Parenting God's way!! :)

"Behold, Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." -Psalms 127: 3

When I became a mommy 7 1/2 years ago, I never knew that it was part of Gods plan for my life. I just figured I had become pregnant because I was being irresponsible. However, the birth of my daughter changed my perspective on my life and made me realize the LOVE that God has for me. Being a parent was much more than giving birth and taking care of every minute needs of a infant. It was much more. I was to nurture her tiny spirit. Raise her up in Gods instruction. But what did that mean? It was like as soon as she was born God spoke to me and said " I love you just as you love her and more!"

So, now whenever I have a question on how I should raise my children I go to the Man who created parenting and ALWAYS does it PERFECTLY....Father God.

In my quest to become a better parent, mother, friend and role model for our children I have started really searching the Bible, my heart and through prayer, our Father. I learned a few things and I am still learning but the biggest thing I have learned that applies not only to parenting but to life is that we WILL make mistakes. NO parent is perfect.

Whew! That was a huge relief. :) My biggest fear of being a parent was "messing" my kids up by doing it wrong. Thankfully God knew we would make mistakes and he created children to be very forgiving of us as long as we ask for it.

So here are some other things I have learned:

1. Discipline is mandatory. Not in the way that the child is ALWAYS in "trouble" but in the way that you are training their heart to make the right choices. Easier said then done. check out this book for Creative correction ideas! Its a GREAT book for training the heart! http://family.christianbook.com/creative-correction-extraordinary-ideas-everyday-discipline/lisa-whelchel/9781589971288/pd/971280?p=1143702&event=ORC
2. Teaching them Gods Word daily. We have decided that we would teach the kids one Bible verse a week and have them "live it out". This has been FUN!! It also gives us a chance to do the same. We started with John 3:16 and even though we taught them this verse 3 weeks ago I still hear Rylie teaching it to her babies. Sweet rewards! :) You can find where God commands this in Deuteronomy 6:5-9! We have fun with this! We make up songs, color pictures of what they think the bible verse means and at dinner we talk about how they can show somebody or teach one of their friends about God! :)
3. Teach them to pray. I always thought you kinda just learned that on your own....nope. So, we are still working on this with Danielle and Rylie. We also have been praying as a family. Children learn what they live. If they see us doing it not just for ourselves but for others they too will do it. There is nothing sweeter then seeing my girls pray for people in accident on the side of the road. Or for a friend in her class that has ADHD and gets in trouble all day. Or for animals, family members and other little children. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

These are just a few of the things we have learned so we thought we would share. We know that we were chosen by God to be the parents of these precious children on earth {even when we are up at 2 am with screaming teething babies, in the middle of taming a tantrum, or explaining why stealing is not ok while totally embarrassed in the middle of a grocery store} and prepare them for eternity with HIM! So join us on our journey to be the parents God intended us to be! Not perfect, just real!

Have a blessed day!!

Teething, Sleepless nights and Thanking God for it all...

Hello all!!

I have been slightly absent from here because my adorable 9 month old son had a BRIGHT IDEA...Teething! All at once. Not the greatest idea he's had but none-the-less one he had to have. SO far he has only been able to pop out 2 bottom teeth. 2 days ago I noticed he has a tiny part of a top tooth popping through and about 6 little bumps on his gums where 6 new pearly whites will be making their appearance SOON....I hope! In the mean while he has been pretty miserable. Poor guy! My girls were NEVER so miserable with teething. I feel bad for him.

So since he has been soooo miserable we havent been sleeping much. Nope. Not even a little bit of good sleep. The weird thing though is I actually dont mind it too much. I mean dont get me wrong, I am not the happiest person all the time. I am TIRED! But I know a few people who would rather go through teething, sleepless nights and everything in between just to be able to HOLD their babies again. So as I am sitting in my bed crying at 2am because my screaming 9 month old is trying to cut teeth and is in sooo much physical pain that it breaks my heart, I remember there are mothers out there that are sitting up at 2am crying because their hearts are missing their baby(ies). To be thankful for sleepless nights kinda sound silly but in my heart I am.

Thankful. Thankful for rough teething. Thankful for sleepless nights. Thankful for bumps, scraped knees and sad tears that I get to kiss and wipe away from my sweet children's eyes. Thankful I get to celebrate their first, second and all other birthdays. Thankful. Plain and simple.

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is Gods will for you who belong to Chirst Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Have a blessed weekend. Enjoy your family. Be thankful.

