RAISING REAL MEN MONDAY

I just bought this book, “Raising Real Men” by Hal and Melanie Young. Boy oh boy, is this book ever a gooder. Seriously. I think all mothers of boys should read this book. I am trying to read this book and really soak it in. I have decided to read one chapter a week, and blog about. This week I read the introduction and Part 1. The book is divided up into two parts, Part One is called “Virtues In the Rough” and Part Two is called “Civilization for the Tough”.

This book speaks to me on so many levels. I seriously could quote this entire book. It is THAT good. Part One felt like it was describing A to a “t”. This book is helping me understand who my boy’s are, who God made them to be. I am going to quote the author’s once, because they describe the book perfectly.

“What this book offers is a biblical perspective- note “a”, not “the” – on understanding how boys think, and why that is, and what can and should be done about it….We’ve found that many of the troubles and concerns we had were clarified when we looked to what God intended them to be. The situation looked different when we truly valued manly virtues and masculinity and when we understood that we had to rebuke sin but should not change our boys into something they were not.”

Our culture, myself included, wants our boy to behave like girls. We want them to play like girls, sit still like girls, be quiet like girls. We want them to be girls, basically. This is such an insult, not only to our boys, but to God. God created both man and woman in his image and what we are telling him and his creation is that they are wrong, they we should all be made to be like woman. They need to do things our way. How messed up is that? I even find myself doing this with my husband – wanting him to do things my way.

I need to throw another quote in here. “Women are praised to the extent they act like men, and men are praised for how womanly they become.” Ouch. That one stings me.

I am not saying that boys are to run wild and be disobedient. I am learning that boys need to be boys, and we need to stop pushing them to be girls.

The book explains how boys are born with the virtues of men, but they are just untaught. We need to teach them, and allow them to be boys. The virtues that we love in a man are the very virtues that drive us the most crazy in our boys.

One more quote. “:What are the manly virtues?...competitiveness, aggression, a desire for adventure…heroism, courage, endurance, fortitude…protectors, persistent, honorable, intrepid...Those virtues are present in seed form in our boys. Will we cultivate them and help bring them to fruition? Or will we trade the opportunity for a little more peace and quiet, and hope their future will take care of itself?”

Mothers of boys, you NEED this book. Seriously. Hal and Melanie Young have six sons, and two daughters, so they have had a lot of experience raising boys. I have never underlines to many things in my life. I cannot recommend this book enough.

For more information on this book and where to purhase, visit the Young's website.

A sleepy post

I just wanted to let anyone know who is reading that I haven't given up on the 21 Days of Prayer for your son. I just found out today that I won a free copy of the e-book that you are supposed to be following for the 21 days. Yay. So exciting. I am going to start again, even though I was only on day two.

I found this book a while ago, Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys.

I ordered a copy and I am just waiting for it. I am so excited. It is by a couple who have 6 sons and 2 daughters. I read the first two chapters on google books free preview and I LOVED them. When I get the book and start reading it, I will definitely be posting about it.

Gabe and I are pretty much sitting at 99% sure that we will be home schooling our boys. The only thing that is holding me back is how social my little A is. He makes friends everywhere he goes, and every.single.day he asks me "where are we going? can we go visit someone?" He asks me to stop at every house while driving so we can go in for a visit. He LOVES people. I am coming to realize that he could still have a full social life and be home schooled, just not with kids his own age. That might be okay. He is a sponge and soaks up everything, negative or positive. We don't allow the use of the word "stupid" in our house, but we hear it everywhere we go. It's not that stupid will always be a word we don't use, it is just for now, I am not a huge fan of my 4 year old using the word. He points out every time he hears someone else use the word, and for the next couple of days, will try throwing it in anywhere he can in conversation, just to see what I will do. He loves getting a reaction. He always has. Now it isn't just because we don't allow the word "stupid" that we are thinking of home schooling.

