lizardblog ( the blog of liz creech

February 15, 2008
My day off

So, Alan went to visit Fr. Lou and I am home sitting in bed with a bag of Fritos Flavor Twist honey bbq chips, a can of coke and book. Obviously I have a computer and I did have a bowl of ice cream as well. I am not sick or tired or anything other than I just want to veg. It is nice to do nothing sometimes and that is what I wanted to do. Well, I needed to do somethings and I did them and a couple required a computer so I had Conor bring me the laptop so I could do that and I am going to go back to my book in just a minute, but first I needed to brag about the fact that I am sitting in bed with junk food doing nothing. HA!!

posted by Liz at 3:58 PM - permalink - -

February 12, 2008
A parental secret

Ok, so I have been thinking, about why I have such great kids and what I may have done to help them be that way. First I think it is the grace of God and his utter love for me that my kids are so wonderful. In my fallen and whacked out nature I could never have done what God has done. Oh, and I need not leave out Alan because I would be a complete mess without him.

When you are young and your parents do things that you don't like, concerning your own children, you say things like "I will NEVER do something like that to my kids!". Inevitably you do at least one thing you said you would never do. Also, you say, "I WILL do _________, when _________ happens.". Once again, there is at least one thing you usually don't do. I think one of my parental secrets is that I have been fortunate, whether it be Gods influence or just something that happened, that we chose to be a "traditional" family and gave up more money and having stuff, so that I could stay home and raise my own kids. Sure I did some part time work, but one of us was always home with the kids. I can count on both hands the amount of times that someone other than family took care of our kids. The secret, ultimately, is spending time with your kids.

Young people I work with see kids who come into the restaurant who are badly behaved and they say, " I am never having kids because it is too hard and they act like that!". My response to them is that when they are your kids you get to raise them to be how you want them to be. Parenting is not an easy job. Just about the time you are at the end of your rope, someone needs something, and you get to get up from a dead sleep or from a really good movie and take care of them. The lesson I think God teaches us through having children is the dying to self. You will have plenty of time all to yourself, to do what ever you want once they leave the house. And ultimately, that is our job, to raise self sufficient, responsible adults to go out into the world. The evidence I see is that we are a lazy society and choose ourselves over our children and then we end up with the violence and ignorance and stupidity that we see today. Then we wonder how we got to the point we are at. What do you think we can do about that?

posted by Liz at 10:47 AM - permalink - -

February 08, 2008
Changed my mind

Sometimes I just don't have the mental energy to address some of the things I would like to on here. I need to keep it short and sweet so that I don't loose my train of thought and so that who ever reads it stays interested. So, this was not my intended original post.

By some fluke of genetics, which I am sure Alan is the one who brought the good genes, I have some kids who can write and communicate or tell a story through writing. I find that so interesting because I am not a good communicator through writing or verbal. The proper presenting of the message rests on the sender of the message and I, quite regularly, send the wrong one. That is a lesson I have slowly, but surely, learned over the years, that I need to not respond immediately to most important things. Stepping back and allowing it to mull in my head is a good thing, just so I don't say something stupid.

I call my self slow witted, and it is true. I am not stupid, I EVENTUALLY get things, just never as fast as most people. I am going to say it is because I have so much "immediately important" stuff in my head that I have to let the new information find a spot before I can process it properly. Please understand that I am not putting myself down, I like who I am and I know when I need to improve on something, and this is one of those things that needs improvement.

So, I am at the end of my mental energy for now.

posted by Liz at 7:06 AM - permalink - -

spiritual

> vine & branches
> vineyard central

blogs

> Garden Escapades
> Trish Hiduk
> Maryann
> Alan Creech
> The Vine
> Little Houses
> Amber Bishop
> Jody Nixon
> Laura Ogle
> Debi Warford
> Jason & Brooke Evans
> Eric Keck
> Beth Keck
> Pete Matthews
> Trudi Matthews
> Brian Phillips
> Bryan Sherwood
> Malie
> Kim Johnson

Homeschool

> vegsource homeschool
> discovery school channel
> saxon math and phonics

general interest

> john rosemond's affermative parenting
> lisa welchel
> thunderstruck
> Homestar Runner

gardening

> Kids Gardening

books i like

Here are some books I suggests if you are looking to homeschool or just for information. I gleaned a lot from them. Our church gets credit if you buy through these links.

In their Own Way
by Thomas Armstrong

Seven Times Smarter
by Laurel Schmidt

How to Talk So Kids Can Learn
by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Teen Proofing
by John Rosemond