Blue Skies Looking At Me, Nothing But Blue Skies Do I See

YAY!  Today it is sunny outside for the first time in a long time!  We have had so much snowy, cold, nasty, dreary weather and today there is nothing but blue sky!  :)  All I have to say is this improves my mood greatly.  It's amazing how much the weather affects your mood.  I'm still feeling quite tired, but I guess that's to be expected in these last few weeks of pregnancy.  Also, keeping up with a 1-year old while I'm this pregnant drains me as well.  :)  I know a million women have done it and I'm no different and geez, think about the woman in Arkansas who has 19 children!  Think she ever gets tired?  HA!  I'm sure she does.  She also has a lot of older children who are able to help her around the house and with the younger kiddos too!  So, I can't complain.  :)

I've been re-reading a book called "What the Bible Says About Parenting" by John MacArthur and I really like it.  Click on the title of this post to get the link to the book on Amazon.com.  We went through it with our home group from church.  Of course, we had snow days and holidays going on during our meetings so we had to skip a few weeks, so I honestly didn't finish the book and really study it the way I should have.  I guess all I have to say about it is I wish sometimes that we could go back to the way things were in the 20's or maybe even the 30's, 40's, and 50's.  I know it's silly to want to go back in time and it will never happen, but I guess you hear about so many things now that they NEVER heard of back then.  Back then, kids didn't have video games, TV, the Internet, cell phones, iPods...kids played outside and they respected their parents.  Right now the book is talking about isolating your children from the world's influences and it actually says that you should NOT do that.  You shouldn't isolate your children so much from the world that they are prude about it.  I mean, if it were up to me, we wouldn't even own a TV or a computer because I don't want my children to see or hear half the stuff that is on it.  The book says rather than ignore all that stuff or just pretend it isn't there, instead give your children a Godly view of these things.  If they are going to watch a show or a movie they shouldn't, allow them to, and then discuss it with them.  Watch it with them and discuss what they saw.  The book does say that there is a lot on TV and the Internet that children SHOULD be shielded from, and we have to sift what we can, but completely banning it could cause more harm than good in some situations.

Basically, the main jest of what I've read so far is just challenging parents to get back involved in their children's lives.  Have a family night.  Eat dinner together and turn off the TV and TALK.  Ask your children questions.  Find out who their friends are.  Find out where their HEARTS are.  It's not about being nosey, it's just about being aware.  Justin and I think it's really funny when we read stuff like this and talk about it in groups because our son is 1-year old, hello...it's not like he's an adolescent or teenager yet.  We're not even close!  :)  I guess we're just getting prepared.  We're not even at the stages a lot of these books talk about and who knows what our children will be like or what we'll be like when we get there, but like I said, I guess we're just getting prepared.  It's good to know what to expect ahead of time and equip yourself with the tools you'll need to encounter those situations.

Wow...I could talk about this stuff all day.  This is just the tip of the iceberg...I'll write more about it later!  Now back to watching my son Isaac be adorable and cuter than ever!  He says "Uh-oh!" now and it is adorable!  He is really getting into things and he is so curious and I love it!  He loves to see how things work!  His Daddy loves to work on things and fix things and I bet Isaac will be a Mr. Fixit too!  Isaac loves to crawl underneath things and figure out how they're put together.  He also LOVES music and dancing!  He loves to sing, loves to dance, loves music, loves rhythm!  :)  With two musical parents, hopefully he'll have something musical in his future.  I can't wait to hear his little voice sing!  Speaking of his wonderful curiosity...I better go!  FUN TIMES!  Later everyone!