Adventures in Preschool V: Tag, Tantrums

Gym? Who needs a stinkin' gym when you gots thirty or so preschoolers , your out on the playground, and three of them sucker you into a game of 'Tag'. "Oh my aching back!" Okay, so its more like "Oh, my aching arms!" I wouldnt have traded that moment for anything.

My day started off a bit crummy when a few of the little monsters had difficulty listening to my directions. Then, during center time, one child threw a royal kaniption fit when I asked him to pick up a toy on teh floor and put it away. "But HE had it first!" (pointing to another child playing with him)I knew he did but i saw this other boy wtih it after him. Each time he told me the other boy had it first, he got louder and more frustrated to a point where his face was beet red and the large vein was popping otu of his neck. I got to a point wher the other boy was there still adn I asked him to do it. I was stuck. Thankfully, he put it away without any trouble at all, and so I tried to talk to the other boy to diffuse the situation. Meanwhile he is by the wall under a table sulking.

Outside after lunch and I am by one of our climbers making sure no children plzy in teh puddles of water surrounding it (okay, so it was more like a miniature sized moat than a series of puddles). A few children were aroudn interacting with me, and all of a sudden WHACK! "TAG, YER IT!" Young B comes and thwacks me on the chest. Well, I take off after him, and three other children are soon chasing after me! I would do a good job in keeping away from them (they ARE fast little buggers), but every time I came aroudn a bend in the tryke track I had to slow down a bit to turn my wheelchair. Then I was taggged.

later in the day I received a hug from a child, for what reason I don't know. but that also made my day.

Books: Becoming a Woman of Prayer

Lord, rekindle the passion for prayer I once had inside me

Okay, so I have read a lot of books dealing with the Christian life and have marked them up considerably. Points in the books I would like to remember or pray into, even notes I make in the margins of thoughts that come to me (or that God speaks to me). I finally decided I should post what books I read and what speaks to me.

I keep telling myself I wanna get into the Power of a Praying series, and I still have yet to do that. There are just to many good books out there that I want to read!



PREFACE
Standing in the need of prayer
Standing in the need of spending time in prayer
God has made it clear to me that I need to deepen my prayer life
(Lord, help me to recognize the answers)
He shows us our need and then creatively begins to meet that need
(been praying about this desire for a significant other , praying that even God could fulfill that desire with giving me more of Himself)
God desires to be intimate with me.
He invites, encourages, even helps me to pray.
That God may be glorified in the answers

INVITATION TO INTIMACY
Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know
(Expect answers)
(God puts in our hearts what to pray for, Satan would rather us not pray to the Father)
Martin Smith - What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us?
" Lord, show me the desires of my heart that You have put there"
To pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts
It is not our prayers that move the Lord Jesus, it is Jesus that moves us to pray.
Our prayers are always a result of Jesus' knocking at our hearts door.
What has been our idea of prayer? Our going to God or His coming to us?
Like my singing, He gets joy from hearing me pray.
See prayer as an opportunity to receive from the Lord.

PRAYING IN FAITH
James 1:6-7 Ask in faith without any doubting
Tell Jesus how weak our faith is
Let Him into your heart, He will fulfill your hearts desires.
What God wants is our faith - belief, trust,dependence and confidence.
As we do come in Jesus name, its the same as if Jesus prayed
Believe what you've already asked for in prayer. FAith accepts it as good as doneeven though the actual answer is still future.
Where do my desires come from, God or flesh?

GOD'S HELP IN PRAYER
Prayer...allowing Him to lead us in praying for what He is more ready to give than we may be to ask.
Bring to Him a deep longing to abide in Him by faith.
Rely on Go dmore deply for His support in your life of prayer
He inspires our prayers
He is moDELIGHTING IN GOD
Ask for nothing but what will please God
Initially I responded to His call to delight in Him to ensure the fulfillment of His promise to give me the
desires of my heart. I had no idea He would give me a new heart –Jer.24:7
As we delight in what God delights in, such prayers are inspired by God
Charles Spurgeon – Lord, if what I ask for does not please you, than neither would it please me. My desires are put in your hands to be corrected. Strike the pen through every petition I offer that is not right. And put in whatever I have omitted, even though I might not have desired it had I considered it…”Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

