Jesus verses the Easter Bunny

Sounds like a terrible segment on AFV doesn’t it!? I bring this up not because I want to start a blog-war but because I want to hear your creative ideas and some of the things that have worked for you as it relates to a child’s fairy tale world and the real world where Jesus does exist and a belief in him is not the same as Santa or the Easter Bunny. 

I was confronted with this question recently by a pastor’s wife. How can you expect your child to believe and rely on Jesus when the Easter Bunny turns out to be a phony!?

I asked another friend of mine whose husband happens to be a preacher and she referred me to Dr Dobson. I don’t know much about Dr. Dobson yet but I intend to learn more.

Here is a link to the site with the information I took the caption below from: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/celebrating_the_easter_season/finding_easter.aspx

Easter Bunnies (and Santa too) are perfectly fine for kids to believe as long as you incorporate the 2. Here is a wonderful Easter example.

Teach them about Jesus by talking about what a real Easter Bunny is.

Use a rabbit picture, a stuffed bunny or even a real one (if you are adventurous) to teach some of the characteristics of Jesus that we should all try to have. By adding a Bible verse to each quality, you will create a true Easter Bunny.

Real Easter bunnies:

• are white as snow because Jesus takes all sin away (Isaiah 1:18b).
• are gentle, kind-hearted and forgiving (Ephesians 4:32).
• have big ears that are quick to listen (James 1:19).
• have big eyes to look carefully and choose what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
• have no voice for complaining or arguing (Philippians 2:13).
• are quiet in prayer, but hop with thanksgiving and rejoicing (Philippians 4:4-6).
• have big feet to go tell others about Jesus so they can be like Easter bunnies, too (Matthew 28: 19-20).
• eat what is healthy by filling up on God's word every day (Psalm 119:11).

Like what you see??? There’s more in the link above. I am curious about your opinion on this matter. Please, if you will don’t use this as a forum to put Dr. Dobson or anybody else in their place. We’re not rallying people into one camp or another, we’re sharing ideas. I know I felt truly bad when I left the conversation that started this blog and have given thought and energy to it ever since. Do you have Easter traditions that incorporate the famous bunny and Jesus? At what age did you start incorporating or have you always done so? If you have other sources for such information please send them my way! Thank you and happy (bunny) trails!!

Pinata Fun Despite a Helium Shortage

There’s just something about balloons and kids. I am not sure if it’s their punch-ability or the appeal of letting them all loose and watching them blow in different directions, but balloons are a hit in the Brunner house. So much so that each kid gets a mess of helium balloons on their birthday. I accomplish this cheap at the dollar store; they’re all a dollar!! So you can get 1 per year and not break the bank. Well this year there was a helium shortage according to the fellow who worked at the Dollar Store. I had no idea helium could experience, but low and behold, the dollar store man said it was true. Who am I to argue?

So here I am…..another round of birthdays (they’re a month apart..did I mention that?) and I have ZERO balloons. A tradition broken. L

Until I had a brain blooper: Build a Birthday Pinata!! How bad can it be? It gives the kids something to do HANDS ON and then something to do, BATS ON!!!!!

I google everything. Whenever I need to know something whether like ‘is Justin Timberlake married?’ or ‘how do you clean the carburetor on a push mower?’ I google it. P.S. I actually googled the carburetor example and my hubby followed the instructions and it worked! I was so proud. I don’t know who JT is married too but it’s on my list of things to look up.

Anyhoo, to make a piñata I found several sites that teach different methods for making a piñata. The 1 most popular were paper mache or a brown, paper grocery bag. I’ve never dealt with paper mache but I can imagine what a train wreck that would be in my little kitchen. Plus the gratification is too delayed on paper mache. You have to build in phases and give several layers and a little long for kids who just want to beat on it and get the candy. To me it’s like giving a kid a toy that requires batteries and saying ‘well today we’re going to put in only one of the 2 batteries. Then tomorrow, we’ll put the 2^nd battery in and then the 3^rd day, we’ll let it charge. THEN you can finally play with it.’ I do not like that approach and the paper mache piñata felt a bit like that to me. So we went the paper sack route and this is what we ended up with!!

My only recommendation is this; reinforce the holes somehow. The kids got a few good hits in and the piñata holes tore and the sack flew off the swing set!! I’d use a strip of this cardboard, like a cut up box and cut a strip, stamp holes in it and then staple with the bag’s fold and punch the bag equivalent to the holes in the cardboard. IF the piñata flies off, this is the result:

 

Disclaimer: Nobody was hurt in the beating of the piñata

Enjoy the fun. This was a good one for us Brunner’s. Take pictures of your piñata and send to me! I’d love to see them!!!!

 

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/paperbagcrafts/ss/PBpinata.htm

Texting Accident

So the other night I experienced my first accident while reading a text message. We had been down to the neighbor’s house for a cookout and there was a smidge of drama while I was there.

I sent a text message to a friend of mine to repair any damage caused by the cookout drama.

Now I must first tell you 2 things.

 

1. I saw a youtube video a while back of a woman texting in a mall. She must have been so engrossed she was not familiar with her surroundings because she fell into the fountain! I don’t’ mean she stepped in it and got her pant leg wet, she fell face first into the water, purse and all. She retrieves her phone and purse and exits the fountain headed for another store leaving a trail of water behind her. In that moment I’m like ‘really? Can’t even judge distance because of the phone!?
2. Our garage door is manual because it’s never been hooked up to operate via remote or little button outside the door. So the door at times may not be fully open. Often times the bottom panels are exposed and a majority of the door is up where it should be.

