Pretty Girls!

"This is how the pretty girls do it." She was dancing around the room after bath, towel laid across her wet hair. She is swaying from side to side as elegant as a soppy wet 6-year-old could possibly be. She is the epitome of beauty to me, but when she said this I wondered what exactly was the definition of "beauty" to her.

"What exactly do you mean by 'pretty' girls?" I asked her.

"You know, the MOST beautiful!"

I asked her if there was such a thing as an ugly girl. "NO!" she proclaimed as if I had asked the most absurd question.

"What about boys?" I asked.

"They are handsome."

I asked her if there was such a thing as an ugly boy. "NO!" she proclaimed again.

"Why?" I asked. "Why is there no such thing as an ugly boy or girl?"

"Because God made us all" she replied.

What a blessing to be able to see the world the way God sees us. Beautiful, hand-made in His image, perfect. What a beautiful blessing to still be able to see the world as God wants us to see it. Unblemished by the lies of sin.

I pray for protection over the hearts of my children. I am so thankful for all the people in their lives that are helping them grow to live a life for Christ. That when the master of deception tries to convince them that they are not beautiful and seeks to destroy their confidence that they will know beyond doubt the voice of Satan.

I pray for my own heart that God will remove from me the instinct to place people in a category based how the world sees them and see people the way God intended us to.

Halloween and Fall Fun!

Praise God!!!

I was reading over my last post about Dylan (man I sound so whiny sometimes!!! ) and wanted to update on his success!!

I currently have two mantras going in my head:

1. Lord you are more precious than (fill in the blank). And nothing I desire compares to you! My blank is currently Halloween candy.

2. God will not give me more than I can handle.

This second one I have been reminding myself of daily when it comes to Dylan. Since my last post, as his teacher said he would, Dylan has been breezing through his phonic charts and is now reading small words. God is so, so good!! I am still struggling with our homework time and not losing my patience. My biggest fear is that he will assume that Mommy thinks he is not smart. I do not think this in any way. What I do firmly believe is that we have babied him to an extent and if I will do it for him, he will let me. This was a groundbreaking moment in our learning. Once I told him how smart I knew he was and that I was not going to baby step him through his homework, literally the next day he was powering through his phonics charts.

Dylan was always able to pitch a pretty significant fit when he was little. Because of this we might have catered to him a bit more to avoid this behavior. To correct this now, he is having to go through some pains of realizing in himself that he is capable. That is not fun to watch, but the pride I see in his face when he begins to get it has been amazing!

My immediate hope is that I will continue to look at Dylan as an individual that God made and in no way compare him to anyone! That I will be able to shepherd him with grace, love and discipline that will help him live a life focused on Christ!

Me? Patient?

I have been told on a regular basis that I exhibit a great deal of patience. Until this year there was at least one area where I knew that this was an absolute incorrect statement: board games. I would often lose my patience with a swiftness when trying to explain and then attempting to play board games with my kids.

This is not to say that I don't lose my patience other times. This year I have been humbled greatly. I knew when Dylan started Kindergarten that he was behind some of the other students. I worried about his interview with school, anticipating they would tell me he was not ready. He has never been the studious type. Dylan loves to have fun! He was allowed to begin this year but I was warned that he was weak in some very significant areas.

Maryn's kindergarten year was fairly breezy. She loves to learn and it comes easy for her. I was not prepared for what was to come. On a daily basis, Dylan gets a verbal punishment for not listening to his teacher, or not paying attention in class. They have moved his chair many times to try to find a better fit for him. His strong points, as I found out during a recent conference with his teacher, is that he has wonderful social skills and he is endearing and compassionate. His teacher told me that he is an incredibly easy boy to love. Loving Dylan comes incredibly easy for me. There is not a day that goes by that I don't grab him up and kiss on his squishy little cheeks. Teaching him, not so easy. I have found it incredibly difficult to hold his attention. I try so hard and I just feel like often during our hour or more of homework that I have just run an uphill marathon. It is exhausting. He appears to have no retention ability whatsoever when it comes to learning his letters or blending phonetically. I know this is not the case because when it comes to something he wants to do (Star Wars) he can remember these things in vivid detail. His wonderful teacher has assured me that there will be a point when he just "gets it" and until then we just have to keep on practicing and practicing.

I get so mad at myself when he sees my frustration. I spend most sessions of homework in constant prayer that God will impress upon me creative ways that will help him understand and succeed. Sometimes I feel successful, but more often I feel like I totally suck!

Falling Teeth!!!

