Archives for 2009

Missions Week

August 24, 2009 by Kelli

This week, I’d like to dedicate my writing energies to focus on people and organizations who are faithfully and passionately following God’s calling in their lives.

Whether they are planting churches, helping children in need or simply pouring into the lives of others, these dedicated individuals are all making an eternal impact.

As you read about these faithful folks, will you join me in encouraging them and praying for them? And, if you feel led to participate further, please contact them through the information that I leave you, and let them know of your interest in participating with them, whether it be through prayer, financial support, or physically.

My prayer is that not only will the people I feature be encouraged and lifted up this week, but that you will be also. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20

Scroll Down to read the Missions Week features…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The First Sleepover

August 23, 2009 by Kelli

On Friday night, we hosted our first sleepover. Sloan had two sweet friends over and they spent the evening playing Star Wars, watching Star Wars, eating S’Mores, playing UNO, and altogether wearing Lee out.

In typical sleepover fashion, they hopped up on junk food and got very little sleep. But they also made sweet memories. We are blessed with good, good friends. The two boys Sloan had over are great kids. They’re the kind of kids you want your child spending time with. They bring out the best in Sloan and we altogether enjoyed watching the three of them play together.

Tia and I went to my mom’s house while the boys played. Mom was out on the town, but Tia and I had fun girl time watching Little House on the Prairie and painting our fingernails. I let Tia paint my nails – she also managed to paint a majority of my fingers as well. Though my nails are now an assortment of colors (red, purple and orange were her color scheme) she was so proud, I couldn’t bear to take the polish off. So I sported my sassy nails at church this morning. I think, though, that I’ll clean them up tonight 🙂

Suzanne and Nicole, thanks for lending us your children for the night. They were absolutely fantastic. For your enjoyment, I’m going to list some of my favorite quotes from the boys and a few pics from the super awesome, totally cool first ever sleepover!

Me (upon returning home and finding the boys all nestled shirtless into their sleeping bags in the tent): “How was your evening, guys?”
Bobby: “Mr. Stuart just told us an…unusual story…
Apparently Lee told them a rather animated story that scared them just slightly…Luke ended up practically sleeping on top of Lee.

Sloan: “When I go to heaven, I’m going to see Granny. I have a Granny (his great-grandma) from my Arkansas. She died.”
Luke: “My grandma died one year ago. She made the best muffins.”
Sloan: “Your actual grandma died?” I love his distinction between a great-grandma and an actual grandma…
Luke: “Yeah – she made good muffins.”
(Don’t you love their sweet honesty?)
Bobby: “I have a great-great-great grandma who’s an Indian. An American Indian I think.”

Bobby: “The only thing that would make this sleepover better is if we could stay two nights.”
Luke: “Yeah. I like everything about this sleepover…except the sleeping.”

There were so many other sweet quotes from the evening, but those are the only ones I could remember. Listening to 6 year old boys communicate with one another is a hoot!

Summer '09 153 Summer '09 157 Summer '09 164

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Sloan, summer fun

For the love of money

August 21, 2009 by Kelli

Thanks to everyone who participated in the conversation yesterday regarding vaccinations. It’s an important topic and I’m glad people are talking about it. And thanks for being so respectful of one another and of the differing opinions. It was nice to read the different perspectives without feeling any tension. You guys are great!

On Wednesday, I took the kids to Target to buy Tia a new stroller for her baby dolls. An overzealous neighbor boy broke hers and I promised her a new one if she did a good job getting her ears cleaned out. And since she didn’t scream (thank you Vercet), she got the much coveted stroller.

Sloan had seven dollars in his wallet. Lee and I don’t give the kids an allowance, but on occasion we reward them for work they do around the house, particularly when that work is done from a serving heart.

And, oh my, that seven bucks was burning a hole in his pocket. So, after picking out the perfect baby stroller, we headed to the Star Wars isle. Did you know there is little to nothing you can buy for seven dollars?

Sloan found the toy he really wanted, but it is 25 dollars. So he put it down and looked around and said, “Well, I guess I’ll just buy something I don’t really want because I’m ready to spend my money.”