A is busy, very busy. He is very intelligent and is easily bored. He is so enthusiastic, the most enthusiastic person I know. I don't want this part of him squashed. He would be 1 of 5 boys in a class of 26. I have worked in classrooms of mostly female students. The boys are treated like freaks. For real. I have seen it so many times. I love my child more then the teacher does, so why would they be more equipped to teach him? How are they more concerned for his welfare then I am? I could list more and more reasons. It just feels like everything is pointing us in this direction. We are praying A LOT about this, because we do feel it is a huge decision. I would much rather be out on an acreage or in a bigger center where more people home schooled, because I am sure we will get a lot of criticism in our small town where all the other children are in school. If you read this, please pray for guidance for us. Wisdom to do what is best for our boys, and for me, confidence to stand for my decision.

I have heard my sister quote Mary Oliver, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" I hear this in my head often, but slightly different. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with you child's wild and precious life?"

Jeepers. What would you do?

What a great day!

I never blogged yesterday because I was out on a hot date with my hot hubby. My mom watched the boys and Gabe and I went out for lunch, then out for a long coffee (this is our favorite thing to do on a date) and did some browsing and walking and then went and bought groceries. It was really nice. We came home to boys with full tummies who had already been bathed and were ready for bed. We spent about a half hour with them and then they were asleep.

Today was a beautiful day outside. As soon as we finished breakfast, all of us headed out. Gabe wanted to do an oil change on our van and on his old car, so while he pulled out his ramps and got everything set up, the boys and I played.

Poor Mr A with his scratched up face. (He had rubber boots full of water and misjudged how high to lift his foot when stepping on a sidewalk - this injury is over a week old!)






I went inside to make lunch and decided that we should have a picnic outside. So nice! No floors to get messy outside. Haha! I bought a rotisserie chicken yesterday, so I sliced that up, sliced up some pickles, cheese, cucumbers, celery, carrots and some fresh french bread. It was tasty and perfect for today.

After lunch, I took Mr. E in for a nap while A stayed outside with his dad. When E woke up, we went back outside until suppertime. This was our first all "outside"day this year. I am so happy that is it is spring and we can finally do this!

As for the 21 days of prayer for your son, I only rememebered to pray for my boys to submit to authorities a couple of time two days ago, so decided top redo again today, and once again, only remembered a couple of times. SOOOO...up for a redo again tomorrow. This may be more like 1000 days of prayer for your son. Prayer never hurt anyone, though.

I have to go. My hubby wants some caramel popcorn!

Momma said there'd be days like these..and 21 Days of Prayer for Sons Day 2 (Submission to Authority)

What a day!

Seriously, today was a pretty crazy day in our house. It started off pretty nice. We woke up, had a quick breakfast and headed out to story time at our local library, just like we do every Monday morning. Story time was nice and there are a lot of puddles between our house and the library!

Anyways, we got home, and I decided to tackle the laundry that seemed to build up so quickly while I was sick. I was putting away the first load and I heard a bang, breaking glass, and E scream all at once. My stomach dropped. I went running and there was E, sitting amidst a broken toaster plate and a broken glass. And there was blood. I picked up E, praying out loud that everything was okay. My panic-y voice was making A panic. I washed off E's hand (that was where the blood was coming from, and I could see quite a big gash on his finger. I talked calmly to A, reassuring him that it was okay and to help mommy get the band aids. He got his Disney Car's band aids, and started digging through for which one he wanted. I got angry with him, because he was leafing through them so carefully and I needed one NOW! E was bleeding so badly that every time I would bring the bandage close to his finger, the whole thing would be covered in blood and wouldn't stick. Two facecloth's and three band aids later, I finally got one on the big cut. I looked at his hand and found 5 more cuts. Ughh. 5 more band aids. E didn't like them on, so he would bite them off. Ughh. I used packing tape to keep the band aid on the worst cut.
I thought he might need stitches. I called Gabe, who was an hour away. I called my mom who came over. We took of the band aid, it was still bleeding but not so bad anymore. We both decided it looked okay. Thank you, God!

Now, I was praying often for my boy's obedience. Wouldn't you know it, A was so disobedient today. He was driving me up the wall! Laying here now, thinking about it, his disobedience was a way God was reminding me to pray.

Now little E, today he has become the busy body of the family. Those of you who know A, know that he is a very busy boy. E was like a mini A today. He was pushing chairs up to everything and wreaking havoc wherever he went. Countless times in the toilet, with or without the plunger, dumping cereal all over the floor, eating the markers, throwing stuff on the ground.

