Monthly Archives: September 2008

September 24, 2008 · 8:41 am

The baby becomes a little boy

I can’t stand that headline!

After posting some photos on my facebook account of my baby boy – I realized how much he really did need a haircut. With his bangs hanging down into his eyes (do you call them bangs on boys?) , his hair flowing down well over his ears and the wisps of blond flying all around his head making him look quite wild – it was probably past time for him to get his hair cut.

 

With girls you can hold off on this “Rite of Passage” for several years thus convincing yourself that your little one is really still a tiny baby. Something changes in their “look” after that first haircut.  It is like instant aging.  They go from a baby to a child overnight. <sigh>

Since this is definitely something that needed to be done with Daddy, I knew I was running out of Saturdays to pull this off before it got so long that everyone was calling him a girl! I was determined to find a “real” barber shop (complete with a barber pole) for his first haircut although after calling around to several, I quickly found out that many of them did not attempt to cut the hair of a 17 month old.  Finally we hit the jackpot when we dialed the number to “The Village Barber” in Lincoln Center, one of the oldest and poshest shopping areas in our city. They exclaimed to us “Of course – we do anyone 0 to 100!”  We jumped in the car and headed over to the barber shop…to be thrilled to find it had a barber pole!

They had Daddy sit down in the chair and put Daniel on his lap for the haircut.  It was precious!  I snapped photos fast and furiously only stopping occasionally to admire my two favorite guys and take in the moment.

The football game on the big screen got both these boys attention!

 Isn’t this so very precious?

I love Daniel’s concentration on his Daddy

The “barber” Tina (who is apparently the only female on staff and always gets assigned the little ones) did a great job with a moving target.  To top things off, we even got a certificate at the end to put in the scrapbook along with the precious lock of blond hair.  The only problem is that the certificate said that he was officially “graduating from babyhood”. 😦

I am only all to well aware, that these precious years will be over in a blink of an eye and I will be looking up at my handsome blond haired “baby boy” as he “graduates to manhood”. I will savor each moment

We will most definitely be coming back to this shop as our first boy’s hair cut tradition. We had originally hoped to go the the Barber Shop in Red Bluff where Dan got his first haircut…but unfortunately it was no longer in business.  Hopefully the Lord will bless us with at least one more baby boy to carry on the first haircut tradition and then perhaps the boys will someday take their boys to this classic shop as well. Wouldn’t that be great?  Since this shop has already been in business for 53 years, I am sure that this is a real possibility.

Here is the final results of the baby who became a little boy!

Thankfully this morning I caught a glimpse of my sweet little “baby” boy as he lay sleeping in my bed – and remembered the words from the beloved book – Love You Forever

I’ll love you forever,

I’ll like you for always,

As long as I’m living,

My baby you’ll be.

8 Comments

Filed under Family Traditions, Life at the Lambdins, Motherhood

September 23, 2008 · 5:00 pm

Fat Face Update – Back at it!

For those of you who have missed the “Fat Face” updates (although no one has commented – where are my “virtual” accountability partners?) – here we go.

The past two months have been…hmmm…shall we say….pathetic.

Between our summer camping vacation and summer camp, a trip to NYC, my birthday and just plain lack of motivation, I have been “on again, off again” (and unfortunately with “off again” winning) the past couple of months.  My exercise program also bit the dust as I have been battling blisters that kept my walking to a minimum.

The results?

I have gained 10 pounds (ugh!), the “skinny” clothes are getting tight, I feel more tired and sluggish and my blood pressure is creeping upward.  None of this being good (although the BP is the biggest concern), I knew the day of reckoning needed to come soon. Since yesterday was the first day of autumn and because I don’t know anyone who says – “I am going to begin dieting & exercising on the first day of autumn.” (being the non conformist that I am) – I decided that September 22 was the day to get…Back at it!

So here I sit at Starbucks waiting for my daughter to get finished with choral practice and despite the incredible auroma of coffee, the moutwatering pastries staring at me from the counter and that little stinker in my head saying – “ah come on…one ice coffee won’t hurt” – I am resolved to get back to living a healthy lifestyle consistently with just my monthly day off and date nights to splurge.

