But why...

The other day N asked me the question every parent dreads. No not the "where do babies come from" question, but "Why does God let bad things happen?" I think I would have rather he asked the baby question!

N had just finished reading a Bible story. It mentioned that John the Baptist was in prison, whom N had learned about last week. He came to me asked if Jesus rushed to rescue him, especially because

John was Jesus' earthly cousin. (Cousins are serious business around here.) I explained that no, unfortunately John the Baptist ends up dying in prison. After a moments silence, N asked tears in his eyes, "But why..."

More silence as I metally panicked...

Then, after taking a deep breath and a quick prayer for wisdom  I answered my tenderhearted little fella the best I could.

I started with, "I don't know why". I read somewhere it was okay to admit that we don't know to our kids, instead of making up a pat answer. It seemed at the very least honest! But I immediately followed it with what I do know.

1) That God was able to rescue John. The fact that John the Baptist was in prison did not surprise God. God was able to rescue him, but John had a mission to tell others about the coming Messiah. And sin has broken the world. It is a theme we talk about a lot, especially when questions on why God made fleas and mosquitoes. God gave man the ability to choose, and sometimes people make bad, even evil choices that effect other people.

2) God loved John. Oh, how He loved him. How much? Jesus ultimately died to cover John's sins. But also in Matthew 14, when Jesus hears about John's death, Jesus immediately goes off by Himself to, I believe, mourn the death of a relative and a dear saint.  Psalms tells us that "precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Ps.116:15). There is no doubt, God loved John.

3) God had a plan for John. From before he was conceived, John had a mission. He had a purpose, he was the one to point peoples need for a Savior. Prior to this, the people of Israel thought they need someone to rescue them from Roman oppression. John brought the message that the people needed rescuing from a captor greater than the mighty Romans, they needed their soul released from the shackles of sin. Even from prison, John continued to point people to the Savior.

4) John trusted God and it was enough. I think this point was the one that really hit home with me! When I think of Bible heroes who trusted God, John the Baptist is  not one of the first to come to mind. I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or Daniel. Yet, John knew who Jesus was, what Jesus could do, and yet he still sat in prison pointing people to Christ. He was still on mission. I want to have that kind of faith and trust in my Lord when I grow up!

After, what must of seemed like a long answer to a six year old, N skipped off to play. The answer was sufficient and while he was still sad for John the Baptist, he was content with God's handling of the situation. I wish my faith and trust in my Savior and the Creator of the world was that pure. I wish peace was the pervading emotion I felt when I look at the world around me. I guess that is what "child like faith is".

Do You Know Who is Cheering for You?

Today, if someone asked you the following question "If you could spend an afternoon over coffee with one person from the past, who would it be?", what would be your answer. Seeing as I am writing the question, I will place the following stipulations:

1) We would all love to spend the afternoon with the Lord (at least I hope so), so pick someone else
2) Someone you are not directly related to
3) Someone born after 1600AD.

Okay, do you have your person? Now, here is another question, what mighty deed did this individual do for the Lord? If your answer is founded our country or helped end World War II, I challenge you to maybe take another look back in history. Not American or even world history, but the history of our faith.  These individuals are great choices, but do you know the
heroes of the Christian faith, because they are amazing choices. Do you know the name and stories behind the individuals who are at this moment cheering you on in your journey here on earth?

There is something about knowing where you came from. We get an sense of identity from those who have gone before us. We also reap the benefits from the bold deeds they did. While none of us tossed tea into Boston Harbor, we are glad that someone in the past did. We look back at the hard times of the Great Depression and gather a sense of  "If they could do that, well so can I" or at least of  "Things could be much worse." History teaches us about who we are as a nation.

