Another Lost Tooth

Yesterday I received an email from Hannah's teacher entitled "Tooth." In it, she wrote, "Major wiggly tooth for Hannah! Pretty much had her attention most of the day! She is trying to be so brave to pull it out---but must be ready!!! Hope it comes out tonight so she doesn’t have to worry!"

Now, Hannah's top tooth has been just slightly loose for about six months, and, occasionally, she imagines that it is looser than before and fills the whole day with dramatic wiggling and excitement. Because of this, I hoped that her tooth would be coming out for real this time, so the drama could finally end, but I confess that I suspected the tooth would still wiggle the same tiny amount as always. However, when I picked Hannah up at school, her tooth definitely moved more than it had previously.

When we got home, I tried to encourage her to wiggle the tooth and loosen it more so it would fall out before bed. It looked pretty loose and I didn't want to worry about her swallowing it. She vehemently refused, though, because she desperately wanted it to come out at school. Apparently, when a child looses a tooth at school, he or she gets a special tooth necklace, and Hannah has been longing for that opportunity all year. I chuckled, remembering the email I had received earlier, and told Hannah that I thought her teacher would probably appreciate the tooth coming out before school the next day. "Yeah," she replied, "I disrupted the whole class! That's why I got a one."

"Oh, Hannah," I responded, "that's not a good thing. Even if this tooth is still in your mouth tomorrow, you need to listen to your teacher and pay attention in class."

"I know," she said cheerfully.

"I hope so," I replied, raising my eyebrows a bit.

Later that evening, I gently brushed Hannah's teeth, and cringed, squeamishly, as the tooth crossed oddly in front of the tooth next to it. "Hannah," I said, "This tooth has to come out. Why don't you pull on it a little."

"No!" she exclaimed. "I'll just bang it out like I did before."

"No," I told her. "That hurts a lot worse than pulling it. Here, let me just pull very gently and see what happens."

I pulled ever so slightly, and out came the tooth!

Excitedly, she ran to tell her daddy and put the tooth in an envelope for the Tooth Fairy. This time, she decided to write the Tooth Fairy a note. Of course, I had to take a picture!

Side one:

"dear tooth Fairy at Lunch today at school I tryed to Bite my apple my tooth riped half way out"

Side two:

"At Bedtime mom pulled it gently out. I Love you"

And of course, the Tooth Fairy wrote a nice note in reply, included a pack of gum wrapped in a dollar bill, and placed them all under her pillow. And, I am pretty sure the Tooth Fairy whispered a little, "I love you, too..."

Developing Faith

I love watching my kids learn and grow academically. I celebrate when they discover something new or begin to comprehend a new concept. However, nothing pleases me more than seeing them develop a deeper personal faith in God.

Hannah has always been a challenging child, perhaps because she and I are so similar. Both of us struggle with bending our wills to submit to authority and both of us have a too-low tolerance for frustration. I pray for her that God will soften her heart and capture her will for Himself, while using her feisty spirit for His glory.

Despite her difficulties, however, she definitely shows evidence of Christ working in her life. For example, throughout this school year she has had to deal with teasing and bullying from a particular child at school. Though she has occasionally responded unkindly in return, for the most part, she has attempted to befriend him and include him. When I asked her why she kept trying to be friends with someone who treated her meanly, she replied that Jesus told her to love her enemies. She also prays for him and tells him that Jesus loves him. The "mama bear" in me wants to tell her to fight back and defend herself, but instead, I express how proud I am that she is choosing to follow Jesus.

Additionally, though the poor child ends up spending quite a bit of time in her room (especially after school when her tiredness leads her to attack her siblings and speak disrespectfully to me), she very often uses that time to read her Bible and pray. Then, she comes downstairs and apologizes for her wrong behavior, with a renewed humble spirit. Those glimpses into her faith encourage me that she will eventually triumph over her temper and develop into a sweet, God-fearing young lady.

Likewise, Ben has acquired a passion for learning about God and reading His Word. For his 5th birthday, we purchased a Scholastic Read and Learn Bible, so he could read and study Bible stories on his own. He loves it! He has been reading it nearly every day and then excitedly telling me about what he has read. We read the regular NIV Bible together every night as a family, but I knew, as a developing reader, that he would not yet be able to study that by himself. I thought this Bible would serve as the perfect step between the "baby" Bibles he used to read and a regular "grown-up" Bible, and I love seeing him studying it and earnestly applying it to his life.

Unlike the other two, Becca is just beginning to learn the concept of faith. She knows God loves her and she has heard the Bible stories again and again, but her little heart is still very focused on herself and her own desires. Still, she occasionally amazes me by expressing faith in her own, sweet, three-year-old way.