I know that once Thanksgiving arrives there very well may be another “hiatus” as I enjoy the holiday season.  And since Thanksgiving is just a short eight weeks away (! How does that happen?!) – my goal is to lose 16 pounds, walk 5-6 days a week, do resistant weight training 3 days a week and stay on the Fat Flush diet that entire time (with the exception of our fall family outings to Apple Hill & the Pumpkin Patch, my October & November date night with dear darling Dan and if I can somehow come up with the finances to attend Parents Weekend in October at The Kings College in NYC…I might have to do a modified version that weekend.)

The results of feeling more alert & rested, lowering my blood pressure, fitting comfortably into my clothes (yes, I did ditch most of the “fat clothes”) plus being able to relax and enjoy the holiday season will be well worth the self discipline and sacrifice.

Does anyone else want to join me in my Autumn Resolution?

12 Comments

Filed under Consistency, Determination, Uncategorized, Weight Loss

September 22, 2008 · 7:34 am

Teens – Terrible or Terrific?

We had a “milestone” birthday in our home this past week as my fourth daughter, Rebekah turned thirteen.

It is official!  We now have four teenage girls in our family…at the same time.

 When Rebekah was born her three older sisters were 18 months(Kristen), 3 years(Amy) and 6 years old (Michelle).

I remember many times during their childhood well meaning friends, acquaintances and even strangers would make comments about how dreadful, hard or horrible I would have it when they were all teenagers.  Most of the time I would just smile (ok, so maybe smile/smirk is more accurate) or politely laugh at their “doom & gloom” comments,  however occasionally I would proclaim with confidence my true sentiments – “Oh I can’t wait….I love teenagers!”

And it is true – I have loved teenagers my entire adult life.  I love their enthusiasm, idealism, passion, boundless energy(as well as their ability to sleep for hours on end), hope, faith, spontanaity, reckless abandon, independence and strength to name a few of the qualities of youth that I find very appealing.  But the never ending onslaught of negative comments did leave me wondering if I was headed for disaster down the road when I actually had teenagers living in my home.

Why is it that we live in a society that seems to have such a disdain for the teen years?  Why do so many parents look at these years as something to fear or dread rather than welcoming them with hope and excitement?  Once a child reaches thirteen they only have five or six years left in our homes…why then would we spend those years arguing, fighting or wishing away our short time together?

Or is it even true that parents do not enjoy their teenagers or is it just another one of those “parroting” issues where everyone feels they have to say disdainful things about teenagers because that is what everyone else is saying. (Even just yesterday, a poplular radio host that I listen to regularly responded with “I’m sorry” when the caller mentioned she had a teenager.  Of course it got a laugh – but I cringed inside as comments like this seem to add to the negative sentiments surrounding being a parent of teenagers.)

Most likely it is a combination of “parroting” as well as parents truly struggling with unappraciative, disrespectful, self centered teenagers who show them very little love. (that type of teenager doesn’t sound like much fun to me either)

Now if I merely had one teenager, I would never venture to give any advice, opinions, insights, ideas or even hints as to how to enjoy the teenage years but since I have four who run the gamut of personalities and dispositions (although at this point I don’t have any male teenagers – you’ll have to wait at least 15+ years for my “take” on that – although perhaps my dear friends Teri Helms, Christy Keyton or Ladonna Colton can “guest blog” on teenage boys) and because we are truly enjoying our teenagers, I will throw out my opinions for anyone who might be interested.

First let me say…that if you want to enjoy the teenage years…it starts way before they turn thirteen.  In fact, it begins with getting a good grip on your thirteen month old when they first start challenging your authority by directly doing what you just said “no” to them doing.  If you lose the battle of the wills with a toddler, you are sure to lose the war with a teenager.  Be strong and always, always, always win!

It also takes developing a solid, loving relationship with your child during those early years by spending tons of time with them (both quantity & quality), eating the vast majority of your dinners together as a family – at the dining room table (candlelight & music is a bonus!), enjoying lots of cuddling time together on the couch in the evenings or under the covers in the morning reading books, watching movies or just sharing life stories, worshipping together as a family, talking, talking and talking with them and being diligent to create meaningful memories on a regular basis.

