Hand-Me-Downs

Gotta love 'em!

One of my summer projects was to go through all the hand-me-down clothes and shoes that I've gotten from my sister for Iris and from a friend for Emma. Both love to shop and have great taste. So I have a ton of clothes for the girls. In fact, I really don't ever have to buy them anything!

I also had some clothes and shoes from my sisters-in-law for the boys and Emma.

This is a picture of almost 200 pairs of shoes (this does not include the shoes in their closets that they currently wear!)This is the pile of clothes we are giving away! The guest closet is full of totes with clothes waiting to be worn.

Blessing for a Curse

When your children have conflict with other children (friends, cousins) how do you advise them?

Do you run to the other mom? Do you bad mouth the offender? Or the offender's parents for poor parenting skills? Do you advise them to just stay away and not play with that child?

Maybe you automatically assume it's your child's fault?

Non of these are good practices according to Jesus and His example to us.

In Luke, Jesus tells us...

"Love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you,

pray for those who abuse you.

To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also,

and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either."

Paul also says...

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them."

Live is not fair. People are not always kind.

Children learn this early. How will you teach them to deal with unkind, unfair people?

Jesus gave us an example....

"When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate;

when he suffered, he made no threats.

Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

What is our example to our children when others are unkind to us? Cut us off in traffic or the grocery line? Church isn't what we think it should be (I'm talking preferences not theology)? Friends don't live up to our expectations?

Something to consider when offended:

Check the beam in your own eye before you worry about the speck in another's.

Pray for them. And I don't mean for God to change them. Pray for yourself - for God's love to be manifested in you.

Forgive as Christ forgave you.

Bless them.

Teach your children to do the same.

The Bestest Gift Ever!

Tonight Roddy gave Jackson an indoor basketball hoop.

He was so excited. He said, "This is the second bestest present I've ever gotten."

I said, "Really!? What's the first?"

And then with a tone that conveyed what a silly question that was, he respectfully said, "Jesus!"

I said, "That is so sweet!"

Then he laughed and said, "Why didn't you think of that?"

I said, "I don't know what I was thinking."

Love that kid!

Recommended Reading

Whenever we teach a parenting class at church we lug lots and lots of books for parents to consider reading. I have been saying I'm going to compile a list so they don't have to write them all down. Finally I have done it.

You can check out the list here.

Praising God for Great Neighbors!

I was working on the "other wall" of the office and wanted to get some things thrown out in the big trashcan before it started raining. As I walked to the edge of the driveway, I noticed Mario (Tina's husband) and their friend holding on to our trampoline. It had blown into the neighbor's house to the right of us.

I had no clue!

So I run to help and then the neighbor to the left of us comes running out to help too! He goes back in while we try to figure how to position this thing from flying away again. After we moved it to the other side of the wooden swingset out comes Mr. Booth again with heavy weights to hold it down!

I felt so loved to have all them helping me out.

Then, of course, Tina and Emma ran out to help me get the chickens in their crate to put in the garage.

Thank you, God, for GREAT neighbors!

Two Stories of Giving Hearts...

aka Proud Mama Bragging...

HIS STORY

This week at VBS the kids are bringing money to help children in Haiti. To make it more exciting and inviting the leaders make it a competition between the boys and the girls. The girls won Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.

Yesterday morning as Emma came into the bathroom she told me Jay was going to bring $28 (all the money he has) to VBS. He had said this the day before but didn't mention it again.

So I went into the office to make sure that he was giving the money for the right reasons. I said, "Jay, are you giving your money today so the boys will win?"

Without a second thought he sincerely said, "No, it's for the kids in Haiti."

So off he went with a pocketful of birthday and allowance money. I told him how special it was that he would give so much and how proud I was of him for helping other kids.

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HER STORY

For 13 or 14 weeks the children's ministry put an emphasis on the kids having personal devotions every day. Each week they gave a tri-fold devotion guide called Treasure Quest, made up by one of the children's leaders, for the kids to follow each day of the week. It was so great for the kids to have this simple guide that they could follow themselves.

Of course, as an incentive there would be prizes at the end of the 13-14 weeks depending on the points earned for devotions completed, verses memorized, bonus questions answered, etc.

Emma had a goal! The highest level of points won a brand new Bible. She has had her Bible for almost 4 years and it is falling apart.

