect came out.

Several hours later, I sent Habanero and Bell Pepper to bed. Had they followed my instructions, we would have had no problems. Alas, two boys, some lego men, and some chit chat led from one thing to another. I really don't know all of what happened next.

I know two boys, lego men, chit chat, and a wrench is a recipe. Dinner was over, the kitchen was closed, and I didn't need any kind of dessert (just or otherwise). *sigh*

Bell Pepper will be fine. His elbow has a new "hole" in it, but all should be well.

Again. So many opportunities to listen in this day. I had the opportunity to listen to the fleeting whisper. My boys had the opportunity to listen to my instructions . . . or the instructions they've received in church, Bible time, or one-on-one time during a parental "talk" over the years. Surely, something had to apply to monkeys, wrenches, and "Tool Time" gone awry, right? It wasn't aggressive-aggressive . . . just a "boys being physical" moment, I think. *sigh*

Have a peace-filled week, friends! *sigh*

Edited to correct the word "wrench" because I can't spell.

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