In addition, I believe that besides “winning the battle of the wills” and developing a solid loving relationship that you need to indoctrinate them for many years before they come close to teenagedom as to the “rules” and boundaries in your household.  Here are some examples of ours –

1. We (Mom & Dad) can make your life miserable or wonderful – the choice is yours!  We highly recommend you choose wonderful but if you choose miserable we will follow through.

2. You are not the center of the universe or for that matter, the center of this family either.  It is NOT all about you….don’t forget this (of course it helps to realize this when you live in a family of nine)

3. It is “My way….or the highway”  Yes,that is correct if our teenager does not comply with our rules or chooses to live a life of continued disrespect or direct defiance, they will no longer have the option and privilege of living under our roof.  As hard as this would be to carry out, my children know that we would follow through.

4. No whining allowed!  We have more than most people in the world – a roof over our heads (no matter how much you think that roof should be bigger), food on our plates (even if it is beans & rice several times a week), clothes on our backs (in abundance – thanks to hand me downs!) and a loving, committed “in tact” family. What is there to complain about? Nothing!

5. No, you can’t have…

  • your own cell phone (we have a common “the girls” phone)
  • a myspace or facebook account until college (if you have that much free time – have I got a job for you! However, you can have a blog – feel free to write, write, write!)
  • your own car (nope you can’t even buy your own until after high school and no one else gets to buy one for you either) – you may use one of our cars as needed and with permission
  • a TV in your room (in fact you can’t even watch TV except on a very rare occasion)
  • your own room (and this is not just a logistical rule – it is our paradigm – no one needs their own room – even if we had eight bedrooms – there would be at least two to a room until the last child is here alone.)

6. You also can’t…

  • spend the night, go to parties or on out of town trips with families who we do not know intimately.
  • call, write or text boys (and yes when I have teenage boys they will not call, write or text girls in jr or sr high either – after that they can ask the young ladies father for permission to call, write or text)
  • date or “go out” in junior high or high school (including all definitions of the word – from casual going out for coffee with a member of the opposite sex to “committed” boyfriend/girlfriend relationships)
  • get body piercings, tattoos or any extreme hair coloring or styles
  • wear any immodest, inappropriate or culturally reactionary clothing (and the Mom gets to decide if something is ok) and a bonus – you get to wear dresses (and my sons will wear dress shirts & ties) to church, weddings, funerals, graduations or other significant events
  • go to movies that have not been approved by Mom & Dad (or our own resident movie censor – Michelle) – you can’t always go by ratings – I have seen outstanding movies rated PG13 and lousy crass movies rated PG
  • be lazy and not do your school work or not do it to the best of your ability
  • be disrespectful or rude to teachers, authority figures or any adults (even if they are wrong or rude – you will respect their position)
  • get away with not doing your household chores
  • ok and in case it is not obvious the “basics” are “you cant’s” too –  can’t do drugs, drink, smoke, break curfew, lie, cheat, steal etc….

7. You can….(ok, with all those “cant’s”  there does need to be a few perks – listed here are some things that other teens may not have the privilege of doing)

  • stay up as late as you want – it is simply your responsibility to get up in the morning
  • sleep in late on Saturday mornings as long as you are consistent each week with your chores
  • invite friends over most anytime – for dinner to spend the night, hang out, go on outings with us etc…
  • go on exciting trips and adventures anywhere in the world as long as you cover the costs and you are going/staying with an “approved” party
  • keep your room a mess (up until the point that Mom can’t walk in the room or it starts to smell)
  • wear “light” make up when you start high school & get your ears pierced when you turn 16 (gotta have something to look forward to! lol)
  • drink coffee
  • eat left over pie, cake or cookies for breakfast
  • listen to music as loud as you want (most of the time) providing it is Christian or on Mom’s list of “approved” show/movie tunes
  • skip school to do fun and exciting things like – going to the beach, apple hill or snow days, getting Dr Laura’s signature, attending the inauguration, going to New York for your 16th birthday
  • be as mad as you want at Mom or Dad…go to your room and shout in your pillow that you hate us and turn up your music (see above for restrictions) – just don’t slam a door, hit or throw anything or be disrespectful to our faces (have at it in your room or other space where we are not)

8. Glorify God in everything you say and do…ultimately you will answer to Him

Did I cover them all girls? 

