The Saturday 7
1. Did you hear that the author of The Anxious Generation wrote a book on the same topic for kids called The Amazing Generation? I pre-ordered it weeks ago, and read it all in one sitting when it arrived earlier this week. I thought it was really well done! The information is presented in a variety of formats in order to keep kids' attention, and it was engaging without being overly preachy. I think it's too young for Lucy, and wouldn't hold Levi's attention, but it'd be about right for Lena. It convicted me anew about my own screen time . . . and then on Sunday our pastor gave a sermon about how American Christians are distracted and desensitized - largely in thanks to our phones. So in an effort to get off my phone, I've been binge watching White Collar. It's too fast paced for me to scroll while watching it, and sometimes I even force myself not to pick up my phone during the 1 minute and 30 seconds of commercials! Not sure that's quite what Pastor Chris has in mind . . .
2. I also read another book with a fun title this week: It's Time to Talk to Your Kids About P*rn. Yikes. It was a hard read, mostly just because it made me feel like a failure as a parent. The author, Greta Eskridge, is one of those super intentional parents who was ahead of her time with screen time limits and media controls. She didn't ever let her kids use devices unsupervised, they didn't own a TV, and the kids didn't get phones until they were in their late teens. She's also one of those people who has always talked to her kids about everything even if it's uncomfortable, so they've always been open with her anytime they had questions about s3x or p*rn. (I'm censoring it so I don't get pageviews from people I don't want to.) I, on the other hand, used TV and devices as a babysitter for many years. Fortunately, I stopped short of getting Lucy a phone because my eyes had started to be opened to some of its damages, but my kids all have Kindles that they use all the time. And I really only monitor Levi. I give the girls way too much freedom. How are you supposed to walk that back, though? I also am not good at graciously handling awkward conversations, so we do not have the open and honest communication Ms. Eskridge bragged about so much. Blech. As I wrote in my Goodreads review, I think this book is great for parents of young kids. Please, learn from my mistakes and be more like Greta. But for those of us who are a decade deep into parenting, it was a little discouraging and depressing. I mean, I'm not really sure what I expected with a book by that title. I donated it to the church library, but do you think I can put it out for display? Haha. I might need to get pre-approval.
3. In more depressing news, our house continues to conspire against us . . . After our furnace dying and our slider shattering, I drove home from book club on Thursday night in an absolute downpour to find the ceiling leaking in the laundry room, and water coming up between the floorboards in Levi's room. 🤦
It was not isolated to that one spot. His entire bedroom floor looked like that. We have a basement waterproofing company coming out on Wednesday to give us an estimate. Think that might cost a pretty penny? It's particularly disheartening because we don't even want to stay here. Lol. We're so ready to move out of town, but we can't give up our tiny mortgage payment and 3.5% interest rate! So we just keep sinking money into this lemon to keep it livable, and try not to think about the next thing that will go wrong.
4. Honestly, we're doing ok despite it all. We've been doing The Bible Recap with the kids since the beginning of January, and it's been a timely reminder. In case you're unfamiliar, The Bible Recap has you read a few chapters of scripture a day, then Tara Leigh Cobble gives a little "recap" of the reading, followed by her "God Shot" of the day. The God Shot is where she saw the character of God show up in the reading. It's been 10 days, and she's already used God's sovereignty as her God Shot a few times. When Lucy called her on it, I warned her that it won't be the last time. I've done this recap before and TLC brings up sovereignty a lot. You've probably also heard me gush that God's sovereignty is one my favorite characteristics of his. I find it incredibly comforting knowing that things outside of my control are part of his plan. So even though all these bad things keep happening to our house and mortgage rates deter us from leaving, that must mean God wants us here. And all the recent expenses mean he wants us to rely on him and not on any security a full bank account offers. So I try my best not to let myself get worked up about it. When he's ready for us to move he'll make a way! And until then, I'll work on remaining content. Remind me of that when our roof inevitably collapses next week . . .
5. Speaking of expenses . . . I got a call from my doctor's office this week that they can't refill my Zoloft prescription because I haven't had a physical in over a year. So I got online to schedule myself a physical. Of course we have new insurance and the online scheduling portal kept telling me my contract ID number was invalid. However, it wouldn't let me book the appointment without choosing, "no insurance," so that's what I did - assuming I'll figure out the insurance issue later. A few minutes later, I got this helpful email:
Comments
Post a Comment