As Easy As Taking Candy From a Baby

I have negative feelings about that picture. Who would want to be so selfish as to steal candy from a baby? Of course, it's easy unless your heart is cold and you overpower them, but surely their distress would melt most hardened hearts.

 Don't turn away, now, just because you thought this would be an amusing post.  I have an intriguing point to ponder. If the child is young, and if we are gentle it is possible to get them to let go. Sometimes they do or have something that is downright dangerous for them. Violence, like as in force, and loud words makes the situation worse. So what do you do? Get down to their level, lower your voice and be patient. Okay, okay stop protesting that the situation calls for immediate action. Are you sure? Because we as adults are so prone to rush about we may jump to that conclusion more often than we ought.

Guideline number one is to build their trust. A child is more likely to give you something if you are calm and slow moving. This applies to much more than just taking away that round hard candy they could choke on. Let them have a taste but kindly say that it isn't safe for them and offer something better. They sense if we are concerned, and their reaction will match ours.
I'm just going to throw in one more guideline before you rush about your busy day. Take the time to explain in simple, childlike terms as often as possible. It shows that you respect their feelings and helps them to learn. If they don't accept your answer try to be matter-of-fact about it and avoid arguing.

This applies all through their childhood but especially in the tender toddler years. Children are so impressionable and they will match our responses.

Too hard? Jesus is our best Comforter and Guide.

What's Wrong With Mommy?

If you haven't popped in it to order to get your copy of Two Mothers,  Twin Daughters, I don't blame you.  I would have waited 'til December to get into the contest also. I just needed to advertise early for publicity sake. Anyway, I'm here to give you a peek into the sequel. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Emily had no way of knowing what was making her mother so unhappy but she was worried. As the six-year-old girl trotted along the empty tracks beside her Grandpa she wasn’t prattling in her usual happy way and Ben’s brow furrowed. How can I get her to not think about the tension in the home?

He had never seen Marita so close to hysteria before. Something was definitely on her mind and Randall, his son and Marita’s husband was determined to get it out of her. Ben’s frown deepened. Could any good come out of the confrontation?

Ben had whisked the little girl out of the house before the showdown occurred but not soon enough to avert his granddaughter’s puzzling

questions.

“There’s nothing to worry about, “ he said taking her hand. “Look! There’s a little bird. What do you think it is?”

“A robin,” she responded, barely glancing at it. She picked up a lump of coal had fallen out of a train car and rolled it between her hands.

As they trudged along, Ben racked his brains for a way to cheer the youngster. He wondered how far they would have to go before daring to turn back.

Emily’s face lighted as she skipped over to the shining rail, and teetered on top of it.

“Hold my hand, Gran’pa. I want to walk on it.”

Ben inwardly groaned That’s a job for her mother to do.

Evidently, she doesn’t think I’m doing a good enough job, he thought a moment later, as she hopped off to gather some black-eyed Susan’s and purple asters.

“Let’s give these to Mommy. That’ll make her happy.” Soon an eagle high in the sky saw two small figures trudging down a long railway.

Nothing Could Go Wrong...Could It?

Babysitting for a few hours, why that's a piece of cake, I've done it lots of times. Nothing could go wrong...unless you have a two-year-old who tries to (fortunately) ineffectively cut everything in sight. Or maybe the same little gal wants to use the seam ripper to pierce the clear table liner. No big deal, right? Or what if she and her brother get hold of the pepper grinder, pry the lid off and shake pepper on the floor and on their tongues. (Yes, that's why they were fanning their mouths and begging 'Grandma Lynn' for a drink.

Nothing too hysterical, yet, right, but what about the little guy who manages to burn his finger on the sewing machine light bulb while the babysitter, that's me! is preparing to fix his pants and will not stop whimpering even with the tenderest of care? Little sister was patting the chair and begging him to sit down beside her, and 'Grandma' was trying her own doctoring skills but with the same success. So what was the problem? Why the tears over a tiny burn? He wanted me to 'kill' the blister

Yes, today was a piece of cake, and it didn't even crumble much.

Based On a Troubling Story

“What do I care if they are hungry?” Comrade Snezhana scoffed.  “We’ve put up with them all day long, and are taking a well-deserved break.”
Lyosha could hear whimpering down the long halls in the orphanage and it made her feel uncomfortable. She knew how little the children had to eat today, and it wasn’t any better yesterday, or last week either.

A half-hour later Comrade Roksana handed her a glass of wine to go with the expensive white chocolates that were topping off the meal but she felt too full or was it sick, to take another bite.
A toddler’s fretful whimpers were turning into lusty wails. Lyosha knew she should go comfort Klava before Comrade Snezhana strode over there and started slapping her around. But Lyosha didn’t dare. She knew she had the reputation of spoiling the ‘brats’ and didn’t have the nerve to make a scene in front of the other comrades including hardened officers who were partying with them.

I suppose you are horrified that something like this really did happen in Russia during the war. Why is it that we can sympathize with physical needs and want to do something, yet hardly hear the hidden cry of our or their hearts?
How many children, young people, and others are starving spiritually while those of us that should be helping are feasting on what the world has to offer and barely take enough spiritual manna to keep our own souls alive?
When’s the last time we have had a truly satisfying hour of studying the Bible? When is the last time we fasted, not to be seen of men, but because we had such a deep longing to pray, that food or earthly pleasures just didn’t seem important? I fall so far short but oh I pray that I can do better!

