Deep discussions with little girls

 M has a dilemma.  She has an adorable baby brother that she just loves to pieces.  And she has parents that never let her hold him.  And when they catch her throwing him onto the couch, they tell her that she's not allowed to touch him at all.  It's harsh. 
 
On the day this all came to head, we talked about trust.  When you can trust something, it means you can expect that thing to do the same thing all the time, like the sun rising in the east.  And I told her it was like me staying up late might make me grumpy.  Adults and children can act in a way that you can't trust them.  But that some people lie a lot, and you can sort of trust them to keep lying.  It doesn't mean you should let them take care of your children.  But you can expect that behavior to happen again, and not be surprised by it.  M has amazing days, and she has days that she act like she's a 7 year old.  I explained that she's a child and that when I say "I can't trust you" it means I can't expect consistent behavior from her.  I can't expect her to be perfect every day, and that's ok.

Today we talked about people having bad self esteem.  My girls have the best self esteem.  It helps that they are gorgeous and smart and able.  I talked to them about S, a teen they know.  S has been the lead in the "Nutcracker" and is overall amazing and beautiful.  I ask M "Imagine if S thought she was ugly..."  We all had a good laugh over that, even though S probably does think she's fat.  Teen girls usually do.  So I told the girls that God made them.  Imagine if they drew a picture and the picture complained that it was ugly.  And I told them that Satan is the one who wants people to feel ugly. 

I think I'll mark this day on my calendar and review this annually.  It's a pretty important message.

exhaustion

I was in charge of the community halloween party tonight.  It came together really well.  I was anxious that kids would be bored, or we'd run out of food.  But we even had a hard time getting kids to do the activities.  They sort of traveled in packs and we had enough kids to fill 4 activities and we had 6 on and off.  Halloween is becoming my favorite holiday for meeting neighbors.  It's really nice to go from house to house and meet people.  Our neighborhood has been mostly older people for a long time.  But young families are moving in.  Several people commented on getting a lot of trick or treaters. 

My neighbor game me her halloween vests that she used when her kids were growing up.  Call me weird, but I really like this article of clothing.  I'll probably be wearing it at Christmas.  It's so nice!  Cozy, but not bothering my arms.  Man! 

Pictures to follow, be sure : )  We still have 4 more halloween events next week.  Thankfully I'm not in charge of any of them!

Beautiful Children

My friend did a photo shoot of children in costumes and I now have this amazing picture.  It's  so rare that I feel the picture captures my children as beautiful as they are.  I love good pictures.  Great ones are a treasure to me. 

Do you see lP with arms folded?  She's really holding her right arm that was injured not 1 hour before this picture was taken.  It's still bothering her today so we are going to get it checked out tomorrow.  One of the Physical Therapists at the office where Geoff does speech was kind enough to do a quick check on it.  lP can bend and extend the arm, but in rotation it makes her cry out.  Poor kid.  She also won't use it to undo her seat belt, or other things she usually can do.

Hoarding

I'm grateful that I don't have the compulsive behavior of hoarding.  I do tend to have things I don't need though.  So I'm giving myself permission to use things.  I'm also telling myself that I deserve to not have tons of clutter that is oppressive to me.  So that nice bowl that I would be sad if it broke?  I'm going to use it.  The nice paper I've been saving, I'm going to use it.  The fabric scraps that are actually to small to use, I'm going to throw them away. 

This year I've gotten rid of a lot of things.  We moved into this wonderful home that had so many cool things from Sister L.  It's been 3 years people.  And things I've never used, apparently we don't need.  Some things we never need, I let the kids have them and they can use, ruin, love the things all they want.

I'm in charge of the neighborhood halloween party.  Worst thing that can happen is the neighborhood decides not to let me be in charge again : )  At first I felt like the budget was generous, then I started putting a name on each dollar.  And the budget is just right, if tight. 

tragedies

People in tragedies are people too.  One of the strange things that happened when we were in dire circumstances is that the things we'd feared, actually happened, and nobody died. And even when people die, I have a belief set that copes pretty well with that.  I've never had a parent or spouse die though. 

I think when people are going through hard times, we make the mistake of thinking they are other.  Like they are going through a hard time and wouldn't want to come to a party, so we don't invite them.  Or, they're going through a hard time and shouldn't post lame things on the internet.  They should only have deep thoughts.

Book it

Pizza  Hut is having a Book it Alumni program.  I don't know if I ever got a pizza as a child.  I know Phillip did.  With 10 kids in the family, and me not even liking books until Jr. High, chances are we didn't make it out o Pizza Hut, even if I did get a coupon.  I remember being aware of it but I didn't have skills like returning paperwork, until after college.

Alachua Library rocks

We haven't lived in G-ville for 4 years.  But the library system still lets us have cards.  They still let us access all their digital media, and real media, but I don't have to go into town to get the digital media.  They have a site called Freegal linked to them too that lets you download 3 songs a week.  I think it's pretty great.

Coming to SA was hard when we had to face the reality of library fines.  But this library does have a food drive every year so you can get your fines wiped out that way.  P paid mine right before we went on our road trip.  That was so sweet of him.  Nice P.  Always trying to clear my name...