Can you begin to see where I am headed here?

So my dear friend and her text were so important to me that I walked into the garage door slamming my head into the bottom panels on the door! I bounced off so that’s a good thing because it did not leave a mark but OH MY WORD it sounded like a bomb went off in my head and I was stunned for a minute. My kids stood there, frozen not knowing how to respond or how I’d respond. I hear my daughter say ‘mommy are you okay!?’ and I hear Jackson let out a little snort. Then we all started laughing at my unfortunate mishap.

I have mishaps from time to time and they’re always entertaining. Seems I had a stretch there where I was coming out of things unscathed..no incidents, no embarrassment. I made up for it last night.

Happy texting everyone!!!!

What's Good to Read?

What am I reading?  I love to read. If I could spend all day outside in a hammock reading I’d probably do it. I’d get bored in there so I’d sprinkle in some time for other things, but I’d always to back to reading.

I like a variety of books too so the list may be puzzling to you, but maybe then again not. I have a spreadsheet where I keep track of what I’ve read because I am a big nerd and I tend to get confused.

I remember moments in books, I remember the emotion around books but I will not always remember characters and plot. So to avoid a re-read situation, I document this stuff. 

Currently I am on book 4 of the Left Behind Series called Soul Harvest by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins. I LOVE this series. I read through the series once and it had such impact on me I had to re-read it. I rarely do that but for this series oh YEAH!!! I am a follower of Jesus Christ and look forward to being an old lady with Grandchildren, but I also daydream about the time when I leave this world for my heavenly slumber and what it will be like. I am doing a bible study with my kids now on what heaven is like. I can expand on that if there is interest or if the interest takes me over and you get a posting about it. This book series put some stuff into perspective for me. It’s a fictional tale about the Rapture of Christ’s Church and the stories of those left behind to content with an upside down world, considering their faith and coming to Christ, and eventual hiding for survival until the Glorious Appearing. It’s SO INTENSE and full of detail and the transformation of the Earth as we know it completely amazing. It will make you think about your place I this world and really consider ‘what if I think I know where I’m going to end up, and come to find out I am wrong.’ Read it read it read it!! I’ve given book 1 as a gift and have recommended it several times. I’ve never heard back from any of those I’ve recommended and am not sure what that’s about. It could be with my close, personal friends this is new terf and an odd place they find hard to talk about. So I think I’ve either annoyed them, scared them, or ran them off thinking now that I am going to preach to them.

It’s all good. It’s just a book; I am recommending it no strings attached.

I also dig the Amish. I am intrigued with the way they live. Little/no electricity, long dresses and hair in extreme heat….WOW!! I have those days when I am out in my yard pulling weeds sweating like a farm animal and wonder HOW DO HEY DO IT!?! I think the attraction for me is the simplistic lifestyle. I wish we had more of that in our house. My family has it more than others I think, but the idea of no TV, each other for entertainment, serving others is so appealing to me. I conflicts drastically with the live I lead. Makes me consider a lot of things. Anyhoo ~ I digress. I love Beverly Lewis and had the pleasure of meeting her briefly during a book signing in a nearby town. Beverly has Amish heritage in her and is a very good story teller. If you like the Amish, give her a try. You may find love for her too. I recommend starting with the Abram’s Daughter’s series. There are 5 books and all about the daughters in the family, their experiences and how things work out for them. It’s a good, sweet story. Check OUT and let me know what you think. 

A few other favorites are Karen Kingsbury, the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, The True Blood Series by Charlaine Harris and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larrson. That’s where my weirdness and diverse liking comes in to play. I just like a good story. I don’t offend easily so some content though questionable is no big deal to me. Check these out if you’ve not read them and send me your ideas. I always struggle to find new authors I enjoy so please please enlighten me with your experiences.

Young Ones and Cell Phones

As I indicated in my intro, I have 2 kids.  Both of them are dying to have cell phones.  I hvae a strong opinion on this which I share with them all the time but it doesn't stop them from asking repeatedly.

I pitch this out to the peeps; Do your children (grade school age..say 5th grade and under) have their own personal cell phones??  Do you have rules around your phone to follow? Would you mind sharing??

The Intro to Me

This sorta feels like an interview.  A weird, one sided interview where I guess your questions and get delayed feedback on my answers.  What if I bored you?  Will you fire me? 

My name is Karen. I am a wife of 12 years with 2 kids the boy is 11 and the girl is 9.  As you can probably tell I am very new to this.  I work full time; on computers. I have a specific role with computers and blogging is NOT one of them.  I do surf through blogs though because they help me do things I would not ordinarily do myself. 

I call this site juggling mothers because I feel very much like a clown in a circus sometimes. I am controling the chaos, making sure homework is done and correct, cleaning, cooking, and at times chanting 'I love them, I love them, I love them' wondering when the chaos will make me break; which I am guessing begins with laughter. Lots of laughter that is out of place in the context. 

Hopefully we never have to go there.

 I find myself with questions. Lots of questions about kids. I am learning over time that nobody has all the answers and there are so many of you who have blazed the trail I would love to learn from your experience and hopefully you can learn from mine. 

That's my goal.