Anniston Janelle is 1!

What would our life be like without our sweet Annie? I found out I was pregnant with Anniston 
when Wyatt was barely 7 months old. This was even a bigger shock due to him getting over colic the month before. I felt somewhat normal for one month, only to find out I was pregnant.

Oh, but the joy she brings to our life! Yes, she has that Herron personality.....loud, rowdy, temper, and oh so cute! I love watching Kayla and Wyatt hug and kiss on her. I love how much she loves her daddy, Papa and Granma, and all her aunts and uncles. (Yes, especially Janelle!) I am so grateful to God that he is in control and not us. He knew we all needed the baby girl!

Surprise!

I know it has been a while since I last posted, but we have been busy trying to wrap our minds around our latest news. I found out earlier this week that I am pregnant with my fourth! This comes as a total shock to both PJ and I, but we are slowly getting used to the idea and God is helping us to realize that this child is a gift from Him, regardless of whether it was planned!

I had always wanted four children, PJ was content with the three we have for now, but apparently God wanted us to have four quicker then we planned. :-) So, by the grace of God, another little Herron will make an appearance sometime late
March. Kayla will be 6 1/2, Wyatt will be barely 3, and Annie will be 20 months. Lord help me!

Here is a quote my friend Megan put on her blog when she found out about her fourth pregnancy. I have read it before, but it is a wonderful reminder.


From Stepping Heavenward.

“I shall now have one mouth the more to fill, and two feet more to shoe;
more disturbed nights, more laborious days,
and less leisure for visiting, reading, music and drawing.
This is one side of the story to be sure, but I look at the other.
Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss;
here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery.
Here is a soul to train for God, and the body in which it dwells is worthy of all it will cost,
since it is the abode of a kingly tenant.
I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all,
to whom, while I minister in Christ’s name,
I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation, my other darlings had left me.
Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother’s heart,
welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her life-long prayers!
Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!”
Elizabeth Prentiss | Stepping Heavenward

The Price is Right

I do not watch The Price is Right often, but I used to love it. I just came across this article today.

I will post something for real sometime soon. Life is crazy right now.  :-)

Pictures

Just wanted to let those of you, who care, know that there are pictures from 4th of July and Kayla's 6th birthday at our picture blog.

Happy Birthday Kayla!

My baby girl is 6 years old tomorrow! (Thursday the 19th). I cannot believe I am the mother of a six-year-old little girl.

I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. I went into the hospital sometime after 5am because of heavy bleeding. I was scared that something was wrong, but I heard later, my mom was even more afraid then I was! They checked me, but I was not in active labor. Apparently, a blood vessel had burst or something. Since I was five days late already, and they did not know really why I was bleeding, my midwife broke my water around 8am. Five hours and twenty minutes later, Kayla Sheree came into this world.

She had her daddy's dark hair and his side of the families eye color. She weighed 8lbs 8oz and was 19 inches. She was so fat! I remember just being in shock that I had a baby. She was such a good baby, but only liked to sleep in her carseat or swing.

She has brought so much joy into my life. God has used her to change my perspective on so many things. From homeschooling, to realizing my parents were right about pretty much everything, to me wanting my life/job to be raising her. She is growing up so fast. She talks constantly, wants to know why about everything, is a wonderful big sister, smart, absolutely gorgeous, fun and has a smile on her face almost constantly.

Thank you Lord for giving me my baby girl. Protect her as she grows Lord. I pray that she will continue to want to know more about You and will live her life to glorify You. Thank you for entrusting her to PJ and I and help us to raise her to be God fearing, to love the church, and to serve you. Please help us to be examples to her of what that looks like. Bless these wonderful childhood years she has and I pray she looks back on them with fond memories. Soften her heart towards the Gospel, Lord, this next year. I am a truly blessed woman! Amen

I Have Now Been Tagged

I got tagged by Janelle at Reformed-TULIP-Charismatic-Girl. The rule is that I must list 5 reasons why I love Christ. After that, I must tag 5 other bloggers. So here it goes.

