Don't Use That Line On Me!

Since nothing's happening except work (still!) in my life, I'm reposting another post again. After all, it's summer. You should be expecting reruns! This post originally appeared on July 24, 2009.

Sometimes when I'm helping my children with their schoolwork, I find that they need something a little more than the knowledge that x=5. (That is the only algebraic formula I know. It works for me.) Sometimes when my children are struggling for the answer, the problem is not understanding. The problem is exercising the brain enough to figure out the answer. After all, education is not just a matter of learning facts, but of reasoning through and thinking through things in order to come to the right conclusions.

So sometimes when my children come to me with a problem, I point out the page where the answer is and tell them "it's in here somewhere. Find it." Many times I get a despairing look. The look is all I get because they know better than to whine. That's never gotten them anything in our house. The look doesn't get them much either, but I will tell them, "You're smart. You can figure this out." I try to tell my kids they're smart often. They blossom under the positive reinforcement. Plus, if I say it often enough, maybe it will really happen. : )

Nine times in ten the affirmation-receiving child will figure out the answer. They're in a kind of catch-22. After all, if they come back a second time looking for the answer, it's like they're admitting they're not smart. It ends up being a challenge to them to prove that I was right about their intelligence. They succeed in finding the answer, they prove they were smart, they feel really good about themselves. It's a process that works.

Just recently I was on the receiving end of the process. It's not quite so pleasant from this side. I think I've mentioned before that I work in an auditing office. Most people that know me find it amusing that my job involves working with numbers since math was never my strong suit. (I really do believe x=5.) When I started the job, almost a year ago, I enjoyed the sensation of being the "new kid". I worked at learning the job, but there are a lot of details and variables in the work. If I didn't know something, no one faulted me for it because I was new. Plus, being low woman on the totem pole, most of the work I got was grunt work. In all honesty, I didn't mind a bit. I enjoyed coming in and accomplishing something and then going home and forgetting I even had a job. I did whatever was asked of me, and I did it to the best of my ability, but still I wasn't actually responsible for anything except the assignments I was given. I wasn't working the job in order to fulfill anything other than our pocketbook.

Well, all that changed a few months ago. One of my bosses declared that I wasn't being used "to my full potential". So I was given new duties. Duties with responsibility attached to them. Bear in mind that this is governmental auditing. There's not supposed to be any mistakes. One of my new duties involved proofing all our reports and making sure there were no mistakes before they were sent out. Part of that job wasn't so hard. Misspelled words and incorrect grammar seem to jump out at me from the page. On the other hand, I was also put in charge of making sure the content was correct based on the findings of the auditor. Huh? There were so many details and variables I was sure I would never get it. It didn't get any better when they explained to me that these 3-4 pages of content were the heart of the report. All else was necessary, but these 3-4 pages were "what we get paid for doing". Okay. So no pressure here at all.
I balked and dragged my feet a little bit. I expressed doubt as to my ability. I even whined just a bit. (Don't tell my kids!) My boss's answer? "You're smart. You'll figure it out."

Well slap me upside the head. As much as I didn't want this duty, now I had to take it. I couldn't admit I wasn't smart. This is a very frustrating position to be in.

I still use the phrase with my children. I still believe it motivates them. But it's aggravating to have the same techniques used on me. I think now I'm going to have to be smart enough to think up new ways to motivate.

Maybe I'll go with the "Nobody is that dumb" negative reinforcement. Set the bar a little lower.

Rewind

Since nothing is going on in my life at the moment other than twelve hour workdays, I thought I'd rerun a little glimpse of my life when--actually, when nothing was happening. This post first appeared on January 21, 2008.

