If you give a husband a paintbrush

if you give a husband a paintbrush, a wife is going to want to paint a room.

Before she can paint the room she's going to want to clean the room.  Cleaning the room will make her realize she first needs to De-clutter the room.  When she De-clutters the room she is then going to have a pile of stuff she wants to list on Craigslist.  After she lists stuff on Craigslist and the room is De-cluttered she is then going to start painting the room.  When she starts painting she realizes the room would look really nice with a border.  She gets her husband to put up a border.  While he's doing the border she is going to want to use the extra paint to paint the desk to match the room.  While painting the desk she is going to realize she needs to organize the desk and the rest of the room.  Organizing the room will make her realize she needs to go buy some organization stuff.
  After the room is organized she is then going to want to decorate the room, which means she will have to go buy some new decor.
While she is buying decor she will get the idea to make some additional art for the room.  When the border is finally done, she will hang the new room decor and touch up the paint in the room.
 While touching up some paint on the ceiling she will get the idea to  install a ceiling fan in the room.

which brings us back to the husband.....

HEARTS IN HIS HANDS

If you are mom then you are one of about two billion in the world. You have had your body taken over by another little person, you wipe butts and noses, You will have changes 7,300 diapers by your child's second birthday. You probably wash a minimum of 330 loads of laundry a year,  you definitely have suffered from sleep deprivation, maybe depression, and definitely stress. You probably have locked yourself in the bathroom at some point and if you haven't, believe me, you will!  you probably have felt alone despite being in the midst of the whining pant pulling little ones around you.


Yes, Children are gifts from God and as mothers, we dedicate our lives to raising them and we love it (most of the time).  But this job comes with a lot of self-sacrifice. Mothers can often feel isolated and there is constantly uncharted territory as our children grow and go through different stages.   We are constantly trying to figure things out as we attempt to raise them "right." 


So in an attempt to encourage and support moms, my Sis-in-Law Julie Rowlands over at http://makingitmatterjr@blogspot.com and I have started a mom's group.  We are going to have food, fellowship and topical conversation.  Our heart's desire is to bring moms together to build relationships that encourage and support!  The group will be meeting once a month.


Sooooooooo if you are a mom and interested, we would love it if you would check out the blog page for HEARTS IN HIS HANDS MOMS GROUP and we hope you will join us for a mom's night out! 

Godbless!
-Shannon

Hearts In His Hands Mom's Group

Calm in the Morning

Is this how you feel some mornings???  I don't know how your mornings typically are but mine tend to be a little hectic and I tend to be a little not too thrilled to be up!  I think many of you can relate. My day starts a little after 6:30 am when the little girl I watch arrives. Then it's time to wake up the boys for school and feed everybody breakfast. Ironing my husbands clothes, making coffee, getting the boys clothes out for them, finding everyone socks!, getting snacks and lunches together, finding papers, tying shoes, finding backpacks, making sure teeth are brushed, getting the girl's busy doing something, letting the dogs out, letting the muddy dogs in, wiping the muddy dogs, feeding the dogs, filling sippie cups, making sure the boys have hats, gloves, coats, and Lord help me if it snowed and I also have to shovel a path to the bus.  Anyways, I think you get the Idea..... CRAZINESS!


Soooo what to do???!!!!


If I was able to resist the urge to hit the snooze button 3 times before getting up in the am I would be like the Proverbs 31 woman who "rises while it is yet night and gives food to her household."  I would be up very early,  I would exercise for about 30min, read my Bible and pray, get dressed, and of course have my hair and makeup done.  I tell myself all this and often even set my alarm for early but it doesn't often happen.  But what about when it is 10:00 at night and you really just want to go to bed, what if you took just 10 minutes and prepared for your morning.  What if you thought of the "You" of tomorrow instead of the "You" of right now, as my awesomely organized sis-in-law once said.  You will still be "rising while it is night", just the other end of it. 


Last night I took just 10 minutes and laid out the kids clothes and Ironed for Bryan.  Just by doing those two little things my morning went much smoother.  Imagine if I had set the coffee, made lunch's and prepared the kids backpacks!  That will be my goal for tonight.  And if you can resist the urge to hit the snooze, getting up even just 10 minutes early to get yourself together, read a verse and pray will help get you mentally prepared for all you have to handle in the morning!   

