Homegroup @ the Firestation

I am part of a home group that meets every Friday to go on field trips. We have been to the farm and to the play ground and other places. This morning, we went to a local fire station. Coqui was so excited. There is not much to tell, but I have a few pictures.

Our group with most of the kids, some real young ones are not in here, and Peanut did not want to stay either.

Unfortunately, Coqui did not look in any of these pictures, so I chose the one where Peanut looks straight at me. She was not very happy at the fire station, my little 'scary cat'!

Put your gear on! 

Demonstration of the transformation from a regular guy to a full armed fire fighter. It was suppose to teach the kids not to be afraid if there ever will be a guy knocking on your door looking like this: 

They said, that putting that suit on, adds between 60 to 80 pounds! Wow.

Finally, Coqui in action!

They also got to climb into the back of the truck. All these kids were pretty excited.

How the past can catch up in a good way

"Anyone who is the least bit interesting has a past."

I read this in a blog post by an awesome woman who is going through chemo right now, after a hysterectomy. She is fighting the fight in such a graceful way.... I wish I could have done so. She described how she used to be and that she has changed. Well, most of us have. We are not who we used to be. Some of us have just simply become better, others have turned their life around. I am more of the latter. 

I have troubles seeing myself as an interesting person - at least my past has shown that I am not the most popular girl. My early childhood was overshadowed by rejections and disappointments from peers at school that taught me to be suspicious of people, fearful of their actions, and unable to form healthy relationships with friends and family. It scarred me for life.
So I became timid and really bad at socializing. The funny thing is, I had to leave the country in order to learn that I can be accepted by others, and even have friends. Wow. So when I had to stand up for myself in a foreign country, I learned to have self-confidence, and it gave me the knowledge that I am worse something. I was 18 at the time, and France was the place where I had the time of my life. And it was so hard to return to my native country, to go back to school there, and to move back live with my parents. But I did. And it went pretty well. Because I had learned to speak up for myself. I knew I didn't have to be a 'clone' of my parents. Finally, I had learned to be my own Self.

Fast forward seven years of finishing school, starting a career, having an awesome woman as a mentor that taught me so much, working in the working world, and then moving once again to another country, this time across the ocean - it made me a whole new person. I entered the US as a more independent person than I ever was in the 25 years before.
It took me another eleven years of growing and maturing to make me the person I am today. I accepted Christ into my life and that was a huge turn-around! Christians around me taught me to be a loving, kind, and selfless person; to be forgiving, nurturing, and generous; to have patience and self-control; to have joy and peace, and to accept blessings into my life (and see that those are blessings); and to be a good giver.

Toady, I can finally say that I like myself.

And now I can appreciate the saying that "anyone who is the least bit interesting has a past". Because I have a sone - I could write you a novel! There is good and bad in it. The bad had to be endured to accept the blessings now, and to appreciate the person I have become. I am still not where I want to be, but I know I am on my way. There is still so much to learn and to accomplish. I give God all the glory for molding me into this new creation that I am today. God is my sustainer - He made me stubborn for a reason, so I am gripping onto every straw that will pull me out of any 'dark hole' and that will teach me to thrive for a better tomorrow.

Potty training gone wrong?

After the first child, one always has the great intentions to start potty-training MUCH earlier with the next one. That is a great plan. But it might not work....

... and here is why! I started to potty-train Peanut at or around six months. She did a few numbers on the potty and I thought that this might be alot easier than thought. I also thought, doing cloth diapers might help her to feel when she is wet. But it seemed not to bother her to be wet or dirty! Well, almost two years later, no success whatsoever! Which is so frustrating because I had all the good intentions. I guess that is not all you need for a successful potty-training experience.

My daughter is VERY stubborn. No, I am serious! If you don't know her personally, you have no idea of how stubborn she is. So it is to no surprise that she thinks she needs to have an opinion about things that are happening around her. Unfortunately, that includes potty-training. She keeps saying that she doesn't WANT to go to the potty.

And it is NOT because she can't - because she CAN! Oh, yes, she can. One day, I pull her out of the bath tub, dry her and send her to her room, thinking that Daddy will get her immediately to put the diaper on her. Well, I guess he was not as fast as I had hoped, because a minute later, my daughter stands next to me (back in the bathroom) and says she went pee. So you can just imagine my thought process: oh, no, she peed on the carpet! How do I get that out? With little hope, I asked her if she needed to go pottty and she said yes. Okay, been there, done that. On the potty she goes - and usually after about a minute she declares to be done, even though there is nothing in the toilet. Well, this time, sure enough, the moment she hit that seat, a waterfall of pee came out of her.... seriously! We clapped and put that diaper on. Then I checked her room, and there was ONE tiny drop of pee on the carpet, NOT a big deal at all!

So now you tell me, HOW much bladder control she has!!! SHE IS TOTALLY IN CONTROL here and I so don't know what to do about it. I have even tried to bribe her, but there is nothing really that would or could work with her. She doesn't care enough about anything to be bribed!

I thought and thought about it, what can I use to bribe her? What is important enough to her?
Oh, yes, her independence. So I took that away. I told her if she wanted to be a BIG girl, she needs to go potty. If she is not willing to do that, well then Mami is back in charge of dressing her! This actually seems to work - at least for now. So once a day, she is going pee - just so that she can dress herself! (hahaha)

Wish me luck with this....