At that moment, a huge light went off over our heads and a voice blared over the loudspeaker, TEACHABLE MOMENT, TEACHABLE MOMENT!!!!

Okay, not really. But wouldn’t it be nice if that happened?

I did however, get down on Sloan’s level and explain to him the wisdom in saving his money so that he could buy the thing he really wanted.

“But that will take too long,” he protested.

It took a little convincing, but I finally helped him understand that waiting and working to earn the money for something he wanted would be better than wasting his money on something he didn’t really want. What a lesson, huh? I need to remember that myself sometimes.

So, we came home, Sloan’s back pocket still burning with unspent dollars. Last night, Sloan rushed to his room and “cleaned” it up – which means he tossed all the loose toys into the closet and shoved the door closed. Because that’s how we roll in the Stuart house…

“Can I have a dollar?” he asked. Sound the alarm! TEACHABLE MOMENT, TEACHABLE MOMENT!!!

“Son, did you do that because it needed to be done, or because you wanted money?” Lee asked.

“Because I wanted money,” Sloan replied oh so honestly.

Lee then tried to explain to Sloan that there are certain things we do because we’re supposed to. But I could see Sloan get more and more dejected and confused, and I could understand why. You see, once, maybe twice, we have given him money for cleaning his room. It wasn’t because he cleaned his room, but because his heart was so pure and sweet and we were rewarding him for that. But we obviously didn’t do a good job explaining that to him, so I could see why he would feel frustrated with us last night. But then it got worse…

“I LOVE money, though. I just want it so bad!” he cried.

Yikes. We have some training to do. Teaching kids the proper way to think about and handle money is a little daunting. While Lee and I don’t spoil our children by any means, we are blessed to be able to provide them with not only comforts, but special privileges as well. We try to make them aware of the fact that Lee and I work hard for our money and we work to spend it in the proper manner.

I know as they grow older, there will be more opportunity to have a discourse over how and where it is wise to spend money, but we want to start training them now.

We also talked with Sloan about giving a portion of the money he earns back to God as a tithe. Oh, he was not happy to hear that. We had a lot of discussion about it this morning.

What are some things you’ve done to train your children in finanaces and the responsiblity that comes with money? Nicole, could you leave the name of the piggy bank you guys use in the comments? I would like to get one of those.

I think it’s important to not only model to our children the correct way to spend, save and give money, but also to give them the opportunity to practice. So Lee and I are working on some projects that Sloan can do around the house to earn more money. Today, I’m going to have him and Tia wipe down all the baseboards in the house. Which, wow – I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this earlier! I hate cleaning baseboards! Is it bad that I’m excited about the benefits of teaching this life lesson? Ahem.

So, please, help me out. What are some ways we can teach our children to be responsible in earning, saving, spending and giving money? What are practices that have been effective for you?

Filed Under: discipline, Kids, Motherhood, Sloan

On Immunizations

August 20, 2009 by Kelli

So, it’s been awhile since I discussed immunizations on my blog. Some of you will remember reading about my concerns with the current immunization schedule promoted by pediatricians, which I wrote about here, here and here (the second post is particularly lengthy as I was in the middle of my quandry on what to do). Lee and I took quite a journey in our decision on how to vaccinate Landon and how to continue vaccinations for Sloan and Tia. I’m still on that journey a bit, actually.

For the most part, we’ve stayed true to our convictions with Landon and we’ve vaccinated him completely different than the first two. He has not received more than two vaccinations at a time since his disasterous two month check up, except in the case of the MMR vaccination, which is a combo of three that my doctor was unable to split for us. But, when he had to receive the MMR, he received no other vaccinations on the same day.

This was a very comfortable schedule for me. It meant we had to return to the peds office a little more frequently as I wanted at least a month in between shots in order for his little body to be able to process the inoculations properly. But, despite the fact that we delayed and held off on a few shots, Landon is now, at 20 months, completely up to date on all his vaccinations. And I feel like we did it on a schedule that was healthier and safer for his little body.

