Shopping with daddy

There's a birthday party to attend, and a gift is needed.

Typically a mom's chore, but daddy fills in tonight. The toy section is tempting for any 4-year-old boy and his 2-year-old brother. Though generous to a fault, it's hard to understand why the birthday child and the giver cannot both receive gifts.

A toy is selected. The older brother and the soon-to-be-giver of the toy claims the holding privilege. The youngest waits for his chance and violá, the toy is his.

A lot of parents would not blame this daddy. They have been there in the store with a screaming child. But, two of them is hardly a fair fight.

One toy become three toys, and all are pleased.

Perhaps the brothers continued to torment their father until he, too, had to have a toy for his desk at work. Those naughty boys!

A new dance

I love the women in my Bible study. These women are hard-core friends, and I learn so much every time I spend two hours with them.

If you have never seriously pondered what it means to totally surrender to God, it's not an easy task. And, you will never get it perfectly right. And, it's a daily endeavor.

Guarding your mind from ungodly things, keeping away from the tempting things in life while choosing instead to focus on things above is challenging.

But, if you are willing, God will ever do the surrendering part for you. You just have to say, "Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord."

I make that my plea today.

4:36 p.m.

Technically, I've put in my time today. Not sure why my backpack is going home filled to the brim, however.

Started out with a department meeting at 8:30 a.m. and worked through lunch (not without eating in my office, of course). Accomplished a lot of things, but not really things that I get a solid outcome for. I hate those pesky little tasks. Too small almost to make it to the list.

Perhaps I should just add "pesky little things" to my daily to-do list because all of these things eat away at my time.

Oh, well.

Adorable

And she's not even my daughter.

Tonight at the church softball game the dirt was blowing wildly across the field constantly, but Jacob also got a scoop sort of thrown at him by a 2-year-old girl. She didn't do it on purpose; she was just in her own little world.

Anyway, this adorable second grader bends down to the 2-year-old girl and says in the sweetest voice ever. "Do you want to say you are sorry? He will forgive you and this will be all over. He won't tell on you and you won't get in trouble."

God puts people in our lives to come alongside us when we struggle. Tonight two of my own lifesavers come to mind. May God bless Anna and Marian.

Hola Faithful Reader(s)

Hi Mom. Ha. Ha.

You might notice if you scroll down a bit, I am in the process of adding 18 new links to my blog.

Fresh faces. I encourage you all to check out their blogs every now and again. Who doesn't love a comment every now and again? (Mom, remember to sign in and then post.)

I don't make my students read my own blog, but I do have all the links to the blogs they need to read on here. In case they do read though, I need to edit these more carefully.

Another semester has started.

A conversation

Jacob: "Mommy, God didn't make any bad choices did he?"

Me: "No, Jacob, he didn't."

Jacob: "He did good things all day every day. I am going to do good things all day tomorrow," he pauses, "or most of the day."

Editor's Note: Yes, I realize my 4-year-old son is terribly smart. And I am a brilliant writer … just ask my momma.

Disobedience

It has been somewhat of a rough day today. Every six weeks, Gene's turn comes up to serve in the 2 and 3 year old room at church. As children only promote up once per year, Jacob still attends this class for a few more Sundays.

Jacob was so confrontational with his daddy this morning, that Jacob was moved to another classroom! Yeah, that's what I said. Dad and son had to be separated.

I had to break my son's heart today and forbid him to attend a birthday party he had been quite looking forward to. But, he knew the rules going in and he chose to disobey again and again, leaving me no choice.

I fear I am heading for a major crossroads in terms of money. God has gone over the rules with me again and again, and I stubbornly insist on doing things my own way. Sure, I can be good for a few months in a row, but change is not reaching the heart level because only God can do that.

A broken heart might be the only way out.

Bunk Beds

There is no more crib in my babies room. Almost five years ago, Gene put together that little bed with lots of love and cussing.

"Did it make you want to cry to take the bed apart," I ask Gene.

"No, I wanted to cry putting it together. It was much easier to take apart."

Now my little boy of four years sleeps on the top bunk and my little boy of two years sleeps on the bottom bunk.

Before they sleep, however, they giggle, they get out of bed again and again, they dance, they turn up the CD player too loud, they fight and they drive mommy NUTS.

Finally, perhaps realizing it's not a good idea to push mommy one inch further, they nestle in to sleep. And the little boy of four years who earned two naughty notes today and the little boy of two years who screamed most of the morning, suddenly become the purest little angels ever … until the morning.

Jacob

Two naughty notes in one day! Now that's a Jacob Cassell record.

"Hey Gene and Regina

Just a note to let you know that Jacob is sitting in my office right now because as I was talking to one of the other children, he came up and slapped me on the behind. He thought it was funny, but I did not and then since he was mad at me he just started saying the word 'but' over and over again.

This is my note to you that I promised Jacob I was writing because of his choices"

Then Mrs. Betsey had to add this in writing.

"You guys. I love this kid. Now he's sitting here trying to bribe me with the promise of pictures that he will draw for me. He has apologized to me without prompting. He has suggested that since he has said sorry maybe I could just put this note 'in someone else's cubby.' His little mind is always working."

His second note described his recent run-in with disrespectful behavior. Tonight, we talked about these choices. I told him to stop something, and he told me he "could do it if he wants to."

I made my little boy lock eyes with me and repeat the following: "I am 4 years old and I have to do whatever mommy tells me to do. I have to do whatever daddy tells me to do. I have to do whatever my teacher tells me to do. I do not get to do what I want."


aaauuuggghhh

The game of change

So today in church, Pastor Casey just came out and said it's time to read our Bibles every day. (Hebrews 4:12)

And, not only that, but he suggested that we are to "reflect on it deeply" (Psalm 119:15) and "respond to it obediently." (James 1:25)

The three Rs of a spiritual breakthrough. Read your Bible, reflect and respond.

At some point during the sermon though, he made another point that really resonated well with me. He was talking about change. He suggests that we are all quite capable of controlling our impulses to do certain things. We might be able to quit cussing, stop hitting or even eating on our own accord, but only GOD can CHANGE our hearts about anything.

Talk about battling uphill in the wind. Using our own energy to mask a behavior that is still taking over our hearts does not seem to be a very productive process.

Wednesday is trash day

Gene and I are facing somewhat of a tight financial month. Problem is, it's only day 1 of said month.

Anyhow, I mentioned to him that I hoped the trash bill wasn't due this month as it's paid every three months. He laughed and said we should get a discount because we seem to remember to take it to the curb every other week.

Perhaps the fact that a simple task is often overlooked puts perspective on the nuttiness we call living our lives as the Cassells.

The Cassells need to take five and drop all the things that are not really important.