On 10-2-09, Maryn woke up for school with an incredibly loose tooth. You know the kind, hanging from a thread. The ones that make that disgusting clickety sound as they flick them with their tongues. Daddy tried to get a paper towel and pull it before school. This is about the exact moment that the crying and hysteria began. She asked her dad what was going to happen if he accidentally pulled out her lungs! After several attempts, daddy gave up and sent Maryn on her way with this heart felt warning: If that tooth does not fall out at school, I am going to pull it when you get home! Great job, Dad!!! When we arrived at school she was still crying. We made our way into the gym and after showing a few of her friends the cool sound her loose tooth made, she was distracted enough for me to go to work. I found out later that her tooth fell out minutes later while she was chewing on her sweater. By the time I saw her at lunch she was beaming with pride about her loose tooth. The house was a buzz after the tooth fairy's visit and Maryn was so proud to know that her tooth was deemed clean enough for a reward!

A mere five days later and tooth number two just popped right out at breakfast! So snaggletooth is going to bed to night anxious to see what the tooth fairy is going to bring her tonight!

Facebook Tidbits

Maryn and "Art Girl". Art Girl - a mild mannered doll by day, but by night a super hero who flies around saving kids who get in trouble with their art teachers.


Rachel Scheffler White: Sometimes Dylan crawling into my bed every night at 3 am gets on my nerves, but then when I feel him pat my cheek and give me a sweet little boy kiss all seems okay in the world!


Rachel Scheffler White: Just convinced my son he was a big fat liar when I couldn't find something that apparently I myself had misplaced! Groveling and forgiveness promptly asked for!!!


Rachel Scheffler White: Today I had lunch with my son for the first time at school. He initially had a difficult time transitioning to Kindergarten so I thought he would like my visit. At first, he did not even want me to sit with him! Then changed his mind. So I sat down and chatted with some of his new friends. He then turns to them and says: "My dad is much funnier!"


Rachel Scheffler White: After homework was done today Maryn said: "Mom, I think my brain is on fire"!


Rachel Scheffler White: Dylan's takeaway from his Bible lesson on Adam & Eve at school today was: "when we go to another country...DO NOT eat the apples...they will give you sin"!


Rachel Scheffler White: My daughter walked into her Christian school today....WHERE I WORK....singing "Dude looks like a lady"!!!! That's perfect!! I don't even know where she heard this song!!! Daddy? Any ideas??

Dylan's First Day of Kindergarten!!

So Dylan started Kindergarten a month ago. I was so thankful that he had his sister to help him because, of the two, he is much more dependent....or so I think. I agonized over his first day. I was worried about how he would adjust. What his teacher would think. Would he mind his manners? Would he be able to sit still and listen? Would he make friends quickly?

His first day went smoothly enough and I was very, very proud of him. He was nervous and he was feeling shy. To protect himself from this new experience I noticed he was walking around with this mean, grumpy look on his face. It took us several days to help him past this and try to make him realize that making that face is going to scare people and make it much more difficult to get to know the other kids in his class. Being that this was what he was trying to do, it was hard to help him get past it.

What I have found out in this first month of school is that I worry about Dylan far too much. The thing is, Maryn was easy in school. She makes friends quickly, she is eager to learn new things. She went into Kindergarten being able to say all of her letters, something Dylan is still working on. I was expecting Dylan to be on the same level. He is not. But it is okay! Kindergarten is for learning the basics and I am so proud of his progress so far! Kindergarten is also learning how to control your basic behavior and sit and listen. This is something Dylan struggles with and I am thankful he has an amazing teacher to help him figure it all out. He will get more tallies than Maryn did. That is also okay. I have learned not to expect them to be the same. They are uniquely made by God's hands!

Another thing I have learned after a month of school is that, emotionally, Dylan has adjusted much quicker than Maryn did. The tears have stopped and he embraces his independence when he walks in those doors rather than clinging to me until the last possible second as Maryn did!

I am so excited about this year and feel absolutely blessed to still be able to work at this school that I love so much!!!

Incredible Point of View!

If only I could see things the way my children do! I feel blessed to be able to spend a great deal of time around the innocent minds of youth!

We were driving around today and Maryn said out of nowhere: "Dylan, we are like a living pop-up book for God!" She looked at me for verification! I was so astounded by this simple comment that I was nearly speechless.

Cloudy Conversation

On the way to Papa Bear and Grandmama's house Dylan was looking out the window and observed that "today is not a beautiful day." It has been cloudy lately and we have had some random showers. For Dylan, if the sky is not blue and the sun is not shining....it is not beautiful! Maryn quickly told him, "you better apology to God, look at all the green grass and the flowers...they have to have God's rain". Dylan didn't falter on his opinion of the day and Maryn told him that he was just trying to make fun of God's day and he better tell Him really quick that he is sorry!

Dylan said he was sorry and that he would be really happy if it was sunny, Amen. He decided that it looked like there was going to be a tornado and Maryn told him that it was okay to have tornadoes, that God makes them to suck up all the garbage!

Happy Father's Day!