The only vaccination he has not received, however, and the one he absolutely will not receive, is the chicken pox vaccination. (Well, that and rotovirus, which I just think is the most ridiculous vaccination they’ve come up with yet). I listened to a recording yesterday, which discussed the dangers of the chicken pox vaccination and it further confirmed to me that Landon will not be receiving that shot. And at this point, Tia will not receive the booster for it, in the hopes that she will get a mild case of the illness when she is young.

It makes me sick that Sloan has received all the chicken pox shots, knowing what I do now. I wanted to attach the recording to this post, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. If you’re interested in hearing it, leave me your email and I’ll forward it to you.

My concern with the chicken pox vaccination is the fact that it is not proven to be effective for lifetime immunization. It’s only shown to be effective for about ten years. Which puts children at risk for getting chicken pox or shingles later in life, which is much more dangerous and serious than getting it as a child.

So children will now need boosters for the chicken pox for the rest of their lives. Where is the logic in that? Getting chicken pox naturally, however, is proven to give a lifetime immunity to the illness. And, given the fact that the mortailty rate of chicken pox is extremely low, the vaccine seems unjustified.

This recording gave an explanation for why the chicken pox vaccination came into effect that I found interesting. I’m not sure if there is complete validity in this explanation, but I think it’s worth knowing and researching more (which I will be doing). The doctor speaking gives the explanation that the chicken pox vaccination was originally developed for leukemia patients as it was extremely dangerous for them to get chicken pox due to their comprimised immune system.

But pharmaceutical companies would not make money if only cancer patients were innoculated, so they began innoculating all children. Now, do I think that doctors are vaccinating all children simply because of a money issue? No, I don’t. I don’t believe that those in charge of implemeting these immunizations are soley out for the dollars. I do think, however, that there are factors that played into the decision to make the chicken pox vaccination mandatory that had more to do than protecting children from a childhood illness that is not known to be fatal. I also think that making an immunization like the chicken pox mandatory is a bit hasty given what little they knew/know about it’s long term effects.

It makes me angry that enrolling my child in school will now be more difficult simply because I am making the choice to do what I think is best for him. Vaccinating for the chicken pox is, in my opinion, unwarranted and unnecessary. I do not feel like it should be a mandatory shot. Parents deserve the right to decide whether or not to vaccinate their children for something as minor as the chicken pox. Putting us in the position where we feel threatened is unfair.

So what are your thoughts on vaccination and on the chicken pox shot specifically? I know this is a heated topic and people feel strongly about both sides. I hope there can be some discourse in the comments and that we can be open to differing opinions. So give me your thoughts! I really want to know what others think…

Filed Under: Family, Immunizations, Kids, Motherhood Tagged With: chicken pox vaccination, dangers of childhood vaccinations, immunization schedule

I laughed till I cried…

August 19, 2009 by Kelli

This morning we took Tia in for the procedure to clean out her ears. I was a little apprehensive before going in. It seemed like such a silly thing to do, putting our child out just to clean her ears. And because none of my children have ever been under anesthesia, I was just a little fearful about how she might react.

I needn’t worry. In fact, the morning was down right enjoyable…at least for Lee and I. Not only was it enjoyable, it was hysterical. Hys-ter-i-cal.

Because we know of Tia’s penchant for freaking out at the last minute, we decided to let them give her a sedative to ease her nerves before taking her back for anesthesia. Now, I’m not one for medicating my children. In fact, I generally try to not give them any medications unless they absolutely need it. So don’t think I’m a terrible parent for what I’m about to tell you.

Every parent should have the opportunity, just once, to see their child under the influence of a sedative. Because it’s about the funniest thing you’ll ever see in your life.

And no, I’m not advocating drugging children for fun. ‘Kay? So no one get bent out of shape. I’m just sayin’. It’s pretty daggum funny.

All that to say, seeing my daughter drugged was one of the sweetest, most hilarious things I’ve ever witnessed in my life. She wasn’t just punchy, she was just plain out of it. Giggling, waving her head around, making funny faces and so on…I laughed until tears streamed down my cheeks. It was awesome.

