More Shampoo Epiphanies

I'm scaring myself. I had this thought in the shower while I was shampooing my hair. I'll get to that in a minute. Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I remembered a post by someone with the phrase, "I can spiritualize anything." After my shampoo ephiphany, I realized I share this same quality. But who said that?

OK, after searching bloggy archives for a few minutes I found it. And it was Clemntine. And it was even about SHAMPOO.

You can get goosebumps now. (or shake your head)

Here is her post. I think it's hilarious that I have found another soul on the internet who does their deep thinking in the shower. Probably because it's one of the only places we are ever alone. And by that I mean that the little people knocking on the door of the bathroom calling for us can't get in. Because I don't know about her house, but I lock the door.

So here was my deep thought...Sweetheart, age 7, was shampooing her hair this evening. I watched her squirt a blob of shampoo out of the bottle into the palm of her hand and it was approximately the size of an apple.
"Whoa. Whoa. That's WAY too much shampoo. You're supposed to use the size of a quarter."
I read her the back of the shampoo bottle and sure enough, that's what it said.

So later when I was in the shower (with the door locked) I thought about that. I never taught her to shampoo her hair. She just learned how by watching me wash her hair and her sister's hair all these years. One day she decided to try it herself. She didn't know how much shampoo to use because I never actually shared that information with her.

So how many other things is she learning from me that I have never instructed her in? I may have very biblical reasons for the things we do or do not do. But have I shared with her from the Bible what those reasons are and where they are found? Then I have not instructed her. And one day she will wonder why she does things the way her mom always did. And she may decide not to do them that way anymore, not even realizing that there is a reason in God's word.

This is not good. So now I have some thinking to do about how to instruct a 7 year old in God's ways. But I'm sure He will help me, if I ask. At some point, we've got to get past the Bible stories, and start really learning. This is new ground for me. And this all goes back to Clemntine's post from the other day. Which is the whole reason I haven't been able to post anything all day--because I have been mulling over that post in my mind.

So blogging not only can be encouraging, but thought-provoking as well. And apparently, so can shampooing your hair!

Today I Am Home

Thankfulness comes at the strangest times.

This morning I was pulling the trash to the curb. As I did, I noticed several cars with women driving, speeding down our street. They looked to be in a terrible hurry. I don't know where they were going, but I can imagine. If you are ever on the road in the mornings, notice how many cars have empty car seats in the back. How many women are rushing off to work this morning who have just dropped their kids off somewhere, hoping that they will be taken care of?

But today I am home.

I am so thankful for this blessing! Today I don't have to wonder what my kids are doing or if they liked what was for lunch or if they are feeling kind of bad and want me, or if someone is making fun of them, or if they got pushed in line, or if they needed something and the teacher didn't notice...today I know where they are. They are in bed sleeping. And when they get up, we will go to the library together. I will fix their meals. I will listen to their requests. I will hug them and read to them. I will make sure they are taken care of. I will be a MOM today.

And my husband needs me to take care of a few things. I will make time to do those things for him. Then he will have more time to relax this evening. More time to enjoy his family. More peace to think about work while he's at work (instead of these things that need to be done.) Today I will be a WIFE.

Other people are facing the tasks of being a wife and mother today, but not with joy. Why? I think this is part of the lies we have been fed. Growing up, I was fed the message of "what do you want to be when you grow up?" As if what I WANT is the deciding factor.
After I was grown, I was fed the message of "what are your gifts/talents?" As if God has given me a very specific thing to do that no one else could ever do and that would determine my course in life.

Now I know God has given me talents. There are things I am good at doing. And of course there are things I wanted to do when I grew up. But these have nothing to do with the big picture. When I got married, I became my husband's helper. My love for him makes this task a joy. Knowing that I am doing what God wants me to do makes it a joy, too. My love for my children makes being a mother a joy. Knowing that what I am doing pleases the Lord and is important to my husband makes it a joy, too.

