This past week was a blur. Not that there was a ton going on, but still trying to get into my groove with my school schedule. I have yet to have any down time, but hoping this week to steal a couple of hours for some reading, nap, bath, long leisurely walk.... who knows. The fall weather has crept in and I am really liking it.
Do you see the missing front teeth?
The younger two have expressed an interest in tennis, so of course I have been going with them.
Notice the shoes.....that kid!
A boy and his dog...Bree loves to hang around the courts just outside the fence.
I have tried to get the boys to practice against the wall.
With a little bit of practice they both have potential. We shall see.
We have a friend who has a dog that looks just like our dog Little Bit from our growing up years. I just had to include a picture. This dog was not nearly as nice as our dog was though.
With my part time job at home, I have lots of down time to listen to broadcasts. I have been listening to a lot of them concerning raising boys. My heart's greatest desire is for my boys to 'catch' my faith and become men of integrity. I am very concerned for them (and all kids) with the culture we live in. The innocence of kids is lost so young with the instant images on phones, tablets, in the grocery store check out line. I figure it is best to have many small conversations than bigger, few and far between conversations. I love it when God gives me a perfect story/analogy/word picture for my boys. It happened this morning.
We have talked about dating and I have told them on numerous occasions that they have the rest of their lives to deal with girls, so just enjoy the growing up years. Don't obsess over girls (although they probably will). Today I was getting ready for church and I had a long shirt on (longer on the sides than the front) but it covered all the important areas. So, I called the boys in and asked them if they thought it was appropriate for me to wear what I had on to church. They all screamed 'no, unless you put on pants'. I told them girls at the middle school wear long shirts without pants on. They did not know what to say. So I told them, the rule is, if it is not appropriate for mom to wear it, then it is probably not appropriate for your girl friends to wear it. I told Benjamin that if his girl friend wore a mini skirt, then I would come to his school in a mini skirt. We kind of laughed about it.
Well, after church a friend of ours, Curt, came up to me. He told me he had asked Benjamin if he had seen any cute girls at school. Benjamin told Curt he had seen a few but that he would never have a girlfriend because his mom had a new rule. Benjamin proceeded to tell Curt that he could not date a girl that would wear anything too inappropriate for his mom to wear and because of that, he thought him would never have a girl friend. Curt jokingly told him he could not date until he was 30 anyways. We both laughed but I thought about it....Benjamin actually listened to me and it stuck.
Benjamin later retold the story to me. I hit the point home again. I told him that there will be lots of girls for him to look at and encouraged him to chose more of the modestly dressed girls. I said 'do you really want to date the girls that all the boys are lusting over' and then I told him that he needs to treat the girls with respect because he will probably date someone who will one day be someone else's wife, just like the girl he marries may very well date someone else before Benjamin and how Benjamin would appreciate his future wife being respected.
It was just one of those 'great talks' with my son where some incredible things were communicated in a way that made sense to him! Thank God. Now, I just need to look for other opportunities to repeat it subtly about 100 more times!
Still getting into a routine. Hopefully this week I will find a little margin time. Football starts this week for the younger two, so our evenings will be hectic. Just need to plan the school hours better.