I didn’t have the video camera with me, unfortunately, but I did take some video with my camera and as soon as I figure out how to download it, I will share. Because, seriously – it was hysterical. At one point she waved her hand in front of her face and found that to be the oddest, funniest thing she’s ever seen. She kept waving it back and forth in front of her eyes, giggling the whole time. When we asked her her name she said, “Bootiful Tia,” then broke out in a peal of silly laughter. When we asked her her brother’s names she answered, “Bootie,” then dropped her head back and let out a high pitched, totally un-Tia-like giggle. Awesome. Just awesome.

On top of having a thoroughly entertaining morning, the doctor was able to fully clean out Tia’s ears and informed us that she did indeed have severely impacted wax and that she was likely experiencing a 25 decibel hearing loss because of it. So we were very glad that we had the procedure done, even if it did seem extreme.

So now we’re home and the drugs have worn off and Tia is back to her old self, tormenting her brother playing with her brother and having a good old time. She doesn’t remember anything about the procedure and has no pain. She’s a little groggy, but a good nap this afternoon will take care of that.

And I now have one more memory of her childhood that I’ll take with me to my grave.

Filed Under: funny stuff that happens, Kids do the darndest things, Motherhood, Tia Tagged With: ent, waxy ears

Blink

August 18, 2009 by Kelli

I’m not sure how it happened, but it seems that I blinked my eyes and this baby grew up…

Sloan Alexander Stuart

Blink...He's 1

Blink...He's 2

Blink...He's 3

Blink...He's 4

Blink...He's 5

: Blink…He’s 6 and he’s in Kindergarten!

I never thought I’d get emotional sending Sloan off to school. In fact, I haven’t been at all emotional about it…until yesterday when I sat in the cafeteria of his school and it all hit me. Even though he’s only going a half day (which I’m so thankful for), it’s still a big step in life. I’m now the mom of an elementary school student. I am getting information on the PTO. How the flip did I get here?

Sloan had a blast at school. When asked what his favorite part of the day was, he replied, “Everything.” He thought riding the school bus was “rockin’ awesome,” and “super loved” gym.

So there it is. I blinked and my baby grew up. And I spent the entire morning blinking hard against the tears that kept pricking my eyes. Especially after the big yellow bus drove away with my boy inside it’s belly.

Summer '09 143

Blink…blink,blink,blink,blink,sniffle,blink,blink…

Filed Under: Family, Kids, Life, Motherhood, Sloan Tagged With: starting school

The Campout

August 17, 2009 by Kelli

On Friday, Lee bought a tent. For some time now, we’ve talked about wanting to campout with the kids. I have great memories growing up of camping with my family and I wanted to create similar memories for my children.

So, with a little help from some very excited kiddos, Lee pitched a tent in our backyard. We figured that was the best place to try a first campout in case we needed to bail in the night. But we did not need to worry! The kids did fantastic. They had a ball. We ate S’mores, put a movie on the garage, let them play until well into the darkness with the neighbor girl, then hosed them off and tucked them into their sleeping bags.

They fell asleep around 10:30 and slept all night! I was very proud of them. Lee, of course, slept in the tent with them. I did not…

Not because I didn’t want to, ahem, but I wasn’t comfortable with Landon asleep in the house by himself and we don’t own a monitor anymore so I worried he might wake up. I can’t say I was overly diappointed, though, when Lee stumbled in the house Saturday morning with a sore back and circles under his eyes.

It went so well that this Friday, weather permitting, we’ll do it again. Only this time we have scheduled Sloan’s very first sleepover so he and two friends will sleep in the tent. Because we’re gluttons for punishment, I guess. Lee will sleep with them, of course – only this time, I think he’s using an air mattress!

Enjoy…

Daddy pitching the tent.

So excited...

It's up!

Much fun was had by all

S'Mores

Tia thoroughly enjoyed hers. Who's surprised?

Time for bed

Landon and Mommy slept well in the house...

Pancake breakfast in the tent

It was a fun way to “end” our summer vacation. Today is school orientation and tomorrow is the first day. Stay tuned for a weepy mom post sometime tomorrow. I know…you can hardly wait.

