Surprisingly Good!

As part of our vacation week we took the kids to see a movie in the theater today. We're quite picky about what we are willing to actually go see on the big screen with them, so of course we did our research first.

Have you checked out Plugged In? It's put out by Focus on the Family and reviews movies with family friendliness in mind. I have a link to their website on my sidebar. Be sure to click over and see what they've got!

Anyway, Josh and I knew we wanted to do this with the kids, but we had no clue if any of the movies out were any good. After reading the reviews at Plugged In, we chose to see Megamind.



What a great movie! We were so pleasantly surprised to find that it was not a movie in the vein of Shrek, but rather a fun, topsy turvy take on the old villain versus hero story. I don't want to give away the plot, but I can tell you that our kids loved it, Josh and I loved it and it's one we'll definitely rent later on or perhaps even buy.

So, here's a shameless plug ... go see Megamind. It's much better than you'd expect and you'll enjoy the laugh.

Son-filled diet

As we drove towards Chicago on Monday morning, my kids were thrilled with the thought of watching the sun rise. Of course, around here we have plenty of buildings, trees and traffic to compete with our sight of the horizion. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful sight to watch the sky slowly lighten and to see the clouds go from red and orange to pink and purple.

Because it was so very early, we had given the kids bags of dry cereal to eat in the car. So, as we kept our eyes trained on the sky, the kids happily munched their breakfast.

Now, my oldest son is slightly competitive. I believe he thought it would be cool to be the very first one in the car to actually say, "Hey! There's the sun!" He decided that he'd better quit eating to maximize his chances of being first. He said, "I'm going on a diet unitl I see the sun."

We laughed and thought that was a pretty silly thing. I mean, really, do you even need to look to grab a handful of cheerios out of a bag? But as I sat and gazed at the horizon, his words took on a new meaning for me.

Shouldn't we all be on a "diet" until we see the Son? A diet that consists of time in God's Word, prayer, the fruit of the Spirit. A diet that leaves out habitual sin, gossip, slander, anger, a love of the world. How much better off we would be if we considered embarking on a spiritual diet! I think today is a good day to begin praying for some self control to begin a new diet in earnest. Not a food diet, but a diet that will prepare me to see the Son.

A Day in the City

Yesterday, we spent the first day of our vacation week in Chicago. Gabe has always begged to ride on a train and so we decided to take the train into the city and enjoy some time at the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum.

We were in the car by 5:45 am - yes, I said AM!! - and had the joy of watching the sun rise over the horizon.

The kids were thrilled ot spend time on the train and actually did very well for the hour and a half ride. Much better than expected.



Once in the city, we walked about 2 1/2 miles to the aquarium. In hindsight, if you have a long trek and small legs along for the walk, opt to walk on the way back instead of on the way there. By the time we arrived at the aquarium we had some rather cranky children!

We tried to make the walk more interesting by stopping at Macy's (Marshall Fields). We saw all of their Christmas decorations, looked at their famous window displays and drooled over the toy section. We also stopped at Millenium Park where we had our picture taken at Cloud Gate and watched an artist work on a painting.



We finally made it to the aquarium (and did I mention that we had gorgeous weather? Almost 70 degrees in November!) and received our free admission. The hi-lights were watching the fish get fed by someone actually swimming in the tank - with sharks and giant turtles and eels! - and a very busy octopus.

Now this octopus was remarkable! Apparently, he very rarely puts on a show. But we got lucky. He came right up against the glass and spread out all of his legs. We were able to see his mouth and watch as he swam around.



After the aquarium, we went on to the Field Museum and again gained free admission. We looked at a fair amount of the museum and enjoyed seeing the diversity of God's creation.

Once we finished it was finally time to start home. Because we all had exhausted legs, we opted to ride the bus to the train station. We had our snacks and sat in a comotose manner for the ride back to the van. Around 8pm we decided that we really needed to get some dinner, so we stopped at the first place we could find - which happened to be a Super WalMart. We gathered bread, meat bites, cheese and cough medicine and headed towards the lines. Suddenly a teenaged girl raced past us at full speed. We thought perhaps she was playing a joke on some friends, hoping to sneak up on them. But then two WalMart employees came running after her and caught her just by the door. She had met up with two friends there and all three were taken into a separate room. Our guess is that she was trying to shoplift. It was an adventurous end to our day in the city!

Worth a Look

I only rarely post links to videos on my blog. But this one is most definitely worth a look.

