Thursday, good times as a family

Well, I don't have a lot to write. The day was pretty easy going, with the kids doing all sorts of outdoor stuff, reading, and playing games. In the evening we went for a walk as a family, which was good till Ethan, lacking energy without his 5 snacks a day, started to dwindle. Dragging foot after foot, sorrow all over his face, lying in the middle of the road saying "I just can't do it!". I told him to look in the ditch and he ran down there and all the way home. I don't know where he gets his drama from. (his mom, like people don't know)

In talking with Precious today, she said something strange. She said "i liked this week, as it was a lot of fun. There was way more stuff to do!" What!!! I told her there was way less to do, and she stared at me like I was loco. Doesn't that blow your mind parents? With all the "fun stuff" taken away, forced to create your own games, no tv or movies, no driving to friends, no cookies at nana's today, as they stopped by on a bike ride, and it was more fun because of all the things they did.

Seeing my son read thru about 6 books in less than 2 days, Archie non the less, but I could care less, he's reading a book!

I have decided that we'll end the week tonight and surprise the kids with homemade pizza, but still no tv till later. Odd thing is when I told them we were only going to watch dvds, no mindless tv, and that their dish schedule would continue, they seemed ok with it. Mercy commented it made sense as it seemed to work smoothly. all week with no dishwasher and them doing most of the dishes was kind of cool.

I will say that this AM i went out with my LTG and while they selfishly ate their bacon and eggs, hashbrowns and toast, I had my rye toast with butter...Larry was even cold enough to say "can I eat your jam" Cold ole farmer... (this may make up for my eating a cookie or two at my moms this afternoon) Not sure if you bloggers know about this new software, but when you put something in brackets on your blog, people can't read them!

I will wrap up this blog and some final thoughts over the weekend, but thanks for following. For the record, this is what happens when your girls have to much time on their hands...in my recollection of childhood, he'll be haunted by these images his whole life...

Wednesday, glad we're half way there!

So this has been interesting to say the least. Less conflicts around here between the kids, and overall a quieter demeanor. Have any of you been at a fair or on a holiday, where pretty much everything your kid wants, they get...Cotton candy, sure. Ride on that ride, sure. fries and your own drink, sure. I'm not sure about your house, but the day after we get off of one of these "whatever you want you can have" kind of days, man, am I sorry. The attitude of entitlement that exudes children is overwhelming at times.
How about me now...I can get home at the end of the day and have all sorts of "entitlements" as a dad, but really, I'm there to serve my kids...did I just say that?
Shoot, how can I get them to not read this blog...

Precious said yesterday that one lesson she'd learned this week is "get what you get and don't complain". She also said not having her toys this week and a mom who makes good food is something she appreciates.

Taylor has been taking caterpillars and they're now in cocoons, and we're excited to see Monarchs emerge...He's been missing his Remote Control Helicopter, variety of foods, time with friends, his mini bike, use of the phone whenever he likes, and lots of other things.

Mercy has been missing most of all her best friend Erin, and their often weekly get togethers. She is thankful for a vehicle to take her there or pick her up, the phone to talk to her friends, biking in town with mom, going to nana's and a lot more as well. She says she's thankful for how easy it is to do all these things.

Ethan...well Ethan will just be happy when someone lets him eat again! He is so used to snacking all day, which by the way, we advocate, as long as it's good food.

Laura was staring at me while eating our potato and peas last night...she said she was envisioning me with a hotdog bun around me...she's really craving some meat!

Kids and Laura did a lot of canning of apples yesterday, peeling, heating and freezing a ton of apples. They all had fun!

Overall, a good 3 days, although we're all boycotting a Saturday like this. What good are weekends without hanging with friends. (Laura is the only one holding out at this point)

I'm presently staring at my steamed broccoli and not wanting to eat it...makes me think of the gagging Ethan did as a baby when we gave it to him. lol. "thank you Lord for my boring, tasteless broccoli"

Tuesday, settling in

Tuesday was a much calmer day. Same breakfast as the day before, and lunch was warmed up supper from Monday, which was rice mixed with vegetables. Supper we each had a potato and broccoli/cauliflower. No sour cream, no cheese sauce. The odd thing was they all agreed "can we have this tomorrow?"

