Need Some Stress Relief....

I can always tell when my days are stressful because the most random thoughts starting popping into my head. Things like “if the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?”. So, I thought I would write a post that was a little on the humorous side – maybe helping to get everyone’s mind off the stresses of everything that is going on in the world at the moment! Enjoy!

· Have you ever noticed that there is no “apple” or “pine” in “pineapple”?
· “Obganiate” is to irritate someone by constantly repeating oneself.
· “Galeanthropy” is the belief that one is a cat.
· “Bibliophobia” is the fear of books.
· Quicksand only works slowly.
· “kakorrhaphiophobia” is a fear of failure.
· The first person you see after leaving your house is called a “qualtagh”.
· “Steatopygic” means “having a fat behind”.
· Someone who eats frogs is called a “batrachophagous”.
· “Asdfasdfasdf” is a common keyboard mashing similar to “jkjkjkjkj".
· “blennophobia” is the fear of slime.
· “rectalgia” is a pain in the butt.
· “rinkomania” is an obsession with skating.

Some of my favorite “oxymorons”:

· Adult children
· Alone together
· Jumbo shrimp
· Pretty ugly
· Clearly confused
· Rolling stop
· Old news
· Blank expression
· Random order
· Second best
· Front end

Looking for a Cat....or Husband?

Funny Obits

I have a strange favorite pastime. I love to read the obituaries. Not to see who has died, but I am always curious how family & friends word the death notices of loved ones. For example, one of the most popular death notices is probably “Jane Doe passed away 01/01/90”. But, every now and then, I run across one that is hysterical (and sometimes just downright unbelievable).

Here are a few of my favorites:

· Jane Doe completed her long journey to be with Savior….

· John Doe was summoned to appear before his Judge….

· Jane Doe died after all her breath leaked out….(I had to read this one again to make sure I read it correctly.)

· Jane Doe departed Dallas to be with her Lord….(Yes, Dallas!)

· John Doe died peacefully from a brain aneurysm ….(This does not sound like a “peaceful” way to go – but, maybe I am wrong!)

· Jane Doe changed her address…(I wonder, will the post office forward her mail?)

· John Doe expired….(I’ve always wondered if there was a “sell by date” stamped somewhere on our earthly bodies.)

· Jane Doe passed away quietly….(What a relief to know they were not kicking and screaming anyone just before dying.)

· John Doe sailed his final voyage to Heaven….

· Jane Doe departed this stage of existence…

So, now I am curious, have you read a death notice that made you laugh a little (okay, alot)? If so, please let me know so I can add it to my list!

Parenting - Pick Your Battles

When our son entered middle school, the clothing wars began. Attending a private school, we were fortunate not to have the “what am I going to wear today” battles – it was all uniform, baby! But, when he hit middle school, and the social calendar began to get booked, the importance of his “weekend clothes” became the center of our world. When he announced that he wanted to wear the baggy jeans, I immediately said, “NO WAY!”. I absolutely hate that look! There is nothing attractive about guys walking around holding their pants up with one hand – but, making sure that they can still be falling off just enough for everyone to see that they are wearing lime green boxer shorts with hot pink skulls on them!

After a few days of arguing about the baggy jeans – God began to show me some things. First, what was bothering me the most was not just the fact that this look was so stinkin’ sloppy – it was more that I did not want my son to be associated with “the type of people who dress this way”. I was scared. What would people think? What if he got involved in drugs, alcohol…hanging with the wrong kids? Admit it, we all assume that if a person dresses a certain way – they must act (or think) that way. How many times have we walked down the street and judged someone because of the way they are dressed….especially teenagers! We wonder what kind of parents would dare let their child out of the house dressed like that!

Later that week, we decided to “pick our battle”. We sat our son down and told him that we would allow him to get a pair of those baggy jeans AND wear them….but, there were 2 rules. First, he could not wear them so baggy that we were able to see his underwear. No exceptions! Second, the moment that the character and core being of who he is in Christ began to change….game over! Period.

Let me tell you what I learned. The entire time my son wanted to wear those baggy jeans – his personality and character never changed. He was the same kid he was when he was wearing his school uniform. The fad passed (thank you, Jesus!). Of course, there were other battles just on the horizon. We began to apply the concept of “as long as it does not change the character and core being of who you are in Christ” to everything. It made it much easier for us to allow Chase the freedom to begin to express himself, and was a reminder to him the importance of remaining true to himself and to God.

We learned that when we chose to pick our battles , we had more energy to fight the battles that really matter! Those battles that begin to comprise our children’s character and core being of who they are in Christ! Those are the battles we need to be fighting!