It was the second time I’d heard a particular “Radio Minute with *Whose’em-Face” (Whose’em-Face being whoever the fellow was with his succinct stories with a witty moral at the end). I was thinking to myself, “Why can’t this guy just hurry up and say his stuff so I can hear some music!” This story was vaguely familiar and I knew I’d heard it recently… just a few hours before.

The guy was talking about his regret with his father: he had written his dad a tribute but was unable to share it with him due to an early death by heart attack. He described the deep desires to share these things with his father while he was still alive.

Funny thing I was hearing that twice on Wednesday – my dad’s birthday was the next day.

As a tribute to my Dad (one day late for his Birthday – with 2 boys in the house, sometimes life happens) I want to say that he is one of the most involved, present, and loving fathers – I’ve heard stories of others, and my Father just seems to stand above the rest. He does his best to represent Jesus to us, and he gives advice and perspective rooted in deep wisdom and love for Jesus.

He is always willing to tell you what really matters and what really doesn’t matter.

Over the years I have seen him grow tremendously in his own realization of Father God’s heart for him, and this change has been very evident in his own fathering, grandfathering, and shepherding of his congregation.

He has overcome obstacles and has seen the Lord use him in many impactful ways.

He is a pioneer and refuses to consider re-tirement – only re-FIREment (i.e., he’s not spending his later years on a long vacation, but instead is continuing on in Holy Spirit-led ministry)!

My dad is the BEST!

I love you Dad!

 

 

My oldest – 6 – and Shannon, my husband, were roughhousing last week and I heard a pause, followed by a long sigh and, “Oh no – it looks like this boy has my teeth.”

Rounding the corner wondering what that meant, my husband relayed childhood horrors of having teeth pulled because his would grow in behind the baby teeth without either falling out on their own, leaving two rows of teeth, and visits to the dentist.

Sure enough my precious boy had the same scenario playing out in his mouth, and was terrified at the thought of having his tooth pulled (as any 6 year old would be, right?) I promptly called the dentist who instructed me to have him wiggle it and hopefully loosen it and come out on it’s own.

I mentioned that to my “big boy” and he was game, fully on the plan. I even caught him on the counter with toy tweezers trying to operate on himself – he pulled and wiggled as it became looser and looser, and was ecstatic, saying “I can’t believe this is happening!”, “I must be dreaming this!”, and “This is the most exciting day of my life!”  I assumed he was excited about the tooth fairy – I mean, what a GREAT deal!  You lose a baby tooth and the tooth fairy takes it away giving you some moolah! Even though we had never taught him about the “tooth fairy”, since he brought it up, we talked it up and he played along.

 The big day came when he was chewing on his new snorkel, stopped, gasped and exclaimed “MY TOOTH FELL OUT!”   We, of course, immediately became detectives trying to track down the tiny tooth on the kitchen tile. Finding it, he did a happy dance all the way to the pool!

Later that night I went out to meet with a friend and around 8pm I got a text from a concerned daddy that read “We have a tooth fairy problem – our big boy is VERY worried about the tooth fairy and wants to hide his tooth from her!”

I returned home at 10 pm to get the scoop, my boy could not go to sleep: he was very concerned about the tooth fairy and DID not want him to take his tooth (he is nostalgic like his mama). He was very upset and said he didn’t want the money – he would rather keep his tooth, begging his dad to hide it, he even cried and said the tooth fairy was sparkly and scary and he did not want her to come.

So in the morning over breakfast I began to talk with Kenimer. I’m not gonna lie – I was a little sad that I didn’t get to swoop into his room as the tooth fairy and bring delight to him by leaving some real cash. His daddy and I exchanged a few nods and quickly made the decision to tell him the truth about the tooth fairy.

Daddy: ”Kenimer, do you know who the tooth fairy is?”

Kenimer: “No, I don’t know her – she is sparkly and has a wand.”

Daddy: “I know the tooth fairy and she is really just a nice lady who loves you very very much, she’s a special person to you and is going to take your tooth and put it in a safe place since that is important to you – she cares about you and cares about what is important to you! The tooth fairy story is a make-believe story and the whole thing is a reason to celebrate a milestone, losing a tooth is one more step towards growing up!”