As the end of this school year approaches, I had been wrestling with what to use as a Bible curriculum when we begin homeschooling full-time. After previewing a friend's books, I strongly considered purchasing the Grapevine Studies "Stick Figuring Through the Bible" series. But then, last weekend, my father gave me a book he had discovered when ordering some other books from Westminster Seminary's bookstore - Might Acts of God: A Family Bible Story Book by Starr Meade. Wow! I have never seen a Bible story book like it. The author recounts the familiar (and some not-so-familiar) Bible stories in a way that focuses not on the main characters or events, but on what those stories tell us about God's character and plan for the world. Each story has a couple of discussion ideas as well. I have decided to use this book as our curriculum for next year, and I cannot wait to see how the kids continue to grow in their understanding and love of God.

When I look at my own failings and imperfections, I often struggle with whether I am succeeding in passing my faith on to my children. Do they see Christ in me or do they just see someone who frequently fails to live what she believes? Seeing my kids' faith encourages me that God uses me, in all of my weakness, to show my family who He is and how His grace and strength can overcome our failures. Just as Hannah can overcome her strong will to show love to her "enemy," I, too, can teach my children faith, even as my own imperfect faith continues to develop.

"Fun-et-ic" Spelling

Becca is learning to spell things phonetically. Today, she announced, "Look, mama! I spelled 'actually!'"


Here is a closer look:


Can you see it? "Ax - uh - lee"

I love "fun-et-ic" spelling!

Learning Life Skills

I would like to take credit for this bit of learning, and I typically do this job, but Josh gets credit for passing the skill on to our kids. Too often, I avoid allowing the kids to help with chores, because I can do them better or more quickly. Unfortunately, as a result, I ultimately end up doing everything without help.

Last Monday, I went to a day-long training seminar to help me with my business. While I was gone, Josh tackled the too-large mound of laundry that I had been ignoring for weeks. In fact, he washed and folded every piece of dirty laundry he could find in the house! And he did this in between shuttling kids to and from school and soccer as well. I could not believe everything he accomplished! Anyway, when I asked the kids how Daddy managed to do all of the laundry on such a crazy day, Ben told me that he and Becca had helped him fold the laundry. I smiled knowingly, imagining that their "help" probably kept them from fighting and getting into trouble, but likely did not make the work go more quickly.

The next evening, Josh brought a load of towels up from the dryer and placed them on the couch in the living room. He and I were talking in the dining room, when I looked into the other room and saw this:

While we had been discussing dinner, Becca had folded nearly all of the towels, and she did a fairly good job, too! She noticed the shocked look on my face and began grinning and pointing at her work. "It's amazing," she said, over and over again.

I asked her to show me how she folded them, and she happily gave me a demonstration.

After laying the towel out flat on the floor, she folded the sides over and lined them up nicely.

I never imagined that my three year old would be capable of folding towels. Yet, my husband recognized an opportunity to pass on an important life skill. I have been pondering this for a week now, and I wonder what other jobs the kids could learn to accomplish if I gave them the chance. They already pick up their toys and clear their dishes from the table, but I bet they could do so much more! When we begin homeschooling full-time next year, I plan to integrate chores into our daily schedule - making beds, straightening their rooms, and organizing their school work and supplies. But, now I may include them in my household tasks, too, like laundry, mopping, dishes, and dusting. If we make a game out of it, they may even find it fun! And eventually, I will appreciate the help from kids who have already learned the importance of working together as a family.

Loving Literature

One morning, after I had been out the night before, I was surprised to discover Hannah reading Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I loved the book when I read it in fifth grade, but the story deals with death and sadness and growing up, and I did not know if my six year old could understand the themes of the book. Additionally, the book has 249 pages with no pictures, and I doubted that she would have the patience the finish it. About a month later, Hannah has proven me wrong!

As she read the story, she often discussed the story and the themes with us, celebrating the victories and mourning the losses. She became so attached to Old Dan and Little Ann that I began to worry about how she would handle their deaths at the end of the book. But, though she definitely expressed sadness when she finished, she also says that the book is her new favorite book.

Today, I suggested that she write a book report about the story, perhaps to read to her class at school. She happily agreed. This is what she wrote, with some corrected punctuation and spelling (though she only spelled two or three words wrong and used periods fairly well this time).

"I read Where the Red Fern Grows! At the beginning, a boy wanted two coon hounds. Then he prayed to God so he could get two coon hound pups. He got two coon hound pups. On the first day of hunting, his dogs treed a coon. He chopped a tree down and got a coon.

Then, he caught another coon! And another coon. Then, one night there was a blizzard. Little Anne got stuck on the ice! How could he help her? He got a cane and helped little Ann! They went home. The next day he went hunting with with some kids for two dollars. He did not want to kill the ghost coon. One kid died. Then he went home.

One day, he entered a contest. Little Ann won a silver cup. Then he caught the most coons and won the gold cup. They camped. They went home and he gave a gold cup to his sister, a silver cup to his other sister, and a dollar to his third sister. The next day, he went hunting again.

Then, a mountain lion attacked them. Then, Old Dan died, and Little Ann was so sad she died. They were in graves. There was a red fern in the middle. The red fern was very special. It helped him not be sad."

Hannah added a cover page and a couple of pictures at the end, and she plans to bring the whole thing in to school to share with her class on Monday. Her love of books continues to amaze and delight me. I wonder what she will decide to read next...