Tag Archives: Children

Pass On the Tune

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Irish music is an oral tradition, passed on through the generations, learned by listening and doing.  Here is a dear man who sat outside of the Rock of Cashel in County Cork, playing his accordian joyfully for the passersby.  Joshua was fascinated, and this generous soul invited him to sit down and play awhile with him.  It didn’t matter that Joshua had never played an accordian in his life; this man’s open and sharing spirit encouraged Joshua to feel as if he could.  As my little guy pushed keys and squeezed away, the man nodded in time and tapped his foot.  What a wonderful thing, and what a wonderful memory.

Share what you love to do with some little soul today, and watch their sweet face.  Pass on your tune.  Slainte, Lisa

Stuck in the Gooey Gumdrops

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So I played “Candy Land” with my 5 year old over the weekend.  And got stuck in the gooey gumdrops and the molasses swamp repeatedly.  Once you land on those dreaded black dots, you have to wait for the yellow card or the blue card to be drawn in order to move again.  So I continued to draw and wait, while my child laughed gleefully at my predicament and advanced towards winning.  (And she did win, twice in a row.  🙂  )

Later, I thought about how life is so much like that game sometimes.  We get stuck, or mired, or obsessed with some goal or object that we feel we have to obtain in order to move on.  And then we’re stuck in the gooey gumdrops.  Life continues to swirl on around us, while we’re just sitting and waiting and hoping for this thing that we think will make us happy.  When we finally draw the right card, it makes us happy, but usually only for a little while.  The only lasting thing that can make me happy long term and forever is Jesus.  He’s the only thing I need to get me out of the molasses swamp and into the abundant life that He longs for me to have.

Slainte, Lisa

God’s Playground

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Some people refer to Ireland as God’s country.  I know that God loves all the countries and peoples He made, but I also think He was smiling and laughing a bit more when Ireland was made.  🙂    And it certainly is tailor-made for kids…rocks to climb on, castles to explore, walking and hiking and more walking, sheep scattered in random places along the way, great but normal food they will actually eat, and on and on and on….

Slainte, Lisa

Reencaheragh Beach

 

Traveling Out and About

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“The belt of Christ about me on my going out and on my coming in.”

“God be on your road every way you go.”

Irish Blessings

  My poor baby fell out of bed this morning around 4 AM.  She’s five, and recently insisted that she was big enough to sleep without the guard rail.  We agreed, but now my mother bear instincts are questionning this.  Her poor little nose took the brunt of it, but thankfully, she seems to be alright.

Letting go, letting your children grow and develop independence, is scary sometimes.  You want to protect them from all the bad things, the hurts, the wrong choices.  You want their life to have the happiest endings possible.  Yet they can never grow up successfully with that kind of hover parenting.  And that’s one of the amazing lessons of parenting…learning to trust God for the times when you can’t be there or shouldn’t be there.  Because He promises to protect, to guard, to do what is best for all of us.

“He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.”  (Joshua 24:17b)

Go with God, and know that He is with you today.  🙂  Slainte, Lisa

Traveling with the Little Darlings

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Traveling with children.

The best and the most challenging of times.

Enough said.

Ok, ok, I’ll say some more.  My husband and I like to travel, and we have three children.  Our family travel memories are amongst the very best of our collective memories, and I pray that we can collect a few more over the years.

These pictures are of a VERY long, windy, bumpy car ride on tiny, narrow Irish roads.  Everyone was getting a bit punchy, as you can see.  However, our reward for such an endurance test was pictures and experiences such as this, on top of Blarney Castle.  Is it worth it?  Definitely.

I think the key to traveling well with children is to plan, plan, plan before the trip, and then relax, relax, relax once you get there.  Now this is a funny statement if you know me.  But hey, I’m working on it!  One day I’m going to be the most chilled out woman around!

Speaking of travel, I am going to post a poll for ALL of you to take today on your travel preferences.  Please take it, and it may provide fodder for another interesting post to come!  Enjoy your weekend!     Slainte, Lisa