“Can you guess who it is?”

 My boy exploded into the most amazing smile and hug, when he realized, pointed to me, and was overjoyed that the tooth fairy was someone he could trust that loved him.

He smiled a toothless grin and said “You’re not really sparkly but I like this idea better.”

A few hours later he came to me with the ziploc bag in his hand and proudly proclaimed “I’m gonna put the tooth under my pillow tonight!”

 

MORAL OF THE STORY: in this case the truth was much better – in fact it seemed to set Kenimer somewhat free from his fear.

who ever came up with the whole tooth fairy idea, anyway?

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s be honest, most of us can say there was at least one moment in your life where you’ve wondered;

Am I nuts?

it could have been an obsession about something, prolonged sadness, extreme sensitivity or the ” Why can’t I just get over this” nagging question.  Here is some interesting news found in a recent readers digest. ( March 3/12)

 

The Upside to being a little nuts!

Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder: you’re more likely to be hard working and diligent.

Its no secret that OCD people definitely excel at jobs with strict rules.

Anxiety- your more likely to be compassionate.

HIghly anxious people are usually titled attentive and sensitive towards others.

Mild Bi- polar disorder: You’re more likely to be creative

People prone to mood swings are often writers, artists, musicians and performers.

Asperger syndrome: You’re more likely to be a problem solver

This is the category of people that are ususally social awkward, but their intense focus steers them towards technology, science and engineering.

Depression: you’re more likely to be insightful.

Depressives tend to be more in touch with the deeper truths of life, and their surroundings.

 

The Bible says that what God meant for Good, the devil meant for evil.

One step away from connection with our creator and our good traits suddenly become manic.

You were meant to soar, to fly. To influence the world and make a difference wherever you are. Choose to let the good traits outshine the bad. Get help if you need it….

 

I was on autopilot scanning the Birthday section at Wal- mart.

spider man?  ironman? or maybe Cars 2?

Picking up plates, napkins, blowers, cups, I felt a sense of dread, thinking, I do this every year and it’s such a waste of paper.  My mind wandered to the stack of glass dessert plates I never use in my cabinet and the new birthday banner I buy every time a birthday rolls around, not to mention the birthday hat I usually purchase for one time wear.

I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of birthday mania aisle and let the creativity run wild. I’VE GOT IT!

I ran to Michaels buying a stack of blue and red felt at five for a dollar and a blank red t- shirt for $2.50. My idea was to make a birthday banner out of felt to hang across the fireplace and for each birthday I will simply change the name banner. I also envisioned a coordinating birthday shirt that could be worn on the special day and worn again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started out by finding last year’s birthday banner that was falling apart. I broke apart the letters and used them for stencils. I then cut triangles out of dark blue and light blue.

 

 

I cut the letters out of red felt and hot glued them onto the triangles. Next, I glued the triangles with letters attached to a red ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looked so cute in our living room! My plan is to make the third part of the banner exactly the same in December with the name Tucker for the next boy’s birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember the red t-shirt I purchased for $2.50? I made a corresponding banner with small triangles and cut a large number six out of the leftover felt and my sewing saavy sister helped me sew it on!  This was one happy birthday boy who woke up to a festive banner and celebratory t- shirt to wear to school. He reported that everyone knew it was his birthday… due to the shirt , of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He never even noticed that there were no disposable birthday accessories:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He blew out a candle on a Dunkin Muffin, the muffin is sitting on a white plate and juice is in a regular cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did, in fact use that stack of desert plates stowed away in the back of the cabinets. My new plan is to take my boys to Color Me Happy to paint their own birthday plate to use every year! Color me Happy is a local paint your own pottery studio, if your not local, message Meghan and ask her where to find one near you.

Unfortunately, I hopped on the  Green Birthday wagon about two days before the big day, not enough time to make the plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a delightful day and no trees were killed on behalf of me. The three old is quick to remind me that I have to make him a shirt with a big four on it come December! These traditions came from a desire to not add to the dump yard with birthday festivities.

Some additional ideas include wrapping gifts in burlap sacks, I have not tried it yet. I’m taking baby steps with the green lifestyle you know!