Kylen's a Teenager!

We have a teenager in the house!  Yippee!!!!  :-)  For Kylen's 13th birthday, he decided on a video game theme.  We kept things simple this time, with no traditional games or activities, although some of the kids took advantage of the air hockey and foosball tables!  There were four systems which could accommodate 16 total.   Only two guests were unable to make it, so we had almost a full house!  One minor detail we didn't anticipate was the noise level, but the parents were able to take refuge on the top floor.  :-)

I made three easy cakes: a question mark box from a square pan, Yoshi egg (looked for an egg pan but couldn't find one) from a rectangular pan, and a star from a star pan.  All the decorating was done with M&M's.  The coconut ones had exactly the colors we needed: white, green, and black.  We put down three plastic tablecloths to protect the carpet while the kids loaded up on sugar.  Drinks were kept in plastic cups with lids and straws.

Most of the time everyone played on whatever system they wanted, but we did have a Super Smash Bros. competition!  We were surprised Kylen didn't make it past the first round and found out later that a mistake had been made.  Other than that, it was an easy party that went off without a hitch!

Below, you can catch a glimpse of the custom cabinets behind Kylen. Our friend did a wonderful job, and we are very happy with the finished result. The poor guy worked hard that week to get everything ready in time - right up until 5 pm the night before! I wish I had thought to take a picture before we filled the shelves.  In my scramble to clean up and do a little decorating, I forgot!

 

Someone came up with the idea of putting balloons on the air hockey table while playing!

Kylen couldn't think of anything he wanted, so we suggested money or gift cards.  A few brave souls still picked something out, and I'm glad they did, because he got some cool stuff!  Isn't this shirt neat?  He received a Boggle game we've enjoyed,  and one family gave him paracord and videos on how to make things out of it.  I'd never heard of such a thing!  Seems like the perfect crafting material for a boy.

It's hard to believe our son is 13 already.  Soon he'll be heading off to college!  It's been the best part of my life, watching him grow up.  He's a terrific kid, and I look forward to seeing where God leads him over the next 6 years.  I want to savor every minute!

Why We Picked Blue:

We have lots more decals to put up.  This is a start!

TV and Arcade Half Cabinet

This is Greg and Kylen trying out the new tv and the arcade cabinet Greg made.  As you can see, there was still a lot of cabinet construction going on!

More of Him

This post would be appropriate for "Him In My Life" or "Scripture Speaks!"

Last week Jesus helped me break free from an idol I have been struggling with for a couple of years. I have a weakness for video games, and this one was the worst! Most games have an end…sort of like novels. When I start a book, it’s very difficult for me to do anything but read until it’s finished. For this reason, I only read a few novels a year. Well, this video game had no end in sight. It is a huge online, multiplayer game that is very addictive and always changing. It is also a live game where you interact with people all over the world, so even if you beat it, there is plenty of motivation to start over with a new character and do it all again.

A year ago, it wasn’t unusual for me to play 12 hours a day or more, and I knew many others who did the same. I could justify it, because my health was so bad there was little else I felt like doing. It took my mind off of my illness, especially at night when I couldn’t sleep. I knew it wasn’t healthy and tried to quit several times. This last year I finally got to the place I would only play once in a great while, like if I had insomnia or more trouble than usual with pain. Still, when I would play I didn’t like how the game would take over my mind – it was all I could think about it, I neglected my duties as a wife and mother, and it even plagued my dreams. I guess it was similar to binge drinking! Crazy, huh? Anyway, I had prayed many times, tried to impose various rules on myself, nothing worked.

The Lord kept bringing to mind scripture about God’s people and idol worship:

But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire…The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Deut. 7:5, 25

We know a carved piece of wood or metal is not evil of itself. Neither is this video game. Lots of people play without showing any signs of addiction, and that’s fine. It isn’t an idol for them. An idol is anything that you put before God – it can be a hobby, money, TV, even another person! If it is taking time from the Lord and your duties or drawing you into sin, it is an idol.