Christian history also gives us an identity only a much greater scale. By seeing what ordinary people did through the boldness of God, we can see what can be accomplished. Not to mention, some parts in history were affected by people who will never be mentioned in a secular textbook. But many modern Christians have no idea who these heroes of the past were, unless a movie was made about them. Okay to make my point try matching the following person with the fact about them:

George Washington  Winston Churchill  Susan B Anthony

 Abraham Lincoln     Martin Luther King Jr   

    

1. British Prime Minster during WW2

2. Civil Rights Leader who was assassinated

3. Major Voice for "Women's" Rights

4. President during the Civil War

5. Father of Our Country

Okay, pretty easy, right? Now try these:

Gladys Aylward       George Muller     Hudson Taylor      

Amy Carmichael     Jim Elliot    William Carey

1. A doctor, he is known as the  Father of the China Inland Mission. He responsible for 125 schools and the gospel reaching China.

 2.A waitress who paid her own way to China (the mission board did not think her educated enough to be a missionary), walked cross country with 94 orphans to save them during the Japanese invasion of China in 1938.

3. She rescued and ministered to orphaned Indian girls before Mother Teresa. As a little girl,she always wanted blue eyes, but God gave her brown eyes for a reason.

4. He was killed trying to bring the Gospel to the Acua Indians of Ecudor. The quote "He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose" is from his journals.

5. He cared for over 10,000 orphans during his lifetime with never asking for a penny, trusting the Lord to provide.
                                                                            
6. Called the father of modern day missions, he served in India for seven years before he had his first convert.

Now was that a little harder?  And these heroes are just the tip of a veritable iceberg. There are so many great people of faith, who overcame and endured amazing, terrifying things as they faithfully served the Lord. It is sad that so many people do not know the people who are cheering for them from the heavenly stands. People whose lives would be such an encouragement. People who are our heritage! What better way to teach our children about perseverance, faithfulness, and who God is!

So, maybe there is someone else you would rather spend an afternoon with? Wondering where a good place to start looking is? Try http://www.ywampublishing.com/. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering who I would pick... it would be Darlene Deibler Rose.

 “Who understands the thrill of seeing the first bright flowers of spring so clearly as one who has just lived through the long, hard winter?”
― Darlene Deibler Rose 

  Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II

The Best Laid Plans of Gerbils and Moms Often Go Astray...

I want you to know that my current situation was not one of my random, spur of the moment escapades. In fact, I thought and prayed for a couple weeks and had mentioned my thoughts to Anthony multiple times. Yet, despite all of this, my wonderful idea/plan for a classroom pet has gone horribly and laughably wrong.

It all started about a month ago. I had been working on giving N more chores and responsibilities. We started with folding towels and making his bed but, I was searching for something that he could trully be responsible for. I wanted to start developing the ideas of husbandry and caring for God's creation in the boys. And while we do have a dog, at 110lbs, Chase is a "little" daunting. He is more like our school's burly security guard than a classroom pet.

I started doing some research and in my mind I was thinking a little 5 gallon fish tank, or maybe growing a little garden in a pot, and at the outer limits a caring for a small bird. Notice a rodent is NO where on the list. I  have had traumatic experiences with rodents in the past. There was Speedy, the hamster I had as a child. He did not get that name because he loved to run in his wheel. Houdini would have been a better name for him or maybe Fang. And then there were the mice that I was in charge of  in college as a Biology TA... I can still hear in the panic in my suitemate's voice when she told me the mice had escaped not only their cages but the lab. Elementary Ed majors do not do well with random white mice inviting themselves to lecture. Needless to say, I just do not trust rodents.

Tunip and Callie

But, instead of presenting the idea of a fish or a plant to Anthony, I asked for his help deciding. FYI, you should really think about the consequences before delegating certain decisions. Delegating the research to Anthony was my downfall, the moment where I lost the battle/war/all sanity. Anthony found after much researching that gerbils were the best fit for our boys ages and abilities. (Well, actually rats were first on the list, but given my past rodent experience, he skipped them.) And... I got lost in the rational points presented to me. I even thought, how bad can gerbils be? They are the "nice" rodents. I have never heard anyone complain about gerbils. Also, gerbils prefer to have a
friend, so I would not have to interact with them, they provide their own entertainment.  The cage was super cute and the bedding was scentfree and 99.5% dust free.  What was there not to like?