When the awards Sunday finally came (May 24) Emma was one of only a few (out of a couple hundred or more kids) that made it to the top level. She was so excited. She received a t-shirt, pencil, private party at Monkey Joe's with other level winners, and of course her new Bible!

Fast forward to last Saturday. Tina (who lives a couple houses over behind us) was babysitting another friend's daughter, Dominique, for a few days. Her kids and Dominique had come over to play. Emma had never met her before but at some point during their time together she goes upstairs, brings down her NEW Bible and gives it to this girl!! She said she didn't think the girl had a Bible so she gave her hers!

When she told me later that night I hugged her so tight and kissed and kissed her sweet little head!

I told both she and Jackson that they had special rewards in heaven for their sacrificial giving!

The Wagner Library

A year ago, Roddy said I could splurge and reorganize/decorate our office-school-craft room. I bought the paint I wanted then called in the expert, my friend Tiff, to get her opinion on fabric for the curtains and pillows.

We painted. Roddy put up floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-door shelves. I organized the office-school (curriculum)-craft supplies in these perfect sized tubs from Walmart. {They are much cheaper than baskets at $1.88 and in my opinion more durable. And since the shelves were going to be covered with curtains it didn't matter how pretty they were.}
I recovered a bunch of old pillows for a reading area and got the shelf curtains and one window curtain sewn then pretty much stalled. I don't know if school started or what but I made no progress after that.

But, summer is here again! And I am so excited about everything I've been able to accomplish in this room. Mom came over last week and we added a topper to the boring window curtain I had sewn last year. Then made a cute little window treatment for our tiny window AND made a table cover to cover the ugly gray folding table!

Also, Saturday when I got back from an all-day Bible study, Roddy surprised me with 2 new 6-shelf book cases!! I had a ton of new books that I bought at the used curriculum sale and was trying to figure out how to make them fit. Now they are oh so organized.

The first 2-shelf bookcase is for science magazines and books (non-curriculum). The second 2-shelf bookcase is for history. There are biography books and autobiographies, history readers and historical fiction.

On the first 6-shelf bookcase (top to bottom) are old readers that I've collected; classics like The Wind in the Willows, Little Men, etc.; and then books that are a series like Little House, Boxcar Children, etc.

The next big bookcase has more of my old book collection; big kid readers; Bible and character/virtue books; and little kid readers.

Here are the before and after pictures:

the view from the door...
the view from the window...the view of the wall before shelving and curtains...I still have this wall to work on. It's on the list! Otherwise, the Wagner Library is open for business!

Poor Jay

Last night after the boys took their baths they were horsin' around in their room. Gray grabbed a pillow sham and whacked Jay on top of his head. I heard crying but it didn't sound like anything worse than usual. So I waited for the offended and offender to come to me.

Next thing I hear is a terrified scream from Gray calling for me. Jay was bleeding profusely from his head. There was so much blood we couldn't figure out exactly where the wound was or how bad it was. What Gray didn't know was that there was a toy car hidden in the sham.

I grabbed some toilet paper from a roll that just happened to be on Charlie's dresser and applied pressure. Roddy ran to get a bunch of rags and when the toilet paper was full I switched. We told everyone to get dressed so we could go to the emergency room.

Roddy decided to call our sweet friend Tina (who also bailed me out yesterday morning) to stay with everyone else so they didn't have to go. She came over immediately.

By the time we made it downstairs, the blood had stopped pouring out. After a little ice we rinsed his hair out in the sink and decided he wouldn't need stitches. Dr. Daddy wrapped his head for the night to protect it while he slept. And of course, he got to sleep in our bed!

Being Accountable

When you get angry with your children and yell at them, do you feel like the worst mom ever?

Do you feel like you don't know why God gave you children because you don't deserve them?

I do. I also wonder why I want more because I don't deserve the ones I have.

I threw a fit this morning with my oldest son. A fit is putting it mildly and really not accurate. I was angry and fed up and I was going to make sure he knew it.

Why was I angry? Because I'm selfish and want things done my way. Because my focus was not on training my son, it was on controlling him.

I sent Emma and Jay with my friend to VBS and the rest of us stayed home even though I was committed to helping out. I didn't want to go and put on a smile and pretend everything was hunky-dory. I also didn't want to go and complain about what had happened.