No one EVER told me, growing up, that being a wife and mother was all I needed to worry about. I thought everyone had to spend their time trying to find out what they were "supposed" to be. It isn't about what you want. It isn't about what you have been gifted to do. It's about fulfilling the roles the Lord has already blessed you with. And when you figure that out--there is joy.

Destination: LUBY'S!

Folks, our girls have bad table manners. I am really ashamed to admit that. They do pretty well with other manners, such as saying "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me." But table manners? Well, they are what you would call....lacking.

Regularly at our table someone:

1. breaks into song
2. talks or laughs with food in their mouth
3. uses their hands to eat that which is not considered finger food (such as mashed potatoes!)
4. slumps down in their chair and drags the food to their mouth via the huge gap between themselves and the table, showering crumbs onto the table and into their lap

Now, I know it could be worse. But I really want children who I can take out in public. And, I would like to sweep the kitchen floor less. One of the things my husband is looking forward to about me being home is the expected improvement in table manners. We try to model these things, but I'm not sure the lessons are sinking in. I plan to take a more direct approach called: Mommy will now give you a lesson in good manners at the table. It can be part of our homeschool curriculum. I'm serious about that.

We told the girls that we were going to work on manners this summer. If they learned to use good manners at the table, at the end of the summer we promised we would take them "somewhere fancy" to eat.

"Like Luby's?" Sweetheart wanted to know.

I'm thinking it's time to broaden their horizons just a bit. But honestly, I would settle for good manners at Luby's. That is just about as fancy as we get, after all.

Time to stop listening to the "they're just kids" lie and get busy! We will now raise our expectations at the table. Do you find yourself comparing your children to other people's kids in order to gauge where yours stand? Yeah, me too. But this time I am going to pray about it, make a decision about what we want to expect at their different ages--and go from there. I just think we expect far too little of our children these days. And they are capable of much, much more.

Oh, and NOT eating 2 meals a day at daycare with 25 other children their age should help, too.

Attention: I Am Not A SAHM

My mom has every church directory from our church since the sixties. I like looking at the old black and white pictures and seeing how the old folks at church used to look back when they were young parents. I have always been intrigued by the information on the pages as well. Next to most of the women's names it says, "Occupation: Homemaker." I remember asking my mom what that meant when I was little.

It means much more to me than today's title of "Stay At Home Mom." I know, I know. The SAHM title came about as women returned home from the work-force. So, we are divided into two camps: SAHMS and Working Mothers. Oh, and then you have the WAHMS. And those of us who work part time and stay home part time and don't really know where we fit in. There is even a magazine devoted to working mothers. I hate looking at it. It's all designed to make you not feel guilty about being away from your kids all day. No, it's more than that. It's designed to make you believe that what you are doing is actually GOOD for your kids! They constantly have articles with titles like, "How I Make It All Work," "What Worked For Our Family," or "The Benefits of Daycare." It makes me sick.

I even notice ads these days. You can have an innocent ad for juice and the picture will be of a mom in heels and pants with her briefcase beside her on the floor, lovingly handing a juice box to her toddler on their way out the door in the morning. The ad will say something about how you work hard to give your kids the best of everything (including nutritious juice!). You are such a great mom.

I am NOT getting down on moms who work. I have been one for a long time. I AM sick of the lies that we women are fed. I am sick of the implied messages we recieve all day. I am sick of no one being a homemaker anymore.

When I think of the older ladies at my church when I was growing up, I think of their wonderful homes. Everything was neat and tidy. They cooked and sewed clothes. They worked hard in the garden and put up food in cans. I'm not talking about 1 or 2 women I knew either. These ladies made their homes. They didn't just stay home with kids.

I think that's the difference for me. I don't want to just be a stay at home mom. I used to just stay home in the summers and my house never looked much better than it did during the school year. I just stayed home and nothing got organized. I just stayed home and then when school started my husband was on his own for clothes and food.

I want to be a homemaker. Raising the children is part of that. But so is making this home a great place for my family. I would be proud to have that next to "Occupation."

The Game Boy Has Been Recovered!

Now we don't have to implement Sweetheart's plan of selling $100 worth of Lemonade this summer. Whew!