To the person trying to illy do good

At 9am yesterday, I had two unexpected visitors.  Two police officers showed up at the side door.  They had gotten a call about suspicious behavior of a man in a red car talking to my children.  A concerned citizen thought that this dangerous person was trying to lure my children away from me.  But they weren't, in actuality, it was just my husband leaving for work and my children interacting with him in doing so.

So you see someone made a judgement, and said this looks not right, and thus called the police to intervene.  And while that would have been nice if there truly was something wrong, there wasn't. And honestly I think at least 9 times out of 10 (probably more like 999 of 1000) this has got to be the scenario. And it sheds a light on our society a bit, that we live in fear. To me that is unfortunate.

First, I want to say I wish I knew this neighbor better, because then they would know which cars we drive and who my non-scary husband is. But unfortunately, our world does not allow these types of interactions.  Instead we hole up in our houses and call police over a kid saying goodbye to his dad. Please dear neighbor come out of your house and come talk to me, I would love to know your story. And I do think that I have gotten to know quite a bit of my neighbors, we live in a highly walkable neighborhood full of people who do just that, but apparently not enough to prevent this.

Second, this bugs me so much in the extent that I feel like it plays into several mentalities that are wrong with America.  One, we value our freedom, but we don't value our neighbors freedom.  We would rather hide behind walls, and call in the authority and over-legislate to get what agenda we desire to accomplish.  Two, we feel the need to instantly judge. We are a land of impulse people.  We don't know what it is to wait for things, to really be patient with something, we instead think: Act fast, act now! despite how illy formed our judgement may be. We see someone disciplining their child differently than we would, and out comes the camera to shame this person and make their life hell.  We see someone being awkward and we snap photos and blast them on the internet.  Really people, stop it already.  Remember we are all humans, we need mercy and kindness, not shame.

Last, stranger danger is overblown.  That one case in a million people, we think that will happen to us, and instead of saying I'm going to be confident and trust God, we instead live in fear and fear monger those around us. I mean there's a whole website that is supposed to be centered around neighborhood folk getting to know one another, but stems down to the latest house break-in or car theft. I mean by all means, don't be stupid, because yes there are desperate people out there, but do we act like everyone is bad and we can't chance getting to know them, or do we live in a way that we see the good in everyone and try to establish a community where we truly help one another. I would much rather that, that one where I feel like I can't venture out of my house or let my kids play in my yard without a police call, wouldn't you?

All the feels

I'm not sure if its a parent thing, or a me thing or what I interpreted my parents being growing thing, but a lot times I struggle with getting to the point where the tears can come.  Maybe I'm too prideful to cry, but I know I need it.  It's been self proven that a good cry does me wonders with my stress.

Today was stressful. I got a call this morning that we should take Ben to the ER, his numbers for dehydration were pretty bad and they thought he should be further evaluated/rehydrated. A mama heart knows when something isn't right.  Even though I made sure he always had water and was drinking it slowly, his body wasn't keeping up.  He was lethargic, sleeping all day and complaining of stomach pain. To me following this recommendation made sense even if it meant I had to forgo teaching that morning to my Algebra students. And honestly, I struggle with letting go that sense of commitment, so to do that meant that I believed that he really needed more care and I couldn't give it to him at home.

And that's the first thing, there is such a tremendous feeling in our world to be in control of our children, and then things like this happen and you realize how much little control you really have.
Like despite your best efforts, bad things can still happen. And I want to say that's okay, but that seems harsh and not the right word. Instead right now it feels sort of sad, sad that you just have to watch sometimes and be patient.  I know that's God there, in control of it all, but still its just feels off somehow. Like despite my efforts to hydrate, he wad super dehydrated, and I couldn't do one thing about it except hand him over to people who could and pray that it would work out okay.

He's still there tonight, with his daddy.  And his daddy is the best person in the world for him to be with right now.  You see I was needed at home with the littler guys.  And my heart was pulled to let him go, but he's with my other half, the stronger one probably and he's going to be okay. I keep reminding myself of that.  And those little ones I had to leave, it breaks my heart every time I have do do so, I love them so, and yes, sometimes I need a break, but in circumstances like this, I want to hold on tight and never let them go.  So they get to sleep in mama's big bed tonight.  And I think they like that at least.

Sometimes, it feels like I can't catch up or catch a break.  It feels like we go from one medical issue to another, from broken bone, to anxiety, to dehydration. It's rough over in the Kurak household.  But maybe God is teaching me something.  Maybe he wants us as a collective family unit to just...slow...down. To come back together and just be with each other. Not plan a trip or entertain guests for a bit, but just be us together, enjoying the gifts of each other.  I love my friends, I do.  But we all need breaks sometimes and maybe God is just making this be our time for that. Maybe I just need to be more and do less. To not be a slave to the schedule. Order and structure are great, but to really know someone, I think we have to break it sometimes.