First thing in the AM, Mercy came in saying in the night she was hungry and was really hungry come breakfast time. I asked her if she'd ever thought that billions of kids around the world have that feeling in their stomach every day of their life. She was thoughtful as she walked away.

Taylor on the other hand doesn't help when he says "so dad, wanna sneak off and get a Fat Boy" or "hey dad, imagine some juicy oven baked sweet and sour meatballs on this rice eh?". He's very cruel as you can see. :o)

I forgot to mention how on Monday evening, Laura had been staring off across the river, while ignoring what I was saying. I said she wasn't paying attention and she said "I don't care what you're saying...all i can think about is 'give me some meat'!" Had a good laugh.

I have to say the spirit of the kids is quite good. Watching two of my kids last night, who are often like oil and water, pouring over a Where's Waldo book, without any harsh words, was something to behold. I'm interested to see how having "nothing to do", sends T to pour over a 500 piece puzzle for hrs. All of the kids taking my Sticky Tack and making all sorts of designs and shapes. (some I made them quickly destroy :o)

In the afternoon when I came up to the house, I thought maybe we'd been taking this thing too far, as I saw the kids throwing a rope over a branch, only to my relief to find they were making a swing. Phew!

Last evening was finding them reading, doing a puzzle, looking at Waldo books, and little if any conflict...hmmm.

Laura has been pouring over books, which for her is a new thing, as she normally can't concentrate with 4 kids chattering, and me of course sitting quietly by...well...possibly adding a comment or two. :)

day 2 was a success, although I will admit that I found it strange while praying for my/our food...was almost expecting the kids to snicker while I thanked God for this good food. Stranger yet, I questioned if I really believed it...

Monday, what a day

Monday turned out to be quite a day of change. Each of us evaluating what living life without would be like...in short we all agree it would make our lives much different.

Taylor for instance, commented at supper that eating pretty much the same for supper as he ate for lunch, made him appreciate having variety. This is how the menu was laid out.

Breakfast allowed for either toast and butter, or oatmeal with milk. No sugars or peanut butter. Mercy went to the garden, found two lone raspberries and squished them on her bread. :) I said that worked.

Lunch consisted of carrots, broccoli, some noodles, sauteed, then white rice added. Water all around

Supper consisted of pretty much the same, only this time they could put it in pieces of lettuce to make lettuce wraps. The biggest laugh, tears included, came with Laura and my inside joke, as we made faces at each other, choking down the tasteless food. (making me laugh now just thinking about her expressions)

a piece of fruit for night snack was awesome, as it was a juicy peach...mmmm it was good.

Some funny statements were as follows.

Mercy: while lying across me, pretending to be dying, with her tongue hanging out, eyes rolled back, its all she can do to whisper "chicken chef".

Laura: she laughed as she caught herself saying "soya sauce, I don't like soya sauce"

Precious: "can i at least have a carrot?" Laura says "sure". a couple of minutes later Laura hears her "i can't get any more dip out of this bottle". she was quite disturbed to find she wasn't getting any dip, just a plain ole carrot.

Ethan: he was still struggling with the concept, as he came back with his lunch not eaten and pipes up "can I have a peach instead!" Shoulder drooped, head hanging, he walked back to finish his lunch.

Positive note in reflection was all six of us on the deck all evening, because there wasn't any computers to look at, tv to watch, video games to play, or places to drive. Precious pipes up and says "this is kind of like family time". I had to agree.

How did the day finish off? after kids were in bed, Laura walked in to see me with two chocolate chip cookies in hand, of course one was for her. She said "i would feel like such a cheater". I said I understood and attempt to walk away...I said attempted to walk away. I'll leave it there.

so what's the deal??