1.  I love Christ because He elected me!  Why He chose me, I will never know, but how grateful I am!!    "though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of Him who calls"  Romans 9:11

2.  I love Christ because He chose to give me the parents I have. I do not understand the love of Christ to give me the undeserved gift of the most loving, forgiving, wise, and fun parents in the world. They have sacrificed their life in more ways then I can explain for me and my siblings. I love them so much!!

3.  I love Christ because he uses all the circumstances in my life, whether I think they are "good" or "bad", to help me grow, help me to become smaller and Him to become bigger, and to help me trust in Him. He gives me favor even when I do not pursue Him.

4.  I love Christ because He forgives me over and over and over.    "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace"  Eph 1:7

5.  I love Christ because He gave me a wonderful husband who loves me and his family so much. A husband who is committed to me, loyal to me, and puts up with my randomness and annoyances and calls them cute. A husband who gave me three of the most beautiful children in all the world and who I cannot wait to get to know even better over our lifetime.

Here is who I want to tag:

Erin at My Family/My Life

Tammy at The Griffith Family

Meghann Roberts at Four!

Megan Russell at Russell Life
(BTW Megs, I did not even know you came here till I saw your comment on my last post. Congratulations on your news!! I tried to comment on your blog, but it would not let me for some reason. Email me. We got a new computer and it did not save your address.)

Kathy at Laffy Kathy

Contentment

Why is it that I so easily lose sight of the joy and privilege I have of staying home with my children? Well, I actually know it is because of my sin, but it concerns me when I get to a place of discontentment. Usually I know this is happening when I find myself getting frustrated or angry with them. Or, thinking that I "need" a break. And even having thoughts of what I could be doing, the money I could be making, and the recognition I desire from others about what I do (especially my husband).

It is hard when I get up every day to the same exact thing I did the day before. Annie wakes up, I feed her, Kayla wakes up after her, Wyatt wakes up last (mostly because it took him SO long to actually go to sleep the night before). I feed the older two. I put Annie down for her morning nap, try to get cleaning done while disciplining the kids for arguing, fighting, hitting, biting etc. etc. etc. I try to find fun things for them to do to keep them occupied and keep me from putting them in front of the TV. Annie wakes up, feed them lunch. Clean up and down for afternoon naps. After that I make any phone calls and emails. Kids wake up, start dinner, eat dinner, bathe kids and start the bedtime routine. Nowadays, that process with Wyatt seems never ending. Kids are down, spend some time with PJ, go to bed and start the same thing over again in the morning.

There are times I wish away this season of my life. The day Kayla can babysit her siblings, so I can go to the store by myself, or have a normal date night (without worrying and feeling like we cannot go anywhere because Wyatt might not go to bed!). The day they will occupy themselves and not want me to play with them all time time. Oh, and of course when I can actually drive somewhere without stopping to discipline for screaming in the car seat, or climbing out of the car seat.

The problem with all of this is that I am wishing away the time of have with my children. I cannot wait to put Wyatt to bed, but actually, I love it when he wakes up in the morning! He comes down stairs and does the same thing. "Hi mama. Time to wake up?? Kiss!" I love going into Annie's room to see her jumping up and down in her crib and laughing showing her adorable dimples. Watching six-year-old Kayla change her baby sisters diaper, or feed her lunch, or even just kiss on her.

Although I can be so discontent, would I trade what I am doing for anything else? No. But, I want to LOVE what I am doing. I want to have an eternal perspective about what I am doing. I want to remember that it is the greatest possible job I could have. I would not trade being able to watch my baby learn to walk for any job in the world. Or, sharing the gospel with my daughter and showing her how to be a wife and mother. Or missing out on the crazy things Wyatt says. (Yesterday he asked of we could go to Jesus's house. I said no baby, Jesus is in heaven. So, he asked if we could go to Chuckee Cheeses house) I get to teach my children to read, about how Jesus died for their sins, how to add and count to 20.

I pray that each day I will not take for granted, that I will not wish I was somewhere else, and I will thank God for how he has blessed me by allowing me to be at home with my kids. May all of us find joy in whatever season of life we are in, and not wish it away, because no matter what you are doing right now, we will all look back on this time as the season God has us in. May we not regret how we used it.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Dumbing down....even board games

I found an article in the Boston Globe about toy-maker Hasbro introducing “express” versions of Monopoly, Sorry, and Scrabble that will only take about 20 minutes to play. “Busy lives” and “shorter attention spans” the article said.

