5 is a lot of kids. Ok, so the Duggars wouldn't agree, but to this momma, it's a lot. Not in a bad way, but I still sometimes find myself with 6 plates fixed, not 7. You know when you have a baby, you ease into that extra plate. It takes about a year before that child needs his/her own plate at the table. Before that, it's just a bottle and an occasional jar of food.
Things are still going really well, and daily I think I see improvements. God is so good. Lily is adjusting amazingly well! I know that I might be speaking early on in the game, but she seems happy, secure, playful, content, etc. Are things perfect? No. But they weren't perfect b/f we left for China either. So, we work through those imperfections, and strive towards a goal of perfection. Sounds easy, right? HA!
Today two things that are on my mind - and they are related to one another. First, parenting - the Biblical kind where you truly shepherd your children. Two days ago, we were watching an old home movie, when Molly Kate was about 3. For those of you who didn't spend much time around me when Molly Kate was age birth to about this age of 3, she was a TERROR! She was cute as all get out, but the child made my skin crawl b/c of the way she could behave!!! I have on film where she's throwing a tantrum, kicking the door of the bedroom she was in so hard it looks like it's about to break off the hinges, and screaming where the neighborhood could hear her! So back to the video...I was filming MK outside at the end of our driveway playing in those cheap, plastic dress-up shoes. She starts heading towards the road, and I precede to say the following, "Molly Kate, come back away from the road....Molly Kate! Don't get in the road. ...Did you hear me?" (DUH!! What was I thinking!) "Molly Kate! Do you need a spanking? Molly Kate! What did I say?!"..... UGH! As we were watching this, I was in the kitchen cleaning, and I hollered out to Tim, "I'm thinking what you're thinking!" At times, I was such a terrible parent, and he would admit that he was too!
Since that time, we have studied and learned the Biblical approach to parenting. (We've learned it, but we aren't always successful at applying it - we try..) The book that helped us the most was a book by Reb Bradley titled, Child Training Tips. (I know it should be underlined, but I haven't figured out how to underline on this laptop.) Tim and I said if we ever teach a parenting class like Dr. Kent's at our church, we will have to show this video exert. The incredible part is that as soon as we began implementing Biblical training and discipline into our home, we saw dramatic changes in ourselves and our children, and today, Molly Kate is probably our most consistent child at being obedient with a good attitude! The goal of all training and discipline is not merely to have obedient children. The goal is to train our children to love and obey us so that they will know how to love and obey God. Even in those times when it is cross-cultural, hard, causes suffering, ...
The other thing on my mind, that is also very much related to parenting is from the scriptures we have been reading lately. Tim and I are reading through the Bible in a chronological order. Right now we are reading through the many kings of Jerusalem and Israel. This is when the nation of Israel was divided. As we read through, the scripture tells of many kings who did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and dispersed throughout these evil kings, there is an occasional king who did what was good in the eyes of the Lord. It is always refreshing to hear how these kings followed the Lord - tearing out the asheroh poles, destroying alters that were for pagan sacrifices, cleaning and restoring the temple, etc. This morning I read this, 2 Kings 23:25, "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did - with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." What saddens me is that almost all of these kings that follow the Lord are followed by their own sons who did evil.
I don't want my children or generations after me to suffer because of evil in my life. Tim and I don't have an asheroh pole in the backyard, and we haven't sacrificed any sons to pagan gods, but sometimes
I'm aware that we let other things in our lives take precedence over Spiritual training and discipleship in our home. Our pastor recently did a sermon series titled "Idol Factory." We are all guilty of having idols at times. Right now I'm very aware of my responsibility to train the 5 daughters that God has blessed us with.
Now, on to the lighter side of life...
Lily is now singing "Jesus loves me" and it is SO sweet. Sometimes, Tim will play the piano for her, and she'll sit next to him and sing. I recorded it a few days ago, and maybe I can get Tim to post it later on to the blog. We're still working on colors and shapes, and she's learning more new words daily. I'm hoping to start Kindergarten with Molly Kate and her in a few weeks. I think the Carley homeschool is going to resume around the 23rd - but I do have to get all my curriculum ordered. Have I already mentioned home schooling as a prayer request? This year I'll go from home schooling just Carrie Mac and Meg to schooling all 5. (In the past, the little ones have attended a church preschool program.) So please pray for us.
She's sleeping very well now - she was waking someone up in the house every night just to tell that person that she needed to go to the bathroom. She didn't need any help, she was simply waking someone up to tell them she needed to go. That was a habit I tried REALLY hard to eradicate! I take my sleep pretty seriously! Thank goodness, my crazy charades game of telling her "do not wake up Carrie Mac, do not wake up Meg, do not wake up Molly Kate or Annie, and do not wake up Mom or Dad...Just go to the bathroom and go back to bed" has finally worked. Oh, to sleep through the night is a wonderful thing!!
At the moment, our biggest problem is probably the way Lily and Annie sometimes treat each other. Sometimes, they are just not nice. Some of that is normal - they are sisters now, but some of it is just ugly! However, sometimes, they are playing beautifully together. I think language will also make this relationship better. Lily, although 6, acts and looks much more like a four-year-old. We were really hoping she would be a great playmate for Molly Kate - who ALWAYS seems to be our child w/o a playmate, but that doesn't seem to be working out.
Life right now seems to be returning to the chaos I call normal. Since school hasn't started, we're trying to play games (Memory, Candy Land, etc.), swim, play with friends, etc. Washing sheets was a big undertaking! I'll have to admit that although mine and Tim's sheets always get washed on a weekly basis, the kids' sheets sometimes make the 2 week mark. That's gross. But like I said...5 is a lot. And although people have kindly and graciously signed up to bring us meals (which has been such a blessing!!) I haven't found the list of people signing up to come and clean my house. Maybe if we ever adopt a 6th, somebody will get a house-cleaning volunteer list going....Right now, on my computer in the bedroom, I've got a chore list going so I can hopefully successfully divide household chores/responsibilities among this 7 person household.
I'll leave you with a funny story. A few nights ago I was reading one of our last history chapters (from last year) to Carrie Mac and Meg, and Molly Kate had walked into Carrie Mac's room to join us. She began looking around in Carrie Mac's room studying her stuff on dressers and in her closet. After I finished reading, she said to Carrie, "Carrie, I think you're the best sister I got. You've got lots of neat stuff." I guess when you have 4 sisters, you have to have some way to decide who's highest on the totem pole... (That was also a great opportunity for Biblical training.)