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Life, summer fun Tagged With: camping with children

I need your help

August 14, 2009 by Kelli

Lee and I have decided to take up running again. Well, a more accurate way to say that would be – Lee has already taken up running (he ran 4.6 miles the other night!) and I am gearing myself up mentally to do the same. I may never get around to it, but at least I can say I tried, right?

Anyway, we have a bit of a dilemma. The music on our MP3 player? No good. I mean, we’ve got some great albums downloaded, but they’re not conducive to running. In fact, we never really realized how much slow music we listen to until we started trying to exercise to it.

The worst is when you’re running along (or walking briskly, in my case) and Alvin and the Chipmunks comes on singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It makes you want to run in front of oncoming traffic…

All that to say, I would love some suggestions on some fun, upbeat music to download for running. The sky’s the limit on artists, genre – whatever. I just want it to be fast and fun.

So get to commenting and tell me what you listen to while exercising. I’ve convinced myself that if I actually have good music to listen to, I’ll be able to finally start running again.

Uh-huh…

Filed Under: Random Tagged With: downloading music

He-ey Wait a Minute Mr. Postman!

August 13, 2009 by Kelli

Several times a week for the last month or so, when Sloan is home, he’s run out the door as the mailman came by to collect the mail. I haven’t paid much attention to this – I’ve just assumed he likes having this little responsibility and I’ve been grateful to him for it.

Yesterday afternoon, however, I got a further glimpse into this amazing little boy I get to call my son. Sloan and I were enjoying a rare moment of quiet together on the front porch when the mailman drove up. Sloan leapt to his feet and said, “Oh, Herman!”

As he raced down the driveway, I wondered what on earth he meant by “Herman.” Then I heard him call out, “Hey Mr. Herman!” as the mail truck came to a stop.

Our kind old mailman leaned out the window and replied, “Well hey there Mr. Sloan!” He handed Sloan our bundle of mail, then he and Sloan proceeded to talk for several minutes. I just sat on the porch and marveled at my son’s ability to engage this man in conversation. I’m a grown woman and I’m not even that good at talking to strangers. And here is my 6-year-old, sharing life with the mailman.

It was so sweet and tender to watch Sloan talk with Herman and to see the delight in Herman’s eyes. And I felt convicted as I realized that my kindegartner is better at showing the love of Jesus than his stodgy old mom.

After about 5 minutes, Sloan waved good-bye to Herman saying, “Have a great day delivering mail, Mr. Herman!”

“Okay, Mr. Sloan,” Herman replied. “I’ll see you again soon.”

As he walked up and handed me the mail, Sloan said, “That’s Herman. He lives in Afton, Missouri. I like him.”

I’m proud to be Sloan’s mom. Some days are really, really difficult. He is a passionate child, which can lend itself to passionate responses, both negatively and positively.

But Sloan is a lover of people. He genuinely loves to be with others and he has an uncanny ability to make others feel loved. He’s so much like his daddy in that regard.

Needless to say, I was very proud of him yesterday. It’s amazing what we can learn from our children when we take the time to observe the positive qualities they possess. Because days can be difficult with Sloan, I sometimes forget to stop and recognize all the goodness and sweetness that God has instilled in him. He’s a neat kid and I’m so excited to see how God is going to use Sloan’s passion to impact the world.

I also resolved that I need to walk down to the mailbox with Sloan and meet Herman myself. Because I am not ashamed to follow the example of my child.

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Motherhood, Sloan

Not really Wordless Wednesday: The Last Few Days of Summer

August 12, 2009 by Kelli

I’m late getting this up but my computer was having issues this morning. I think it had something to do with the 400 pictures I uploaded. I’m pretty sure I heard the computer cuss me out as she crashed – twice… Ah well, enjoy the photos. I’m sorry about the alignment – not only has the computer given me trouble, but my blog is having issues as well. It appears all technology is out to make me crazy today.

Oh - he is yummy!

We've visited Gran't Farm...

where we saw bison...

and watched Tia feed the camels. After she fed them 3-4 times without me giving her monye for food, I noticed that she was stanindg under the food bin, blinking up at people with her big blue eyes and they were giving her quarters! Little mooch.