Love,

A lil' update on the kiddos...

A week has gone by since my baby girl started school and she hasn't been more happy. Of course she could do without the homework part but overall she has enjoyed her teacher, new classmates and classroom! I have to admit that I was very nervous that her teacher would not be a good fit for Danielle as her 1st grade teacher was incredible with her and set my expectations VERY high for how teacher should interact with their students. But it seems that she is very good too and I am trying to be positive and help Danielle to build a great relationship with her. Ms Elizabeth Singleton at Ladson was just soooo awesome though! I kinda wish I could teacher nap her and have her home school the girls at my house...lol! :)

For those of you who follow me on FB you know that Rylie was in the hospital this week. After reluctantly waiting over 3 weeks for results from chiropractic care for her breathing troubles and coughing, I finally took her in to our pediatrician Dr Stadalsky. We were sent right over to the hospital as her O2 sats were holding steady at 87-88%. Definitely not a good sign. While we were there we had some O2 and breathing treatments and chest-rays and CT scans(all in 1 day). She was diagnosed with pneumonia. We were sent home though due to there not being any pediatric beds. Thankfully I feel comfortable enough to administer the cocktail of meds that she is on at home and she is sounding SOOO much BETTER!!! I am VERY thankful that I listened to my own intuition and took her in!

A little Eli update...lil'man is crawling EVERYWHERE now! He has started standing and cruising around furniture. He also refuses to eat ANY baby food....homemade or store bought! He wants what we have and I think his little tummy is paying for it. He is teething....4 teeth are trying to come at once! Needless to say he isnt very happy these days. He follows me everywhere and now raises his arms up for me to pick him up. I secretly LOVE when he does this even if it means I give in and have to hold him while doing EVERYTHING!! :)

Back-to-School!

Today Danielle went back to school! I cant believe my little girl is in the 2nd grade!!!

This morning went GREAT! I took Danielle to school this morning and walked her to her classroom! She was soooo confident and started her work like going back to school was no biggie! I think I was more nervous the she was!

This afternoon we had one mishap! She forgot to get off on her stop so I had to wave the bus driver down so that she could get off before they drove away! It was quite a sight! LOL :)

On a different note, we decided that I would home school Rylie this year and see how she did! Today was day one and she did GREAT too! Kept it to a 30 min lesson and then snuggled before nap! It was a busy but awesome day! Now I am ready to hit my pillow...zzzz

Crossroads...

Good Sunday to you all!!

Most of you who I see or talk to IRL know we have been going to a Chiropractor for about a month now for various reasons while still seeing our primary doctors as well. We have had some very positive changes come out of visiting this chiropractor but unfortunately I am kinda at a crossroads with our decision to continue with this care....

So the first issue I have is that I have asked many many many times about the side affects and risks of chiropractic care and have received very little answers. The responses I get the most is...."its got way less risks then traditional medical care." Well ok. I get that. But in that sentence you admit there are risks and to this day you have yet to tell me what they are. Im sorry but at least when I go to my medical doctor they tell me the risks and benefits not just the benefits so I can make an informed decision about mine and my families health care

Secondly, as most of you know, Rylie has RAD. She was having a few great months of no wheezing and then within 1 week of chiropractic care she is back to square one and has been on 2 rounds of steroids, antibiotics and breathing treatments around the clock and the chiropractors response to this..."Bring her in MORE. Its better to adjust her when she is sick." UUMMm, ok but first please tell what adjusting her cervical spine is going to do with her lungs. I dont have months to wait for chiropractic care to work when I am dealing with a child who CLEARLY is not moving air in and out of her lungs properly. I also have had a naggy cough which I have been told is due to "toxins being released from my body after an adjustment". For 3 weeks I have let it go. Surprise, surprise, I have Pneumonia. HHMmm, chiropractor says take whole garlic gloves and some silver stuff with probiotics...nice. My pedi is surely not on board with this! So glad my x-ray showed multiple infiltrates in both lungs...2 weeks of taking supplements and Im super duper sick.

Now on to the good things. Danielle has had less mood swings and is doing fairly well. I can feel the bottom of my feet and have less shoulder pain then I have ever had in my life. My hips are feeling better and better and my lower back is feeling GREAT! All this after only ONE MONTH! I kinda wondering what 2, 3, 4 months holds but not at the risk of my children or myself suffering.

UGH! What do you think?? How can I still do Chiropractic care without being sick the whole time? And has anybody ever experienced side affects from their adjustments?? I am ready to call it quits with this guy! I am fired up!

and he's off...

