Adios January

I read this Stuff Christians Like post today and it resonated with me. January has come and gone and I'm not really shaping 2011 in the way I'd hoped. My goals were simply to be more consistent and that encompassed MANY different things, but one thing was in self-discpline, spiritually. I have gone in the opposite direction in pretty much every single way. While I agree with the SCL post that the Lord doesn't love me less in times like this, scripture says it's NOT ok to blithely ignore teaching, knowing you can always come back.
2 Peter 2 – For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 

Yikes.  But I take heart in this scripture:
 Phil 3:13 But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.

And this one:
Lamen. 3:23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

So my prayer would be to listen and ACT on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I've felt led to do various things this month and sometimes did it, sometimes went right on "doing what was right in my own eyes." My heart is just heavy today and it feels better to talk it out, even if it's to people at the other end of the computer screen. Articulating just helps. Sometimes I'll tell Tom, please don't try to fix the problem I'm about to tell you, JUST LISTEN. So thank you listeners. :) You saved Tom from hearing me ramble about this on our date night tonight and I'm sure he's deepy grateful.

I feel so much better. Time for a Harris story. He's in a full sized bed now and has a lamp on his nightstand, which is now right next to his bed. He's started turning the lamp on at night to "read" his books. He concentrates so hard on reading to himself that we have to say something for him to notice the door is open and he's being watched. Of course I creep over to him and whisper in his ear because it's funny to watch him get startled. That's not mean....is it? He asked me to teach him how to read (NO PRESSURE) and we've been working on sounding out words. He sort of read the word "Gap" on my shirt today. Sort of. I like that he's interested so I'm trying to work on it with him. He knows all his letter sounds, just has to get them put together. This Leapfrog video is so helpful. I think he's making progress and then he'll tell me something completely off. I asked him what letter Goolsby started with and he made the G sound, then told me it starts with the letter 3. <Sigh> That's what you get with a 3 year old, I guess. It must be so frustrating to be a stage mom. And I've heard him count to ten numerous times but he apparently likes to press my buttons. Half the time I ask him to count, he'll say 1, 2, 3..........SEVEN! Then laugh maniacally.  If I offer any sort of incentive (read, bribe) to encourage him to count he rattles it off no problem. That boy is a character. And Walker likes to raise the roof. I HAVE to get him on video doing it.

Our family can look just like these people. We already own 1 snuggie. We can now all 4 raise the roof with style. We have camping equipment. We're just 3 snuggies away from awesome. I'll keep you posted.

And because I mentioned Walker's tantrums in this post, I took a pic of him in full on tantrum mode. He's just laid himself delicately on the floor and is screaming at full volume. Be thankful it's a pic and not a video.