Technology

Technology never ceases to amaze me. Blogger upgrades their blogs...and all you have to do is click a few buttons. I tried to add a counter to the site, but because things were outdated (as if a few months makes something outdated), I couldnt. However, because I have the site attatched to the counter site, I can not change my name or password or anything else really becuase the site is already in existance. All of this to say, technology is starting to run away with our brains...LOL.

In the end, I did manage to add the counter, however it is attatched to the counter on the other blogspot...I am currently trying to find a way to separate the two so we can actually find out how many people visit each site...not how many people combined visited the sites.

Kids Bring Out The Best In Us...And The Worst

It occured to me as I was tucking the girls in tonight, that our kids tend to bring out our best features, as well as our worst. By this I simply mean that all of our attributes are laid out right there in our kids. In our kids we can see our wit, our humor, our best physical features, our temperment, our temper, our anger traits, our physicalness; on and on it goes. Our kids can also bring out some of these traits, either by accentuating them, or creating them. For instance, Kenzie tends to bring out some of the frustration that was not known previously to have existed in my brain. Abbi tends to exasperate everyone she knows, both positively and negatively. JohnMark hasn't really added much to the mix other then stress, which every parent has enough of already. Even though all three kids tend to have the negative brought out in some form or fashion, they also have brought out some positives. For example, Abbi shows her humor by her complete abandon to randomness (a trait I fear she gained from me....yes, bassets DO jump on beds...), Kenzie has her beautiful blue eyes that she uses (or tries to) to get her way, or convey that she is hurt, happy, excited, etcetera; and JohnMark uses his smile to break the ice at any given time. All three have come at various times in our lives, which I am sure have helped shape their attributes as well. Abbi came to us while we were still in college (and her ability to remember things is scary at times) and three weeks before our first anniversary. Kenzie came to us right before my birthday, but as a gift of love and congratulations of college ending. JohnMark came because we just were ready for another one, yet after a hard pregnancy arrived shortly before Mothers Day. How can these things help shape who a person is? Easy. Abbi was born one week to the day before Independance Day...and she really is independant in all she does. Kenzie was born just shy of two weeks before Valentines Day, and she likewise is very loving and compasionate towards others (almost to a fault). JohnMark, as previously stated, was born four days before Mothers Day...and loves his mom very much (too much so). All three of these kids are still unsaved. What a difference knowing Christ will make in thier lives...of this I am sure. We are all born into a sin nature, and especially with the two oldest it shows. Looking at their lives, I cant help but be thankful that God doesnt go off the deep end with us. We are forever sinning, yet time and time again He brings us to Himself and forgives us, just as we do with our children. One exception...no matter how bad we are, no matter how angry we must make Him, or hurt we must make Him, He never really shows it to us when He corrects us. He corrects in love, and it hurts most of the time (how else do we learn??), but its never in anger or frustration. Oh that we may learn how to do the same likewise, especially when that child does the same thing over and over and it gets on our nerves. I am not saying this as one completely innocent, as I have had my times of frustration get to me, and my voice raise a few decibles, but to stop and think that I act similarly towards God (my Father), and He still forgives and loves me...and doesnt ever yell in correction amazes me and drives me to become a better parent. With this I end my ramblings of random thinking.

Kids and Illness

Just when I think that life has offered up all of its challenges, I realize there is much more yet to come. Just this past week, we had all three kids sick at the same time. Our youngest had the dreaded RSV virus, and the two older one had a double ear infection along with bronchitis. The RSV in and of itself was quite scary to live with-especially when the recipient is only eight months old. With much prayer and sleepless nights, JohnMark (otherwise known as "Bubba"), who is the youngest of the Patten Clan, has finally pulled out of the most worrysome part of the virus. The girls on the other hand, seem to find more problems and trouble as they get healthier. Kenzie (the youngest of the girls at age three), seems to have held the bronchitis a little longer then most, but as the girl seems to have asthma, it seems to figure she of all would. Abbi has completely turned against any form of cough medicine, and as she takes her antibiotics, she gets all the more hyper. Try and figure that one out. Medicine is supposed to help the kids rest, and instead it backfires and gets them hyper. Along with all of this however, I have come to find out there are interesting facets to the child's mind that adults will never figure out. Not only do twins seem to speak in their own language, but siblings do as well. An example of this would be our two oldest-Abbi and Kenzie. Now these two have always held their own conversations, even as toddlers. As they have gotten older, it seems as if they can read one another's mind. Now dont get me wrong, this can be good, however, they seem to use it for evil every night around bedtime. These two can be laying in bed, facing opposite directions, and continually giggle for ten minutes or more with nary a word passed between them. If you ask what they are laughing about, all they do is break into more laughter. The bond of sisterhood is a very tight one apparently. This secret language of theirs is not only limited to themselves, but is extended to JohnMark as well. There are many times that Abbi tries to impart her ideas into his little brain and he looks blankly at her. Kenzie comes along and they will laugh almost instantaniously for the better part of two minutes. What the difference is, I have no clue. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Abbi is turning into a brown head, and Kenzie is just as blond as JohnMark. I dunno. Another mystery is how a tomboy can turn into a girl in nothing flat. Just mention the words epidermis and osteoperosis to Abbi, and she runs the other direction screaming how gross those things are and to put them away. However, if you ask her if she has them, she will proudly reply yes. JohnMark, not to be outdone, goes around everywhere saying "I did it!" One never knows what "It" is, and how or why he did it, but you know he did.
With this, I will close. Hopefully as time and ability permits and allows, I will get on a little more often and write down my random thoughts. Some of these would be better viewed via Family Spot I know, but I will go over there and refer those viewers to this spot.
In Christ Alone, and by His Grace,
Amy

Sportsmenship

This post is written more about the sports casters then the players themselves.
Now that the post was prefaced with that warning in mind, I will continue with my massive amounts of thoughts in dealing with sports and sports casters and a little thing called sportsmenship that should pretain to all involved, but unfortunately, upon occation does not.
While watching the NBA Finals recently, I noticed there was a trend that became consistant among the sports casters. Miami had won the previous three games in a seven game series, and during the halftime report, kept mentioning the fact that the Heat were going to win. This is one of those things that infuriate me to no end, simply due to the fact that at halftime, the team in the lead could very easily wind up losing the game (a phenominon that had happened at least twice before in the series - only with the Mavericks being the team in the lead). Both teams involved are in their first year appearence for the Finals. My question is very simple, how can a sports caster know (at halftime no less) which team is going to win? Would it not make sense to say the underdog at the time would be the one to win instead of the favorite? Would it not make even more sense to remain completely objective and not play sides? Especially since the past two games became very close (within a point on one occasion) during the fourth quarter. At the time this post was written, the game was a two point difference. Point being, it isn't over till its over - sports casters need to stop ending it before the game is done.
In short, the sports casters need to do their job - report plays that happen as they happen, and maybe explain strategies that need to be explained. Nothing More. Let the game happen, and just let the boys play. The refs (while not always on top of the game or the plays) are already in place, there doesn't need to be anymore sideline refts.
I will end this seemingly ongoing rant here. In the future, there may be more humorous looks on things, or more thoughtful, maybe even some with more frustration then what is found here.

First Thought's First

This blog is in direct response to a springboard thought. A friend of mine started up a blog site to write down her thoughts via keyboard...this one is so I have a ventalation for my thoughts as conversations with small children do the brain only so good. There will be various topics and entries here, but then again, that is the main point. I don't expect people to respond to any of these, then again if they do, then I guess I will know if my entries make sense to anyone. Feel free to comment and let me know how I can make the site better, or more intelligable.