So when I spent a good amount of the day with my biggest guy, it was good just to sit and knit and talk.  I secretly love that he's been requesting to be read to while sick. It warms my heart so much, because its one thing I can do for him and I love it. But a lot of time the reading aloud it gets overlooked when there is too much going on, and I miss it when it does.

My hardest part of the day was watching the PIC line be put into him.  He writhed and hated it so much. It was really tough to see something so medical be done to my baby.  I keep returning to the thought that I haven't even had that done to me.  I've managed to never need it in giving birth and I'm grateful because I'm a wimp when it comes to these things. To anyone who has had a PIC line put in,  you all are amazing rock stars, every single one of you. I mean that because it was just awful to see someone so dear to me be in pain.  Though I guess, he has been in pain all along, but it felt forced, even if it had to be and the people doing it were super gracious.  It just was hard to witness.

And so tomorrow we will see what comes of his hospital overnight stay.  Will he go home?  We hope so, signs are pointing to yes.  But I'll still pray because God might have something else in mind.  So if you can pray too, I would love that. I hope my rambles weren't too much this evening. :)

Loving that there are Land Before Time DVDs

Suckerpunched

Right now I am feeling sucker punched by anxiety. Things that were becoming easy no longer are. It sucks. I've started a novena and am trying to take time to rest but it's a slow process and I never like it.

You see we just had friends stay with us. They are awesome friends, we love them and they are super people who lift you up and not down so one would think that having them stay would be okay.

But somehow my body didn't like it. Instead the day after they left, I had a full blown panic attack like I never had before. My heart was racing with a pulse of 130-150 for at least a good half hour if not longer. I was completely aware and yet out of control of my body doing this. I did nothing to trigger it at that moment, instead I was gardening and about to peacefully walk home with the kids.

It was awful and I hated it so much because I was helpless. I called my brother and SIL for advice and all the while the baby is upset that I don't want her near me. We talk my brother who struggles also with anxiety tells me that's it's a panic attack and I don't understand, I just want it to be gone. Finally I give in to nursing the baby despite being out of sorts.

And you know what that little girl saved me, nursing her almost immediately calmed my heart rate. I am ever so thankful.

It's amazing how the thing we think causes the mess might actually be the saving grace. The child who we give so much to and we hardly feel like appreciates it, at least in our adult minds, can just be so good for us. To break us of our destruction of self. They do love us, so very much and yes sometimes we can see it, but in the taking so much from us and us giving so much it's hard to see it a lot of times. This one time, I don't think I'll ever forget. 

And so, having that experience has set on a whole new wave of anxiety and it sucks. I'm taking my steps to get it under control/figure out what to change and let go, but it takes time and is an uphill battle a bit. It's opened up some new wounds, or some pieces of me that I struggle with as we all do have our struggles. Through it I try to remind myself God is there and he won't let me down through this. And that will get me through another day.

Humility

It's been a while since I've written on here.  New adventures with schooling and teaching have led the blog to be on the back burner for a while.  I'm currently stuck under a sleeping baby, which would normally constitute a nap, but I'm the worst at napping, so blogging it is.

There have been many things on my mind lately some of them being the notion of people as products in our society, reading and kindergarten, letting go of rigidness, and humility.  The last one is one that I thought I could share a few thoughts on today.

I am someone who loves praise, it makes me feel good.  At the same time I'm constantly praying for humility because well I know I shouldn't be wanting that praise from others but instead should be striving for it from God.  I think sometimes pride, that annoying root quality, gets the best of me in things and it makes me think I'm awesome and people should love me.

But the thing is while I am awesome because God made me, (and you are awesome too because God made you too), I shouldn't be thinking of others liking me as the end all be all that my head sometimes, or honestly a lot of the time plays games with me about. To esteem the approval of others means I'm only going to be unhappy when they let me down. And this is where humility comes in.

I think one of the reasons I am always trying to discern inclusion of social media in my life, or rather the getting rid of it, is that for me it can cause me to spiral down this path of questioning my worth. Its actually a good reminder for me on the days when people don't interact with me or like my stuff that I shouldn't be looking for approval from others. Instead I should be okay with and maybe even get to the point of uniting this feeling with Christ and grow with him. That would be the ultimate goal at least.

So, that's where I'm at today. Enjoy your Sunday!

Land Before Time

Dear Lena,

I figured I'd write this post to you.  Your brothers have been obsessed with dinosaurs lately, first it was Dinosaur Train related.  Ephraim's casts has been full of dinosaurs from this show.

