You can call me Green Bean

We do a lot of non-traditional "churchy" church songs at Revolution Church.  Recently, PZ did a series called "Royal".  You can guess which song we used as our lead in....That's it!  Royals by Lorde.  We rocked it in many styles.  I digress.
Gannon had the opportunity to listen to it many many many times, and over time, he learned the lyrics.  You may think you know them, but I assure you, you don't know the Gannon version.  Here Goes:

I've never seen a diamond in a fish

I cut my teeth on wedding rings, in the movies.

And I'm not proud of my address

in a torn up town

concerendie

all all my friend go like

gold teeth tigers, tripping in the bathroom

trashing hotel rooms

I don't care, we are driving Cadillacs in our dreams

Driving helicopters begging for money

Taking away hobo clothes, pretending like we are him.

And we'll never be royal! Royal!

It's not in our blood, that kind of love just aint for us, 

We crave a different kind of blood

Let me be your ruler, RULER!

You can call me Green Bean.

Let me live like fantasy.

That is the whole song, according to Gannon.  Thanks, Lorde and Rev for that.Watch it Here

Ephesians 4:29

Every parent has one of those moments.   The one where that not so "wholesome thing" comes out of your mouth?  Had one?  I did.  I've paid for it every day since.  I was a sailor, so I come by it naturally, but Ephesians 4:29 has weighed heavy on me to be more considerate of what I am saying.  This was ONE EPIC FAIL.  I said the "S" word.  Loudly.  I can't remember the reference, but it was said.  In front of Gannon.  Well, you can imagine how that went.  I tried to repent to him.  He didn't understand but thought the word was basically hilarious.  Then he though it meant hurricane, so every time it rained, it was "$#!#"ing.  GRRRRRRR.  We talked.  We prayed.  We discussed Ephesians 4:29.

Things were under control.  Until last night.

We had the pleasure of Jacob and Jenna Walkers company for dinner.  They were explaining their band "Davy & Amelia" and I asked what kind of "shiN dig" it was going to be.  LAWD MERCY.  He thought I said the forbidden word, and he called me on it.

"YOU SAID THAT WORD $#!# , MOM!!!!!  YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT WORD $#!#!!!! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT $#!# WORD IS A BAD WORD??!?!?! $#!# IS NOT A WORD YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SAY!!!!

Unfortunately, we were all laughing too hard to do anything about it.......

Ephesians 4:29

New International Version (NIV)

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

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Maternity Ward

Pregnancy is a time of joy for a woman.  There is anticipation of new life, excitement, tiny outfits, and blankets.  When I was pregnant with Gannon, my first, I was thrilled.  My husband touched my belly to feel his son move, we got the nursery ready, and we had joy.
My pregnancy with Siri was similar.  We had total joy without reservation, trusting that everything would be OK, and they were.  She was perfect.
After Siri, we suffered a loss early in pregnancy.  I was shaken more than Gordon was, but it was early, and we knew that 50% of pregnancies end in early loss, but we trusted God and tried again.
Our early loss was in July of 2010.  Things went down hill horrifically from there.  We had a second trimester loss of a little boy which was devastating from start to finish, but I won't bore you with those details.  This is about the things Gannon has said and done.
After that loss, we became pregnant again, February 2011.  We were seeing a terrific group of midwives, a dynamite perinatologist, but had fear.  Pregnancy isn't supposed to revolve around fear.  For our peace of mind, we rented a Doppler heart rate monitor so that we could check for life on a daily basis.  This is not how you are supposed to experience pregnancy.
March 31, we went and saw our specialist.  20 weeks, and it was a boy and he was doing beautifully!  We named him Seth after Genesis 4:25.
Gannon was thrilled to be a brother!  He was planning how to decorate his bedroom.  June 2nd, the planning stopped.  There was no heart beat.  We looked everywhere over my swollen belly for the sound of that sweet cadence, but there was nothing.  We called the midwives, checked into the hospital at at 7:35 on June 3rd, I delivered our beautiful, sweet baby, born sleeping.

