What is the first thing you notice about the above picture?
Don't think, just answer.
If you are a Grandma, it is the boy's bare feet when it is obviously freezing outside.
If you are a parent of young children, you may not have even noticed that,
only that he and his dog have matching vests.
Alarming and ridiculous, yes. Planned, no.
As you know, Francie Lou got a bad granny haircut and she is freezing her tushie off when she goes walking with Jeka and me every morning whist you all are still nestled snug in your beds. So, now that she is practically bald, she needs a coat. Jeka happened to buy this vest {with a hood} for Baxter and it was too small...BUT, alas, it fits Miss Francie, so she is warm on our frigid walks. AND, the best part is that it matches Jesse's vest. So AWE-some!
You may remember that I said "Goodbye" for January and told you I'd be back in February, and yet here I am. Sometimes I just need a short break from technology to check myself before I wreck myself. I want to be an intentional wife and mom and when the computer sucks me in with all of its magnetic force, I may be in the same room with my family, but I am not fully present.
I get extremely irritated when I see parents out and about with their kids and they totally don't notice that their child is trying to interact with them b/c they are updating their facebook status or texting or playing some game. I also get irritated when I see adults hand their phones over to their kids constantly to "entertain" them so they can keep them busy and out of "trouble." Yes, we let our kids play games, but we try to do it rarely, because we want them to grow up knowing how to behave and communicate with others without a phone or video game in their hand. So, I took a break for that reason, because I realized that I was doing the very thing that I get irritated with other parents for...Maybe I was doing it in my living room with my kids snuggled into my side, but my mind was elsewhere. I am never going to get these moments back, so I was determined to make a fresh start. Not only that, but I am doing the very thing I am trying to teach them not to do. Most behaviors are "caught, not taught," and they are gonna catch it from me, and grow up zombies attached to a phone/video game or computer if I am not careful. If we are this connected now to technology, it is scary to think of what our world will look like when our kids are adults.
It didn't take me a full month to learn what I needed to learn about myself and so much more. {I made it 10 days} One thing I learned immediately without my blog or facebook in my life is that I had been actually thinking in blog posts. We'd be in the middle of a fun activity or straight up family time and I'd interrupt it to go get my camera and blog about it...cutting many precious moments short, because I wanted to blog about them before I forgot. Short term memory is not a strength of mine. It hit me like a ton of bricks because I would be in the middle of something and feel a strong pull to go blog about it but because I couldn't, I had resolved not to, I didn't. It happened over and over every day at first. It almost felt like an addiction I was breaking.
I know there are people who just read that and are judging me for it, especially non-bloggers. Bloggers know the feeling of thinking in blog posts just like writers think in stories or musicians hear a chord and want to run pick up their guitar and make it into a song. So, here I am, admitting I am far from perfect. I have struggles just like the rest of you and I am willing to humiliate myself if what I share resonates with even one person who might have the same struggle and not have recognized it yet. One of my missions in life is to share my story because it is God's story. I have bright amazing moments I am proud of and ugly, wish I could hide moments, but God uses them all to mold and shape me into who He wants me to be. For that I am truly thankful. Romans 8:28
As I close, I have a 2 year old climbing on me saying, "Book, Mommy, Book." These are the moments I do not want to miss. Yes, I will still blog, but I am going to be so much more intentional about being fully present with my family and friends and unplug!
You may remember that I said "Goodbye" for January and told you I'd be back in February, and yet here I am. Sometimes I just need a short break from technology to check myself before I wreck myself. I want to be an intentional wife and mom and when the computer sucks me in with all of its magnetic force, I may be in the same room with my family, but I am not fully present.
I get extremely irritated when I see parents out and about with their kids and they totally don't notice that their child is trying to interact with them b/c they are updating their facebook status or texting or playing some game. I also get irritated when I see adults hand their phones over to their kids constantly to "entertain" them so they can keep them busy and out of "trouble." Yes, we let our kids play games, but we try to do it rarely, because we want them to grow up knowing how to behave and communicate with others without a phone or video game in their hand. So, I took a break for that reason, because I realized that I was doing the very thing that I get irritated with other parents for...Maybe I was doing it in my living room with my kids snuggled into my side, but my mind was elsewhere. I am never going to get these moments back, so I was determined to make a fresh start. Not only that, but I am doing the very thing I am trying to teach them not to do. Most behaviors are "caught, not taught," and they are gonna catch it from me, and grow up zombies attached to a phone/video game or computer if I am not careful. If we are this connected now to technology, it is scary to think of what our world will look like when our kids are adults.
It didn't take me a full month to learn what I needed to learn about myself and so much more. {I made it 10 days} One thing I learned immediately without my blog or facebook in my life is that I had been actually thinking in blog posts. We'd be in the middle of a fun activity or straight up family time and I'd interrupt it to go get my camera and blog about it...cutting many precious moments short, because I wanted to blog about them before I forgot. Short term memory is not a strength of mine. It hit me like a ton of bricks because I would be in the middle of something and feel a strong pull to go blog about it but because I couldn't, I had resolved not to, I didn't. It happened over and over every day at first. It almost felt like an addiction I was breaking.
I know there are people who just read that and are judging me for it, especially non-bloggers. Bloggers know the feeling of thinking in blog posts just like writers think in stories or musicians hear a chord and want to run pick up their guitar and make it into a song. So, here I am, admitting I am far from perfect. I have struggles just like the rest of you and I am willing to humiliate myself if what I share resonates with even one person who might have the same struggle and not have recognized it yet. One of my missions in life is to share my story because it is God's story. I have bright amazing moments I am proud of and ugly, wish I could hide moments, but God uses them all to mold and shape me into who He wants me to be. For that I am truly thankful. Romans 8:28
As I close, I have a 2 year old climbing on me saying, "Book, Mommy, Book." These are the moments I do not want to miss. Yes, I will still blog, but I am going to be so much more intentional about being fully present with my family and friends and unplug!
