Someone's ready....

to meet this "San-T Clause" he's been hearing so much about :)

I Don't want to Raise Successful Children

I found the following post on my friend Amy's blog. The title really stuck out to me, so I read it. I don't have any school-aged children quite yet, but I loved the message. If you have a few minutes you should read it. This is definitely something that I think every mother might struggle with along their parenting career. How awesome it is to be encouraged by this and reminded of truth...

I Don't Want to Raise Successful Children
19 Nov 2009
Lysa TerKeurst
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

I don't want to raise successful children. That's a shocking thing to read, and a shocking thing for a mother to type. So, let me clarify.

I used to define success according to my child's report card. Good grades and academic achievement would surely equal a good child with great potential in this world. But then several of my children wound up being average students with average grades. Though we carted them off to tutors and spent many a late night at the kitchen table helping them, they remained average. And I remained concerned and frustrated.

One report card day I found myself facedown in the fibers of my carpet crying and wonderi ng, "Where have I gone wrong as a mom?"

I dug into Scriptures. I begged God for wisdom and discernment. I prayed for God's perspective with each of my kids. Finally, one day it dawned on me - what if I simply chose to embrace the natural bent of each of my kids as God's way to protect them and keep them on the path toward His best plans for their lives?

What if my A student needs academic success to prepare her for God's plans while my average to below-average student needs to be steered away from a more academic future? What if my sports star kid needs that athletic excellence for his future assignments by God, but my benchwarmer kid is being protected from getting off course by her lack in this area?

And that's when it finally dawned on me. My job isn't to push success for my kids. My job as a parent is to recognize the unique way God created each child and point them to Jesus at every turn along their journey toward adulthood. Yes, I wan t my kids to learn and thrive and grow up educated, but it's not a flaw in me or them if they don't have straight A report cards and trophy cases full of sports medals.

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (NIV).

I am challenged to ponder these words, "… in the way he should go." Are we training our kids that the "way he should go" is to chase worldly achievement or to chase God? Whatever they learn to chase as a child, they will chase as adults. Therefore, we must be challenged to honestly assess the way we are pointing them to go.

My daughter, Hope, is one of my average students. She has also warmed many a bench in the sports she's tried, and can always be found hiding on the back row of the stage during school concerts. Using the world's benchmarks for achievement, Hope wouldn't be seen as a child positioned for success. But God…

This past January, my 15 year old Hope, shocked me when she announced she wanted to go to Ethiopia with some missionary friends of ours and live in the remote African bush for the summer. Yes, she may not have trophies and straight A report cards but she does have a heart of gold. And because she's not entrenched in sports and academic pursuits that could have created obligations for her summer, she was free to go to Africa. Free to chase God in a really big way.

One of the first e-mails she sent me from Ethiopia read, "Mom, I've fallen in love with the AIDS orphanage children. They rushed at me when I held my arms out and I tried with all my might to hold all 30 of them at once. I love it here."

Now, don't get me wrong. I do expect Hope to return to her studies this fall, give 100% effort, and finish her high school career having done her very best. She will most likely then go to college. But she probably won't be delivering the valedictorian address or wearing the honors cords and medals. She'll be the on e with a vision of a dying AIDS orphan pressing against her heart ready to chase God's plans to the ends of the earth.

So back to my original statement, I don't want to raise successful children. It's true, I don't. Though Hope's sister coming behind her is an A student and can always be found on the front row of school performances - we don't chase after success for her either. I trust God that she needs those things in her life for the plans He's unfolding in her life. We train with that bent in mind. But, we don't chase it. Just like Hope, we point her in the direction of God at every turn and pray like crazy.

I stand by what I said and I'll say it again, I don't want to raise successful children. Because--- raising God-honoring adults who will set the world on fire for Christ is just so much more rewarding.

The Ladies' Man

Well, for those of you who were praying for us today, thank you so much! Your prayers were greatly appreciated and definitely heard! Let me give you a little run down of today's events:

We woke up this morning and had our last feeding at 7 a.m. We played for a while, Knox took a little bath, and then he watched mommy finish getting ready for the day. We loaded up the car and drove around for a bit to waste time and assure that he would be asleep since he would be a rather hungry baby if he were awake. He did awesome! Napped the entire time! When we got to the Imaging Center, I started to get really nervous and sad. We checked in waited for what felt like 2 seconds before they called his name. Here's the funny part. Lee and I told the lady that he was probably going to scream as soon as he woke up and that they needed to be prepared. She just smiled at us and told us it would be fine, and she let us go to the back area and into the imaging room to take his clothes off and sit with him for a minute. When we got to the back, out came 3 of the CUTEST young nurses I have ever seen!!!!! We woke Knox up and as soon as he laid eyes on them he smiled the BIGGEST smile! I was so shocked. We totally thought he would freak out and scream due to starvation. Nope, not Knoxie. We got him down to his diaper and since it was cold they let us wrap him in his blanket. The girls were loving him and he was FOR SURE loving them. When I had to hand him over and leave, I teared up and reluctantly gave him to the nurse. He just looked at me like, "bye mom." I was certain that he would freak out at any moment...especially when they had to give him the barium. The girls were so sweet and they assured me everything would be fine and that it would not take long at all. We sat in the hallway outside the door waiting for the horrific "I want my mommy" screams. Nothing. 5 minutes passed, nothing. Then 10 minutes rolled around, and out came the 3 nurses taking turns holding Knox while he was cooing, smiling, and blowing bubbles at them! Lee and I died laughing! They were eating him up and he loved it! They said he did great, drank all that he was suppose to, and didn't make a peep. Stinker! Apparently, I had absolutely to worry about. The procedure was wayyyy harder on me than it was for him. I think he would do it again tomorrow if I let him :).

We head to the specialist on Monday morning to get the results. Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement!

It will all be over within 24 hours...

Well, it looks like Knox's appointment is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:30. He won't be able to eat 4 hours beforehand. I'm thinking that I will just feed him pretty much all morning and then give him a bath right after, which he loves. After that we will play for a little while and then I will just hop in the car and drive around for a good bit before we head to the appt. He usually really likes the car and seems to fall asleep while I'm driving most of the time, so I am really praying he sleeps the majority of the time. I spoke to the nurse today and she told me that we are not allowed to go back with him due to radiation precautions. That was unexpected and hard to hear. I freaked out a little this morning, but then my mother-in-law reminded me of some much needed truth: Knox belongs to the Lord...not to us...and He will be with Knox throughout the entire procedure. That was very refreshing to hear and has given me peace this afternoon.

I had a little chat with Knoxie and told him about what was going to go down tomorrow. Here is how he reacted after I told him:

I am having WHAT done tomorrow???

I can't eat for HOW long?

O.K., fine, but I better be rewarded some ice cream for my troubles!

"Knoxter the Lobster"

Knoxie had a great first Halloween, however we didn't get too many pictures of his little lobster costume. He wasn't exactly diggin' the hat! He had a great time, though, hanging out with his cousins and going trick or treating with them...

On a side note, once again things have been going downhill with the Prevacid that we have been using for his acid reflux. I spoke with the doctor on Saturday and it looks like Knox has to have an upper G.I. scan at Baptist East. Apparently they will papoose him and give him barium to drink so that they can watch how it is digested through an x-ray type machine. I have been doing some research and have read that they aren't allowed to eat 6 hours prior to the test. I am seriously hoping that's not the case. Man, oh man, there will be some tears around this house if that's true...his AND mine. Anyways, although its a little scary for a first time mom to hear that he has to have a test like this, hopefully we will find some answers and be able to treat it for good. Please keep us in your prayers...