A Woman’s Worth ….

It’s been quite a week. My wife has been gone since Monday. She and Quincy left for New York to be with her mother, who was having surgery and she won’t return for another week. So this has left me and Deion at home to fend for ourselves. We’ve had to cook for ourselves, clean for ourselves, wash and fold our own laundry and shop for ourselves. So how are we doing?

• We’ve eaten lasagna for three straight days.
• We’ve overslept once.
• We were late for a church-related meeting.
• We accidentally threw away the menu mom left for us.
• Deion has gone to bed late twice.
• I’ve fallen behind in my work by a day.
• I’ve checked the mail one time in three days.
• I’ve missed an appointment with Verizon.

Now, I will say that while we’re not exactly as tight a ship without mom, we’re cruising on the party boat.

• We’ve played hours of Sequence.
• We’ve played foosball.
• We’ve played basketball in the gym.
• We’ve played games with Huck, our dog.

And that said, we have still maintained some normal structure:

• Breakfast and Bible devotional at 7 am
• Dinner at 6 pm
• Chores and homework done by dinner
• Chores done on their proper day

And I must say that while I miss all the things my wife does (i.e. cook, pay bills, shop, keep things in order) it has been pleasant to see how well Deion has filled her shoes. He’s been on top of his game all week and when he has not, he has been open and honest about his short comings and that in and of itself has made this time without mom bearable.

And if you’re reading this, my love, please hurry home. We need you!

Chris

Toast Anyone?

Deion’s chore list has been quite extensive since he’s been on restriction. He’s cleaned nearly every square foot for the house. We figured that since he didn’t want to use his brain he could use his hands and develop the old work ethic. So I asked him to clean the toaster. What I got wasn’t what I expected.

Not only did he clean the toaster, you know, wipe the exterior, shake out the crumbs and clean the crumb catchers, but my wife found him in the kitchen baptizing the toaster in a sink full of water! Goes to show that even though you think your kids understand how to do something, it’s always best to leave detailed instructions and a diagram.

The Bee Movie
On Sunday, Jordan went to see the ‘Bee Movie’ after church with the Preteen group. When I picked him up and asked him how it was, again, I got something I didn’t expect.
Here’s what I expected: It was good. It was about this bee and he did this and did that and this happened that caused the bee to do that and in the end the bee lived happily ever after.
What I got was this: Dad, I was really touched by the bee movie (he’s 10 and he’s touched!). It reminded me of God. The bee was like God and the flowers are like us and the pollen is the word of God…

My boys never cease to amaze me…Deion with his absent-mindedness and Jordan with his maturity.

Chris

Quincy Laughs!

It’s been a long time coming, but Quincy is finally stating to laugh at things. It’s really fun to try to do things that inspire a chuckle from him. He has such a radiant smile, too. I missed his first giggle two weeks ago. It happened when Lisa went to change him in our bedroom. I was on the main floor doing whatever it was I was doing at the time and she yells down that he laughed. I was struggling to say the least. Of anyone in the house, I’m the one who is always goofing off with him trying to get him to laugh and he laughs at mom, who is not even half as funny as me. I’m Jim Carrey to her Bob Sagat. Yet, he found mom funny enough to laugh at her. Oh well.

Deion loses his XBox 360…for good
Deion made some poor decisions a few weeks ago and refused to take responsibility for them. And though we pleaded with him to understand his role in the decision-making process of the situation and to own up to his mistakes, he couldn’t do it. We spend days on end showing him examples from the Bible and in our lives of people who failed to take responsibility for their actions and those that did and the contrast in the fruit of their lives. None of that worked. So finally, I decided to pursue something drastic. Take away his Xbox. When I announced that I was going to have him sell his 360, he bawled. I knew it wasn’t because he was broken over his actions, but more because he was losing something that he loved. But I made it clear that if was the only way for him to stop and think about his actions and work together with us to put some humility into his character, then I was fine with it and I wasn’t going to change my mind. He has since apologized and he has begun to accept responsibility for his poor decision-making, but we still have a long way to go. I hated to have to go so far and it actually hurt to do it, but if my son can learn something from it, then I don’t regret it. In my life, I’ve felt the sting of loss and it has been a good teacher. I’d rather err on the side of being strict or being labeled extreme than to have to bail him out of jail someday, which he knows I’ll never do.
Chris