Our trees

These are some pictures my sister-in-law took of our pretty pink trees. Deacon has been concerned that I will cut them down (since I have been doing a lot of hacking). But these are the 2 that I like, so they can stay.

I don't have a lot of time to read, (Except for High Rise Detectives and Nate the Great), so two weeks later I am still working on Scream Free Parenting by Hal Runkel. It is such a good book! I almost don't want to read anymore though because then I feel like I have to implement the principles and it is kind of hard. But I think in the end it will pay off.

The reason I probably like it so much is that he is big on raising independent children and giving them room to make mistakes and face the natural consequences. Both of which principles I also embrace. I am so thankful that we have, from the time they were small, left them with babysitters, put them in the nursery, Sunday School etc so that A. They can learn to live without us and B. We can learn to live without them. After I had kids I started to realize how many people are scared of and dependent on their children!

This independence thing is also the reason that in a lot of my pictures my children are wearing rather interesting clothing combinations.

So that part of the book isn't that convicting for me. It is the part about parents not being emotionally reactive with their children that is the hard part for me. I need to be in control of my own emotions REGARDLESS of what my children are doing or how they are behaving. Mr. Runkel reminds me, "You are not responsible for your children, you are only responsible to your children". It is a lot tougher when it is about your children and not a collegue or casual friend.

In other news, I am now listening to "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham while I run. Oh, the runs are getting brutal. So are the swims, so are the bikes. This is why I have been telling people about the triathlon- so that I have to do it, because right about now I feel like quitting my training!