I am going to count to three and then...

Awwww NUTS!  I just wrote the entire post and somehow deleted it.  Are you kidding me?  What was I saying?  What did I write about?  Good Grief...

Apparently God didn't think that was what I should talk about today so we'll try that again.  First of all, Happy Friday!  This has been kind of a long week at our house with Mr. "Cubs" Brady feeling a bit under the weather.  The first few days of the week, he was just pathetic, and now he is feeling better, but has gotten his way all week and thinks that should continue.  Ugh...
I spent most of the day yesterday ever so gently reminding him that he can't always have his way...and we had a lot of tears...a few spankings and even some room time.  We have been fairly easy on this child for the past few years.  I cannot tell you how many times we have said..."Just let him have it!" to his brothers.  Brady figured out real fast that he could pretty much have his way if he used the tears and loud voice that he has.  That kid...

The other day, Brett said told me that Brady is a spoiled brat.  And as much as I love my Husker/Cubs Baseball player...he might be right.  Brady needs to be disciplined.  He needs to be trained the way that Tanner and Brett have been.  Now don't let me fool you...Brett and Tanner have also been part monster in their lives as well...but they grew out of it.  And the only people that were to blame for any of it were Coach and I...and maybe the Grandmas.  We decided long ago that we would teach the boys to be good kids through spanking and grounding.  I don't love spanking them at all.  In fact, I had to stop spanking Brett a few years ago because I kept breaking blood vessels in my hand as he would squirm away from me.  Or I'd hit a shoe as he'd kick his foot up to protect his backside.  And Tanner has even grown out of them as well.  My point to this is that they had to learn just like Brady is learning.  And as painful as it is for us as parents to watch, we have a responsibility.  Just as God does in our lives.  We don't skip the consequences in life just because we love God.  Being a Christian doesn't make you free from making mistakes and learning from the experiences...it just makes us think differently as we go through those times. 

Proverbs 22:6


Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Coach has always always always disciplined the boys better than I have.  But after he is done, he goes back in and explains why he was upset and tells them that he loves them no matter what.  The relationship he has with our kids is so incredible. 

The other day, I had to get onto Brady (and this was of course pre illness) for something silly.  I had to spank him and send him to his room to "think".  As he went to his room, he was shouting that I wasn't a good Momma and that he wanted a new one.  Well...alright then.  Good Luck finding someone who will let you wear a batting helmet into Target and who will wash your Cubs jersey every night after you go to bed. 

After we had our moment, I went and let him out of his room and he went out back to play...and to be away from me I would assume.  I looked out to see where he was and couldn't find him.  So I opened the door and all I  could hear was this...swish swish swish swish swish.  I could not figure out what he was doing so I went further out onto the deck just in time to see him rounding second base.  Baseball, I should have known.  The sound was the pair of cleats he has taken to that are three or four sizes too big swishing through the grass of the backyard...excuse me...the 'infield' at Wrigley.  Apparently the discipline from me didn't take long to recover from because he was back in the game.  And I know that someday, he'll look back and be glad he got that talking to between games.  He'll be a better man because of it, right?  Again...the Bible tells me so!

Have A Blessed Friday!

Amy