Now, I did remember that rodents are conniving and our track record was at best bumpy. I even did my due diligence, and I asked the pet store three times if there was ANY way Tunip and Callie could be pregnant. She promised me no...she promised (insert eye-twitch)...

I will admit that Anthony's research was correct. N can totally care for Tunip and Callie. We have to assist him a little with cleaning the cage, but otherwise the gerbils have been great classroom pets. And they met my goals...for two weeks...

And then, Tunip betrayed me. Like I said, rodents and I do not get along well. And for some reason I seem to always be on the losing end.

Say hello to Kwazii, Peso, Barnacles, and Tweak.

A joyful heart is good medicine...

Proverbs 17:22a (ESV)

Perceptions

Spring break has been a bear to bare! N has been starting every morning from the moment he wakes up (daylight savings time came with spring break this year, much to my chagrin) with questions of what fun thing are we going to do today. Are we going to the zoo, the children's museum, hiking in the refuge, or even the park? It was getting so bad, and honestly it was not N's norm. He usually barely notices school breaks, but his persistence for something fun was reaching Christmas morning levels. 

The results of contentment!

After a strong cup of coffee and some Tylenol (I despise daylight savings time), I sat N down and asked him what was going on. After a few minutes I discovered that in Sunday School his friends were talking about what they were doing for Spring Break. One little girl in particular was spending the week with her Nana. In N's mind, the little girl was having a week long slumber party at her Nana's house. I explained that the little girl's parents both worked and that was why she was going to her Nana's house, and it was more like babysitting than slumber party. Only after being presented with the facts did contentment returned to my 1st grader. N realized he had perceived something he heard wrong and it made him discontent with what he had.

I don't know about you but I am guilty of this so many times! Mostly, it stems from something I see on Facebook (or Evilbook as my hubby calls it, mainly because so many of my struggles and insecurities come from there. And LuLaRoe...I need a support group when it comes to LuLaRoe.)  I see a family going on a vacation to Disney World, or going to the beach, or taking their kids to fun extracurricular activities and I become discontent. I become more sullen and grouchy then N ever thought about being, wishing if only. And I realized that the points I made to N, apply to me too...

1) I don't know the whole story. Just like N filled in the circumstances around his friend's break, I am guilty of doing the same when I see someone doing something "fun". But I don't know what is going on...Maybe the family just experienced an incredible loss, or have a parent about to deploy. Maybe someone is just blessing them with this fun experience. And honestly, it is none of my business (Shockers of all shockers!)

2) There might have been sacrifices. If I sat down and added up my Coke Zero habit, it would be a small hung of change...(Now if we did Anthony's Diet Dr. Pepper, we would be rich.) It might be simplistic but choices do affect what we are able to do. Do I want to change my caffeine intake...not really (and the world is grateful). So, I should be content with my choices and the results.

3) We only see what others want us to see. This is the real danger of Facebook or really any social media. We only see what others post, not the whole picture. N's friend made staying at her Nana's house sound glorious and in his mind he embellished it until it grew into a green-eyed monster. There is a big difference between being babysat to a week long slumber party. But how many times are we guilty of the same. We trully need to take everything we see and read on social media with a BRICK of salt, and not let it destroy our contentment.

Myrtle Beach

Discontentment is one of the ways the Enemy tries to hamper our effectiveness, distract us, or even destroy our calling. We need to remember what we are called to do, Who called us, and our "why". Focus on that. Measure what we do against what God says, not what social media says. Godliness with contentment is so important and it will go a long way toward giving us a sweet and encouraging spirit.

