God Cares About Garage Doors! Really!!!

As you have read, we were in
need of a new garage door.

Our boys aren't evil.
They are human boys...
who make mistakes!

One day Mikey jumped off his dirtbike
while it was still running and
caught his sleeve on the throttle.
Boom, into the garage door.
Small hole.
Lesson learned...we hope!

A few weeks later Jonathan was
behind the wheel for maybe the
second time and got the brake
and the gas confused...BAM!
He really did a
number on the door.
He hit the same spot Mikey did
but he pushed the whole thing in
and mangled the track.

Some of you think this could never
happen to you....just wait!

This, or something equally as
silly, certainly could happen to
you if you have teens in the house.

They have to learn sometime!

So anyway...we knew this was a project that
couldn't wait very long...
Our cat, Oliver is using the hole as a cat
door. Who knows what he might drag in.

Warren has been getting estimates
which made us shudder.
The boys will certainly be
involved in helping to pay for the
door but they don't have the resources
to replace it on their own.

This brings us to last evening.
We were at a graduation party for
Miss Lindsay Rabe...of Creekside
Cottage. It was so fun. We stayed
until 11:00pm. At this time we forced
ourselves to leave and drove a friend
home. This is important because
it took us home a slightly different way.

After dropping our friend off I let Jonathan
drive us home. He is getting better behind the
wheel, really.

As we approached our home I noticed a hand
painted sign on a nearby corner.
There would be an auction
today offering 100 garage doors.

That's what the sign said.

I have NEVER seen an auction of garage
doors in my life.

So, when I got up this morning I took
Mikey to work and came home that way to
check on the timing and see if there was
any other information on the sign.

Not really, just that they were auctioning
100 doors.

We arrived an hour early to see if this was
worth our time. Sure enough, there were four
or five brand new doors, exactly the right size,
to be auctioned off.

So, we got breakfast and returned for the
start of the bidding.

There were not many people at this auction.
I had not seen anything else about it anywhere.
If we had not taken a different route home
last evening we would never have known
about it...at all!

Amazingly enough, we spent less than half
of what we had been quoted and got a much better
door. The auctioneer and owner of the business
were very helpful in showing
us exactly which items we would need to have
everything necessary to install the door.
Warren and the boys will install it
and get to learn together. The boys will know
that they must be more careful...These things
cost time and money.

But they will also learn that our Loving Heavenly
Father cares about the details in our lives...

Even about Garage Doors!

He does!
You can't make me think otherwise!!!

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Spending Time ...Pays Dividends

I was reminded this week how important it is to spend time one on one with our children. On the day that I wrote about in the Oops! post I found Jonathan and I kind of at different places in our relationship. He is seventeen now and needs to think about his future and jobs. However, because of the challenges he faces in several areas dealing with numbers and not handling the crush of time and schedules well, he is very concerned about his ability to be out in the work world and wants another year to just be a kid.

I kind of "get this" however, I believe that he should get a job and that there will be a lot of satisfaction in it and that it will surprise him how much he likes it and that he can do a lot more than he believes he can. There will be a place that suits him well.

I also found out from Jonathan that I have not been treating him with the respect that I should be. I tend to tell rather than ask when things need to be done.

Some of this comes from the knowledge that if I ask him to do certain things, I know that response I will get. So, I just tell him to do it. But, I heard what he was saying. He wants to be treated respectfully and being ordered around doesn't feel very good. I wouldn't treat my friends at Co-op like that. So then why do I do this to my child? Familiarity...bad habits. I was wrong.

By the end of our time together we were having a great time and were very much enjoying each others company. He is so fun. I love to make him laugh!

I tell on myself in this post because I hope that other parents of teens will take the time...invest the time...with your young adults.

Listen...to what they are saying.

Try not to take offense....

Nurture that relationship.

These are our final years with these young people in our homes before they move on to homes and families of their own.
This is where they learn how to be awesome parents to your grandchildren.

Time!

It is a very precious commodity.

Spend it in "one-on-ones" often.

A Tragedy

I received a phone call yesterday that got the day off to a shaky start.

It turns out that a young man had shot his girlfriend and then turned the
gun on himself, taking both of their young lives.

