Since they were in town I met up with them and took Nehemiah to a mining museum in Colorado Springs.  Osias and Arissa headed home because little man needed a nap. The museum was great but the tour was definitely not 3 year old friendly. First off it was an hour and a half and second the guy talked about each item for about 10 minutes each. I have never seen someone so passionate about mining tools. Nehemiah and I ditched the tour after about 12 minutes. We walked through the museum and then headed out  see all the outside stuff. As always I had my camera and had the opportunity to snap some really cool pictures. Here is one of my favorites.

At the same time, I often don’t know what I’m doing.  I am running on empty, exhausted and can’t quite accomplish much of anything.  That really frustrates me.  When someone is crying or screaming and throwing a tantrum at the same time a little something snaps in me and all this anxiety flows in.  I really have to ask the parent of all parents to give me peace and show me what to do.  I feel like I am not getting far in this parenting journey and that I’m not making a difference.  I read the tip below today and felt so encouraged.  As parents we do teach our children and we must be patient.  I hear my dad’s voice in my head every single day!  I want the voice my children hear to be kind, gentle and full of wisdom.  Only the Father can do that in and through me.  I hope this tip helps some of you parents out there!

Parenting Tip from the National Center for Biblical Parenting

Building a Tape

Many times we, as parents, don’t see the results of our discipline as fast as we’d like. The process is slow, at best, and change seems to be taking a long time. In those situations we need to focus on building a tape in our child’s heart.

Think about some of the things your parents said over and over again that continue to play in your mind. “Turn off the lights before you leave the room.” “Eat your vegetables.” “Be nice to your sister,” “Say excuse me.” Did you heed their instructions then? Maybe not, but the tape still plays in your head.

It may not appear that your children are listening but loving and consistent reminders have a long-term effect. It’s important what you say and how you say it, though, because children will remember. If your words have a pattern of being harsh and critical, that tape also will continue to play later on.

Simple observations repeated over and over can go a long way. If you have one son who is continually picking on another, he may have a character weakness in the area of kindness. Make statements and observations that add to the tape. “Johnny, you need to be kind.” “Johnny, it looks like you’re being selfish and not thinking of Billy’s feelings.” “Johnny, was that the loving thing to do?” “Johnny, let’s not be hurtful.”

As we repeat instructions and make observations, we’re impacting the hearts and minds of our children, whether we see the results in their behavior or not. Change takes time. It’s important to pray that God will use our words to make lasting changes in our kids. We may not actually see the results as fast as we would like, but we are building a tape that will last a long time. Take a moment and think about the tape you’re creating in your child’s heart. Is it the one you want remembered?

Consider what you’d like your child to say to himself or herself and begin to repeat those words throughout the day. In doing so you’ll be creating a heart script to help your child mature.

Me: (Not looking up) “Oh that’s where (unnamed little person) peed on the couch today.”

Adam: (Jumps up) “Yuck!” (And more that wouldn’t be appropriate here :0)

Me: “Don’t worry I cleaned it.”

A few months ago I was at work ( I work in a call center selling cable) talking to a customer and she had some kids screaming in the background. A common thing on the phone. I asked her about how old they were and we started talking parent talk. She described her life as “crazy good” which I found to describe my life to a T.

I always thought life with kids would be the same. It seems no one informed us of the all consuming attention they need, especially with two rambunctious little boys who are 21 months apart. I remember thinking when we first had Nehemiah that we would go camping a few months after he was born. That never happened. Now don’t get me wrong people do it every day. I once saw a video of a pro rock climber who lived in his cargo van with wife and kid that was inspiring. They would put the kid in a plastic tote and climb rocks all day. I now know that video did not include a poop explosion, fits, and bedtime bought’s that go 21 rounds. Lets just say life does not look the same as the quite house of a recently married couple who’s biggest argument was should we buy pop tarts (me) or spinich (Arissa). These days we can’t even hear each other when we are arguing.

That is the crazy part but there is so much good too. We get to raise two boys who bring so much joy to us. We laugh every day. We play and eat together and get to live in a great town, in a great house, with a great church. I have a job that lets me pay the bills and a photography business that will hopefully take off soon. We are learning to merge the crazy and good and striving to find balance in it all.

It seems like every day the thing we lack the most is time. Our time with God and each other seems to be minimal. I long for more of it but know that doesn’t exist. We just need to learn to better manage the time we have. This name change to “crazy good” I feel gives me the freedom to write what is on my heart and mind. So don’t judge just know we are trying to balance it all and I find writing as an outlet for sanity. Pray for us too if you think of us we need it these days.

Adam

Click to view slideshow.

Challenges

 #1 Finding the shower Curtain

#2 try to fix the sink

#3 call a plumber

#4 get the smell out of the bathroom wall.

Those are my main objectives right now. I will blog more about whats going on but just wanted to update everyone. Also special thanks to my mom, brother and Arissa,s dad for all your help we couldn’t have done any of this without you. Also thanks to the moving crew who helped,  The Marbles, Stace & Jason, The Bradley’s and our new neighbor Ted. The list goes on and on. Wes & Kay, The Setters. You guys are all amazing. I feel like I am writing  my thanks for the inside of a CD so I will stop now.

Peace out,

Adam

Yesterday Osias gently rolled off the couch, did not cry however, it was still scary so I was consoling him.  When Nehemiah came over and said, “Oh Jesus help him.”  This of course melted my heart.  I had to keep going back to this moment throughout the day when Nehemiah did some not so gentle things to his little brother.

Osias is offically walking at eleven and a half months, it’s shocking to bump in to him as I walk down the hall.

Nehemiah is beginning to notice when I am a little behind on my regular things.  The other day he said, “Did you brush your hair?”  The answer was no I had not.  :)  This morning he said, “Can you wash the dishes? ”  I was surprised he noticed, but my reply was yes!

I’ve heard it said it takes an army to raise children.  We have been abundantly blessed with friends and family coming around us to help us raise the boys and just be with them while we try to pack, clean, paint and move in.  We are so thankful!

Off to breakfast, I made strata yesterday and it was delicious so we are eating it again!  Here’s the recipe if you’re interested:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/brunch-strata/detail.aspx  If you make it leave me a comment and let me know.

Hello All. It has been way too long since I have blogged. I had dinner with a friend from Albania last night and he said how much he enjoys our blog and it made me want to keep everyone up to date. The problem these days is finding time to get anything done. Our two boys are all consuming during their waking hours, It is nearly impossible to get anything done with them around. When I watch them I rarely accomplish anything, and even then it’s hard to keep Osias from putting stuff in his mouth. Or keep Nehemiah from hitting him with his toy golf club. I am at work now on my break just so I can blog. So here are a few things going on right now. The pictures explain a lot.

1 We are buying a house in Castle Rock, CO. We close this month and are very excited but at the same time nervous about owning a home.

2. I applied for a job working for my company from home and I am really praying we get it so I dont have to drive so much.

3. We are starting a photo business. It is called A. Jacob Photography. That has kept me busy lately getting everything set up. Soon I will launch my website and start scheduling some shoots.

Those are the main things on top of everything else. Worship, Parenting, Husbanding. Life is good but crazy I miss you all. Drop me a text or comment if you would like to see more blogs. It is encouraging to know people actually read it.