GOD’S ANSWERS
Persistence
Get a hold of God, NOT the answers
Our primary needs are spiritual
When therefore, the Spirit has taught us that God is inexorable on this point and that Nhe Himself decides when and how our prayers are to be answered, then we shall experience rest and peace when we pray.
1Kings 3:3 – 14
God appears to Solomon in a dream and asked him to tell Him what He wanted
God sometimes answers our prayers by allowing things to become worse before they get better
…apparent failure is eternal victory (classes @ UM)
Pray as He did, until prayer makes you cease praying. Pray until prayer makes you forget your own wish, and leave it or merge it in God’s will.
Prayer makes us stronger
God loves me despite unanswered prayer

WHEN GOD IS SILENT
Fidelity involves learning to trust that, out beyond the perimeter of fog, God still reigns and has not abandoned us, no matter how it appears.
Lord, what are You teaching me in the midst of this silence?
Anyone who finds his prayers ineffective, should not conclude that the thing in which he asks of God is not according to His will but should go alone with God with the Psalmists prayer, “Search me oh God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me”. And wait before Him until He puts His finger on the thing that is displeasing in His sight. Then this sin should be confessed and put away.
Trusting God…learning to rest in his silence

THE LORDS PATTERN OF PRAYER
We must have faith…trust in His ways
Temptation = trial; trying circumstances; whether of temptation or affliction
Thine is the kingdom, power, glory forever… = Let all that happens to me be under Your authority
Wanting Your glory and Your will to be evidenced in our world begins with me.
The Lord ’s Prayer maintains a focus on God

INTERCESSORY PRAYER
The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to pray Our and Us (not just my and mine)
To intercede means to plead on behalf of someone
A clear understanding of Truth, a clean obedient life, earnest service, a strongly simple trust in God, clear assurance of one’s own salvation and relation to God, and a good grip of the truth for others – prepare a man for the real conflict of prayer. Such a man-praying- drives back these hosts of the traitor prince. …invincible in his Chief, Jesus
Ephesians 3:14 – 21 (19)
Col. 1:9-12
2 Thess 1:11-12
Far more of our nation’s life is shaped by prayer than is formed by legislation.
“Lord, make me sensitive to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit”
The Lord’s Prayer and Paul’s prayer
in John 17 – Pray them for my family and for others when I am unsure of the need. Before…there is no reluctance on god’s part to give us whatever is good for us. asking for anything, we should find out if it were according to the mind of the Lord
Ask to be filled with the knowledge of His will before making any petitions for a desired good.

PERSEVERING IN PRAYER
When we least feel like praying is the time when we most need to pray – R.A. Torrey
Faithful…persistent…discipline…patience in waiting for answers
God is a loving Heavenly Father who knows all our needs better than we do.
The strong man of prayer when he starts to pray for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through and obtains what he seeks.
Be careful about what we ask from God…never give up praying for it until we get it or until God makes it very clear and very definite to us that it is not His will to give it.
Praise the giver
Praise and thanksgiving do not magically change my circumstances, but radically alter my viewpoint
Give God time, He will perfect that which concerneth you

ACCEPTING GOD’S INVITATION
The meaning of prayer is personal, individual contact with God
The purpose of fasting is not to get through to God, but to allow Him to get through to you
Spend the you would otherwise be eating in prayer and seeking God
Fasting is not a requirement
God should time initiate and maintain a fast
As you seek agreement and unity of request, they begin to hear the voice of God gradually conforming their differing thoughts into the will of God. And their prayer is answered.
To what extent are they ready to yield to his Spirit’s control.
re apart of my life than I realize
Ask for the eternal things of GodDELIGHTING IN GOD
Ask for nothing but what will please God
Initially I responded to His call to delight in Him to ensure the fulfillment of His promise to give me the
desires of my heart. I had no idea He would give me a new heart –Jer.24:7
As we delight in what God delights in, such prayers are inspired by God
Charles Spurgeon – Lord, if what I ask for does not please you, than neither would it please me. My desires are put in your hands to be corrected. Strike the pen through every petition I offer that is not right. And put in whatever I have omitted, even though I might not have desired it had I considered it…”Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

Children:A Blessing from the Lord (In more ways than one)

I came home from watching Shrek 3 with my favoritest preschooler in the world and his mom. I came away from the movie liking it more than I thought I would. The whole time I wondered what J was thinking, because there was a lot more adult humor than I thought there should have been.

