More transitions

So after six months time, with the help of Charley's parents and his sister, we are now in the process of transitioning his parents to an assisted living care center.   They seem okay with it and I know they will be happier there vs being in the midst of what is often times chaos now.   I am thankful I made a call last week to my sister-in-law and we put our heads together.   As when all my 'kids' fly the coop, I know it is going to rather quieter around here.   Change is not without stress.   I will not be bumping into the poor things as I race through the house.   Our house is not actually.....big.   It is sort of spread out and has a lot of little rooms as rooms go.   150 year old houses tend to not be on the big side so even the house will feel huge...er....soon.   Anyway, that is what is new today.   I have lots of ground work to complete to get the process finalized and am extremely grateful for the help I have received from Charley's sister.   Yay.   Resting a bit easier......

Don't remove them

I was distracted by the most awesomeness of distractions this morning during the church service.   There was a young boy, seven to be exact, sitting behind me talking to his mother about what was happening in the service.   She was quietly answering him.   Though distracted herself, it isn't really a distraction.   The children belong in the service.   They are listening and paying attention.     They are catechized in word and sacrament through experience.       Their little lives are immersed in worship and they DO receive God's good gifts in the service.   Why remove them from worship?  

I just started teaching an awesome group of preteens last week and these kids are so very well catechized.   I have a deep love for young people and seeing them grow and mature and their eyes light up with recognition of what they are learning.   I do know I probably ask too many questions but they actually can figure out most of them.   They do understand Christ's body and blood given for them and it isn't too deep for them to talk about and think about.   They want to know.   The answers they give are obviously the product of not only great parents but participation in the service.  

I asked these same kids if they had any specific questions they had been wondering about and a ten year old young lady expressed a curiosity and desire to better understand the Trinity and how that is possible.   She rocks.   I advised her to ask her Pastor if he wanted to come over for tea or ice cream and that his favorite thing to do was to answer questions.   At the very least, the hallways and byways at church or Catechesis class would a good place to ask the questions answering Pastor.  

So don't start or maintain a nursery.   The children are not disturbing anyone including the parents as it is the parents vocation or place in life to parent them now.   When all the wiggles are exhausted at age eight or nine or maybe even as young as five, then the parent can chill more in the pew and take it isn.    Until then, these beautiful little people are gifts to rejoice in and stare at and love and talk to and soak up while we have the opportunity.   I am just totally taken aback by how amazing God's creation and gift of children are to us.   Different ages and different blessings.   A person of any age is amazing really.   See what their eyes are looking at and taking in when they are unawares.  

Last thought or observation.   I don't really pay much attention to other people's children during Holy Communion, but I do see my own little people paying such serious attention, even during their youngest days, during the distribution.   Evan's eyes took it all in this morning.   He is two.  The Pastor giving the bread to people and then Evan receiving the blessing when it was his turn.   He becomes perfectly still lately and listening.   Children do listen.   They are not incapable of understanding.   Don't take and hide the children  away from the service in fear of disturbing people.   Disturb the people!   Children of God of all ages were of utmost importance to our Lord Jesus.   He loves us all and not just those who can sit still during the sermon.   If I am distracted from the sermon myself, what better way to be distracted but through staring into their little faces.   Don't remove them.   

Promoting the generation gap

I live in my own generation gap with oldest and youngest child 19 years apart in age.   I was looking up the latest on helping kids with diarrhea and other such loveliness and my head could have hit the table.   When Anna was the wee one, we were told to not give them milk products and  use the B.R.A.T. diet.   Hmmm.....well, now they are saying the B.R.A.T. diet actually makes them feel worse and that milk products do not have to be withheld.   Do you know what this does to the generations?????   I suppose with a nineteen year gap I will more easily be able to smile and wave when grandchildren come along as I will take no offense at the latest and greatest child rearing methods.   I've seen it all and seen it all again as it cycles around.

   I remember the audacity of my mother and mother-in-law suggesting I let my child cry it out while I kept my babies near and dear and wondered if my first child was permanently damaged by my doing this to her around six weeks of age.   Now there are definitely two camps in the sleep in or sleep separately camp.   Shouldn't the new advice be, 'do whatever doesn't make you have a nervous break down honey, I don't really care?'   

It just seems that Americans goal is to make each other crazy with all the different ways they SHOULD be doing things.   What????    I am sure the phrase, "none of your business" did not pick up speed till the neighborhood fence was bypassed by the telephone operator.   Party lines......yep, they were a party.   In America, your business seems to be everyone's business if you let it be that way.    

I admit I was influenced quickly by the article suggesting I not withhold the milk products seeing as the two year old could only keep begging for milk. I admit I might get peeved if he throws up all over the place in five minutes, but the logical truth of the article was something about how you can give them starvation diarrhea if they do not get sufficient nutrients.   We shall see......literally......if I love this advice I hope not to see too much.  

Nap time.......

Annoying and cranky.

My new philosophy of the day is......everyone basically has the capacity to be annoying so.......just smile and wave or something.   I am tired in the extreme so I am not sure anything could happen that could get much of a rise out of me.   Humans, ranging from toddlers to eighty somethings,  all have that sin thing in common.   Me too.   I was driving home from Minnesota yesterday and at times my form of stress relief was making odd observations to change the current subject of the moment (lots of moments).   I probably was making my mother nuts.   Silence is a nice alternative at times if given the option to not respond.   I need to work on that option a bit more as usually my odd observations are lost on the hearer.   Sigh.  

Everyone does annoying things.   If you walk through any store you can overhear someone complaining about someone else having been annoying.   It is constant.   Sometimes though I do see and hear young couples and old calmly discussing things or enjoying their time out together.   Observing people actually getting along is nice and sweet to behold.   Observing funny teasing between the couples I visited on my trip was refreshing too.  

So then.....how to deal with the crankiness which might happen.....forgive them.   I sometimes want to say, "Forgive them already!!!" to others but that is me whining at them.   So.....trying to remember that for myself.   Sigh.   I suppose I could be driven to say that to some random person in the supermarket, but that would be sort of obnoxious.....I think.   Or maybe not......

So that is my deep little thought of the day.  I guess I would call it a little study on bearing with one another in love.  Smile!