Who Parent's Who?

My son is taller than me.  What a weird feeling!  I changed his diaper, spanked his little bottom, and carried him around in my hip until I had shoulder issues.  Now he is taller than me!  This got me thinking...

When do the tables turn with your kids?  I mean, when do the parents start seeking advice from their children?  At what point is there a confidence check?  I 100% respect my parents and listen to their sound advice, but for most part, I seem to be leading the pack on decisions or ideals. Marty pays all the bills ad has power of attorney over his mom.  He makes most of the financial decisions in her life.  Years ago I could never ever imagine my kids making decisions for me. I never dreamed they would have enough wisdom  or knowledge to make an informed decision.  But now, my sensitive, sweet , taller-than-me boy is starting to convince me. 

He loves the Lord and wants to do right.  He loves his family.  He loves me.  He wants to be a husband and father one  day, and he actually told me one time, "mom, you won't always be no.1 in my life you know?"  (Ouch-insert knife deep into my heart).  Really why?  "Well, I'm going to be married one day and she has to be my no. 1.  Just like daddy loves you."

OMY word. 

The wisdom that poured out of that statement floored me.  I mean, I literally felt my heart in my throat.  (Yes that's a real feeling, when you have so much pride in you kid you can hardly swallow).   He continued, "well actually mom, you may be #2 or 3.  It depends how many daughters I have." 

My 13 year old son is planning on having a family, raising them and loving them as Christ loves the church.  What an amazing blessing.  Who ever gets this boy is going to be ONE LUCKY gal! AND yes, I'll be visiting a lot to get advice from him.

Thank you Dear Lord for Isaac.  The love a mother has for her son is indescribable.  AND the fact his name is Isaac makes it hard!  When Abraham was willing to sacrifice his Isaac for the Lord, puts that name at a whole new level!  Lord help me raise my man child to walk upright and humbly at the same time.  Help me not be annoyed by his tickling and  loving hugs and "wrestling" he always wants to do!  May the "#1 girl" in his life (future girl...I'm going to be as long as possible) even now be serving, loving and living for You!  Protect her, keep her pure.  Guard Isaac's heart and help him be a man of integrity.  Thank you that I get to borrow him for a short lifetime!

I still can't believe MY head now rests on his chest!

Broken Bone-

We just "happen" to be at my sister's house at dinner time. Since she prayed for hospitable heart, and lived abroad for 10 years, she can cook up a mean meal for any number of people that just "happen" to be by!  She had a pork shoulder roast in the crock pot and it smelled delicious.  Sure enough, we all ate and were satisfied.  My brother-in-law picked out of the giant roast, a 1/2 pound bone.  Perfect for an 80-lb dog to chew on. 

Well, I happen to have two.  Gracie is our 3 year old sleek, yellow lab.  She has been a delight to me and our family.  She is obedient, loving, and a little to herself.  I love giving her big juicy bones!  Shadow is our new boy.  A rare silver lab, he was born just 4 short months ago.  HE IS HUGE!  He is funny, he is NOT TRAINED.  But I love him the same, and thinks he deserves a bone too.  One big-delicious-juicy pork bone, and TWO deserving sweet dogs.  That was my dilemma!

Being an equal-opportunity-dog-momma I decided to make it equal for both and took the bone, a file, a hammer and a saw to the garage.  At first I tried to  file it in half...nope-  Then I tried to saw it, a little headway but was taking way too long.  OH FORGET IT-  Grabbed the giant hammer and started swinging.  It was not secure as the hammer struck the bone, it slipped and bounced off the garage floor and hit my ankle at 80 mph. Omy-goodness....I saw stars!  And may have said a few unworthy words.  (I must really love my dogs...it's 110 degrees in the garage and now I have a huge contusion on MY big ankle bone!)

 VICTORY--It worked!  Two pieces (although not equal-ugh)- But two pieces nonetheless!  I gave them to my puppies! 

THEY WERE IN HEAVEN!~~~ And I'm sure they praised my name every lick and bite along the way.  I'm sure I earned so much respect in their eyes.

In less than 15 minutes, those dogs were able to chew up and SWALLOW that bone!

REALLY?!!!!

The bone that caused major bruising, sweat and turmoil to divide!?  They ATE IT!-In 15 minutes!

They ate it and loved it...  but their internal bowels did not. 

Yep, Shadow did not make it to the grass....not even to the door  (gross)
Four towels later, bruised ankle, and a late night I realized.......  I will never just barge into my sister's house at dinner time again!   Well at least without an invitation and a contribution.

Christianese

I sat by a woman on a plane one time that was obviously very successful.  She shared all about the homes (yes plural) she is re-doing.  In fact, she was flying to her Florida home to pick out paint color and floor decor.  She worked for Starbucks and was a very confident sales executive.  Being the curious type, I stepped further and asked about her family.  This part was a little less rehearsed and I could tell she was struggling with giving me emotional details.  To my delight, she finally shared with me that she was a grandma who adores her grandchildren.  She also confessed that she didn't spend much time with them and preferred working than being around her family.  After an hour or so of conversing like this, I asked her why it was hard for her to tell me about her family.  She looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Because you're one of those and I didn't want to hear how God loves me and crap".  I may have made a thump as my jaw hit the floor.  This lady was definitely a hard business woman who tells it like it is, but she was missing the southern charm I'm used to.  I admit, it hurt!  But I had to press on.  "Ma'am, what do you mean 'one of those'"?  She went on to tell me the reason she doesn't stay in one place too long is because she hated the Bible belt where people invited you to church, she hated going down south because everyone is fake, and where her children live, is chaos.  She loathes the terms "God bless you" and "Thank God".  She even confessed she was worried to sit next to me because of my 'christian terms'.  It was the most enlightening conversations I had ever had.  My goal was not to convert her, or even "witness" to her. I honestly wanted to have a nice conversation, and maybe learn something from her.

Did I ever! 

Scripture says, they will know us by our love.  It says NOTHING about how many Bible verses you can quote, or hymns you can recite.  It is by simply LOVING.  (please do not get me wrong, scripture memorization is awesome and so are hymns )...  Why have Christ-followers- disciples- gotten so far from that?!  Why do we have to have memberships, and votes, and quotas?  Where is the bare-bones love that Jesus showed? 

Quite honestly, if I wasn't raised in the belt-buckle of the Bible belt or lived in the Christian bubble my entire life, I would feel the same way as my seat partner.  I would RUN the other direction of those that always say the right things, do the right things and seem to know all the right things to do.  IT would be an automatic turn off. 

My new friend and I swapped business cards.  We have actually had a couple of phone conversations regarding business a couple of times.  I truly respect her.  I sorta envy her.  But I do pray for her!  but most of all I am going to just LOVE her.