Has it come down to children’s lives being too busy, and their attention spans too short, to participate in a full game of Monopoly, Sorry, or Scrabble. I personally loved the memories of the hours spent playing those game and many others including Clue, Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders etc. Instead of speeding up games (or dumbing them down) could we not use board games to teach children focus and patience?

I know some of you are thinking, good grief, not a big deal. I personally think this is just another sign of what our societies family life has come to. I wonder if those same people, who are going to buy the express games, have time to sit and watch a movie? Jake, Joey, Janelle? When is the last time you asked mom and dad if they wanted to sit at the dining room table and play scrabble instead of watching or going to a movie? Do you have enough time in your lives to do that?

I understand there are times that you cannot finish an entire board game. But, spend the extra money to buy express games? Why not just declare a winner? Oh, never mind, that might hurt the child's self-esteem if they lose.

Sports

I have a random question. If or when you have kids, do you plan on them playing sports? Why or why not? If you think they will, what sports? Why?

Dumbing Down Part 3

Sitting facing the television, muttering half thoughts or reactions into black space - this is the primary linguistic training ground for most of my students. It does not in any way adequately serve the goal of developing and strengthening verbal communication because there is no meaningful interaction. I have before me in my classroom a generation of youngsters whose world encourages linguistic passivity. I must build an awareness of the demands of clear verbal communication on the most rudimentary interpersonal levels.

A. Jane Hamilton
MIddle School Teacher, Hillsboro, NH



According to Dr. Healy (Endangered Minds) language shapes culture, thinking, and brains. The verbal bath in which society soaks its children arranges their synapses and their intellects; it helps them learn to reason, reflect, and respond to the world. The brain is ravenous for language stimulation in early childhood but becomes increasingly resistant to change when the hour of puberty arrives.

The brains of today's children are being structured in language patterns antagonistic to the values and goals of formal education. The culprit, which is now invading all levels of the socioeconomic spectrum, is diminished and degraded exposure to the forms of good, meaningful language that enable us to converse with others, with the written word, and with our own minds. The results are inevitable: declining literacy, falling test scores, faltering oral expression, ineptitude with the written word that extends from elementary schools into the incoming ranks of professionals. Corporations run writing courses for budding executives, universities re mediate basic skills, secondary schools lower standards, and elementary schools add more "learning disability" classes.

Educational planners ignore the basic problem and tout curriculum and methods devised for a previous generation. Old methods are not working because young brains have not been shaped around language as a quintessential tool for analytic thinking. If we want growing brains to build the foundations for traditional modes of academic excellence, we must confront the habits of our culture that are changing the quality and the quantity of our children's conversation.

As noted in a previous post, much of the blame inevitably falls on television, but that is only one symptom of the problem. According to Dr. Healy, no one has defined long-term effects of headphones versus conversation, of computer games or drills versus active social play, of dvds instead of books. How can children bombarded from birth by noise, frantic schedules, and the caretaking of a fast-paced adult world learn to analyze, reflect, and ponder?

Now, how do I as a parent deal with this? Obviously, we live in a culture of technology, a culture where no one plays outside (I had a neighbor knock on my door yesterday to tell me that my children were playing in puddles of water and mud in the rain and it is gross. I was like, um, it was my idea! I don't think she thinks I am a good parent anymore).

I would love to hear some ideas of what some of you moms, dads, singles, whoever, have done, did, or would do, to help avoid the trap of technology over kill.

Vacation

I am back!

Below are some pictures from the vacation. I will be posting all of them here later tonight. We have some really good ones!

We had a lot of fun while we were there (Flagler Beach, FL), but realized quickly that "vacation" with kids is very different. I told PJ it was like my normal life, but in a different environment. It was worth it to see the kids having a blast and to spend a lot of time with the fam. Mom, dad, Jake, Janelle, and Julia were there the whole time. Joey came on Wednesday (he had to work) and Jesse and Rebekah stayed until Wednesday. Josh and Rach came one day and on Friday we got some day visitors from some singles.

Normal posting to resume soon, but in the meantime, check out my other site for some great pics. Jenn, Lauren, and whoever else, if you want some of the pics from when you were there, you can easily download them from the site.