I felt pretty crazy today with my busy-bodied little one and my missing-ears big one. But momma said there'd be days like these....

Day 2 (Submission to Authority)

Another quote from Brooke McGlothlin:

All of their lives, our sons will find themselves needing to submit to someone. From parents, to teachers, to bosses, to government officials, and even to God Himself, they will always have someone in a position of authority over them.

Thought: When was the last time you told your son you were proud of a choice he made to submit to authority. Even when they’re little, our boys need to know that mama sees and rejoices over their wise choices and cries out to God over their foolish ones. Today, make a point to lavish love and praise on your son when he chooses wisely..even in the small things.
“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” ~Acts 5:2

I am not sure how much I will be popping in here during the next three days because my hubby is on days off. Woo-hoo. And we're going on a date! Yay! Good night.

one of those days

E took off his diaper by himself, crawled over to A, where he then proceeded to poop and pee on the floor. It happened right beside our linen closet, so I pulled out an old hand towel and threw it on the pee, stepping on the towel so it would soak up all the liquid. I went to go get some toilet paper so I could pick up and flush the little log. I came back to find A, who was so happy to be helping, with the towel on top of the log. He was also stepping on the towel. What a mess! :)

21 Days of Prayer for Your Son (Obedience)

So I just came across a blog that had this really neat idea. They actually started April 1, so I am almost completely missing it, but I thought I would do this for my boys starting tomorrow. The idea is based on a blogger's e-book, Warrior Prayers.

The idea is to pray for your son(s) everyday, at least 10 times a day, in the areas of life that they need it most. You are actually supposed to buy her book to follow along, but we are on a tight budget, and I have already bought a new book this week that I am super excited to read (that will be a whole other post) Anyway, I am going to just read her posts, what the specific area of my boys life I am praying for, and just pray, without having a book tell me what to pray. Make sense?

So tomorrow, I will start praying for an obedient heart in both of my boys. Sometimes, A is so wonderfully obedient, and other days he loves to push every button I have. Boy, does he know how to push my buttons.

I will end this post with a long quote from the author's blog.

Obeying God is intimately linked to loving Him. If we focus too much on forcing our boys to change their outward behavior, and forget to hold out the great depth of love that sent a Savior to the Cross, we’re running the risk of raising little Pharisees.

Thought: As we pray for our sons to have obedient hearts today, let’s examine our own, and ask our Savior to help us live out His great love for us so that our sons will see how truly valuable it is.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” ~John 14:21

Sweet singing face

I am feeling much better, but I am afraid E is now not feeling too hot. He was having a nice nap this afternoon, so after A played outside for a while, he came in and we decided to make homemade buns and hamburgers. He loves to help cook and is such a good helper. While we were waiting for the buns to rise, he decided he wanted to sing for me. Such a sweet, sweet boy.

So here goes...

I have seen so very many cool blogs these days. I kind of silently creep on most of them, rarely leaving a comment. Do I have something to share with the world? Maybe. Maybe not. But maybe.

Where to even begin, well let's see. I am a mom to two of the most sweet-faced boys I know. A and E. Is it okay that I want to keep their names private? I don't have to ask anybody if it's okay. They are my kids, I get to do what I want!

I am also very blessed to be married to the man of my dreams. Seriously, he may have a few quirks, but I could not ask for a better man. I am not saying that to be nice. Gabe is the kindest person I have ever known, and he picked me! Hurray for me!



I am deepening my relationship with Jesus everyday, and I thought this could be a place where I share my joys and my struggles.

The title, "A New Creation"- that is me, that is all of us in Christ Jesus. I am no longer who I used to be, for I was crucified with Jesus on the cross and I was resurrected with him. How cool is that? I love the words to this song:

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me.

- How Many Kings by Downhere

Pretty powerful stuff, hey?


Well, that is all for now. I cannot guarantee this will be the most interesting blog, in fact, I can guarantee that this will not be the most interesting blog. Just a way for me to write down my thoughts for myself and for whoever might stumble upon them.