Following the Falkins: June 2011

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The last thing a homeschool mom wants to do on a Sunday afternoon

As I was preparing our summer school lesson plans for the week, Anna and John Caden came running up to me and announced, "Mommy, we are going to 'play' school. We will be the children and we need you to pretend that you're our teacher." I'm sure my face must have turned green---considering that I am their teacher five days a week, "pretending" to be their teacher on my day "off" just didn't seem like such an appealing nor a novel idea to me. We ended up playing ball instead. :)

Friday, June 24, 2011

One of Our Most Favorite Times of the Year...

...Blueberry Season!

When the blueberries become ripe in our backyard, to John Caden especially, it's truly better than being in a candy store! Umm, umm good!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Living Up to His Name

Dear John Caden,
Before you arrived into this world we experienced many "battles" with your development and delivery--hence your name "Caden." We were convinced though that once you were here, the "battle" would be behind us and we would realize what a "Gift of God" your were and that the complicated pregnancy would all be worth it--hence your name "John." But your name hasn't quite played out like we were expecting---we are still in the "battle!" :) There are the daily battles of dealing with your sensory processing disorder in which getting you dressed, brushing your teeth, and getting you bathed become an all out war. There are the nightly battles in which you've learned how to throw yourself off your bed and bite your tongue causing your tongue to bleed or how you've mastermindedly learned how to get your foot through the side guardrail but not be able to get it out. There are the monthly haircut battles in which the neighbors come out to see what all the screaming is about. (Throw-up on the hairstylist's shoes quickly brought our salon visits to an end -- haircuts are a task that are best carried out in our own backyard). Then there are your random boughts of trouble like today when you decided to take your shirt off and flush it down the potty. Or last week when you attempted to make your own "coffee" by breaking up crayons into little pieces and putting them into the DVD/CD player on the computer. You've also left your battle marks by carving things into the table with a pencil, scribbling on the computer monitor, and flooding our house by stopping up the sink drains and leaving the water running. Your father and I sometimes laughingly talk about starting an excel spreadsheet to keep a record of the expenses you've incurred us, but every time you give me one of those tight squeezes that only little boys know how to give and you tell me that you love me the "muchiest," that list of expenses is nullified and the "Caden" part of your name is overshadowed by the "John." We hold to God's promise in Isaiah 65:23, "They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them" and in the meantime we rejoice over little victories like today when you proudly announced, "Mommy, Daddy!! A fuzzy got on me and I didn't get upset!"

Father's Day 2011

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Anna's Dance Recital 2011

Sunday, June 12, 2011

How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids

“As intentional parents we do not react, but we respond. We do not panic; we pray. We do not give sermons; we give scripture.”

“Parenting is clearly not at all about me, and yet it is about me: God is using this opportunity not just to prepare my children for His calling, but also to break me, mold me, and use me as an instrument of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Rachael Carman