It was so cute, before the movie we had time to kill as the 2:30 showing was sold out, so we went to petsmart. He wanted to push my wheelchair. When we went into the movie theatre, he wanted to push my wheelchair, even when we came out. The little stinker, when we were at the gas station afterward, he kept throwing his jacket over my head asnd laughing hysterically. then, when I wouldn't give it back, he asked his mom to tell me to give it back. She laughed. He was being serious. I LOVE to hear a child laugh. There is something God awe-ing about the experience.

When God gets me around a child, I feel like I am being spoiled rotten. Even in my work, I almost feel like I shouldn't be having so much fun. It just doesnt feel like work to me. I thoroughly enjoy what I do.

I came home from the movie and looked up child and children in the back of my Bible. Here are the verses that stuck out to me.

Proverbs 20:7
The righteous man leads a blameless life;
blessed are his children after him.

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Mark 9:36 and 37
He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

Psalm 127:3
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

Matt 18:3
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

19:13,14
Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

I just remembered my Strongs concordance, maybe I'll post more here later.

Royal Lipizzaner Stallions

Another classic moment of "One forgets her camera". I didn't forget it really, but thought that they wouldn't allow flash photography. They didn't allow video cameras or other recording devices. We were to take all the pictures we wanted. RATS!
Learn all about them here It was hard to understand most of what the man was saying abotu the horses, but I still enjoyed myself, and a few things I remembered even from ten years ago when i first saw it.

The horses mostly performed to clasical music. My favorite thing they did was called "Aiurs Above the Ground". Basically jumping up and kicking front and back feet out, ahh it looks better in person than I can explain. Some of the stuff they do with riders on their backs actually looks fun while others, yikes. I'd be holding my breath praying not to fall off. My second favorite maneuver was at the end of the show when a horse took a bow, several times.

Next time they are in town, for those of you who love horses, it is a must see.

Adventures in Preschool IV / Other News

Just the other day one of our preschoolers brought her dad with her to class. Her dad had brought a bunch of bugs, alive and dead, for the children to look at and learn about. There were a few bugs that children could touch (like the Rhinoceros Beetle; this thing was u-u-u-gly...and huge!) and dead bugs that were preserved under glass. Some children refused to touch them, while others were downright enthralled.

Uh-oh, I think I started something. so when we are outside on the playground, it is hard for me to find a spot where I am not in the way of children when they are on the 'tricycle track" Children often run into me, by mistake. Or so I thought. I started this game where whomever runs into me with their trike, gets a visit from the 'Tickle Monster'. Now they run into me on purpose!

Lately, I have had trouble with preschoolers (and some first graders) not doing what they were told. Some run away, while others say to me they don't have to. I had a small victory with a preschooler who doesn't do what I asked. I phrased my request a bit differently. If I asked him "K, show me where this goes" then he would respond by putting it in its rightful place. If I told him to do it, I repeatedly got nothing. Now if I could just get the first graders to listen!

This week I was able to learn part of the Montana state song. Our preschoolers are singing a couple songs for a program in a few weeks, and unfortunately;y, the chorus was all the teachers could remember the tune for.

Montana, Montana
Glory of the west
Of all the states from coast to coast
You're easily the best
Montana, Montana
Where skies are always blue
M-O-N-T-A-N-A-
Montana, I love you

The last two lines the children learned sign language to. In looking up the Montana song I found other interesting facts about Montana here

Alehe's trainer was in town this week. It was a very good visit. Alehe was not due for a visit, but she was in town and asked if I wanted her to stop by. What the heck, why not? We talked about the work situation and having to leave Alehe at home. There really is nothing I can do since a co-worker is allergic, though by law I CAN have her with me. I don't want to make things miserable for anyone. After talking with her. I felt better about leaving Alehe, and I really am doing as much as I can to make sure she is not miserable. She seems like she is getting used to the idea. When I get my next dog, (that shouldn't be for another four or five years , her trainer said :D)if things haven't changed then I will crate her for a while when I go to work.

Mom and dad were in town for a few days, dad's work was slow so they decided to get away. Mom shared with me something sad. Brandi, their other toy poodle was killed by a coyote. When Beau was around, they left them two alone. But without Beau "the dog who thinks he's a rottweiler" Garcon, she was easy prey. :(
Another reason for their being in town was to deliver me my bed from home. I have an electric bed (meaning I can raise the head and feet) that is good for two reasons; one, I can relieve the swelling from my feet after a long day, and two; it's is actually better for the shunt in my head if I am sleeping a bit elevated. I was bummed that my pillow top mattress cover wasn't going to fit, but with this bed, I don't need it.