Psalms 5:8

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

 Proverbs 31:15

"She rises also while it is yet night and gives meat to her household and a portion to her maidens"

Psalms 63:1

 "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee"

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BIGGER

The kids and I stood on our front porch taking in the fresh air and watching the downpour of rain. The thunder was loud and the storm was right above us. It was exciting! Suddenly lightning struck the tree in between our house and our neighbor's. It sounded like a car bomb went off and I could feel the vibration in my chest. We all jumped and clung to each other in fear as we darted inside! My five year old went up to my husband who was in the living room and said, "Dad, God is really powerful!"

With so much distractions in this world, it is easy to forget to look up at the beautiful sky and all realize how small we are in this universe and how big God is and indeed how powerful!Surrounded by concrete jungles and with our noses constantly in our ipads, facebook, and cell phones, it can be easy to overlook or ignore nature and all that God has created. But we must not. Just look up and look around you and you will see God in all he has created!

We went to Stonybrook state park a couple of weeks ago. It was beautiful and humbling. We looked up and saw huge cliffs and towering trees above; and below, people that looked as if they were the size of ants. When we get things in perspective it is humbling. Glorifying God in his creation not only teaches our children to realize how big God is but it teaches them about God's love for them. God loved us so much that he made this world and everything in it for us. He painted the sunsets for us, gave us big beautiful tree's for shade, I think he even created the bugs and snakes for the enjoyment of my little boys. By speaking to our children about how Great God is when we are in the midst of his amazing creation we are instilling in them God's love and a reverence for Him.

Psalms 145:1-10

" I will extol you my God and King and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One Generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderous works. Men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts, and I will declare your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all his works. All Your works shall praise you O Lord, and your saints shall bless you..."

Psalms 104:1-7

"Bless the Lord oh my soul! O Lord my God you are very great: You are clothed with honor and Majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of his upper chambers in waters, Who makes the clouds his chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind, Who makes his angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire. You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever, You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hastened away..."

If God is so big that He created the universe and all in it then He is for sure bigger than anything we would face in this life and there is hope and comfort in that too!

GOD IS BIGGER than ___________ (fill in the blank)

-Shannon

Discouragement

Discouragement paralyzes motivation like a deadly snakebite.....


He whispers in our ear.....


You are small, Look at the amazing things others are doing, why even bother, there's nothing that hasn't already been done.


Almost 3o now, life is passing. face reality there are many better than you, you are not original.


Then I hear the quiet whisper of the spirit of God ........


I never meant for you to know of every way I am working through others in the entire world. you need to be doing what I called you to do in YOUR WORLD.


You can make a difference for me


All the little things DO matter.


You are the most magnificent, original, special and BIG person to the three little people I put in your care.... THEY ARE YOUR WORLD.


Don't forget my word....



Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"



John 15:16a, "You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain."



Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts I think toward you sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."



Psalms 40:5, "Many O Lord are thy wonderous works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are toward us; they can not be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."


Psalms 139:14, "I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."



And HIS peace settles the soul and quiets the accuser's voice.


Isaiah 26:3, "And you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you/"

-Shannon

Our Recent School Drama Continued!

Ok, so I know I have been terribly inconsistent and slow at keeping this blog up to date and for that I am sorry, but hey, atleast I get to it at some point, right? lol. So let me share with you all what happened with Domenic's School a couple of months ago.......


Domenic was in class and he drew a picture of two people with word bubbles. The one person was calling the other a name, and the other was saying "I'm going to kill you. That may not have been very appropriate to draw in school, but it was just typical boy behavior. Now, at this point in the story, we recieved two different accounts of what took place. One account from Domenic's teacher, who was there at the time, and another account from the school psychologist. The teacher said that another student and Domenic came up to his desk and that the one student told on Domenic that he had written bad words. According to the teacher, he took the paper and gave it to the assistant principle as was procedure for anything "violent" or questionable. and that was the end of it as far as what he dealt with. So the story continues......


Later that day, Domenic was called out of art class and taken down to the psychologist's office and was questioned by the psychologist and the social worker without our knowledge or consent!!! They basically did a psych evaluation on him. They asked him questions about every area of his life and even asked him, "do both your parents live with you?" and "do you sleep in the same bed with your brother?" as well as, "What happens when you get into trouble at home"

I only learned of this later that day when I got a call from the school. I think it was the assistant to the principle that called. She informed me of the drawing and said that he was talked to about it and that he didn't give them much information, but he did say that he was sad because his father was gone. BRYAN WAS IN NYC FOR 2 DAYS!!! Not gone like they were obviously thinking! It was very obvious to me that they were asking him leading questions and infact doing a psych eval on him. Domenic gave us a list a page long of questions that were asked him.

