I was "THAT MOM" with "THAT KID" !!!! (Our trip to the Library)

I had the motherly privilege of being "THAT MOM" with "THAT KID" the other day at the library. It is always a memorable and humbling experience. I know because I have been "THAT MOM" on more than one occasion over the past few years. LOL! It was a dark rainy day. A perfect day to go to the library. Michael hadn't been in a while so I told him as soon as he got up that we were going after breakfast. We got ready and headed out the door into the garage around 10:00. It was then that I realized that the stroller was in the other Car!!! Nooooo!!! I had already told Mike we were going. I couldn't back out now! Why did I sell that old umbrella stroller at the garage sale for 1.oo? What was I thinking? So we headed to the library without a stroller for Sam. She can walk, it couldn't be that bad right? Well, we got there and immediately she tried taking off and didn't want to hold my hand. I had to chase her down the aisles a couple times. We got the book I was looking for and headed to the children's section where we stayed for a while and where Sam roamed around, rode the wooden horse, ect..... when it was time to leave, she didn't want to go and started throwing a fit! I am at the counter with my books in one arm and Samantha in the other putting up a fight to be let down. Ugh!!! At least Mike was good. His rank has moved up. He has officially been replaced by a littler more rascally rascal. (One that bites! Yes, Heather, if your reading this, I got a biter!Lol!) I think he thought it felt good to be the bigger, "look at me mom, I'm being good" Child. I could see it in his eyes! Anyways, the nice librarian thought she would try to help and put a large bin of stickers on the floor for my kids to pick through. I was checking out my books and was just relieved to have her distracted for a sec. Next thing I know she has dumped the entire bin onto the floor! Mike is scrambling to help put them back. I had just finished checking out my books and there is a line of people behind me as I am bent down on the floor with Sam and Mike picking up stickers. Can we say embarrassing?!!!! So then the librarian comes around and tries to help. Sam is not happy about the stickers being put away or about me picking her up so she starts to kick and scream and flail her arms. Mind you we are in the Library, and Sam does not have a sweet little voice when she screams. Her scream is soooo much louder than I ever remember Dom and Mike's being! She screams and you think she is dying! Well, I hauled her butt out of there as fast as I could only to have the security alarm go off as I passed though the detectors!!! COME ON!!! SERIOUSLY??? WHAT ELSE?!! The Librarian nicely just told me to "just go, your having a hard enough time" LOl! THANK YOU!!! Oh, and to that Lady in the nice suit with the short blond bob and black glasses sitting in that chair giving me that look....... I would gladly rather be "THAT MOM" than no mom, and if you think my child is ridiculous or horrible, you obviously have never had children. They all have their Crazy Embarrassing Child moments. But the good moments far outweigh the bad. For all of you who don't have kids and don't understand... next time you see a mom having a hard time with her child, just go on about your business and ignore. The looks DO NOT HELP! And for all of you moms who have been there.... you will be there again soon so just

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

Love,

Shannon

RAINY DAY IDEA: Continue the library fun at home. When we got back Mike and I made our own little library in the back corner of the family room. I used babygates and the toy box to section the area off and put a kiddie table and chair set in there with lots of books and to make it a cozy nook added stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, and a bean bag chair. The kids loved it. They sat in their little area looking at books alot that day and it was quiet because I told them you had to be quiet in the library! Even Sam was well behaved in her own little library! LOL!

A Conversation with Dom about Evil- The Cheerful Coffin

How do you talk to your kids about good vs evil? It can be a tricky subject these days. There is little on t.v. , in music, and in books that is pure and only good. Are we to throw out our tv, and ban all music? How can I teach my children to discern good vs evil for themselves so they are not just always relying on what I say? How Can I teach them to live in the world and know how to make wise decisions without me right by their side? These are questions I wonder about and am working through the awnsers to. I sometimes do want to just ban tv all together and other things as well, but I think a part of me is afraid to shelter the children to much for fear that they will rebel when they are a bit older and go off the deep end. I want their spiritual convictions to be their own. I want them to know in their own head and hearts the why's of right vs. wrong and good vs. evil. So far I have been teaching them that if something on t.v. appears evil, we aren't going to watch it. We have read the verse together that says, " abstain from every form of evil" (1 thes. 5:22) and another one I really like for the kids (short and easy) is in Psalms 101:3 which says, "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes" We read the verse and then we have a discussion about what it means and I try to relate it to their everyday life. The first time we read this verse and talked about it, Domenic asked me "well, is star wars evil?" (mind you this is his favorite show and game which he plays daily). I was like uhhhh. I didn't know what to say. They do harness powers that come from "the force" and not from God. Could we just say that "the force" is God? I really didn't want to tell him it was possibly evil, atleast the good guys anyways. Here is where you can see how I might be compromising, or "grey". I instead turned the question around and asked him what he thought. He said he thought it was evil and vowed that he would never watch it again. Ofcourse he was back to it the next day. Should I have told him he shouldn't watch it? Am I helping him compromise something he was convicted about? I don't know! from a young age with Domenic I have tried to point him to discerning what is right and wrong with what he sees. I would comment on a show if the charactors were having a bad attitude ect.. with the hopes that he would begin to recognize those things himself and think a little more about what he sees

Ok, so that brings us to the situation at hand. Sorry about the drawnout intro! I found in Domenic's lunch bag the Yu-Gi-Oh! card pictured above. I really know nothing about them, except from what I am seeing on the card, and to me, well, it looks a little evil (When I found the above pic online, it said that the original Japanese card had a cross on the coffin). I asked Dom what it was and he told me that his friend at school gave it to him and keeps giving them to him. I asked him if he knew what it said, he didn't know so I told him. Then I asked him if he knew what a coffin was. He didn't so I told him. You should have seen the look on his face. I then asked him if he thought that this was good? He awnsered, "No, I don't think so" with a tone of sarcasm and a raised eyebrow. I told him that he should just give it back to his friend at school that day but he had a different idea. He told me,"No way! I am tearing this into a million tiny peices and throwing it out" and he did. It was pretty funny, but I was proud of my little man! I really don't want him to just follow the crowd. I want him to think for himself and stand by his own convictions. Being a mom with the goal of raising my kids to follow Christ is hard. Kids don't really see grey like we allow ourselves to sometimes. It is black or white, good or evil. I need to be more like Domenic some days. He has a heart that is pure and undefiled by compromise and apathy. Christ said we need to become like little children and I am understanding that statement more and more as I raise mine.