God told his people to destroy all signs of idol worship, so that it wouldn’t be a snare to them. They couldn’t keep any of the idols for a house decoration or a keepsake or use the groves for something else. They had to completely get rid of all traces. Jesus showed me I needed to stop trying to play the game once in awhile and completely give it up…get it totally out of my life. Eliminate the temptation. That’s what I did last week. I deleted the characters in the game that I had poured hundreds of hours into. I cried. It was hard, as they were very dear to me. But I told Jesus He was worth it, and so He is! No more fighting, losing my peace and risking my soul.

Click here for other More of Him posts.

Random Thoughts

Our son is a speed reader, and I am tickled pink! Yesterday, hubby took him to get a book at the library while I grocery shopped. He did a very little reading between there and the store – about one block away. He did a very little in the store while we went through the checkout. He did about 10 minutes on our way to a restaurant, and we had a conversation that went something like:

Me: How far are you in the book?
Son: A little more than half way.
Me: Honey, did you read some of his book to make sure it’s OK? It looked a little creepy.
Hubby: Silence.
Son: I’m already done with that one. I’m half way through the second book.

He’s eight. These are chapter books.

Not so rosy, are the dumb arguments I’m forced to witness daily. Sometimes hourly. My two boys love to bicker over insanely unimportant details. Punishment is out of the question, since one of them is 32. The apple sure doesn’t fall far! On and on, the most recent debate was whether or not General Petrine constantly rides a horse. As in never, ever dismounts. Do you know the answer? Probably not. It’s a fictional character in a video game. How in the world there could be any question of whether a character constantly rides a horse or not is beyond me. I would think it would be pretty obvious. I sided with ds just for fun and said, “I think he rides a horse.”

“General Petrine is a woman.”

“Oh.”

Oops! Very old-fashioned of me to assume the General is male. Anyway, they finally looked it up and put the dead horse to rest. Or rather the living horse into action. It seems he...er, she does indeed ride a horse constantly. (File that away in your "Future Important Things" folder.) Hubby was wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time. Shhhh! Don’t tell him I said that! *winkwink*

While I'm typing my random thoughts, I just HAVE to get out a little vent. We all know illness comes with annoyances. Here is one of mine. I take a medication by “self” injection. Yeah right! I can barely wiggle my arthritic fingers more than a few centimeters. There is NO WAY I am going to try stabbing my own thigh at a high speed with an inch long needle at a 45 degree angle and then apply constant pressure until the medicine is in. Hubby gets queasy just thinking about it. Yes, he has been known to faint while getting blood drawn. Typical flaw of tough men.

So we need someone to give me the injection. The clinic where my primary physician resides is 10 minutes away. Not bad, except that no one in the ENTIRE clinic is QUALIFIED to give me the injection. I kid you not. We must drive 30 minutes to their sister clinic where one nurse is able to do it. Well, we drove there last Thursday for my weekly dose and found out that the nurse wasn’t there that day. NO ONE ELSE in that building was qualified to give me the shot! Hello? Is this the US where we have the best health care in the world? Explain to me why she can train my own husband to do it in 30 seconds flat but not a single person in two different clinics, including doctors, can do it! Both buildings have labs with nurses who draw blood every day, but none of them is qualified to do it!! Does this make any sense at all??

No alternative solution was offered, and the lady acted like I was inconveniencing her just by standing there. I could almost hear her saying, "Scoot!" I feel like saying, "I'm sorry my illness interrupted your time to stare at the wall while sitting at the computer." (That's what she was doing the entire time Hubby and I argued over the best day to reschedule an appointment. We must have had the secretary change it three times. The other secretary, that is. The one that was actually working.) Seriously, she looked and acted like, "Deal with it."

Long story short, I had to delay my treatment and make another trip the next day! The poor nurse actually came over on her OWN time after work! Unreal!

Note: I just read this post to Hubby, and he said, "I need to just bite the bullet and learn how to do it."

I'm scared. REALLY scared. I told him so, and he said, "You'd better be scared!" Pity me.