Do unto others....

No one ever tells you how hard it will be to teach your children the golden rule.  I think when you get pregnant that somewhere in the back of your mind you see fluffy bunnies and butterflies and clouds and you think that child rearing will be like a picnic in the park.  Lies from the devil.   I mean to tell you that it is closer to that scary scene from Father of the bride II where George Banks is seeing all the bad kids on the right hand side of the road screaming and throwing ice cream and his wife is looking lovingly on the sunny side of the street at all the beautiful mothers and sweet babies.  I like to call this mindset the "pregnancy bubble."  God allows for this brief period of pure and blissful ignorance so that we don't eat our young when they are born.  I am pretty sure that is in the bible somewhere, but I will have to get back to you on the exact scripture reference.  If I don't get back to you with that by the end of this post... wait longer. 

Tonight during bath time I thought I would really nail down this whole Golden rule confusion that seems to be taking place at the Casa de Goodman.  Come to find out the kids are in agreement that we should use the "Eye for an Eye" mentality at our house.  Example:  You accidentally knock someone over, they in turn scream like a gladiator and knock you down, or You take my toy, I knock you face first into the side of the tub.  There are some moments in motherhood that you look back on with pride and joy.  Tonight was NOT one of those moments.  I actually uttered the words "THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE PEOPLE."  You can imagine their utter joy and amusement at seeing me so exasperated.   You will also be glad to know that on multiple occasions in the past I have already had to explain what rocket science is.  By the end of our bath time enlightenment session the only thing that was clear is that I have a lot to learn about this parenting gig. 

I was frustrated and exhausted and quite frankly looked like a drowned rat.  P.S I was the one sitting on the side of the tub in all my clothes... But, I digress... I was completely beat down about my impromptu Mommy moment with the kids.  I got to thinking that this is probably how God feels about his "teaching moments" with me.  I don't listen, I mock and laugh and generally am a little slow on the uptake.  Thankfully, my heavenly father is more patient with me than I seem to be with the kids.  But, it is times like these where I sit  in complete frustration having fallen flat on my face that God picks me up, dusts me off and asks me if I would like anything with my humble pie.  So, tonight I must say Thank you to God for allowing each day to come with little hugs and loves and a fresh start to serve him well accompanied by a whole lot of new perspectives. 

PSALMS 25:9  He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 

The D.A.M.N Cat Story

A few weeks back I thrilled my Facebook friends with a riveting "Tail" of "Catastrophic" proportions...Since my recent blogging hiatus, I figured I would go ahead and drag out some of the funnies from weeks past that I would have blogged about if my brain had been functioning on more than 53%.  Yeah, Yeah... I am 28 and I forgot I started a blog.... I have three kids and a husband using up my brain waves as fast as they leave the factory. A.D.D Alert.  Back to the Cat story... Here it is:

I find that it is best not to let Jonathan commit to golf tournaments for work or charity. It always ends with him "tired" and me on the verge of murder. Especially today since he "snuck out quietly" at 6:30 trying not to wake the kids thus not properly shutting the baby gate or front door. Around 6:45 I was woken by a cat on my bed. I don't own a cat. Have you ever tried to catch a cat? So 20 minutes later I was dragging a laundry basket upside down over an angry cat through the house and all I could do was toss it down the stairs. Then all the kids were up and it was still too early to talk to other humans or cats for that matter...Then the dishwasher broke. Jonathan is still not home and clearly doesn't know I am willing to kill him. All this to say that I am not feeling very charitable.

You are all very welcome for the chuckle.  I only wish I could have bottled the sound of that cat as it flew down those 21 steps, landed on its feet and hauled literal tail out of my wide open front door. Good night, and be on the look out for this guy...He was slightly ticked as he made his get away and is considered hostile, possibly nursing 4 broken legs. Frankly, he only has a couple of lives left and he has nothing to lose. 

True Confession

True confession time.  I. forgot. I. had. a. blog.   Wow.  Two mind blowing entries and I am sure that Kimberly was hanging on the edge of her seat with anticipation.  Surely she was let down.  Not surprised, but let down none the less.  Well, I am back.   After all, it is near midnight and what else do I have to occupy this witching hour?  

Well, since I last checked in there have been so many blog worthy events.  My baby started Kindergarten.  Sarah Lynn is such a studious little Kindergartner.  She loves to learn and she loves her new found friends and freedom from her little brothers.   As she left on that first morning she told the boys "Now, try and behave for Nanna.  Sissy will be back in just a little bit."  I am fairly certain she is a 40 year old trapped in a 5 year old's body.  So mature, so Sassy and so Sweet.  I know that her current and future teachers will be as blessed by her as I am every day.   I don't know why God picked me to be her Mom, but I do not deserve her.  Please see the picture below, feel free to leave many glowing compliments of her cuteness.

After all the tears and hugs, I pulled it together and let her walk away.  She didn't look back.  I made Jonathan take me out to breakfast to console me.  It was a sad, sad, sad day for this Momma.  She had a great first day and she has been loving school life ever since.  I feel certain that her enthusiasm for education may dwindle in the coming years, but for now we are embracing her excitement.   Remind me to post pictures of the super awesome "first project" we had to turn in.  I may or may not have gone slightly over the top by sitting up until 2 AM cutting out pictures and gluing and BEDAZZLING that bad boy.  Oh yeah, it was a definite A+.  Okay, they don't grade projects in Kindergarten...BUT, if they did...I would have gotten an A+ (Of course, I mean Sarah would have gotten an A+...)  Please pray for me that I will survive my second round of primary education and will not make my child as crazy as her mother.   PRAY HARD. 

Am I now THAT old church lady?

Today I had a moment of panic.  I may have started down the path to becoming the little old church lady! Okay, so I am neither "little" or "old", but there was a scary moment.  Our pastor's daughter was up on the stage singing and she is gorgeous and beyond talented! However, I leaned over to my sister and said "Isn't she like 5 years old?" To which Rebecca said...Yes!
When the Speer family first came to our church Emily was a baby!  It may be an old church lady cliche, but I actually did change her diaper in the nursery.  Wow! Luckily no cheeks were pinched during this self revelation and I have not started carrying around a brown bag of butterscotch and peppermints to give to the "young folk!" But who can really say what might happen next Sunday?
Jonathan and I have now been together for more than half my life, I have three kids and a mortgage.  Why not slide gently into my role as THAT old church lady? I have been a member of FBC RH for 29+ years.  I think I am definitely on the road to qualifying! 

Starting a Blog

Okay, so...Kim made this sound like a fun and easy way to chronicle life for your family and friends.  Let me start by saying that she was wrong.  First of all, choosing a name for the darned blog could be likened to loosing your religion.  Who are all these people who came before me in a bleary eyed state at midnight trying to come up with an inspired title?  Bloggity Blog? Taken.  Goodman Party of 5? Taken. Stop Look Listen? Taken.  Am I leading parallel lives with these people?  I will probably follow these blogs if I can ever figure out how to complete this first post.  For now I think I will take something for my nerves and lay down.  Tomorrow I will begin inspiring greatness and changing the world with my blog.  At the very least, I will try and figure out how to invite Kim to follow my blog.  I know she will have such a feeling of accomplishment at duping me into this.