Is This a Perfect Day?

Did I have a perfect day? Well, it’s not over yet, but let me see what it has been like so far.

It’s  been raining for hours so it’s getting to the standing water stage but before it was that bad I had decided to check my blood pressure. That’s the little gauge that decides for me whether I should go for a walk or not. Yup, the numbers were creeping up again. Not into the dangerous zone, fortunately, but nevertheless: excuse the old dried out term, prevention is better than cure.

               My daughter graciously offered the use of her umbrella and even though getting a little wet has never bothered me, I accepted. I called my good ole buddy, Kasa. She wasn’t bouncing all over with enthusiasm like the day we went to the park in the city so was more manageable.  Off we went. Wasn’t long before that trusty umbrella was blown inside out and had to be hurriedly put away. Wasn’t long either before my running shoes were letting my socks get soggy, but hey you can’t walk in boots can you? I made it to the intersection and back, wet feet and all. Was it a perfect day, so far?

               It was a mighty fine day to be editing the sequel to Two Mother’s, Twin Daughters. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com I don’t need to look for any excuse to write but you mean I have to go through the whole manuscript and find all the times I used the word ‘just’ unnecessarily? That is not all, what about, ‘really’ and ‘very’, and countless words that end with ‘fully’? Gulp, or was that a sigh. I thought I was a pretty interesting storyteller but taking out those words is sure tightening up my yarn. Oops, I better go back and take out that ‘pretty’, also. I’m working on it folks, but this old girl has a lot more to do before you can get a peek at the book about Emily and Alice.

               Right now, I’m waiting for hubby to come home. BLT sandwiches is on the menu to celebrate our own tomatoes ripening, but after that, whoopee, we are planning to head into town and buy a beautiful blue Volkswagen Tiguan AWD. 2009. Now you wise guys know we aren’t rolling in the bucks because of me being the author around the place, but, hey, I still think I’m having a perfect day because I have the peace of God in my heart in spite of the ups and downs of life. How about you? 

Who Will Help Us With Our Problems?

It was a super-nice day and a Sunday afternoon, besides, which meant time to do something fun and relaxing. What should it be? Both hubby and I agreed that it would be great to take a walk in the park, so what if the city was 45 km. away.

 Now I have this real special dog. Some of you will remember Kasa as a cute small white puppy however she did some growing since then, but of course I wanted her along. With the help of a nice blue tarp for the back of the vehicle, she happily came for the ride.

 Right from the beginning things didn’t go quite as expected. First of all Kasa, who is an overgrown puppy is used to our boring country roads and would walk sedately enough, but these new trails with wonderful strangers to greet and especially all those dogs to make friends with, oh boy oh boy, was she ever excited! I quickly handed the leash over to Stephen, this super enthused ‘pal’ was a lot more than I could handle.

Diversion number two: A friend we hadn’t visited with much for several years because he lived elsewhere, stepped up to us. “Can I walk with you?” Sure, of course.

 Problem number two. The first one was a too rambunctious dog, you got that, right? Well now it was two men that had strong long strides that I could hardly keep up with. I was panting slightly on the inclines, but didn’t say much because my inherited blood pressure problem could use a workout, right. Right? Just as a side note, my B.P. had dropped to the normal range by the next morning. Yippee! Even my pills hadn’t coaxed it to do that.

 Hmm, problems weren’t over, though. On the way home, the car sputtered and died. My better half filled the rad with water but that didn’t help for long. So there we sat with the hood up, wondering what to do. Pretty soon a friend came cruising along with his family on the way to evening church. Sure, he would give us a ride home. There was even a place for the mutt behind the back seat of that roomy SUV. We joked about her sitting on the laps of the teenage girls on the back seat who were all dressed up in their Sunday best.

We got home in time to listen to the inspiring service over the phone and just as the last song was being sung a neighbour called.

  “Was that your car I saw beside the road?” Well, to make a long story short that friendly neighbour helped to haul it home.

  So did you read between the lines? Who will help us with our problems? God will. He doesn’t always give us such immediate or fun solutions, but often enough that we know He is in control so I’m gonna just keep trusting Him.  

Eat What's Set Before You--Or Choke On It!

I love having BnB guests. I love scurrying around in anticipation of wonderful new visitors coming to our home and getting onto exciting and sometimes amazing topics. It has been the joy of my life to open our home to guests and I have frequently called it my dream job.

So, why such an odd sounding title at the top of the page? Well, we are kind of out in the boondocks and sometimes a week or two passes between company arriving and I get involved in other things. You can guess what happens then: housekeeping doesn’t and can’t remain absolutely top priority. But when I hear guests are coming whoopee, I love to whip things into shape, and add my special loving touches here and there which are only for them.

I did it again last Friday. Then they texted about the time we were beginning to expect them. ‘Oh sorry, we didn’t realise you were so far from the city. It won’t work. Have a nice weekend,’ or something like that.

Glup. Well, I decided not to choke on what was set before me and told my friend “I guess we’ll be sleeping in a bed and breakfast tonight,”

Remember you’re always welcome to ‘get away from it all" at Hollyhock Haven BnB.  We’re on Air BnB in Alberta somewhere.