Kid Miscellaneous

I know it sounds uninteresting to most, but I am really enjoying my self-guided Greek lessons (based on Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek). I just can’t seem to find much time to do it! The other day, during one of those brief windows of study time, I was totally engrossed into memorizing all these strange vocabulary words….Timothy, our two-year-old came in and said, “Daddy workin’ Geek?” Yes, perhaps his communication gaffe really wasn’t much of a faux pas at all.

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The reason they invented small changing tables is that someone once tried chasing a two-year-old around a king size bed trying to change a diaper…it’s Timothy’s new game now. My response to that…potty training! That’ll start soon…any suggestions out there for the best (and quickest!!) secret to successful boy training? Please share them….

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Kelly and I have tried to start changing our vocabulary over the years with regard to our kids. Rather than incessantly urging our kids to “be careful”, we are going with a more accurate biblical admonition: “be alert”. Anyone who has read John Eldredge has likely heard his rantings about that (especially from the book, Wild at Heart). We figured that although everyone knows the intent behind the phrase, when it is said over and over, it could give the impression, as Eldredge puts it, that our kids grow up with a lackluster sense of adventure, or worse, a fear of the unknown paths that await them as they go out into the daily feats that we, in reality, want them to conquer! What we really are encouraging them to do is to “be aware” (2 Cor 2.11 – we are not unaware of Satan’s schemes) and “be alert” (1 Pet 5.8 – be self-controlled and alert, your enemy prowls…) It seems a better warning…don’t “be careful” (as if YOU might do something to hurt yourself) but “be aware/alert” (because we live in a warzone where the enemy wants God’s children to encounter difficulties). Just some ramblings there….what phrases are you using in your parenting that are different from the culture’s voices around us?

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OK, call me irreverent or disrespectful to the all-knowing wisdom of our God (you can tell this is sarcasm here, right?!)…but why in the world did God think it was necessary to put fingernails on little kids? First of all, it seems at this stage in Jonathan’s life (9 months) the nails only get dirty or cause him to scratch his face. I’m thinking, make it a part of the puberty process...when they are old enough to cut their own fingernails! It could be like a natural way for the world to acknowledge the awesome transition our young baby boy would make into manhood…I can just hear it, ”son, you and me, man-to-man…let’s go away for the weekend…I need to teach you how to cut your fingernails.” What a rite of passage gift…clippers! Any agreements on this one?

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Lastly, look above at those cute pictures of Lael! It was totally spontaneous...she just started giggling and smiling so much early this morning that I ran and got the camera. I spent a few hours with her birth father today at the county’s “vital records” division trying to obtain an authorized copy of Lael’s birth certificate (will need that for adoption purposes soon). We first had to go to the hospital where Ega’s wife died…we needed to pick up a copy of the death certificate. That was hard…first time Ega had been back to those very hallways he walked so many days just after Lael was born and before Lokadi went to be with Jesus. He told me, as we were pulling in, “I thought I would never have to come to this place again.” But he knows we have to show Lokadi’s “proof of death” (hate that term) for him to give consent for us adopting Lael. We did that first, and then got out of the hospital there as soon as we could. We then had several hours together waiting in line at the place where birth certificates are issued and then later on in the car as we journeyed an hour to and from the town where Lael was born. We laughed a lot later on and that is great to do with Ega. Those of you who have been here and know him, you can imagine his smile and laugh…love it!

Tomorrow, Kelly takes Lael to get her ears pierced!!

-RV