....to the crawling races!! Elijah has started crawling! Thats just one thing he's been up to this month!

On the 3rd of this month Eli turned 9 MONTHS!! At his checkup he was 21lbs 6ozs and 28 1/2 inches long!! He has changed sooo much in the last few months! In the last 3 months Eli has:

Learned to crawl...

learned how to get up from his belly in to the sitting position! :)Celebrated his first 4th of July...and since I have been way to slack on taking pictures of ALL of his firsts I will just list the others...

• flew on an airplane


• visited California


• started eating table food


• pulled to standing position

That what our sweet baby boy has been up to!! Hope you enjoy!

Last stop: Gilroy Gardens

While we were in California, we wanted to do something that would be fun for the little kids...we had 6 kids under 8 and the 8 year is short( she had no chance...we are all very short). We knew that an amusement park was out of question if we wanted the kids to actually have fun. However, the reviews for Gilroy Gardens were awesome for children under 5 so we thought we would try it out! Plus, an added bonus was that my sister works for Great America and gets discount tickets for the park associated with GA! SCORE!!

So off we went....the verdict:

THE KIDS LOVED IT!!!

Outdoor living is for the BIRDS!! ;)

While we were in California I thought it would be FUN to go camping! My 2 youngest children have NEVER been and Danielle had only been as an infant. I was so sure I could do this. Boy was I WRONG!

Maybe if we had a motor home it would be different but never, I repeat, NEVER will I go camping in a tent with zero running water(only a waterfall pool that you had to hike to) with 3 kids without my hubby again!

A few things I learned from this "camping" trip:

1. When camping with high need children, a bug bite IS the end of their world!


2. Camping near a cliff is absolutely the most ridiculous thing you could ever do when you have a toddler and crawling infant because the first place you will find these said children is running or crawling toward said cliff.
   
3. Dirt with a side of food is not only cool with your toddler but a must for her meal!


4. Dirt can also be used as a bug repellent according to my 3 year old! :)


5. Wearing shoes in optional.


6. Bathing while camping is not necessary...even if you hike a 2 mile trail each way to get to the water because you will be sweaty, dirty and sticky by the time you get back to your camp site.


7. Flip flops are NOT hiking shoes.


8. Camping gave me a whole bunch of opportunities to teach the kids about how awesome our God is!
   
9. Do NOT let you 7 year old convince you that the raccoons that visit your camp site at night need her left overs. They will come back with "their" family and friends!


10. S'mores are way better over an open fire when your children are in the tent sleeping!!

We did make some really great memories while we were camping. It was like being in the trenches though while we were there. My hubby is definitely a huge help to me and the camping experience was God's way of showing me this!

My baby boy getting ready for bed...it was like in the low 50 at night in Calfornia! "Bathing area"There were 14 children on this camping trip! This was the "mess" hall! :)

California dreamin....for real!!!

In July we, as in me and 3 kids, flew to California to visit my family whom we havent seem in 2 plus years! Since our first flight was delayed thanks to those lovely southern thunderstorms we sat on the tarmack for about an hour and proceeded to miss our connecting flight in Chicago Ohare airport. When we arrived we found out that the next flight to any airport in California that was close to my mothers house was jam packed! SO we were told we would fly stand by! I was NOT happy with this as again I was flying ALONE with 3 kids who had limited patience.

Thankfully after much pleading with the gate agents they actually booked us on a different airline so we could get out of that airport! However, the next flight was 8 hours away and we had already been up since 4 am eastern time. So I did what any mother would do...I developed a plan that would mimick our at home schedule so I could limit the number of meltdowns we would have in this GINORMOUS airport!! Lunch, nap playtime, snack and then we explored the airport and learned a few things! We ended up have a great time! I have always wanted to go to Chicago and visit I just didnt think I would do in an airport with 3 kids! :)

So, one of the first things we learned was that Chicago Ohare is the worlds busiest airport! Yep. I would have to agree!!!

We then learned that this airport was SOO big it had a childrens museum. So the kids played there for awhile.

Then it was time to get on the plane...all 4 of us shared a row and we slept for awhile.

After we finally got to california and rested for a day we went to dinner at my ALL-TIME FAV Restraunt...The Spaghetti Factory! This is Danielle with her FAV cousin. She wanted to bring her home with us.

More to come on our california trip!

Camping and Gilroy Gardens!!

Much love,

Jacki