Talking to Myself

Last Sunday we had a guest preacher, Jud Wilhite from Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. I always enjoy Jud's messages and last Sunday was no exception. He gave a quote from Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones: "We should talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves." Jud went on to explain that this means we should speak God's Word to ourselves more than we listen to the internal script that goes on in our minds. The one that says: "You don't measure up; or You're fat; You're weak; You're not successful at this that or the other." I guess everyone's internal script is different, but I've been trying to speak God's Word to myself instead of listening to my script and these are some of the verses I've been using:

Psalm 139:14

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

2 Timothy 1:7

⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

1 Peter 3:4

⁴Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

Philippians 4:13

¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

These are just a few of the verses I've been using lately. I use different verses at different times depending on what I am struggling with at that particular time. The more time I spend in God's Word the more verses I am armed with to help me through life's difficulties. What about you? Do you have a particular verse that you speak to yourself?

Silence is Golden?

It is said that silence is golden. I say: Silence is golden unless you have a 2 year old and then silence usually means trouble. Twice this week I have found myself blissfully enjoying a quiet moment and then panic strikes. Where is Rebecca? The first time, the whole family was going through the house calling RE-BE-CA! We finally found her back in our master bathroom with the door closed using Chris' deodorant. Even though the picture shows her using it in the prescribed manner, she also had deodorant smeared all over her face, feet, the bathtub and the bathmat. The second time, I found her up in her room, once again with the door closed, with a jar of VASELINE! That could have been a nightmare, but I caught her before she did too much damage. She did ruin the shirt she was wearing because I forgot and just sent it through the wash untreated. I'm just thankful she didn't smear it all over the carpet.

The second picture was taken when Abigail was two. She had decided to give herself a facial with diaper rash ointment or maybe she thought she would shave like her daddy. I don't know, but I do know kids are a hoot.

Just a quick PT update: Things are going well for the most part , but yesterday I took the girls with me to do my grocery shopping which I really try to avoid. I had probably one third of the things on my list when Rebecca said, "Nee go potty." We had already made two previous potty stops while out and about, so I said "Rebecca, I'll hurry and we'll go home." So I'm rushing through the store trying to quickly get the rest of the items on my list. Unfortunately, they have recently changed everything around at my Walmart and you know how that goes. Well, Rebecca is growing more and more frantic to the point that she is almost panting and saying "Where's the potty train? Where's the potty train?" So I zoom with her in the basket with Abigail running behind to find the restrooms. I whisk her into a stall, hurriedly place a seat protector on the pot and then get Rebecca situated only to hear, "Don nee go potty." To make a long story slightly shorter, I bribed her to take care of business and was finally able to finish my grocery shopping while Rebecca shared her new bag of Skittles with her big sister.

All Aboard the Potty Train

Well it's been a while. If you read my last post, you know we have been potty training Beccabu. With all of the last week of school activities and all the trips to the potty and cleaning up all the missed trips to the potty and getting ready to leave town, the blogging kind of fell to the wayside. I have been trying to stay faithful with my study time, but even that didn't happen while I was in Dallas...the trip that almost didn't happen.

Last Monday was an especially trying day and I came very close to canceling the whole trip because I just couldn't imagine dealing with the PT process anywhere but my own home. I' ll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that a sluggish digestive system has added several degrees of difficulty that I didn't have when potty training my first daughter.

Well I didn't cancel the trip and I am so glad I didn't. We had so much fun with my sister and her girls. It took some brain storming to come up with activities that would appeal to an eight-year-old, be fun for an almost 2 year-old, provide quick access for one potty trainer and her mom and not be too hard on a 5 month old and her mommy. We got lucky with the weather and were able to enjoy a picnic at the park and a Frisco Rough Riders baseball game. We went to Chuck-E-Cheese and swimming at the Allen Natatorium. A trip to Blockbuster provided afternoon entertainment for the 8 year-old while the little ones napped.




And the good news....I think we made significant progress in our PT efforts! My sister discovered that she has a gift for getting little ones to go. I wouldn't go so far as to say we're done and I'm still thankful for pull-ups in public situations, but as Rebecca would say, "We go on Potty Train" and I'm confident we'll eventually reach our final destination.