Foster Care - Part II

As expected, Paris and Solomon left to go to a more permanent foster home. We had the normal issues that can be expected from two kids who have been moved around quite a bit, but they were great to have around. Eliana was a great "big sister" and helped constantly with both of them. When Solomon was crying, she would comfort him by telling him that everything was okay and there was nothing to cry about (sometimes a little too loudly, but she tried). When we explained that Paris was having trouble sleeping because she was a little scared of the different environment, Eliana was determined to explain to Paris that there was nothing to be scared of at night.

We are praying that they will have a great home to live in permanently very soon and that they will grow up safely. They're already on the right path. Paris is a very bright and friendly two year old. Solomon is a great baby and is extremely happy when he's not pre-occupied with typical baby matters. (nap, eat, cuddle, etc) We miss them, but are glad that we could play even a small part in their lives.

Foster Care

We have our first experience with foster care providing respite care for two beautiful kids - Paris and Solomon. They've been great to have in our house, even if only for a couple of days until they can be moved to a permanent foster home. Eliana has been a great "big sister" and has played well with Paris and hugged and kissed Solomon for the little baby he is. It's been different with new young ones in the house, but I'm glad that we've all been given an opportunity to be together for a short time. We've been learning a lot through this experience and I know that we'll all be somewhat sad to see them leave.

Vegetables Won't Kill You

Apparently while mom was encouringing Eliana to eat her vegetables, she said that a little bite of this vegetable won't kill you. Eliana finally took her bite and immediately started a gagging, coughing "fit" and then slumped over pretending to be dead. I guess this was relayed to grandma who was listening on the phone while this happened.

No idea where our kid gets the over-dramatic tendencies - I don't even think this has been in a movie she's seen, but they definitely make for great stories. :D

Allowance Time!

We discussed an allowance for Eliana with her today. We asked her what her normal daily chores should be. She rattled off a list: Go to bed, take a bath, play with her friends, eat dinner, play games, visit her friends, eat breakfast, play with her toys, etc. After we brought her back down to tasks that would help the family and house, we decided on putting up her toys and clothes, helping put up dishes, and similar. We discussed a quarter per day if all of her chores were done. Eliana is a shrewd negotiator, though. She insists that we need to give her a nickel. While I'm all for that, mom wants to stick to the quarter.

Punishment for the friends....

Eliana decided that Susan, Lucy, Peter, and Edmund (her friends/brothers and sisters depending on when you ask - she got into Narnia in a big way) had "broken" her toybox. She resigned them to the hall for 2 minutes as punishment. Susan was initially left out, but after some clarification, it was determined that she was there as well. Apparently Lucy was the main culprit and the others were covering for her. She disappeared in there a couple of minutes ago to fuss at them and let them up. She does pick up on the oddest things at times. :-)

Zoo Trip with Eliana

Eliana decided late last night that her daddy was one of her "sons" (the other being a doll she's had for almost 3 years) and that we needed to get a good nights' sleep because we were going to the zoo "tomorrow". She then had me lay down on the couch to sleep and she lay herself down on the other couch with a blanket and pillow.
After a small amount of time (to work as "night", I suppose), she came over to her happily dozing dad and woke me up gently by shouting "Wake Up!" as loudly as she could. She then hurried around fixing me breakfast, insisting that I get dressed, and dragged me off to the "car" (a spot in the living room not particularly different than any other). We then got in the car (after opening the "door" of course) and she realized she had forgotten her key. She left me and the baby doll in the car while running to her kitchen to get her key (a pink plastic knife). After driving frantically (never saw those elbows move so quickly), we arrived at the "zoo".
I was then given a tour of the zoo (aka living room) where she picked up a souveneir and showed me the animals (in this case a giant stuffed chicken). We then had to get back in the car and go home so we could nap before going back to the zoo.
At this point, it was actually past bedtime. We all got ready to go to bed for real after some cleanup of the toys that were out.

She'd been to the Dallas Aquarium a couple of days earlier which probably prompted this trip. She got a set of binoculars while there and discovered last night how they are actually supposed to work. That was pretty cute as well.

Ordering Your Private World - Strength of Mind

I've been reading through Gordon MacDonald's book "Ordering Your Private World" lately and just finished the chapter on keeping your mind healthy/strong as a Christian. He presented a lot of food for thought that really resonated with me.