I don't know about you, but when I act so unkind to my children, I completely forget all the good things I've ever done. This morning even as I was thinking about how I would encourage another mom in the same situation, I talked myself out of being comforted because I just didn't feel deserving.

Then I thought about the people who think I have it altogether and what a hypocrite I am. I don't yell at my kids when other people are around. My self-control is amazing when I have others around. And I'm not saying I yell at my kids every day, all day. But I have yelled at them and used harsh tones and even doing that once is a sin and poor example to them.

What is my point? First, that I want to be real. I don't want to appear to have it all together. And second, that if you ever feel like the only one who messes up as a mom, you are not alone!

I always tell my kids if they mess up, confess it, ask forgiveness and figure out what you can learn from your mistake so you don't do it again.

So what am I going to do next time I feel anger creeping in? What I should do is run to Jesus! James 4:7 says I should submit myself to God and resist the devil so he will flee from me.

I have to check my focus. Ask myself what my motive is. Am I training in love or controlling in selfishness? Am I pleasing God or myself? Am I building up or tearing down?

James also tells us that anger does not produce the righteous life that God desires. If I don't correct, discipline or train my children in love but use anger, the only thing I'm accomplishing is passing on that anger to my children. And I sure don't want to do that.

I want to be accountable. Feel free to email or call me and ask me how I'm doing. Feel free to ask me how I'm doing in the selfishness department. Or in the controlling instead of training department. Or in pleasing God instead of myself.

I called my mom a little later and she encouraged me and reminded me in so many words that today was an exception rather than a rule. My mom's my cheerleader! Thanks for today, Mom. I love you!

WARNING!

DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN READ THIS BOOK!!!!

This is the old and new cover. Title: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume

A family member bought some books from the thrift store and brought them over for the kids one day. This book caught my attention and I set it aside on the kitchen counter to preview before putting into the Wagner Library. It was the day of Iris' birthday so I didn't have time to look at it right then.

Without realizing it, Emma picked up the book and read it and then put it on the bookshelf. She didn't know I had set it aside. She just saw it in the kitchen and picked it up.

Saturday night everyone was in our room reading books and hanging out and Emma brought this book in. I said, "I was wondering where that book was. I need to read through it first." This is when I found out she had already read through it.

I was horrified at what I saw when I skimmed through this awful excuse for a reader! The things my 9 year old was exposed to in less than one day sickened me with anger!

Here's a quick list of some of those things:

Playboy

Making out

Spin the Bottle

2 Minutes in a Closet

Sneaking anatomy books

Terrible attitudes and disrespect

Obsession with boys

Teachers and boys gawking at a girl wearing a fitting sweater

And ridiculous ideas about religion.

Here's a quote from page 11 "Because he's fourteen. All boys of fourteen are disgusting. They're only interested in two things -- Pictures of naked girls and dirty books!"

Thankfully we had a great discussion with Emma about how the devil sneaks this kind of stuff into our lives, making it exciting and interesting, and how we have to be so careful not to expose ourselves to it and become jaded to the fact that God hates it.

Chickens

Ol' McWagner had a farm...E-I...E-I...O!

My friend's mom gave her three children baby chicks for Easter. I told her if she didn't want to keep them, I'd take them. She told me Sunday she was ready to get rid of them. So today they arrived!

We made a temporary 'cage' for them out of our old trampoline mat and a wire fence I took from someone's trash. I climbed in to hold them and it was nice and cool.

They have names but we may rename them. In fact, I can't even remember the gray one's name. The brown and white one is Clarabelle and the white one is Angel. They aren't ready to lay eggs yet but I can't wait til they do! Free eggs, yea!

The BIGGEST Frog Ever!

This is the biggest frog we have ever seen in real life.

My friend called us last week and said we just had to come down and see this frog that was trying to get into their garage. So we loaded up and headed down the street. I tried to imagine it being really big but when we got there was shocked at how big it really was. It looked fake.

We brought in home and kept it in the aquarium until Daddy got home. Then we took it to a pond and Gray let it go. This was a two hander!

Thought For Today

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies,

to make you obey their passions.

Do not present your members to sin

as instruments for unrighteousness,

but present yourselves to God

as those who have been brought from death to life,

and your members to God

as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you,

since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:12-14

What if each morning and then several times throughout our day we presented our members - hands, feet, eyes, mouth, mind, heart - to God to be used for righteousness?