Following these basic philosophies have resulted in six wonderful years of having teenagers in our home.  Michelle, Amy, Kristen & Rebekah, though each unique in their talents, gifts, abilities as well as having diverse personalities – they are all good, godly, respectful, mature, responsible, delightful and lovely young ladies, who happen to be teens!  They are truly a blessing to us and we have and will continue to enjoy the teenage years. (It’s a good thing since I have at least 18 more years of having one or more teenagers at home)

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

18 Comments

Filed under Blessings, Family Traditions, Life at the Lambdins, Motherhood, My "take", Raising Girls

September 16, 2008 · 11:26 pm

Planning, Preparation & Provision

First let me say … yes I am still having problems with feedburner sending out empty posts or a boatload of archives. UGH!  It looks like if it happens one more time I will be temporarily discontinuing the email subscriptions until I can get this worked out. If you read this blog only through subscription, be sure to check back at www.bethlambdin.net for my latest posts.

It is time for a long overdue update on our adoption and “barn raising” (aka – expanding into the garage to move our makeshift family room out of the 3rd bedroom in order to create a “boys” bedroom)

Ok, the one sentence adoption update – We are waiting. 

We are waiting to be chosen by one of the mother’s who is giving birth this fall to possibly pick us to love, cherish and raise their precious baby.  Last year there were two different baby boys who were awaiting an approved family to be adopted by.  This year there are more families than babies. (and yes that is good news!)  The agency we are working with has told us that there are currently three mothers who will be choosing a family in October & November.  So the wait continues.

Come to find out, I am no good at waiting….at least not waiting patiently.  So what have I been doing for the past three months? – Busying myself with planning, preparations and securing provisions for this much desired precious baby.

Let me start by sharing with you some GREAT news!  The Lord continues to provide the resources we need for this adoption.  We got a letter last month from Shaohannah’s Hope that we will receive a grant of $3,000 to help us pay for a portion of this adoption! (Our domestic adoption expenses look to be running close to $15,000)  With this blessing from Steven Curtis Chapman’s organization, added to the monies we have already raised should come close to covering what we will need to pay the adoption agency when we get the baby.  We will still need to raise the post placement expenses that we have to pay in California (aprox $1,500)…but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

The other GREAT news – with the help of countless friends & family we have finished the majority of the addition in the garage! And it is AMAZING!

I think I left off in July showing you the framed, sheet rocked, taped & textured room. 

The painting was next (completed in large part by Dan’s brother Rick) followed by putting in the tile floor.  Before we tiled however one of my blog subscribers suggested that we write scriptures on the floor so that we would always be “standing on the Word”.  What a great idea!  We had everyone who helped with this project write out their favorite scripture on our floor before Ramsey & Mike Garza and Chris Greene lent us their expertise and hard work to help put in the tile.  The new windows were completed by our friend, Scott Gaston with Dan learning a new skill along the way. We took a little break for a couple weeks while we attended summer camp and went on vacation to Lake Tahoe.  It was perfect timing as Jerry Crutchfield custom made the cabinets to be put in the room to store all our homeschool curriculum, Creative Memories products and other supplies. (a family of nine can never have enough storage space!) The cabinets are spectacular and thankfully Dan was able to get Mike Sherman, Sal Martinez and Dan Smith to help him put these heavy duty cabinets up.  Then came the “little” things – ceiling fans, baseboards, closet shelving as well as the long counter that would serve as the girls school desks, computer center and my office (in addition it is cropping space for my weekend workshops). By September 1st (as my birthday present!) we were able to start moving in the furniture and getting everything off the back porch and out of the living room.  What an incredible adventure and leap of faith this project has been!

I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful the additional living space is to our family.  We have been officially moved in for about two weeks and it is truly where we spend 80% of our time.  The girls each have a space to do their school work, I have my office and storage space, Daniel has lots of room to play and we have plenty of room for our family room area – the sectional couch and TV (that was formerly cramed into the 3rd bedroom).  Even as I type this we are all together in this room, each doing different things but enjoying just being together – it is even better than I could have ever hoped for.  The gratefulness that wells up in my heart for everyone who helped this dream to become a reality is immense.  Saying thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough.