Then, I introduced them to the Land Before Time and it seems there has been no going back.  Sure they appreciate Dinosaur Train, and will watch it, but there is something that has captivated them with these characters from your mama's own childhood.  And honestly I'm okay with that, to me they were pretty great characters.  My favorite is Duckie, but Benjamin seems to like Little Foot and Ephraim likes Cera and Spike. In this obsession, we have been finding many dinosaurs around the house eating appropriately.

Fennel anyone?

The T-Rex is eating ants.

And with this obsession, my artist in me has come out and honestly I like it. I get to draw things and the boys enjoy painting them. 

Cera

Spike

Little Foot painted by Ben

Little Foot again

So what I think I learned from this all is that I am glad to rediscover my like of drawing.  I sometimes wonder Lena girl if as a teenager I let peers or mentors influence me too much. But also maybe the perfectionist came out and saw science as a safe way to get through school.  I was good a science, and I knew there were jobs in science.  It seemed less subjective than art or architecture, and so that's what I chose.  But Lena girl, I think that maybe what I want to teach you is that it is okay to take risks, it doesn't mean that you have to do so, but that it is okay to fail. Its in failing that we learn.  I need to remember that more often than not, because maybe just maybe I can try things and fail and it will be okay.  And for now, I'll keep drawing dinosaurs, and probably fail at this sometimes too. :)

Love,

Your Mama

Each human

This evening I was watching a film on Netflix where the protagonist had an old soul as some would call it. One of the best lines was that he stated he wasn't going to miss out on something great just because it was hard.

This made me think about the dignity and value of each person. As you know I think a lot, probably annoyingly so. And as life has presented itself there have been some people in my life that have been particularly hard to deal with. I've spent countless hours praying and thinking about what to do with them, how I could love them because with them comes lots of heartache and its just sometimes so hard.

But in those moments when I just want to completely walk away something stops me. Something tells me that as completely impossible that this person is with all their baggage, they are also loveable, because they like me are made in the image of God.

And I don't condone abuse to any extent, walking away there out of self preservation is a necessity. But most relationships are messy in their own way.

We bring our brokenness with us everywhere, and I think sometimes we forget that everyone has this same yet different brokenness, and its okay. That brokenness is redeemed in Christ, and as messy and as unlovable as some people put on to be, there is a person in there shouting out the need for love.

So do we choose to love them in our own flawed and messy way? Hopefully yes. Because after all He loved us first, and He thinks each and everyone of us is worth it.

More on Self Control

Since the last post, I've been pondering more on the subject of self control.  I've come to conclude that our society is one that runs on impulses.  And before you think I am high and mighty, I would say I give in to impulses probably just as much as the next guy.  I am routinely asking for chocolate cake or ice cream from the local ice cream shop just because I want it.

As I contemplate self-control though, its interesting seeing from a parent's view point.  First, it feels like we want our children to choose right from wrong, so we say no, no, no to the wrong but yes, yes, to the right.  But along those same respects there are so many things that given the situation can go either way. Things that in small amounts are good. Things that work for one situation or one child but don't for another. It becomes all kinds of complicated. Its probably another reason our society is what it is, one crazy bunch of impulse driven people. Consumerism is set up this way, every store has check out isle items, and there are always deals on this or that but only for one day. And then in our sexuality the culture just screams impulse, to think differently means you are backwards or judgmental.

So I'm wondering how does one really learn self control.  Is it through discipline?  Is it through understanding?  Do we naturally have self-control inside us, or is it only something we can learn through example? I don't know.

There are very limited pieces of art that display senses of self-control.  Last night, I actually ran across one of them on Netflix, and I was amazed at it.  The film was called Heart of the Country and in it, the other guy that usually wins, didn't. Instead their was fidelity and faithfulness, and it was refreshing to see, because it gives me hope that it can happen in this world, and that others do see it as a virtue to uphold.

Post watching that film, it reminded me of one my favorite books of all time, called Running Barefoot by Amy Harmon. Since I'm a hopeless romantic, its a love story of course, but of a different twist.  In it the girl meets the guy on a school bus, but she is 12 and he is closer to 18.  And instead of him taking advantage of her he waits, and in the oddest way.  He lets her live her life and she actually is engaged at one point but there is tragedy and well you will have to read it to see how it ends, but its good, so read it!  And again, there is self-control involved here in the story.

I think sometimes we get caught up in control issues in this life, it feels oddly easier to control someone or something else instead of ourselves. But I wonder if we ever are going to be able to have an impact on someone else by example unless we ourselves understand our own self-control. It has me thinking about situations as a parent, its so much easier to bark orders, but less easy to give true freedom and give understanding with loving direction so that someone can learn their own self-control as well.

Anyway, this is where I am at today.  Hope you are having a wonderful first week of August.

Spiderman to the rescue