Check out my Slide Show!

Vacation

Just wanted everyone to know that we will be on vacation this week, so not much posting will be happening. I am sure you are all devastated!

I will try to post some pics while I am away, but we will see if that actually happens.

I hope you all have a good week and may it be characterized by JOY!

Yummy lunch

My kids new favorite activity is catching the many baby frogs that are hopping around our yard recently. I have enjoyed having them around since it keeps Wyatt and Kayla distracted outside for hours.

Well, Annie got in to the action today. I think she was a little confused though because she ate one! Julia dug most of it out of her mouth, but she definitely got the leg down her throat.

I figure many people eat frog legs, it shouldn't hurt her. Who knows what I will find tomorrrow when I change her diaper!!

I know everyones question will be how did she catch it and was it alive in her mouth. The answer....I have no idea. It was dead by the time Julia got there.

Dumbing Down - Part 2

Excerpt from Endangered Minds.

The Two-Minute Mind:

Why don't - or can't - most young people read? One of the most common complaints among this generation is that books are "too hard" or "boring". Many have trouble with the mental organization and sustained effort demanded by reading. Coming to grips with verbal logic, wrestling one's mind into submission to an author's un-familiar point of view, and struggling to make connections appear to be particularly taxing to today's young intellects.

Informal reports help explain the reality behind the statistics. Even some English majors now find sustained prose a drag. Kristin Eddy, a news aide at the Washington Post and literature major at George Washington University, reported recently on a hands-up poll revealing that only half of her upper-level classmates had bothered to finish the assigned All the King's Men, a bestselling favorite of a previous student generation. Why? "Boring!", "Too hard to follow". Another classmate commented that it "went so slowly that it seemed like it was written by a retarded person".

Students may be learning to sound out words, but unless they possess the internal sense of responsibility for extracting the meaning, they are engaging in a hollow and unsatisfying exercise. With major effort's, we have succeeded in teaching students in early grades to "read the words." Test scores jump off a cliff, however, when students must begin to plug the words into language meaning and grapple with the more advanced grammar, vocabulary, and the sustained intellectual demands of a real text.




Going back to my last post, I would like to say that it is not entirely the fault of video games or TV that children are not reading. I think that it is us as parents who are at fault. Obviously, it is easy to blame current technology for a lot of things, but the reality is, parents actually allow their kids to watch TV, or play video games, or do not read to them. The society we live in is one that both parents work, everyone is running around doing "stuff", we are not content to sit at home, read, play a board game as a family, or just run around outside. Children are overstimulated and easily bored.

Also, I found today that Al Mohler actually blogged about the reading issue a few months ago. Check it out.

Part 1 of Dumbing Down

Well, I have decided to do a series on the dumbing down of American children. I know it sounds awful to even say it, but I believe it is true, for many reasons, which is why I have decided to do a series on it.

First, I would like to talk about reading, or lack there of. I believe the affect of video games and TV is that reading a book becomes boring and extremely un-stimulating for a child. Since they do not read, but do other mindless activities, it affects attentions spans etc. I will talk more about that later, for now, just read this statistic.

According to Dr. Bernice Cullinan of New York University (found in Endangered Minds), the proportion of readers in the United States is continuing to become smaller with a steady and significant decline in the number of book readers under twenty-one. Here is the result of a large group of "typical" fifth graders when asked how much they spend reading outside of school:

50% read four minutes a day or less
30% read two minutes a day or less
10% read nothing

The same group of children watched an average of 130 minutes of TV per day.

I will let you chew on that for now. Thoughts?

Random

It has been a while since I last posted. It has been busy around here with swimming lessons etc. I do have some things I have wanted to post on, but it will have to wait for the weekend, or next week. For now, here is an article by Al Mohler that I found interesting. I find it so sad that less and less children are playing outside.

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=957

Also, somewhat related, here is a book I noticed him talking about in one of his blogs. It is about the importance of "boys being boys", getting hurt, being brave etc.

http://www.dangerousbookforboys.com/

Also, please continue to pray for the Haiti team. I have not heard anything recently, but you can see what is going on by visiting Janelle's site: http://janelle-marie-phillips.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and off to swimming lessons.....again.