Here are some photos of the completed* room.

* Ok, so as with every project there are a few things still left to be done before we can really say completed (ie: lighting under the cabinets so the girls can actually see their homework, a bit more electrical work and a final corner counter which will be my scrapbooking work area….well then there is the laundry room area on the other side of the wall — but we’ll save that for next summer!)

If you are new to this blog and want to see what it use to look like – you can check out photos here and here and here.

 This past week I spent time getting Daniel’s things moved into the new boys bedroom.

 The “boys” bedroom seems huge (and empty compared to the girls room).  Joy and Daniel are enjoying playing in the room and Daniel is taking naps in there…but we haven’t had him sleep the night in his room (except one night when Rebekah slept on an air mattress in the room with him).  To be honest it just seems so big and lonely for him to be in there by himself, after all the rest of the family gets to sleep with someone else in our room.  We will have to work through that one. 🙂

 

Here’s hoping that sometime this fall, this crib that sits in the corner of our bedroom will have our new son snuggled up in it.

And we will continue to wait (patiently)…to pray…and to hope.

5 Comments

Filed under Adoption, Blessings, Life at the Lambdins

September 12, 2008 · 9:46 am

Excuses, excuses – “I just don’t have time”

Yesterday…feedburner (the service that handles my blog subscriptions) mysteriously sent out an email saying that I had posted…which I hadn’t.  When it was brought to my attention my first thought was – Is someone “hacking” into my blog and getting ready to send out some evil or ugly post to my subscribers which now number close to 600?  I quickly logged into my wordpress account and could not find any evidence of foul play.  Then I thought perhaps one of my kids accidentally got on to my blog site and hit “publish” of a non existent post.  Of course this is a real possibility as I have posted from every computer that has ever been in this house and have saved my log in information on them all…even baby Daniel could probably randomly hit the right keys and pull off an empty post being sent. (after all he is brilliant!)  Or perhaps it was just some glitch in the feedburner system? Who knows.

Update– Just as I was about to post today, my feedburner account once again sent out an email today with one of the last posts I had wrote over two weeks ago – yikes! What is happening?? Does my awesome personal “IT” guy, Jeff have any thoughts – or any others out there who might be able to give me any ideas as to what is happening?

Either which way….it made me desperatly long to spend some long overdue time blogging.  You see, I love to write.  I love to inspire, encourage and bless others.  I love to challenge peoples thinking.  I love to share bits and pieces of my unique life (complete with photos). I love to make a positive difference in lives.  In fact, besides public speaking, writing is one of my greatest passions.  On top of that, without sounding presumptious – I believe it is my calling and that I have been gifted by God in this area.

Why then have I not written in over two weeks?  If I really truly love to do this and feel it is a calling and gift, then why am I not doing it?  I could throw out the time factor – after all I am the mother of seven (who are currently playing on five different sports teams, one is rehearsing several times a week for a major musical, three of them are being homeschooled and I have a 17 month old that is in himself a “full time job” – as are all toddlers!) , I am working from home at my Creative Memories home business and putting in over 20 hours a week for JECHS, leading a homeschoolco-op, managing our home, helping out friends in need  yada yada yada … (not trying to get into the boring  “I am so busy” wars)

But I have NEVER really bought into the “I don’t have time” excuse.  We all have time.  We all have the same 24 hours in a day.  We all choose what to do with that time and how we choose – is a dead give away as to what our true priorities are.  So I must say that writing, inspiring and motivating through this blog has simply not been a priotity as of late.

Well even as I write that, it doesn’t settle well with me. (as in I have to say – ouch!) This is a priority in my life and therefore I need to carve out the time to just do it. (Just as I do my other priorities – my relationships with the Lord, my dear darling husband, my children, friends & family and my personal passions and pursuits)

What about you? Are there things in your life today that you say are priorities but that you are not putting time into? Are you using the “I just don’t have the time” excuse?  Perhaps we should replace the often used excuse of  “I just don’t have time”, to the reality – “This is just not a priority”.  And if that statement stings a bit – then perhaps it is time to reevaluate where your are spending one of your most precious resources – your time!

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Filed under Priorities, Time Management