42 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-11-16”

  2. Good morning. It’s 33 in Spring this morning–quite chilly for us Southern Texans.
    Lindsey awoke with a bad migraine at five. I took her medicine immediately. Unfortunately, Imitrex often doesn’t work if not taken in the beginning of the headache. So–she may be out the whole day.

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  4. Good evening jo. Sweet dreams.
    I don’t envy Peter that view at all.
    Scary.
    I have driven on roads like that.
    The good thing is that there are no cars in view.

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  5. I call this “The Long and Snowy Road” or “Driving in a Winter Wonderland”. This was going home after shopping Saturday. We thought left home early enough to beat the predicted snow, but it came pretty heavy while we were in the store. Only ended up with an inch or two.

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  7. There is no way I can catch up from the weekend, so if I missed something important tell me.
    Anyone have any advice for potty training 3 year old little boys who don’t want to give up the convenience of a diaper. He knows when and what he is doing….it is easier for him to have someone else take care of it. So far Mimi and Grandpa bought a bag of M & M’s and he can have ONE if something happens in the potty instead of his Big Boy Underpants. If he gives up the diaper by the end of the week a prize will come in the mail. No. I am not above bribery!
    Mommy left yesterday morning, and daddy had to go to work today so this is our first day “solo”. I have put Grandpa in charge of Operation Potty. It is all I can do to keep up with the nap and feeding schedule. I don’t know how DIL does all she does AND works full time in sales. She is the most organized person I have ever met. This is a SMALL house and she has more storage solutions. I have taken note but don’t think any will work in our house…
    Off to get milk for morning nap time.

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  12. Is that your commute, Peter?

    Feed him salty things to eat and push water, take him to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. (I set a timer)

    Use the M&Ms and don’t sweat it beyond that. I toilet trained in the summer so they could run around outside naked and really see what was going on!

    We didn’t have any neighbors . . .

    Grandpa would be a great resource.

    Oh, and use total praise at every success. We even used to dance and sing.

    I tell you, it’s a wonder any of us have any brains left after we raised children . . .

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  15. I thought the photo was from Donna or Michelle. 🙂 Actually, I hope the driver didn’t take that photo!

    We have six degrees here, a little bit of snow on the ground . . . and some ice. It’s a day to stay in, but my husband can’t. 😦 We had to go to church yesterday, too.

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  16. OK, I agree there’s a weird “prayer” shaming going on in our culture. And that Christianity is more and more unwelcome in the public square. And that the ‘new’ atheism is very aggressive and distasteful.

    But I absolutely don’t agree with that whole idea that “we asked God to leave … so He did.” What? It was Billy Graham’s daughter who first suggested that I believe — and it’s just not very good theology.

    God is still very much on His throne and present — sovereign and ruler over all. If He withholds his mercy, it is for his purpose in all of history. Judgment, possibly, though we need to be careful about saying we know what God is up to in his secret decrees.

    In our sermon yesterday, our pastor made this point about the ‘flow’ of redemptive history and the victory of Christ:

    “There is a river flowing through history (Ez. 47). We are not to seek to change the flow of the river. The river is the source of life and bigger than us all — it flows from the lips, body and blood and resurrection of Christ and it heals the nations. And we are called to make camp on the banks of that river …”

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  17. Michelle, with BG I had a whole song and dance routine. I was alone with her most of the time so no one saw or heard me. I am also a little more awkward with a boy because I didn’t have one myself and I am not around this one much.
    Daddy just ran back by the house so we have 3 generations of H men in the bathroom —kind of funny!

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  18. It is currently 32 degrees and sunny here but 32 degrees is cold whether it is wet or dry although this is wet. I am also within walking distance of the Chesapeake. I am working and Guy needed something that required a phone call. My cell doesn’t work here so I bundled up and walked to the Bay where it does work. I sent him the information and told him “they” would be emailing me the rest of it. His response was to call them back and have them email it directly to him. Now he knows that he can’t call or text me so I don’t know how he thinks I did what I did, but I told him the above information and that I would email him what he wanted when I had it. (Yes, there is a land line, but I don’t want to run up their phone bill while I am here calling back to Alabama.