He commented that we need to exercise our minds as Christians because God created us in His image. We have the mind of Christ and therefore should be the most creative people in the world. Instead, we often turn off our minds and follow some strong-willed leader semi/mostly blindly. (Jonestown anyone?)

We also need to use our minds so we can engage the culture. If we aren't constantly exercising and disciplining our minds towards Godliness, then we are more likely to get sucked into the culture around us and dragged down into that culture. God's word is filled with examples of how Israel continually let themselves be influenced by the people around them rather than witnessing for the God who'd called them His people. In Judges, it ends with the sad line that "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." In Chronicles, Israel is led away into captivity for falling so far from God - first with the northern kingdom who never had a God-following king, then with the southern kingdom who had some good kings, but not enough.

Even the churches in the New Testament let themselves get carried away with the flow of the culture - probably why we have so many exhortations to exercise and discipline ourselves to be in the world, but not of the world. As one hymn tells us - this world is not my home, I'm just passin' through. We need to do our part while we are here, but this is not our final destination and too often we live like it is our last stop.


One comment that really touched a nerve was "amusement". Gordon brings our attention to the root for the word - muse, to think, a- without. Basically, this leads us to "without thinking". I've been convinced for a long time that our society will rise or fall based on how we use our leisure time. Do we amuse ourselves? TV? Games? Music? Sports? Books? All of them are good, in moderation. I tend towards books, games, and music - sometimes too much so. I have to ask myself regularly - Am I building myself up through these leisure activities, staying put, or actually moving backwards?

The last point Gordon brings up is based on another author and how we need to serve God with all of our mind, soul, heart, and strength. Gordon touches on how this can relate to people who are emotional, but don't have any intellect behind the emotion. Others who are intellectual, but don't have depth or emotion. Still others who have experience, but no emotion. We need to be perfectly balanced or we'll find ourselves out of control and easily manipulated (or the manipulators). Personally, I need to guard against over-intellectualizing my faith and translating that head-knowledge to heart-knowledge and life-application.

If you're reading this - how is your private world? Are you mentally flabby in your faith or are you growing? Are you the same Christian you were 1 year ago? 5 years? 10 years?

In Him,

-Peter

The Butt of Too Many Jokes - Contemporary Christianity in the USA

I'm not really a King of the Hill fan, though I understand that quite a few people find it amusing. Only reason this stuck in my mind is due to this post:
Challies Dot Com: The Butt of Too Many Jokes

I liked the basic premise of the discussion - contemporary Christian culture in the USofA. We get caught up in things about Christianity that are cool and tend to discard them when they aren't fashionable anymore. He brought up WWJD branded items, magazines, music and similar items that are fads and then as their popularity wanes, they are relegated to a box somewhere or a garage sale. The best quote I read was along the lines of how we need to be careful about how we treat God so that He doesn't end up in that box of all the things that were fads and have now been put away because they aren't cool anymore.

How am I presenting God to my family? Am I careful to present God to them so that He isn't something that will pass if He becomes uncool? Sure, VeggieTales are great, but I'm sure that their popularity will fade at some point. The same holds true for jewelry, clothing, books, pop music. Sure some of them will last longer than others, but God is so much more than those things. Definitely something that I plan to think about some more.

Blue houses don't make us happy

Once again, Eliana demonstrates that she takes in more than we realize. As we were driving along on the way to church, we detoured past a house that mom has looked at for a while just because she's liked the look of it. She pointed it out to Eliana and noted that the blue house was the one to look at. Eliana pointed out that our house is brick. She the explained to both of us that "blue houses don't make us happy."

Too true, now if that would only apply to items that are pink for a certain small girl I can think of. :-)

Hats don't guard cars

Eliana's been toting her bears around lately (sometimes a tiger, dog, or doll instead). Joe was the favored bear for a while, but we wanted to ensure that he'd be safe so we insisted that he stay behind to "guard the car" regularly.

Today Eliana decided to pick up her play cowboy hat (the one that's bright baby-blue) and wear it in to church. Mom tried to convince her that she should let the hat guard the car. Eliana looked at her mom and explained to her that "Hats don't guard cars. Bears guard cars." She then proceeded to pick up the hat and wear it into church.

That girl picks up on the strangest things at times, but it makes life all the more interesting.