The Misfit

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

It didn’t take long for me to realize that Noah is not an ordinary kid. When other two-year-olds were repeating words like “cookie” and “bye-bye,” Noah’s favorite word was “awning.” “Look at that fancy awning,” Noah would say, pointing at striped fabric as we drove past Roper & Sons Funeral Home.

When he was five Noah developed a love of plants, particularly succulents, those funky, Zen-looking plants that belong to the cactus family (or maybe cacti belong to the succulent family, I’m not sure – clearly I haven’t listened carefully enough to Noah). While other kids his age collected Pokémon cards and Spiderman figures, Noah collected euphorbia and crassula, aloe and agave. At last count he had 31 succulents in his collection.  

I’ll never forget the time Noah sat on Santa’s lap and requested Designing with Succulents, a garden design book he’d spotted at Barnes & Noble. I could read the look on Santa’s face: not only did he not know what a succulent was, he suspected it had pornographic connotations.  I stood behind the rope and yelled, “It’s a plant book! It’s a plant book!” in the hopes that Santa wouldn’t think my son was a miscreant.

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Organize This! Helping Your Child Let Go and De-Clutter

By Stephanie Calahan (Calahan Solutions, Inc)

Often when I am giving presentations or working with work-at-home moms, I’m asked this question:

Q:  Isn’t it easier to just get rid of a child’s toys?  If I see that they are not playing with them, what is the harm in just making them “disappear”?

Give a man a fish and he will have food for the day.
Teach a man to fish, he has food for a lifetime…

When my son was about 2 years old, we started teaching him how to make choices about his belongings.  He was very into picking toys, books, clothes, etc. that could go to another kid that did not have as much as he did.  He was excellent and empathetic, and we thought, "Wow, this is going to be easier than we thought."

At about the same age he was a complete and total Elmo fan. He had all kinds of Elmo things.  There was one in particular -- it was a simple stuffed Elmo.  Nothing fancy to him, but Elmo was his best buddy and went everywhere with him.

Well, over time, he of course, lost interest in Elmo.  When he was about 5 years old, we were in his play room in the basement going through his things.  Out popped Elmo.  Since he had not played with stuffed toy in at least a few years, I suggested that Elmo should go to a new home.  This is somewhat of how the conversation went...

"NO!!!!!"  he screamed, quite passionately.  "I don't want him to go...." he whimpered.

So I tried to reason with him first...

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Jonah and Second Chances

Ginny (MAD21)

A good friend of mine sent me a link to this video. I have to say it's the best rendition I have ever heard of the story of Jonah. It's just more proof that God can work through people, no matter what age they are. This little girl is truly blessed with the ability to tell a story. I pray that she can continue to share the love of Christ all throughout her life. With a voice like that, people will listen.

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

"...and a little child shall lead them." (Isaiah 11:6)

Praying for Purity

By Nick (My Experience As...)

What could be more sweet, innocent, and pure than a newborn child?  It seems that purity starts being threatened shortly after that first breath though. 

We work to protect our children.  We baby proof houses by covering all the outlets, putting parent proof locks on cabinets and everything else short of wrapping the world in bubble wrap. Despite all our efforts, it isn’t long after the sweet little baby starts life that we make our first panicked trip to the ER because of a minor head wound.  Did you realize even a small cut on the face bleeds a LOT?  I didn’t know kids had so much blood in them.

Despite all our efforts to protect our kids they get hurt, which is especially scary when I think of how little is done to protect the purity of a child.  Even if you remove the smut and garbage from your house, it is everywhere around them. The safety of prime time TV disappeared when I was a kid.  Even the shows on popular kids’ stations are pushing the envelope. Not long ago a popular show decided to roll with it when the lead actress got pregnant, following on the heels of Juno they went for the pregnant teen story line. While the show was cancelled before following that story line, it is clear that the networks don’t see a problem and will gladly take that risk again.

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Praying For Respect

By Jason (Connecting to Impact)

Respect carries many different meanings depending on who or what group you’re talking to. To one, it may mean that a child never addresses an adult by their first name, but rather with Mr., Mrs., or Ms.  To another, it may mean consistent eye contact. Another might see a weak handshake as a sign or disrespect.

See what I mean? There are lots of definitions, but when we are teaching our children respect, I think we can focus on honoring others above themselves.

"Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king." (1 Peter 2:17)

I’m sure we’ve all witnessed kids who disrespectfully mock their parents to their face. It’s tremendously wrong. And if it begins there at home, the disrespect will expand to other authority figures and even God.

Respect is that important. Thankfully, my wife and I decided long ago that we would have each other’s backs and if we saw anything that looked disrespectful we would call our kids on it.

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