Driveway Delight--Part 2

So, here is the continuation of my last post....this time it's all from my own head. : )

The other night we were driving home from church, listening to one of our favorite radio programs called Down Gilead Lane.  We live a half hour from our church, so we get to listen to a whole program each time.  I guess that's the one good thing about our long drive.

Anyway, in this episode, the Morrison family was all in the car on their way to Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a long drive, complete with bad weather slowing things down, crabby kids, crabby parents, and an annoying little brother who happily, continually told corny knock knock jokes and kicked the seat in front of him.  Everyone was highly annoyed with the little brother, and one sibling eventually ended up saying things that weren't very nice to him, even blaming the horrible time in the car on him. 

However, it was finally made clear that during the whole drive, only this little boy had had a thankful spirit.  While everyone else whined and complained, he alone had stayed cheerful and thankful for everyone's company.  The episode ended with the family realizing that this little brother had been right.  Instead of complaining, they should all have been thanking God for the time they had together as a family, even squished together in a car on a long, tiring ride.  The mother on the show shed a few tears as she thought of years to come when the family would all be grown and gone from each other.  And I admit, that silly little radio show episode was so thought provoking, and so absolutely dead on...that I shed some tears too. 

I love that article by Carol Barnier that I shared with you last time.  I love it because it is such a reminder to me that we do not have a lot of time. I have been becoming more and more painfully aware lately that my boys are growing older.  Twelve and ten years old are ages frightfully close to the teen years.  I don't mean I am afraid of the teen years.  I am actually excited to discover what kind of young men my boys will be as they grow and mature out of the matchbox cars and sword fighting years!  I love the relationship I have with my boys, and I am sure I will continue to enjoy that relationship through the next phase of our lives. 

But two things I know for sure about the teen years...they will be very different from the little boy years, and they will fly by very, very quickly.  Much too soon, my boys (and Cassandra, and even too quickly, my littler ones) will be leaving our nest.

I want to make these years I have with my children count!  I am so often reminded that we only have ONE chance at this.  ONE go around.  ONE time to be a parent to our children while they are young.  I do not want to waste the time...to end up looking back and saying, "I wish....." 

God has given us this time to teach them and train them and love them and laugh with them.  Heaven forbid we waste it away on selfish pursuits that were not so very important after all.

So let's spend the time to have those talks, play those games, read God's Word and teach those lessons.  And let's have some driveway delight with our children.....while we still can.

Driveway Delight

I wish I wrote this, but I did not.  Still, ENJOY!

I was driving down the same winding road from my house that I always take. Clearly, the school bus was due to come along at any minute because at practically every third driveway there was a parent and child, standing, waiting, watching, perhaps talking. But not much else.    I continued around another blind curve. There I’d see another child-parent pair looking like statues.   Another curve. Another pair.

Then. . .I went round one more curve and was suddenly greeted by a mom and her son, dancing wildly on the driveway. They held onto each others’ hands, and dipped hard to the side. It looked like a jitterbug fest had broken out. They were oblivious to us. They only had eyes for each other. And there was some serious joy going on at that house.

I smiled for a good half mile. I kept thinking back to them. Swirling and giggling. Dipping and laughing. I loved that mother for what she had given that child. What a send-off before heading out to school. What a great positive mindset to give this child before he got on the bus. What a home to want to come back to. What a love language. Her simple moment of Driveway Delight said...I just like being with you.

Determine that you will do something with your child PURELY for the delight factor. It only has to take a few seconds. Nothing has to be learned. Nothing has to be made. It has to be something that delights your child. All it has to say is I just like being with you. And if you don’t get it done by the time bedtime rolls around, then make bedtime special. Blow bubbles on his belly. Tell a bedtime story with her stuffed animals. Do a goodnight dance, holding your child tight while you sing a good night song. Let them know that even when there’s nothing to do, you like sharing that little bit of nothing with them, because you just like being with them. --Carol Barnier

Don't you just love this??!! 

I really have more to add to this, but it will have to wait until I have more time.  It is after 1, and I think I remember making a New Year's Resolution to go to bed earlier this year....  Ahem...  : )

Let the diets begin!

It's 1-1-11!!  How are you doing on your New Year's resolutions so far?  I am sorry to admit that I ate too much chocolate today, but I did eat a very yummy salad for dinner tonight...romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, strawberries, chopped walnuts, and a splash of olive oil and lemon juice.  Mmmmmm.  Good for me!

Yes, I would like to lose 5 pounds.  It is one of my resolutions.  Actually, the weight really isn't.  I truly, truly do want to eat so much healthier.  I am bound and determined this year!  You see, when I was sitting in the hospital for 3 weeks, people were bringing us desserts every day.  AND, the nutrition people were bringing Sarah food that she would not eat, including the best chocolate cake and pies.  So, you do the math.  That's a lot of desserts.  And, a whole lot of just sitting in a hospital room putting on pounds. Bad, bad me.

I got some inspiration from our old friend, Ben Franklin, from his Poor Richard's Almanac.  Did you know they were most likely making healthy eating New Year's resolutions almost 300 years ago?  Here's a sample of what he had to say...

"Eat few suppers, and you'll need few medicines."

"Many dishes, many diseases."

"I saw few die of hunger;  of eating--100,000."  (I thought that one was pretty interesting...)

"A full belly makes a dull brain."

"Eat to live, and not live to eat."

"A fat kitchen, a lean will."

"He that never eats too much, will never be lazy."

"9 men in 10 are suicides."

Hmmmm...I think old Ben was advising us not to eat so much.  What do you think?