I was devastated.  My heart literally broke.  Gordon didn't know what to do with me, or his grief since I left him to deal with the other kids.  There is nothing to do with a woman who goes to the hospital to have a baby and leaves with a box.  Somehow, Gannon knew.
I know most of the things on this are silly, humorous things he had done, but I want to show you a side of that little boy that will give you a different perspective.

Gannon snuggled me, and snuggled me and snuggled me.  "Are you sad about baby Seth?' he would ask when I laid in bed crying.  "Don't cry, mommy!  You are beautiful!"  He prayed with me.  He prayed that we would see baby Seth in heaven, and he listed to Revelation Song, and he told me that our babies were in heaven with Jesus singing "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty!"  I understand that it is not the job of a little boy to be an emotional piller for a grown up, and I don't think he knew he was.  Gannon always knows the things to say that help me know there is still purity in the world.  That despite everything that is ugly, and hateful, and extreme, there is an innocent little boy that wants his mommy to be ok.

In reading about his quirky antics and his humerous pieces, his words are beautiful and healing as well. Thank you, Gannon, and happy 2nd heaven birthday, sweet baby Seth!


P.S. when baby Annika was born and Gannon got to meet his baby sister, the first the he said was "Is she breathing?"  What do you say to that!?!?!?!

And now for something completely different....

My kids normally take gymnastics.  They normally take them on Thursday nights if you remember from the "almost" post.  J&R Gymnastics has a great program for kinder (Siri's class) and for boys only (Gannon's class).  They were doing really well with it!  They liked their coaches, they like learning the skills....

...but the I listed to a sermon Pastor Zak.  DARN BIBLICAL TRUTHS!  He said that their family enjoys family time instead of extra curricular activities....and then I started thinking.  Anyone who knows me knows that is a dangerous thing.

I started noticing some patterns between Gordon and my tendency to be work-a-holics and our kids activities.  I saw gymnastics as our only extracurricular activity, but looking deeper into things, thats not the truth.  They go to church with Gordon and I two days a week to volunteer, they have school, playdates, homework, chores at home, summer vacations and more I'm sure I'm forgetting!

MY KIDS ARE OVERBOOKED!  

So I googled "are extracurricular activities bad?"

Here's what I found:

NO, they aren't, but too many are.  Check out this page from Psychology Today and tell me what you 
think. Here are a few snippits to get you started:

"Time to Play in a Natural, Creative Way
Unstructured play allows children to pursue their interests, express their personalities and learn how to structure their time. Play is the natural mode of learning for young children, but when their lives are dominated by adult-organized activities, there may be little time left to just be kids.

Family Relationships
Children need downtime with parents -- time to relax, talk, read, play games and just hang out. Families that are constantly running from one extracurricular activity to the next have little opportunity for these experiences. 

Why do we push so hard?
The truth is, most parents have good intentions. They enroll their children in activities because they want them to have a rich, happy childhood. They sacrifice their own time to make sure their children are at practices and competitions. Of course, these parents love their children, and the last thing they would want is for them to feel stressed."



Long story short, we quit gymnastics. I would LOVE to hear what you think about this, so leave comments. I know for us, roasting marshmallows and making S'Mores in the driveway beats gymnastics!

Matthew 9:20

Gannon has made a lot of steps towards spiritual maturity in the past few months.  Less than a year ago, he decided that "Jesus is his #1 Guy" and he wanted to be with Him in heaven.  As parents, obviously we were elated.  We prayed with him, talked to him, and then just a few weeks ago, I had the total privilege of seeing my husband baptize my son.  PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since then, the boy has been very interested in the stories in the Bible that are less familiar to him.  Today in the car, he asked if there were any stories of  "bleeders".  Before you start judging me, keep in mind he IS a 7 year old boy and blood is basically awesome, and his mom is a nurse, so we don't gross out easily.  Well, the only story I could think of was Matthew 9:20, about the woman who was bleeding for a long time and had spent all her money on being healed.  He was quiet for most of the way to school, presumably reading the story.  Nothing wrong with this.  I'm actually excited that my kid is exploring God's word!  Nothing was wrong till 7:49 am.  That is when I got the text.  The text from Gannons first grade teacher.

The entire first grade class.

Yup.