A few more funnies before the pictures

Abigail and I are in Texas right now! We are thoroughly enjoying a week with Grandma and Papa and glimpses of Michael. We do miss Daddy though!

Some comments worth sharing:

- I was trying a hat on Abigail at the mall, curious to see what size fit her. The hat was probably pink or white with pink flowers, something very girly. Abigail wore it obligingly, but only for a couple seconds before trying to tear it off her head. I hadn't even gotten down to her level to see if it fit her head yet! I kept pushing it back on, asking her to leave it on. The second I would get it back on her head, she would try to pull it off, figuring that was long enough. Repeat a few times. Finally, "Abigail. Please don't touch it for a minute." Her eyes are very sad and she says in a whine, "I not a farmer." For some reason she thinks any hat with an all around brim is a farmer's hat. I guess we won't be getting one of those anytime soon. By the way, the size was children's 5-7 and it barely fit! I guess she had to have a big head to hold all that hair....

Okay, I wrote that a few days ago... wait, almost a week ago. Anyway, we're in Alabama now. A few more funny Texas stories:

Grandma, Abigail and I got to go to the Dallas Zoo this trip! Our pass at the Birmingham Zoo gets us into the Dallas one for free! Yea! When we first got in, we made a stop at the bathroom and then sat down on a bench to look at the map and get a game plan. Grandma reminded me about sunscreen and I called Abigail over from where she was looking at the Macaws, "Abigail, come here, we're going to put your sunscreen on." "Okay!" She said and started over. Right when she got to me, she quickly reached down and yanked her shorts all the way down! I would love to know what Grandma's and my face looked like at that point. Here is what I felt: Initially, great shock. Very soon after, I was in tears because I was laughing so hard. I had to get it together to pull Abigail's shorts back up and explain to her that we weren't going swimming, so she just needed sunscreen on her lower legs and arms and face. I don't even know that anyone noticed. We looked around, half hoping to share the moment with some stranger, brightening their day, but no one returned the look.

As you might know, Abigail loves bugs. Once while in Bedford, I was awoken to the sound of Abigail's voice oh!ing excitedly about a moth. I know it was a moth because she said so. "Oh! A moth! Ahhh! Oh! Me get it! A moth Grandma! Ahhhh! (mild shriek) No kitty! Me get it! IGotIt IGotIt," sigh of contentment. I gathered in my sleepy state that the cat tried to get the moth too, but Abigail won out. I smiled and tried to reenter that pleasent dream I was having. But Abigail was on the move. While we were in Bedford, I slept in the living room and Abigail slept in the pack-in-play in my parents room. On this particular morning, Grandma and Abigail had woken up and come out of the room. I'm told Abigail was doing a very good job of being quiet so I could keep sleeping- up to this point. After catching the moth, she walked into the living room and said something like, "See Kitty? Look." The next part I remember very clearly, "No! NO KITTY! Not eat it! No! Nonono. NO KITTY! (pause) Kitty! (pause) Kitty! No! Libby! AHHHH!" Brief silence (In my head I can hear Libby the cat eating the moth). Her voice switches to ultimate despair voice- the one with the drawn out vowels and wide range of pitch. "Aaaah! My mooooth!" I don't remember what all she said after that but I do remember Grandma saying in a loving, teaching voice, but with laughter hiding behind it, "Well, that's what happens when you give the kitty a moth! She'll eat it!" Oh, what a good education Abigail is getting! The rest of the trip she was very concerned about the animals eating things. If you are wondering about me, I gave up on sleeping and got up, excited to spend the day with those two.

Taking the World by Storm

At the Hanson house we have had a pretty rough week. Abigail is once again in a highly focused stage of figuring out what she can get away with; where her control ends and ours begins. I know that it will pass, that it will come again, and that it is good for her development, but that fact doesn't make it easier in the process.

This time around she is connecting me with the discipline more directly too. I can see in her eyes that she doesn't like that I'm not letting her get her way and it has come out a couple times as her saying, without the least bit of defiance (though we have that in plenty other times), "I don't like Mommy." Trying to not let my heart break, I start to talk with her about her feelings. Both times she has immediately said, "I love mommy." I'm not sure what is going on with that, if she changed her mind or what. I try to explain to her why we discipline her for disobedience- that it will help her grow up to be a woman who can obey her Lord (on His terms); that she is fun to be around when she is obedient and joyful. Life is so much easier and funner with children who are obedient and respect their parents. It is sooo worth it to go through these very hard times to have a majority of wonderful times!

Always after a period of me being loving but firm (thank you Lord, for stepping in and helping me to be loving, even when I feel empty), and Abigail being mad and upset, we will come to a point where she will obey and, besides that, be very happy and joyful about it. There are times too where I don't catch what is going on, even though it is there in front of me, happening with me, and she continues on in a wretched manner, not happy at all. For some strange reason I can't see what I need to be doing in that situation and I'm not happy either. I have read a book in which the author quipped, "Why don't you make them happy and spank them?" (This is backed up by a lot of qualifications for when and how you should spank) It is amazing what a loving, properly handled spanking or other discipline can do for a child to make them happy!

Once during the week immediately after a small trial Abigail said to me, "You know what?" "What," I said. "Jesus loves you," she replied. "He loves you too, Abigail."

Every time I think about discipline and disobedience I always end up in the same spot- thinking about me and my relationship with Christ. It is amazing, the innumerable comparisons between a parent-child relationship and the God-child relationship.

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
Hebrews 12:11