It's a series of videos about Dick Proenneke. He set out in his 50s to live a life of solitude in the Alaskan wilderness. The first disk set of videos (a 6 part series on youtube) is a documentary that follows Dick as he builds his very own cabin - of course by first making his tools! This man lived in the wilderness for over 30 years. It is child-friendly viewing and despite the slower pace of the videos, my kids were glued to the screen.

Take a look and enjoy some of God's incredible creation!

A Response to "Motherhood Madness" by Erica Jong

I read an article recently that has me quite upset. It's written by Erica Jong and was published in the Wall Street Journal. The article talks about how motherhood today has become overly burdensome due to expectations put forth by society.

I take issue with several points in this article. What I find most disheartening is that it never once mentions the joy of motherhood. To Jong, motherhood is simply a drudgery, a chore, an obligation. I pity her child! Children brought up under that view of parenting will have major psychological issues later in life.

But to be more specific, here are some of my objections to Ms. Jong's thoughts.

"You wear your baby, sleep with her and attune yourself totally to her needs... homemade baby food, cloth diapers, a cocoon of clockless, unscheduled time... Anything less is bad for baby. Parents be damned."

Such is her view of what society demands from parents. I know of parents who make their own baby food, only use cloth diapers (that they themselves wash), wear their babies everywhere and so on. But those who do so are doing it by choice, not because society has demanded it. I am raising four children. I don't make my own baby food, I don't use cloth diapers, I do wear my babies out of convenience ... such preferences have not made society view me as a failure in mothering. In fact, no one has ever belittled my decision to use plastic diapers! Plastic vs. cloth diapers, canned vs. homemade baby food, which device used to carry a baby ... such decisions are not the crux of parenting. These are preferences, not crucial parenting matters.

Jong writes of how parents experience guilt for not being perfect because of the demands society puts forth. I think perhaps Ms. Jong has done too much reading. If you take everything that everyone writes about parenting and try to implement it, you will feel a keen inability to measure up. However, parents doing the best they can to enjoy their children and give them what they need (which includes boundaries and consequences) rarely feel guilt. Parents should always be striving to improve, but should also take what they hear from others with a grain of salt. Not all advice is for all families. Not all families are the same. Not all families can have a stay-at-home mom. Not all children need the same type of education. Not all mothers feel hen-pecked by the "demands" of society.

Jong continues, "We also assume that "mother" and "father" are exclusive terms, though in other cultures, these terms are applied to a variety of aunts, uncles and other adults. Kinship is not exclusively biological, after all, and you need a brood to raise a brood."

I'm not sure about you, but I prefer that I am the only "mom" to my children. I'm thrilled that they have other adults in their lives who love them and who are well loved in return, but I would be offended if any of those adults tried to fill my role as Mother. Yes, children are enriched by having multiple relationships, but nothing can replace the role of parents in a child's life. A child will not fare better by having someone substitute as mom or dad at times. (Please hear me correctly, I do not advocate keeping children with parents who abuse or neglect, but in a healthy family, no one is better to fill the parent roll than the parents themselves.)

Dr. James Dobson writes in his book "Bringing up Girls" about two researchers named Dr. John Bowlby and Dr. Mary Ainsworth. These two were "the first to recognize that infants are highly vulnerable and easily wounded by anxiety, fear and confusion." One thing I have observed in my children is that their anxiety levels dramatically increase when they are passed from one adult to another without the comforting touch of Mom or Dad. Those with children know the incredible excitement of children upon seeing Mom and Dad after being absent from them. It's a small demonstration of children exclaiming through their actions, "These are my favorite people! No one can take their place."

Dobson continues, "It has been demonstrated further that the failure of mothers and babies to attach is linked directly to physical and mental illness of all types. The reason is apparent. If a child is regularly overwhelmed by negative feelings and stressful circumstances, her inability to cope in infancy becomes a life-long pattern. The link between maternal attachment and poor health is not merely theoretical. It is a reality."

Contrast this with Jong's declaration that such attachment with children is a "prison for mothers". She calls this a "'noble savage' view of parenting, with its ideals of attachment and naturalness."

Frankly, I find Ms. Jong's jaded view of parenthood selfish and disturbing. Whatever happened to delighting in your children? To investing in another life because it is an immense privilege with tremendous rewards, not because you HAVE to? I fear that if her view of parenting catches on we'll be left with a generation of children who feel unwanted and unloved. Children who are handed off to every other available adult just to avoid inconveniencing the parents who decided to have a child in the first place. Children who are taught from infancy that nothing matters more than keeping Number One happy and carefree. Children who grow up to view everything as more important than training the next generation.

Oh, what will our schools and homes look like then? I pray we never see that day.