Brakes Fixed, TV Broken, Godly Tomatoes, and Sibling Times

The weekend ended well - another brake job done on one of our cars!  I am always amazed when RM gets another car back on the road.  He said last night that he wishes he had kept track years ago of how many brake jobs he has done.  He only remembers one time ever letting someone else do it for him, that is, paying someone else.  He said he's probably done 100s!  or at least a lot, but either way, think of the money that has saved him and us over the years.  Amazing.

But in our house it is always something else that goes if it isn't a car.  Nearly 2 weeks ago one of my sons tripped on a computer cord that was attached to the TV at the time.  Our TV had been precariously positioned on some crates leaning against our window.  Not the best place for a TV and I wondered at the time why we had left it like that.  A long time ago our dog had broken its base when she went berserk at some biker riding by, so after that we always had to lean it against something.  Anyway, when the computer cord was tripped on it brought the TV crashing down and right away we knew it was a goner as there was a huge crack in the screen.

What can you do?  Go out and buy a new TV?  No.  Not going to happen.  So lately we've been doing a lot more playing, reading, talking and cleaning.  The kids still use the computers and lap tops when necessary, but screen time is definitely down.  So RM is in no rush to replace it. 

Recently, I pulled out a book I hadn't read in ages (I guess I should return it to you one day BFFC!)  It is called Raising Godly Tomatoes.  It is well worth the read.  The author is a homeschooling mom of 10 and she wrote down years ago some of her best ideas of how she trained her children.  Having read it years ago and used her website as a resource when all my kids were small I found it a lifeline, but I hadn't looked at it in a long time so we pulled it out and were actually reading sections of it with the younger four last night.  I was no longer reading it trying to get my children to sleep through the night.  That is hardly the problem.  Now I need creative ways to get them out of bed!  Instead I went to the back of the book to where she wrote about character development.  Her first three character traits were where we decided to start - arrogance, sulking and disrespect.

It's funny, we all knew they were areas each one of the children struggle, but at first they would name someone else that struggled with the negative trait!  Ha!  That is funny!  It really is true that you can pick out the "speck in your brother's eye" when all along there is a "plank in your own eye".  That was a good place to start.  So we'll see.  We reminded them that we had more time to work with the older children and that we can't just forget the second set!  The younger four are definitely a different group all together with different strengths and weaknesses.  I'm glad we still have time with them.  The older four are definitely more and more out of my grasp in some senses.  Three of them are adults now.

We haven't done much in the way of organized sports, but we did put the 9 and 13 year old in a church basketball league this Fall.  It has been very low key and not a huge commitment, but it has certainly brought out some of the negative character traits.  Not being used to playing against older kids, as they group the 13 year olds with 15 year olds, has been a challenge.  The younger ones are definitely not as big or talented as those who have played a couple more years.  No chance for arrogance there, but lots of chances for sulking and pouting.  So this will be a good opportunity to work out some of those kinks.

I can always tell when my oldest son is back at work at Marineland - our gas bills go through the roof as we are driving all the time, dropping off and picking up.  Yikes.   However, I have told everyone to get season's passes to Marineland this summer.  My son will be in the show at the stadium this year and is already being trained for all the things the animals love to do.  Yesterday he got pushed around by a dolphin with its nose on his feet going supersonic speeds around the pool!  We are all still in awe at his weekly schedule - school from Monday to Friday and then Marineland on the weekends.  He is able to fit church in by going to the young adults on Sunday night which is nice.  They actually listen to sermons together which is fantastic and then pray in small groups.  That makes me so happy because I was sad that he was missing out on church.  It's an answer to prayer that the older 3 can all attend that together.  That is such a bonus about a large family I have to say.  You never have to go anywhere alone!  You always have a buddy to take with you!

This weekend my 16 year old will attend a youth retreat.  She would never go alone as she has never met anyone going, but again, because my older daughter is attending in the worship band, she has a buddy, so it makes it much easier to make the decision to go!  I'm also grateful we didn't have big gaps between their ages as they are all so close in age that they enjoy a lot in common.  Also makes it easier to hang out.

Writing is so good.  I can see the hand of God even as I reflect on the past 24 hours.  Although it doesn't always come without a few bumps in the road, literally.  Both my husband and I on separate occasions yesterday fell out of our truck!  I stepped out of the truck at church and when my boot hit the ice on the pavement I went flying, very ungracefully.  I have a very nice bruise on my elbow and a lovely scrape on the inside of my forearm as I must have hit it hard sliding down the side of the truck.  It wasn't pretty and I walked into church quite shaken.  Thankfully nothing was broken.  Later that afternoon on our driveway my husband did the exact same thing!  He also landed on his elbow and felt like he twisted his ankle!  We were a piece of work that's for sure, but again, we were spared from becoming what could have been two incapacitated parents!  So grateful.

There's my reflection for now......