Family (siblings) Good Times

Ok, I must admit as I started my list of things I am thankful for about my siblings at first all I did was stare at a blank screen as a line blinked at me. But it still works. Over the past few days I have felt much better attitudes in our home. NO, it is not even near perfect and we (I) have a long way to go. But remember your siblings will be with you the rest of your life. Maybe you won’t live near each other and maybe your contact will be much less than it is now. However they will always be related to you. Out of all the people in the world they are the closest to you. They know what makes you happy or sad or what ticks you off. They know your habits and who you really are. That can be scary.
And admit it if you try you can have a lot of fun together. Try to have fun with them when you can. Play Apples to Apples or hide and seek. If they are younger than you like mine are than it’s a great time to drop the way you act to impress your friends and just be a like a (mature) kid again. Have some fun with them. Look for opportunities to go places together. I understand sometimes that can be embarrassing. Sometimes my whole family goes to the mall together and my sister and I just want to put a sheet over our head and drag our feet so we are far away from them. Don’t do that. Make people believe that you are so glad they are right beside you.
And let me tell you, little siblings are so easy to impress. Try saying some really silly and corny joke and watch them laugh. It can really be fun. You just have to try.

having fun

this is the four oldest kids in our family in a pool on our vacation to Florida.
To the far left is my sister Naomi. Then my 8 year old sister, (we call her Mi Mi)
Then my brother DJ. Then me.





We also went to the beach together





this is my sisters and I at Bible Drills.





this is my sister and I having our devotions at a camp we went to this summer.

Family (siblings) beyond hard

Recently my sister and I had to take over the house because my mom got very sick. We had never done anything like this before and we went from doing simple chores to taking over the whole house. We cleaned and cooked and did pretty well. (If you don’t believe me you could ask my parents.) They praised us and thanked us. All the first morning my sister and I couldn’t stop staying how much we loved taking care of our own home and how we couldn’t wait to be married. We spoke too soon. Before we knew it we were angry, very angry. My 2 year old brother was in to everything and wouldn’t stop fussing or crying. Then when you thought he had found something to keep him happy you turn around and find him (real to life example) dumping cans of live worms all over the garage floor. Pouring a brand new bottle of body gel on our bedroom carpet. Throwing food off his tray…. Again. And again we would have to spank his little bottom and he would say sorry then go do it again. My other sister who is 8 was always fighting with someone. She was complaining that she was sick too but then you’d see her hoping around and playing until you asked her to do something. But my 12 year old brother was the worst. Nothing we did was good enough and no matter what we asked him to do he’d say no or he made the other little ones mad.
You can imagine our defeat and anger. We were so upset we couldn’t even speak a kind word to them. It carried over into the next days and last night our mom came in our room and shared a story about her something from her early married life. She said that our Papa really irritated her shortly after they were first married by leaving his stuff all over the house and not keeping things neat. So after a while she felt led by God to pray and make a list of everything she was thankful for about him. Slowly the list grew and one day she wasn’t so irritated anymore and he was even picking up after himself. (ps. they have a great marriage now)
She told us to do the same thing for our siblings. Last night we were both too mad to even think about it. This morning, after a lot of battle with my flesh, I am preparing to make a list and trusting God to work in my heart. I can’t go on in my Christian walk with such anger towards others in my house so I am going to work hard. I don’t want to forgive many of them but the last few days have been miserable so…. I need God to help me change things and I’m starting today.
GIVE THANKS…
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15

Family (Siblings) when it's hard...

Okay, I tried to play with them; I’ve tried to be nice. But they are too terrible. I understand, honestly I do. I am the oldest then I have a 14 year old sister who I for the most part get along with. Then I have a brother who is 12 (bad age) A very loud 8 year old sister and my 2 year brother. They are all spread out so they really don’t play together, only fight and all of them want my sister and I to give them attention. I know obnoxious.
Yesterday I did some babysitting for a lady in our church who has three children under the age of four. They were so sweet and I loved being with them, though I came home tired and wanting some time to myself. My siblings did not agree with this idea to say the least. All I heard…
“Lydia, will you read me a book…”
“I wanted to tell you about…”
“Will you play a game with me…”
Then when the older ones finally went to their piano lessons I hoped I would have it quiet while my 2 year brother took his nap. He decided he didn’t want a nap. So there went my quiet afternoon. The family arrived home far too soon and again.
“He’s knocking over my tower…”
SCREAM!
“He won’t get out of my stuff….”
“I don’t want to help clean up…”
Relate?
So what do you do when your siblings annoy the snot out of you? What do you say when all you want is for them to stop fighting and leave you alone?
“You have been selfish.”
“Mom, I’m tired. I got up at five – thirty and I’ve been working all morning.”
“You should die to your own will and spend some time with them and bring order.”
“I read him his book.”
“OH, that was five minutes.”
Then you get the pep talk. So how do you deal with all this? I’ll tell you what I did and even though the rest of my day wasn’t perfect I managed to make it 80% better.
1. Pray for help
2. Find someone to laugh with. I found my sister and my mom very helpful in this. I just sat down and started talking about the best parts of my day and soon we were enjoying each other again.
3. Strive to not yell. I know it’s hard, I really do. But Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” So they won’t respond with goodness if you yell or are harsh. Sometimes I’ve felt like that was the only way to get their attention but obviously it’s not the right way.

Family (siblings)

Every month I would like to have a theme for my blog to write about. This month I would like to do family. I hear the average teen spends very little time at home and very little time with their family.
I’m not average in that I’m homeschool and spend everyday at home with my family. But just because I or you other homeschoolers spend time with them doesn’t mean it’s good time. I know a lot I’d like to just get out of the house and away from my two younger brothers and sister. But I have come to really see they want more than anything to spend time with me. I’m their big sister and they just want a little of my attention. I’m sure your younger siblings do too.
So what do most teens do on their Saturday? Sleep till noon, then watch tv. Let’s break that habit, for our own good. If you want to be a responsible adult one day you can’t act like all the other teens. This morning I started my own suggestion. I woke at seven and had my devotions and worked on the computer. Later I went outside to find my two year old brother crying because he had slipped into a mud puddle and didn’t like it. I started playing with him and soon he was laughing at the mud. We covered ourselves with it and he had so much fun. He smiled really big at me and said, “Le Le, we’re playing games!”
I spent about an hour playing with him and it was worth it. Try sacrificing some of your Saturday and spend time with someone in your family.

Normal?

Most would say (and for the most part I agree) I'm just a normal homeschool teen. I am the first born of five, my dad's a pastor, my mom is a stay at home mom. I hate hard things and would rather spend all day surfing the web. I enjoy socializing and shopping and love all kinds of foods. I really wasn't committed to godly things. But that was several weeks ago...
Recently I've read some books, gone to a camp, and went to a weekend conference. In the time since then I've quit playing video games, started waking up at 5:30 in the morning for quiet time (and love every second of it) and evaluating my heart in ways I never have before. Not so normal anymore...
My life is just another life to many, just like yours - right? Wrong, I believe everyone was put on earth for a purpose because God, the maker of the world made even you and that is no small thing. How should we take this? As Christians we should jump on it. We should have a burning desire that not a single day, a single hour, a single minute, or even that a second should be wasted. Just like every one of you, I am not here on this planet at this time for no reason. That's why I am starting this blog. Day by Day, how will you spend it?

Day By Day

The Christian life is not a call to Spiritual activities;
A Bible study here, a mission trip there.
It is a call to die to self and be bound with Christ,
Day by Day, Hour by hour, Minute by minute,
Second by second...