The Hard Part

Wise words from the Parents’ Tao Te Ching:

When your children behave,
give them respect and kindness.
When your children misbehave,
give them respect and kindness.

When they are hateful,
love them.
When they betray your trust,
trust them.

Believe this difficult truth:
Showing respect in the face of disrespect,
love in the face of hate,
trust is the face of betrayal,
and serenity in the face of turmoil,
will teach your children more
than all the moral lectures
by all the preachers
since the dawn of time.

Source: "On Soft Discipline": http://www.positivelypositive.com/2013/04/08/on-soft-discipline/

Neighborhood Blessings

As I think I may have mentioned, my kids lost both their grandmothers in 2011. It's been a bit rough on them. We prayed for the blow to be softened, and the Lord answered our prayers. About two years ago a very friendly person moved in down the street, a grandma who had no grandbabies to love. My kids adopted her. She adopted them.

Not that long ago, V wanted to go down to June's* house. I reminded her that it was a school day and V begged to be able to go read out loud to June, a thing she detests doing for me. "It makes her happy, Mom!" So I gave permission and V ran down. A couple of hours later I got a call from June telling me how she had gotten up that morning and wondered why she even bothered getting up every day. And then V came down and read to her. And it gave June such joy.

My kids still are a bit death obsessed. C told June that she loved her so much she would go to her funeral. June laughed, hugged her, and told her that she loved her too. V has told her how much she's going to miss her when she dies. L (my money-obsessed rude monkey) suggested that he'd be happy to have some of her money when she goes. (They have a long-standing joke where he teases "Give me all your money," and she laughs and swats him.) June lost her husband a few years ago and just lost her mom last month. She understands. She responds with love.

June comes by for holidays and birthdays. She made all of her kid friends in the neighborhood a fleece blanket for Christmas. She took the kids shopping to pick out the fabric and then had them help her. (They all wore them as capes on Christmas day as they visited around the neighborhood, even the big tough kids.) She gives them a piece of candy from her candy bowl each time they visit. (One piece, don't even try to take an extra!) She has them weed for her. She chews them out if they sass her, use bad language, or treat each other poorly. She takes them to the ballet, takes them grocery shopping with her, and just spices up their lives in general. Like a grandma.

We needed a grandma and the Lord gave us June who as it turns out needed us too, and strangers turned into family. It's a tender mercy that boarders on miraculous to me that the Lord chose to bless all of us in the same move.


*Name has been changed to protect her privacy.

Moffat's More Death Obsessed than I Am.

If I haven't outed myself as a nerd yet, allow me to do so. I am a Doctor Who fan. A big one. I have no TARDIS mugs or sonic screwdiver pens. No posters all over my rooms. Nevertheless.

Anyhow, I'll post a huge picture for those of you who need protection from Season 5, 6, and 7 spoilers. Here you go. Now go away or your life will be spoiled. (Also—move it along, time to catch up on your Who.)

Steven Moffet is just messing with us all. As I'm sure most people who've watched New Who can tell you, Moffet is mean and more than a teensy bit morbid. People die and then live. Then die again. (Lather-rinse-repeat.) Rory-and-Amy's deaths have became a running joke. Apparently Clara is going to follow suit. So here is a post that is really just for me to keep score. I'll be adding to it. [Don't flip out if it takes me a bit. "Just for me" means I am not trying to write the authoritative death lists for Whovians. Also I am not touching the Jack Harkness deaths, too many, too grotesque.]

Rory's Deaths:
1. Amy's Choice—Mrs. Pogett
2. Amy's Choice—Blown up when the doctor blew up the TARDIS.
3. Cold Blood—Shot by the Silerian Restac (intended for the Doctor) and body absorbed by the light, erased from time.
4, The Curse of the Black Spot—A toss up between drowning, and being vaporized by the touch of a stroppy homicidal mermaid, one of the two got him.
5. The Curse of the Black Spot—Appears to drown when taken off life support.
6. The Doctor's Wife—Died of old age in the TARDIS, driven to insanity by House.
7. The Angels Take Manhattan—Died from old age at Winter Quay.
8. The Angels Take Manhattan—Jumped from roof of Winter Quay.
9. The Angels Take Manhattan—Lived to death in the past, died for real at age 82. (This time they really mean it. Ten points if you can guess the show that's from.)

Amy's Deaths:
1. Amy's Choice—Drove van into wall.
2. Amy's Choice—Doctor blew up the TARDIS.
3. Hungry Earth—Amy appears to die when she gets swallowed up by the earth.
4. Girl Who Waited—Older Amy killed by the kindness of hand-bots and simultaneously wiped from existence. 
5. The Angels Take Manhattan—Jumped from roof at Winter Quay.
6. The Angels Take Manhattan—Lived to death in the past, died for real at age 87.

Clara's Deaths:
1. Asylum of the Daleks—Blown up.
2. The Snowmen—Fell to death.
3. The Bells of St. John—Soul sucked out by a little girl spoon-head at the base of the stairs.
4. The Bells of St. John—Soul sucked out by a doctor spoon-head at the café.
5. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS—Melted into a lava monster thingy. (I believe they are known in certain circles as "ossified creatures.")
6. The Name of the Doctor—OK, Clara officially wins most deaths of anyone in Who, old or new. How can you even count after that? 

If, by chance, you are not a Doctor Who fan, I suggest that you try it out. Get ready for cheesy special effects, some over-the-top moralizing, some melodrama, and some good clean fun. In theory, it's a children's show, but it's too scary for my littlest who is six.

As an aside, I must admit that I had a very good time double checking my list.