So, Bryan, having a law degree was not happy! According to the constitution of the United States of America you cannot interview or question a minor without his or her parent's consent. There are reasons for this. For those of you who have children, you especially know that a child will oftentimes say things they don't mean, mix up definitions of what they do mean, and may not always recall things accuratly. But the school district thinks they can do whatever they want. After meeting with the principle and social worker and expressing our concern for the handling of the situation this is what we got....

Basically, if your child is deemed a possible threat to another student or staff the school has the right to question your child without your knowledge or consent. Ok, soooooooooooooo they determined my child was a possible threat......because of a drawing. Ok, so they can basically say that anything is a threat. There are no guidelines. One question, if they thought my child was a possible threat, why did they let him continue on with his day to later take him out of art class? If a child is a possible threat to someone shouldn't they immediatly be removed from the classroom and sent to the principle office? I sure wouldn't want my child in a room with another child that could possibly be a "threat"! The corrent handling of the situation would have been to send Domenic to the principles office. contact us, and then deal with the situation with us involved. They took a simple thing, a drawing from a good boy who is exactly that, a BOY and turned it into this big fiasco! This whole thing could have been avoided by a simple phone call. But no, the school thinks they can do whatever they want, even usurp our children's constitutional rights!

But wait, it's not over yet! There is still more to this story. Stay tuned!

-Shannon

RAISING BOYS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND OUR RECENT SCHOOL DRAMA!!!!

Well, I have not blogged in a while, but this one should be pretty interesting and make up for it! We have our children in public school and recently had a situation occur with our seven year old son that would make any parent sick to their stomach! But before i go into the details, I just need to vent about some observations about raising boys in the public school system that we have noticed the past couple years. This will be a two part blog. The next one I do will tell all the drama we've been dealing with. OK, here we go.

Schools nowadays do not want boys to be boys, and if they behave like boys they then assume that something is wrong with them. Now of course their are children who do have problems and need medication, but we have heard numerous stories, especially with boys, where the child is very active like boys often are and the school wants to put them on Ritalin and label them with ADD or something. Now this is not what happened with our son, but there seems to be this mentality in society that boys should not behave like boys, but like girls. Yet people do not understand that God created boys differently then girls for his special purpose!

Modern secular society says that children are the way they are because of how they are conditioned by their environment. So give a boy, boy toys when he is little and he will gravitate towards those things, give a boy baby dolls and girl toys and he will develop a love for those type of things.

Well, these people obviously do not have children. I have two boys and a girl. When my oldest was three we were debating whether or not we should let him play with toy guns. Some boys in the neighborhood played with them and he wanted one. The poor child carried around a wood chip for 2 weeks and pretended it was a gun! He even made his pretzels into guns! And no, we did not let him watch anything violent where he would have learned this, other then observation of other boys playing. I gave in and got him one.

Now on the other end, my youngest is a girl and after having two boys, it has been so fun having a girl and she is sooo different. Before she was even two years old she was putting on my shoes and jewelry and pretending to be a little mommy to her dolls! And she definitely had her choice of guns, dinosaurs, and cars to play with having two older brothers. So, my point is boys and girls are different. We have come across this mentality on more than one occasion with our son who is now 7 years old and in second grade.

Now Obviously since Columbine, things have gotten a lot more serious in school when dealing with behaviors and possible problems. And they should be dealing with these things more seriously. The school district we are in has a Zero tolerance policy which basically says that they will not tolerate ANYTHING, even if your child just defended himself, he is at fault too! Another issue I have with this is that the school our son is in seems to think that they have the power to take away a child's constitutional rights if they think that there is any kind of possible threat to another child or to the school. And when I say threat, I mean it according to their definition, which could be ANYTHING!!!!! a drawing, something someone said someone said someone said, any kind of child to child conflict, as well as anything else. This is a problem! If this is already starting in our schools with our children, what is next? What if the government started behaving this way with our rights?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ok, done venting. stay tuned as the drama unfolds and make sure every parent you know with children in the public schools reads this next blog. And follow me!!!!