100th Day of School

A month ago, my Facebook and Instagram were full of pictures of kids and teachers dressed-up for the 100th day of school. They were all so adorable! It looked like so much fun that I wanted to celebrate our 100th day of school but I did not feel like powdering my hair. Not to mention dressing like you are 100 years old when there is just you is not real exciting. Sooooo, I decided we conduct a a normal day of school from 100 years ago, in other words, like it was 1917.

Now I will be completely honest, I was nowhere near 100% authentic. I think I was wearing a knit dress and leggings, and I was not giving up my bathroom. However, we came up with enough ideas to be not only super fun but also give the boys the experience of how things used to be done.

Here is what we did:

The day started with getting dressed for school in cotton shirts and denim jeans. I explained that shirts were made out of flour sacks in 1917 and the coolness factor went way up. Also, no socks or shoes. It wasn't Sunday and it wasn't snowing, so no shoes.

The sink and fridge were off limits for drinks (no traditional indoor plumbing in schools). The boys had to ladle their water into cups out of a "bucket". It was actually a great eye-hand coordination exercise.


N favorite part was conducting school without utilizing paper. Everything was copied onto his slate from the board (math and phonics) or was a verbal quiz (reading). Copying and writing on a slate was a great exercise and I really should do this again to help strengthen his penmanship.

E's favorite was recess! We learned a "schoolyard" game. It was cold outside so I taped a square on the carpet and taught the boys how to play marbles. It took them awhile to figure out how to flick a marble (J never quite got it) but it was a lot of fun.

The week before, N and I did a unit on Alexander Graham Bell and discussed  different means of communication used before the advent of the internet and cell phones. So, for science/history on this 100th day of school, we learned about Morse Code and telegraphs. We made our names utilizing Morse Code by using: ponybeads for the dots, pieces of drinking straws for the dashes, and threading them on pipe cleaners. It was a simple craft (you can find samples of the Morse Code alphabet on Pinterest) but very successful. N has struggled with the idea of codes before but he grasped this concept fairly quickly.


But life in 1917 would not be complete without after school chores, 1917 style. So, N had the job of making butter for dinner. I placed some marbles in a large glass mason jar with heavy whipping cream and let he shake away. It definitely took some perseverance but after a little help from my electric mixer (teacher put to much cream in the jar, newbie mistake), we made butter! He got to do the semi-gross job of  rinsing the butter and squeezing the buttermilk out. All in all, we were shocked that it really worked and making butter was fairly easy. Who knew...

Our version of school in 1917 actually required very little extra work or planning from me, most of the items I had around the house. The boys had a blast.  And honestly, for a fun day we actually got a lot accomplished.

Items Used: cotton clothing, a large pot and ladel, a small chalk board, some chalk, masking tape, marbles, pony beads, drinking straws, pipe cleaners, a large mason jar, and some heavy whipping cream.

Concepts Covered: Besides the obvious historical information, we also worked on fine and gross motor skills, penmanship, eye-hand coordination, and logic.

What Would I Change/Add: Next year I will slow bake potatoes in the oven for lunch, along with an apple and cheese.

It has been awhile...

So...It has been awhile...a few years to be exact. I ended up creating another blog for my Etsy business, www.thewoodenzebra.etsy.com. However, three little boys, an online custom weighted blanket business and a finite number hours in the day do not mix well. Honestly, it all kind of exploded.

Where am I at now? Well, my calling has been refined. I am now not just a mother to three little boys, but their teacher, and that is an awesome, daunting responsibility. I found myself wanting to share the joys and struggles of this journey but a blog named "weighted blankets for little zebras" was not quite conducive to that.

I thought about starting a whole new blog (third time the charm, right) but as I read through some of the previous posts on here, I loved some of the memories and words of encouragement I expressed. And so....

The blog is morphing. Perhaps, growing and maturing are better terms. I hope to bring the joys and struggles of being the mom of three little boys to you. I want to present ideas, resources, and encouragement for making school and learning fun. And occasionally, share some of my hobbies that help keep me sane (if that is possible).

Talk to you again soon!

My Three Little Zebras