So I want to add a funny story that involves her brother. I think it was last Friday, that she sat on the toilet for about fifteen minutes. No achievement. Coqui came in announcing that he needed to use the bathroom. He sat and after a minute, Peanut started to clap, saying "good job Coqui". So Coqui gives her that serious look and says: "Don't clap, I have been doing this for years!"

He is too funny!

Change is good - Wendel is gut - Changement est bon - etc.

I have done a few changes on my blog to make it, hopefully, easier to read for my broad public that is spread all over the world.

First, I have added a field where you can sign up for email subscription. So every time I post something, you should be notified by email.

Second, I have added a widget for translation. So that my non-English-speaking readers don't have to use a third-party website to read the blog. When you click on your native language, the post will be translated for you. Modern technology is amazing!

And last but not least, I want to thank each one of you that keeps coming back and even comments. I appreciate you!

******************
Ich habe ein paar Veränderungen in meinem Blog vorgenommen, damit es hoffentlich einfacher wird für meine Leser, die auf der ganzen Welt verbreitet sind.

Erstens habe ich ein Feld eingefuegt, wo Sie sich anmelden können für E-Mail-Abonnement. So jedes Mal wenn ich nach etwas veroeffentliche, sollten Sie per E-Mail benachrichtigt werden.

Zweitens habe ich ein Widget für Übersetzung hinzugefügt. So dass meine nicht-englischsprachigen Leser nicht zu einer Website eines Drittanbieters gehen muessen, um den Blog zu lesen. Wenn Sie Ihre Muttersprache anklicken, wird der Artikel für Sie übersetzt werden. Moderne Technik macht es moeglich!

Und zuletzt möchte ich jedem von euch danken, die immer wiederkommen und sogar Kommentare hinterlassen. Ich schätze euch!

******************
J'ai fait quelques changements sur mon blog pour en faire le lire plus facilement - pour mon large public qui se propage partout dans le monde.

D'abord, j'ai ajouté un champ où vous pouvez vous inscrire pour abonnement par courriel. Donc chaque fois que je poste quelque chose, vous devriez être notifié par email.

Deuxièmement, j'ai ajouté un widget pour la traduction. Alors que ma non-lecteurs anglophones n'ont pas à utiliser un site tiers pour lire le blog. Lorsque vous cliquez sur votre langue maternelle, le poste sera traduit pour vous. La technologie moderne est incroyable!

Et finalement, je veux remercier chacun d'entre vous qui revient, et même laisssez des commentaires. Je vous apprécie!

Do I tell them the truth?

Last year, we started a new tradition.... and I almost forgot about it this year.
Have you ever heard of the Elf on the Shelf? Well, he/she arrived last year in our house and was named.....

... but I couldn't remember! I had to go back to my post from last year (here) to find out that it got the name 'Olli'. I still like it. I got the calendars ready, but I forgot to pull Olli out last night, so I did this morning, and Coqui still hasn't found it yet. I am waiting for his excited cry out. (If not, I have to point it out to him.)

But with this and so many other traditions, there comes a little bit of a battle, on many levels, emotionally, spiritually, and culturally.

Most kids grow up knowing who Santa is and believe that he really exists. Santa has different names all over the world, but the idea is the same: a good guy in a red suit that gives gifts to the behaved children and spanking or coal or whatever not-so-nice thing to the ones that misbehaved. In Germany, he is called Weihnachtsmann or Saint Nikolaus, in French Pere Noel, in Russian it's Ded Moroz, and in Spain El Nino Jesus. So the elf Olli is suppose to help Santa keep track of those children and if they are behaving, or not.

So what threw me off was the idea of a guy having almost the same power as God. As Christians, we know the reason for this season, and the reason is called Jesus. So it is sad, to me, that we (me included) forget, sometimes. For me it is especially an (extra) effort to make the transition from my childhood memories that were so not God-focused and more traditional and cultural, to a God-driven attitude of celebrating Jesus' birth.

So about two weeks ago, I announced in my support group that I wanted to tell my kids the TRUTH about Santa. That did not go over well! We do live in the bible belt, and (most of) these women are believers, but they did not like me taking away from the magic of Christmas. What magic? Is Santa suppose to be the magic? Why do we need that? I don't think of my childhood memories as magic, they are just special. And shouldn't the birth of Jesus be magic? I mean any birth is a miracle, a miracle of God, of a human being entering this world as a creation of God. That is true magic!

I don't remember when I found out the truth, I really don't. It might have been a gradual process where one hears things at school and wonders for a long time, until the parents finally give in and tell what is really going on at Christmas. I DO remember, though, finding the secret hiding place of my parents - the place where they kept the presents that they had bought for us. Then I remember watching them through the keyhole carrying those presents, wrapped now, from their bedroom to the living room. So maybe this is how I found out. But I do not remember to be sad or anything. There was no breaking of the spell..... the magic (and I wouldn't have called it this way as a child) was not gone! Christmas was still special to me.

Today, as a mom myself, and especially as a Christian mom, I want my kids to know about Jesus first, then about the 'joy of giving', and then about receiving gifts!

So now I want to know from you, how you learned about the truth. Was it a shock? And did it destroy any magic? Or did you never know who Santa is?
And if you are a parent - when are you planning on telling your children the truth? 

Also: I want to send you to my friend's blog post from today: Beth wrote about a neat advent book in order to keep the thought of Jesus close to our hearts. Please check it out, here.