Parenting Tip 101:

By all means I am No parenting expert and I rarely if ever give advice because I have no clue what I am doing 99% of the time. I pray, move forward and then pray some more. ha! Have you heard the old saying,"You are the best kind of parent before you have kids." It's true right? I mean here is just a few of my BK (before kids) thoughts;

1. My kids will NEVER eat at fast food.

2. My kids will NEVER sleep in bed with us.

3. My kids will NEVER be home schooled. 

4. My kids will NEVER sit in front of the T.V. for hours on end.

5. My kids will NEVER roll their eyes, talk back or act like that in a store.

6. My kids will NEVER have more than one earing hole, dye their hair or wear make up before (insert some random age).

Fast forward 14 years and I've learned a few things. #1 My kids will do all of the above and more. #2 They are kids. #3 I care more about their hearts than how many times they want to pierce their ears. #4 You learn life and obedience to the Lord by doing life, and that includes making mistakes.

So when our rather (how should I put this super mildly?) independent, daring, free spirit of  a 10 year old asked to dye her hair I thought,"Heck, why not?"

I know with Ryanne I have to pick my battles and it's just hair.

I'm thinking we should have done blue which is calming an maybe not so much the fiery red. Ha! So anyways that's my parent story the week. Some days I'm barely surviving and wondering if my brain/heart can take any more battles, dirty laundry, late nights with sick kids, bad attitudes etc. Then God gently reminds me that we are all fallen sinful kids of his and our kids are not any different. So I put my eyes that see my kids like Jesus sees them and it all makes sense.
I would like to say for the record because I know my mom reads my blog and doesn't know how to comment; not in a MILLION years would my mom let me EVER do this to my hair when I was a kid. In fact I just last month went and got a second hole in my ear because my mom wouldn't let me ha! See, still rebelling! Well except she took me and paid for my ear piercing this time!! :)