The connection here was that the young lady, Mae Davis had graduated from
her homeschool last year. The media wanted to talk to homeschoolers who may have known her. I was being made aware that a call from the media could be
coming soon. Thanks friend!

While I never got a call from the press, it stirred an interest about the case and the people involved. Such useless tragedies strike the heart of any parent of teens.

This young man had dropped out of the local high school last year and had been in and out of rehab situations. His friends say he was a very nice guy who just had a lot of problems.

There is not a lot in print about Miss Davis but I feel for her family today as they are undergoing the most intense kind of pain imagineable.

It seems that our teenagers are so often caught up so much in the "here and now" that they cannot see past it to even the next five to ten years down the road.

Incidents like this make me want to run out and befriend each and every one of them out there and tell them there is hope! Hope in Jesus! He is LIFE and it is abundant and FREE!

A few weeks ago Pastor Mike preached about giving our lives to Jesus. He talked about the perception that even he had that if he were going to follow Christ he would be giving up so much. He explained in the most delighted of voices that he found out that in giving up his own will to Christ he found true freedom, joy and then truly began to LIVE! It is so true. It is so hard to comprehend until you have experienced it!

Hug a teen near you today and be thankful that God has placed you in their life.

Please pray with me for these families who are in so much pain today.

Birds of a Feather...

You do know that old saying
about birds, feathers
and flocking together?

It is so true!

This can be good...
or bad,
depending on the birds.

I think these cute little
guys are the type that I could
hang out with.

They are close to home.
Most likely spring cleaning
their abode and getting it set
up for their family to come.

Other birds are the kind that
steal from others to take care of
themselves.
Not so crazy about that kind.

In my position as Jr and
Senior High coordinator
at our homeschool co-op,
and being the parent of teens,
I have noticed how true this
statement really is.

If you have teenagers
take a look at their friends
and you'll get a pretty good idea
of what is happening in the
mind and heart of your child.

This is the first real opportunity
for most young people to have
a lot of say in the people
they hang out with.

Up til now their social
schedule has been mostly
engineered by you or school
circumstances.

Who are they flying with?

I hope your young one is
flying with the hardworking,
reponsible birds.
((hugs))

A very good Evening...

Last evening our Countywide Homeschool Organization Presented a Workshop for parents and teens. Our speakers were Steve and Ethan Demme who travel extensively and speak on relationships in the family. It turns out that the Demme's live in the Lancaster Area and were very much looking forward to offering their speaking gifts to the local homeschool community. You can read about the content of their talk at Homeschooling at Hospitality Lane.

They were excellent. I had warned Jonathan and Mikey to be on their best behavior since Warren and I are currently the Presidents of the Board of the sponsoring organization. Our term is nearly over and we want to go out on a good note...not slouching, mad faced boys attitudes, etc.
As soon as I said it I flashed back to my time growing up as the Preacher's Kid. There were just certain things expected that not everyone else had to live by...I did not like that and here I was doing it to our boys. Sigh...

I don't think I would have needed to give that admonition. From the moment Steve Demme took the podium he had the attention of everyone in the room. He was good! I could not resist taking a peek out of the corner of my eye at the boys when certain things were said...they were right there...
getting it!

After the talk we headed to McDonalds where the fun continued. The Grandmas were with us and I think sometimes they just have to shake their heads at the conversations we have and the fun we can have together.
I KNOW they cannot get over how many double cheeseburgers the boys can eat!
It was a blast. Grandma Ruth told a couple of stories from her
younger years that had Mikey wishing he had been there to hang out with
"Young" Grandma! Too funny!

When we got home the kids did not want the fun to end.
We hung out and chatted for a little while and finally were all
headed to bed just before midnight.
Chelsea commented that it was a fun night.
Yeahhhh....this from the same kids who did not
understand why they had to go to a workshop!
Very good!

Being a family is a good thing.
It makes the hard times worth while!

To find the Demmes you can go to their web site at
www.thefamilythatstaystogether.org .

Mikey Can Fly!

I guess you have figured out by now that Mikey is our risk taker, adrenalin seeker and all around fun guy. He is an adventure just to live with!

I am putting more pictures of his skateboarding fun over at the Homeschool blog...