Not Your Job

Okay, so I don't really have all this time on my hands but I'm getting ready for bed and I just happened to read this on a friend's blog: She said: "‘it’s so hard to raise well-balanced, well-rounded, well-adjusted, stable kids.’ And what he said (the pastor of her church) back was so good. He said, “well that’s not your job.” It stunned me for a second, because it TOTALLY feels like my job. He continued with, “…that God’s job. Your job is to love them.” That was so freeing to hear. I’m not sure if he understood how good that was for me. Despite my parenting inadequacies God will still parent them. Thank goodness. I guess that keeps us all humble in a way. We can’t take all the credit for how great of parents we are/were OR how bad of parents we were."

I just felt like I should share that....I have felt like it's my fault that the whole biting thing happened, like if I was staying home with him that it wouldn't have happened or if I wasn't so stressed out with school and trying to get pregnant again that he wouldn't have had any problems. But the truth is, no matter what we do, our kids are going to make mistakes and do great things too but it's not because of how great or not so great of parents we are...my job is to Love Joel and teach him about God. That's it. That is really freeing.
And I do love him....so so so much.

A Call to Prayer

Just a little updating first: Joel is at his old daycare (where he was last year, her name is Sherri) again (read Justin's blog for more info) and I am thankful. She is awesome and I would have never have left her in the first place had Hollie not been a) cheaper and b) closer. I am sad and I was kind of hurt that she didn't wait it out a little longer, but the good thing is that he is comfortable with Sherri and he is once again with older kids and one new baby who is 3 months old. I figure that since he acts and looks older that it works better and well, the baby is just good for him to get used to (not pregnant yet, for all of you wondering). He has not tried to bite anyone since he left Hollie's on Friday, so I think we weren't so much in a stage, but maybe just didn't get along with the little boy or maybe it was just a bad fit altogether.

Anyway, the one thing I was reminded of while stressing over this situation and over crying all week about it is that I need to pray for Joel more. All parents want their children to be perfect and even though he pretty much is, he still needs prayer. And he will need it just as much now as in 5 years or 10 years. I think sometimes we feel secure and think that things are going okay, so we just glide along for awhile and then when something goes wrong, BAM! we hit our knees as fast as we can. I am so guilty of this and while that is one thing for me to do that, Joel needs my intercession. Right now he prays with us before bed and before meals, but to really pray and ask God to meet his needs...well, that's my job. So it's been my goal to pray more this week, not just for me, but for Joel and his needs right now and in the future.

The Biting

This week Joel has been biting another child at daycare. 3 times! He bit another child last year around this same time, when he was teething with his 1 year old molars twice. And of course, then, like now, I feared that he would get kicked out of daycare and not grow out of it. But now, what really bothers me is that he knows that biting isn't okay. He will walk around after he's bitten the poor kid and say "NO Biting" and he says "Biting is bad". I'm not really sure what to do. He never bites at home or at church or with our friend's kids. And he has kept it solely to one child at daycare. The one child at daycare whose parents we just happen to be friends with, of course. Joel is much bigger than the other little boy and the child isn't quite mobile yet, whereas Joel resembles a 3 year old. So now I am the teacher with the kid whose parents are called in to figure out what to do. I'm so upset. What do I do? I have a child who knows his alphabet, his colors, and his shapes at 20 months but who is a bully!? Oh, no. Any ideas? Please!!! Look at all these teeth!!

Back to School

School hasn't even started yet and I am worn out already! So much to do, so little time, and it still feels like summer outside so who wants to be inside?? So here are some pictures that take me back to summer...I miss you summer.