I've had a lot of questions from people asking for the root cause of my decision to take this endeavor with my family. (for the record, no one is moping around the house, feeling abused) There is a trend I've recognized, and that is the one that goes something like this. "you know Bob, you've worked really hard. You deserve a break". So off Bob goes on his trip to Mexico. While there, all he can think about is how hard he's worked this past year, in order to deserve such a nice vacation. He saved his money, worked some extra hours to make it happen, and low and behold, its all come back to him now as a well deserved break.

Take John for a moment though. He believes that every good thing he has comes from God, and that if in fact he got what he really deserved, he'd be without anything good. That means every good smell, good taste, good feeling, good things to look at, good friends, good sunshine, and for that matter, good trips to Mexico would never happen.

These two wind up at the same resort in the beautiful vacation spot of Mexico. The first morning, all Bob can do is notice that there's no orange juice at the buffet. John on the other hand was blown away that there was a guy making your omelet for you while you wait! for someone who has been blessed with this trip, and is counting his blessings each day, that's a big deal!

Bob notices that two days in a row the towel boy has made him wait for a towel. John can't help chuckling to himself, and is speechless that he can take a wet towel back and get a dry one, even attempting it twice one day and they were happy to accommodate him. Seems so...excessively generous!

Bob is very frustrated at this point as you will quite well imagine, and is having words with the front desk. He's made to go down to the lobby for his massage as they don't come up to the room! This will be the last time he wastes his money on this dump! John...sweet John, was blown away by the free 10 minute massage they gave him in the lobby when he arrived, with the water right in front of him the whole time crashing on the beach. (the masseuse felt a little awkward as John kept giggling)

You probably get my point. What I'm not saying is a real Christian doesn't take nice vacations. What I'm not saying is there aren't times you're disappointed, but what I am saying is that when each of us catches a glimpse of where we'd be without God, now or later, truly weighs up where God has blessed us to be born, with the ability to work, earn, and be educated non the less, it will transform the way we ACT while we experience God's goodness.

My desire is that I teach my kids that what they have, they don't deserve, but God in his goodness, seeing fit to bless us with so much more than literally billions of other people, is just that good to us for some unknown reason.

thanks for reading...i feel blessed. :)

Ready, set, go!

Well, Monday morning is the kickoff for us. We've finally picked a week that doesn't mean canceling any big parties, or camping trips. Monday till Saturday, we will live life without all the extras. Everyone seems on board, and on the way home, we talked about all the things we could or couldn't do. "do we get to play with our hedgehog? do we get to play with our frog? what about the cats?" (poor dog never got mentioned) I told them those things were responsibilities, so yes, they should play with them.
Ethan was "so...do we get to play with Lego...Rockband?" I said "no". "so...can I play with Lego...rockband?" he wasn't getting it. :o)
Meals are going to be minimal, and any extras will be put off till the following week. Even today one of them went without lunch because of the fuss over what was being served. I'm hoping that will be avoided to some extent after experiencing the minimal week of food we experience.
I won't be on facebook answering questions, so for those wondering about what I'm cutting out, i've agreed to cutting back on most everything, altho a few things are still necessary due to my work. FB isn't one of them, playing on my iphone isn't one of them, and lunches will have to wait till the following week, altho in my defense, those are usually not play times. Nevertheless, I'll submit to the spirit of the week and forgo the working lunches.
I'll attempt to blog each day thru out this week to give some indication of what's coming up for us as a family and individually.
Go!

Past, present, future

For those wondering, we are looking at the week of Aug 9th. (so if you want to go to Dicks Cafe with me, make sure to book it before this week!) Some thought we may have already started, but in fact we haven't. The anticipation is great. Building to the time we start.
Some friends of my kids are saying things like "that's cruel and inhumane" and "how can Taylor's dad do that to him". i have to admit this makes me chuckle. No guilt as of yet!
I'll put my thoughts up soon as to why in fact it matters to me that my kids don't have a sense of entitlement. How to do my best so as to ensure they have a heart of gratitude instead of a habit of "thank you's".