    BG and Nana seem to be doing well.

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  19. Kim, everything we say here is important.

    And if all else fails, put the burden of responsibility on him. Put him in a tshirt and underwear and tell him to change his clothes if he wets,or other, them, and then tell him to wash them and hang them out to dry. Unless of course, your daughter in law does not want that kind of help. They quickly learn that they don’t actually like being wet and having to clean their clothes in a bucket every time. Worked for my eight year old and eleven year old and two year old and four year old. They often know a lot more than we give them credit for.

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  20. If we didn’t drive on roads like that, we would not be able to drive from, at least, November through March or April.

    Our well problems are being worked on as I type. The computer showed -24 and ours (just feet from the house and under an overhang) showed -16. My husband is happy not to have to work out in this cold anymore. The cold radiated off him when he came in from the cold. This pictures matches the feeling.

    The stars are so bright on these cold days, btw.

    I think the old, thick cloth undies are best for potty training, too. Pull-ups don’t seem to bother the little ones when wet. Everyone has to be on the same page, too. Day care workers know that and usually work with the parents/guardians to coordinate the process.

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  21. I used Batman underwear on son and told him not to get Batman wet. He wouldn’t use that underwear anymore. Might work with another child; worth a try. Cheerios worked for target practice. I had a bag of used Matchbox cars that were given as rewards.

    One thing from preschool days, from another culture, was to let little guy stand on a stool in front of toilet and bend his body forward with hands bracing on the tank. Then he can use the bathroom like a man. It worked really well for the parents using that method. I would have used that myself but no one told me about that method. At first I was afraid little guy would fall in toilet, but that was never a problem.

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  22. Janice, I once babysat a little boy who had been recently potty-trained using that method.

    He also had a brother who was a few years older, maybe six years old. Perhaps my funniest babysitting moment ever (though I was a good girl and didn’t laugh aloud) was the day the little one needed to go to the bathroom, but on our way there, he told me that first he needed to wash his hands. So I lifted him to the sink (still fully clothed) to wash his hands, and his brother walked by and saw me lifting him to the sink, and thought I was a really clueless lady who didn’t know where pee goes. With distress in his voice, he said, “No, not in there!!”

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  23. Michelle- That is the road from Hannibal to my house. It is my commute route in the summer. We live about the same distance time wise from two Walmarts in different cities. I like going to Hannibal rather than the one in Illinois since it doesn’t involve driving through a lot of city traffic.

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  24. Day 3 and the Natives have won. I have cleaned the kitchen and washed clothes all day. Now Little Boy has told us he is “not happy with you guys”. I told him that was fine, we were happy with him.
    They both got up too early this morning and went down for naps too early today and neither slept long enough. It is 5 pm now and she goes back down at 7 and he at 7:30 so they really are about an hour ahead of schedule. Grandpa is cooking hamburgers tonight.

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  25. Waiting for the plumber to arrive to install a new faucet in my bathroom. The old ones work, but the gaskets have disintegrated so you have to hold the spout while turning the handle. I bought a new one on my trip. Of course it isn’t the same, so we will see what he can do. Going from two separate faucets to just one.

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  29. Michelle and Kare,

    I saw some lovely pics on your Facebook page that would make great headers. Michelle’s beautiful Cali sunrise and Kare’s gorgeous wintry Canadian trees pic. If it’s OK, I’m stealing them. 😯

    🙂

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  36. my new faucet works! so nice
    and, while he was up on the roof shutting off the water at the header tank, he also cleaned out our gutters! Now that is service. I was not about to climb up there and was ready to hire a teen.

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  42. Kim, buy some big boy underwear…the same style as dad or grandpa wears. Get rid of all pullups or diapers. Children are well aware what diapers and pull ups are for. Don’t ask if he needs to pee, just take him at regular intervals. Lots of praise with success. Usually if they see what you want from them, they will do it.

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