The Next Chapter

Our family's adventures in seminary, and other things I like to talk about...

Thursday, July 19, 2012

10 Parenting Thoughts

This is not a method or gimmick or an assertion that I am wise. I am not going to tell you that my kids are perfect. I feel compelled for whatever reason to share some thoughts, some lessons I have learned from my 18 year parenting journey. 1. You cannot save your child's soul. Live your faith and share it. Then just love them. 2. You cannot and should not try to change your child's personality. Celebrate their uniqueness and gifts. 3. Be consistent but don't exasperate. Keep the rules to a minimum, but enforce the ones you have. 4. Don't tolerate disrespect. 5. Praise often. 6. Give everyone responsibilities. 7. Admit your mistakes. 8. Spend lots of time together. 9. Err on the side of grace. Look at all the examples of God's love in the Bible. 10. Enjoy every second. It goes by fast!

Friday, July 06, 2012

Summer Reflections

It is summer annual blog post time. What a year! Again, as the school year unfolded, I was reminded that the seminary journey is not a sabbatical. It’s a battle—or rather a war. I can’t say I won all the battles, but we are going to win the war. This year was pivotal on the home front. It was the last year we will have all 5 kids permanently under our roof. Our big girl is headed to college in the fall. On top of that, our 16-year-old decided to head back to Texas a year ahead of us and board for her junior year of high school. The nice thing about this is that we will be close by for her senior year. And she will be able to do her last two years of high school in the same school. In light of these big changes, and the fact that we had the summer free, we embarked on a massive road trip. 35 days, 17 states, 8000 miles. I know, right? It was awesome. If any of you have a teenage daughter, you will be able to sympathize with me in the fact that I have 3. Family drama can be epic. But I’m here to tell you that when you remove yourself from all the distractions and stressors in life except for each other, a lot of bonding and healing can take place. We did grow stronger as a family. The kids learned some things about me that will forever change their understanding of why I am the way I am. There is a more peaceful and respectful mood around the house. I hope it lasts. There’s a legend in this sacred domain that it is swarming with angels. When you exit the gates, you grab an angel to protect you while you are gone. When you come back through the gates, you let your angel go. When we reentered the gates after our trip, I was gripped as we let go of our angels--all 7 of them. They did their job. We had no accidents, injuries, illnesses, or emergencies. Thank you, God! We are now down to 10 months of just an easy course load for Tim before our seminary journey is done. I think this will be our sabbatical year.