Link

Try this link for the post below. Let me know if it works.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/us/02child.html?ex=1322715600&en=c2fbaead896bc256&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Boys? Girls?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/us/02child.html?ex=157680000&en=c9088495eb470141&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink


Here is a quote:

At the Park Day School in Oakland, teachers are taught a gender-neutral vocabulary and are urged to line up students by sneaker color rather than by gender. "We are careful not to create a situation where students are being boxed in," said Tom Little, the school's director. "We allow them to move back and forth until something feels right."

I would not doubt that the next great idea, from the government, would be gender neutral public schools. I am not going to comment much, just read the article and let me know what you think.

:-)

Instruction of Children

I went to a great meeting at the FPEA conference this weekend, Ginger Plowman (author of "Don't Make Me Count to Three"). Despite that she spoke INCREDIBLY fast, I was able to get a lot out of the workshop. Some main points were:

Instruction of children is just as important as discipline (spanking). This was a good reminder. I know that the outward behavior of children is a manifestation of what is in their heart, but during the day to day madness, I can focus primarily on the outward behavior. I react to whatever it is they are doing to annoy me, disobey me etc, discipline, and move on.

She also said, "the first objective should not be to let them know how YOU feel about what they have done wrong, but drawing the child out about what THEY think they have done wrong."

Now, obviously we are talking about a child who can actually understand and communicate to you what they have done. Kayla (six years) is very capable of communicating to me what she has done wrong. Wyatt (two years) is beginning to be able to do this as well. Personally, I feel at times like I do not have time to actually draw my kids out. I want to tell them (sometimes loudly and very firmly) what they have done wrong, how this affected Mommy, and that they better not do it again! This is dangerous in many ways, but mostly because it creates a man pleasing "fear" of me and will turn into a possible robotic obedience to please me.

Here are some "deceptive philosophies" of discipline and correction:

Bribing - This encourages selfishness.

Threatening - Basically teaches that mommy or daddy does not mean what they say. Most of the time, we do not follow through with our bribes. Right? May our yes be yes, and our no be no.

Appealing to emotions - "Why would you do that? You know it makes me sad! Do you want mommy to get upset?" This teaches them to be man pleasers.

Manipulating their environment - This was an interesting one for me. She used the example of a toddler and grabbing random items from a table (at another persons home). The child grabs the vase, you move it out of the way, the child grabs the flowers, you move them higher, the child grabs the whatever, you move it higher. Intead of dealing with the child and their self control issues, you manipulate the environment. Basically, as she put it, if you can reach it, it is yours, if you cannot reach it, it is mine. This helps at that very moment, but is not teaching them the root issue of obedience and self control.

Reasoning - Talking them into obedience. For example, I tell Kayla to come to lunch. She says, "no thank you I am not hungry". I proceed to reason with her telling her it will get cold if she does not come, her brother wants to eat with her, I will give her cookies if she eats etc. A great point she made was that usually we are outwitted by the child and end up bribing, but also, that the reasoning puts the child at peer level with the parent. THEY get to decide when the reason is good enough to make it worth their while to obey.

Now how should we respond? Our objective in our communication with our children should be to understand THEM as much as they understand US.

We should:

Probe their hearts
Talk about how they responded to the particular temptation
And discuss other ways they could have responded

Something practical PJ and I plan on doing is creating a "sin chart" much like the one she actually discussed in her seminar. She sells them, but we have decided to make our own. This will hopefully help us to think and prepare for times of disobedience with our children, but also be able to make it based upon the situations that arise most with our particular children. It will have different situations (arguing, selfishness, disrespect) and then scripture to go along with them. Basicially a chart of "put on, put off" of various sins. This way, when a situations arises we will be more prepared to actually take the time to talk, draw out, and help them understand what they are doing is not only disobeying mom and dad, but most importantly, sinning against God.

Some scriptures that she used, but I could not get them all down.

Proverbs 4:3
Romans 3:23 (Instruction)
Mark 7:21
Proverbs 18:2 and 18:13
2 Peter 1:3
James 1:5
James 1:19 (Threatening)
Proverbs 15:28 (Threatening)
Col. 2:8 (Reasoning)
1 Corinthians 10:13