Nothing makes you feel more helpless than losing your remote control for your TV. Our family is so NOT able to function without a remote. We'll wander all around the room, missing part of our program, in order to look for the remote. After all, everybody knows that commercials are louder than shows are themselves. You always have to turn down commercials, and then you have to turn it up again to hear the dialogue on the show or movie you're watching. And who watches just one thing at a time anymore? I never see commercials. I'm always flipping to see what else is on. I've been known to follow two movies at a time, switching back and forth between commercials or when I come to a scene I' don't care for. So our remote is important. The problem is, it disappeared. I figured it probably ended up under the bed. It has before. I'm not sure how it gets there, but the cat does hang out under there, so maybe she's trying it out while we're gone during the day. This time, though, it wouldn't resurface. I looked around here and there occasionally, but it never came up. Then my husband searched through everything, including the box we have in the corner (haven't quite finished unpacking yet) and he couldn't find it either. I know secretly he blames me for losing it. I also know that in reality, he probably lost it. LOL Either way, that thing is gone. One evening this past week, I decided to take the bedroom apart and find that dumb remote. I cleaned and vacuumed and sorted, and still that thing did not turn up. This was getting ridiculous. If you don't want to get up and change the channel when your sitting on a couch, you sure don't want to do it when you're lying in bed! When I finished in the bedroom, I searched the office, the rec room, the family room and even the boys' bedroom. That remote completely disappeared. I finally did the only thing I could think of. I bought another one. Well, I didn't actually buy it. I had a small gift card so I used that. It makes sense to have one that controls the DVD as well as the TV, doesn't it? This was better in the long run. I should have done this a long time ago. But I still miss the original remote. It was easy to use. It didn't have many buttons, and it was (until now) big enough to spot easily when you were looking for it. So I used the new one, but I still mourned the old one. Today I was digging under my bed for a shoe when I noticed something long and dark standing between the bed and the nightstand. You'll never guess. With all the searching we did, I don't know how we missed it, but there was the old remote. So now we have two remotes again. Worse, it was on my side of the bed. In my husband's terms, that means I'm the one that lost it. (I admit, the circumstancial evidence is pretty damaging.)For now I've left it between the nightstand and the bed. I'm not sure I want to resurrect it. Maybe I should plant it on his side. Now there's an option!

TGIF!

What a fantastic week of Vacation Bible School! Lots of fun, lots of screaming (my ten year old has no voice left--which might be a good thing) : ) lots of prizes and cookies and candy.

Also lots of hay all over everything, lots of spilled soda and stopped up toilets. But hey, you gotta take the bad with the good, don't you?

This is our third year of VBS. We've broken all previous records, and we're getting bigger every year. It's a really exciting time. We actually had two different families tell us that they were skipping their own VBS, held the same week, because their kids liked ours so much better. I'm thinkin' those churches may need to work around our schedule next year!

Of course the reason for all this craziness is to reach others with the Gospel. We've had fourteen saved so far this week. One more day and then graduation tonight--can't wait to see what God can do.

Nicky dressed up like the Lone Ranger all week.

Paul and Joel's "Darryl and Darryl" skits were the hit of VBS.

I love how the whole church gets into helping, complete with costumes.

I'll do a wrap up later. Hope your week was as fun as mine!

Yeehaw, Cowboys!

Here's a few thousand more words for you--

Kids got to exchange money at the bank for pennies for the penny offering.

Our crazy team leaders.

Playing a game.

Matthew directing the Rally Time. 

The human bowling pins. Another boy came running in and jumped into them. He was the "bowling ball".  Paul is at the top of the stack, and Luke is the middle row on the right.

Paul and Joel are a hit this week. They're doing a running gag where they're names are both Darryl, and they try to do stunts to get to play the games. They're natural hams. Wonder where they get that from?

In the first two days we've had twelve children accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Can't wait to see what God does today!

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

Sure hope that's still true. I've got lots of pictures, but very few words other than "I'm exhausted".

Here's our platform redecorated to become a general store in our western-themed Vacation Bible School. The kids memorize Bible verses in order to get the chance to play Let's Make A Deal, where they come up on stage and trade and choose prizes.

We had four children accept Christ yesterday. I'm still buzzing with excitement, and we've got four more days to go!

I hope to post more pictures throughout the week, but my camera battery died on me. I've got to get it charged before we head back this morning.

Happy Trails!

Wait, What Was I Saying Again?

The week before Vacation Bible School is always hectic, but this year more so than usual. Hence the lack of posts this week. But in the next day or so, I will be posting pictures of our decorations in progress. The Great Round Up Starts next Monday morning. Pray for us!

Over Half My Life

So what makes a good marriage? Is it her smiling even after picking up his dirty socks for 24 years? Is it him smiling after a thousand mediocre meals? Is it her watching yet another hunting or fishing show? Is it him holding her while she's crying, even though neither of them know why she's crying?

Is it sharing a joke because you'll know they get it? Is it laughing for no reason at all? Is it calling because something great happened, and they're the first one you think of to share it with? 

Is it wanting to shield each other from the ugly blows of life? Is it making each burden lighter by sharing it?

I have no idea. We were little more than babies when we got married. I was nineteen and Terry was twenty-two. It wasn't always easy learning to be a married couple while we were also learning to be adults. Learning to become one when we'd always been two before.

Like any other couple, we've had our ups and downs for the past twenty-four years. But even with the downs, I don't think I would change a thing because it's our history that makes us who we are. So who are we?

Best friends. Co-laborers. A team. Two people who can do more and be more and accomplish more together than we ever could apart.
 Happy Anniversary, Indiana. You're my best friend, my confidant and the other half of me. Thanks for the best twenty-four years of my life.