Rocking A Boy to Sleep and What I would Tell My Collegiate Self

This is going to be a slipshod, wild quilt square of thoughts that I'm piecing together in this little post today.   Some strings are loose, some areas of life are tattered and a bit torn.  Together, all of these torn up pieces of life might someday make a piece of art.  But right now, I've got to stay busy sewing our lives together, piece by piece. 


I just rocked a big boy to sleep.
He hasn't been rocked to sleep for over a year now, but today he needed it.
He is so big that my legs fell asleep while rocking.

Today, we were given the opportunity to see another adoptive family.  We quite frequently see African American families or biracial families.  It's seldom that Million sees a family with brown children and white parents.  And he noticed it for the first time today.

I don't know if it was that, or if it was the high amount of sensory play, but he had a very VERY difficult time going to sleep for his nap.  We're at 3 hours later than he normally goes to sleep right now, and I just carried him into his bed.

I've been reading a lot of blog posts and books by a female Christian author lately.  She writes predominately about motherhood, but many of her books transcend the issue of motherhood and relate to what kind of character a person should have.  They're not necessarily books about how to change your children to make them obedient and respectful.  They're convicting books about how you are to be the picture of Christ to your children, so you had best get off your backside and check out what character qualities you are lacking in and what areas you are failing. 

I'm making it sound like a depressing read.  It's really not.  But it is challenging.

In any case, here is a link to a blog post she wrote today so you can get a taste.

It's rare that I find an author whose life I want to model mine after.  (Obviously, I should be modeling mine after Christ....la di dah, Christianese...)  I am one of those observers who usually wait to form judgements on authors or books until after I have experienced the book and (if the author is still alive) watched the author interact in public forums.  If an author can act with maturity and grace, without being caught up in too much political or public drama, then I can respect them. 

If I could go back in time and tell myself something, I would jump at the chance.  When I first went to college, there was a rash of popular culture that influenced me and some other girls.  The messages that culture was sending were that girls should be rude, eat copious amounts of food but complain about how culture shapes body image and then do nothing about it; they should be sloppy, boyish, argumentative, and sometimes mean.  That this was all funny or worthy of reverence (in an irreverent-as-possible way, of course.  We must not show anyone our respect for them!)  We were free to make fun of femininity; we chose to mock other girls who were gracious and sweet. 

This is what I would say to myself from college:  "In what world is being mean and argumentative valued above wisdom and graciousness?  How is this satisfying to anyone involved?  Is expressing your opinions worth hurting others?  What kind of attention do you want to be receiving?  How are your habits today precluding future successes?  How do you expect to be spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy, if this is the lifestyle you embrace?"



See?  There are a few of my colourful quilt square thoughts from the past several weeks of thought.  Maybe next time I'll be able to write a more solid post with only one topic, but today, I just seized the chance I had to let some words out of my head.