Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

It seems that when our kids are really young my wife and I think that it can’t be too hard to cut a kids hair. And we end up messing it up. And then we give it a few attempts to “fix” it. And it only makes it worse. I’ll try to find some old pictures of Ella. Her hair looked horrible. She had a really bad “boy’s haircut” for a few months when she was two.

But I had to run get a tire fixed this morning and decided to take Rowan to get his haircut afterwards. We were thinking of trying to wait until he turned two later this month for a haircut. But he was shaggy. You couldn’t see his ears. I’m not sure he could see anything through his bangs. And he was sporting a serious mullet too!

So after Walmart (and an emergency diaper change which included me having to buy diapers, wipes, and a new pair of pants!) we headed to get him all cut up. Here are a few pics below.

This was at Walmart before we left. His hair was CRAZY!

Still @ Walmart

He sat really, really still.

Bev showed up to watch from behind.

He was still, but paid strict attention in the mirror.

Almost done. He's getting a quick clean up

The finished product. But he couldn't be still.

He's cutting up. But his bangs aren't so severe now.

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Woohoo!

When I was exploring the move to Oxford, I asked Pat, “Is there a Chick-Fil-A in Oxford?” It was that important of a factor. But I guess not ultimately important because I came anyway. But early in the spring it was announced that Oxford would be getting a Chick-Fil-A. I was ecstatic. Well, last Thursday it opened. I wasn’t one of the ones to camp out all day/night Wednesday in order to get free chicken for a year.

BUT I did take the kids to eat supper there Thursday evening. Me and half of Lafayette County. But it turned out to be  the best customer service I’ve ever experienced!

We pull up and we’re in line. A nice lady came to my window to ask if we were dining in or driving through. She assured me that our wait would not be long inside. So we parked and walked in (after further assurances that she would help us exit our parking space which could be blocked by the drive thru line.)

It’s just me and my three kids. Somehow my wife missed this trip. But we walk up to the restaurant and a lady opens the door for us greets us by giving the children each a little Chick-Fil-A cow toy. I start dropping some “Thank You’s” so they all say “My Pleasure.” We walk in and things seem crazy but organized. We find a spot in line and we’re only two deep. Then a lady comes up and asks me if I’d like for her to reserve a table close to the play area. Huh? Are you serious? Sure, why not. So she goes and gets a high chair and all for Rowan and gets a placemat that sticks to the table for him too.

I order my food. She reappears and tells me where my table is. I start to let Addie hold Rowan and send her and Ella to the table. The lady asks if I want her to walk my kids to their table. Sure! Then she tells me I can go ahead to the table if I want, and she’ll bring my food to me. Wow. Ok. Why not?

So then as we start to eat a trey gets pushed on the table and Ella’s bottle of chocolate milk falls off the table, down my leg, and then onto the floor. So someone appears out of no where and cleans it up with a towel. And brings us a new bottle of chocolate milk. Then people bring us balloons, ranch dipping sauce, and ketchup. And napkins.

So we eat our chicken and enjoy things. But as we’re finishing up the girls want to go into the play area. So I send them on their way and then scarf down a bit more chicken while my son finishes his fruit cup. As we’re cleaning up and all, a man comes to help. So I’m thinking, this is awesome! These folks are really wanting me to come back. Everyone was so helpful.

Well I go to get the girls from the playroom Ella is distressed. I see that a small scab from a previous booboo got hit and was bleeding on her leg. So I’m holding Rowan trying to find some napkins. I worker sees me and tells me to sit tight while she goes to get something for her foot. She comes back w/ an antiseptic wipe and a band-aid. I thank her and was about to clean up Ella. But she says, “Sit her here and I’ll fix her up.” She then proceeds to clean all the blood off of Ella’s ankle and foot, and then puts the band-aid on gently and asks Ella if everything is okay.

So this was far and beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. Now I know that Chick-Fil-A brought in some “professional restaurant openers” for the first week or so. But I was in awe. I’ll be back. A lot.

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The girls have both had long hair. Addie got a good cut one time and it looked cute, but Ella never has short hair except for when she was really young. I think it was in response to me and Bev trying to give her haircuts early on in her life. We butchered it. Many times. So our goal was to let hers grow out. But even though it was “long”, it wasn’t all the same length. It needed some evening up badly, so we took it from about middle of her back to up around her chin. When we were making her appointment Addie wanted hers cut as well. So here’s the before and after pics.

Also, Addison took a page out of my book and decided to shoot some video of the process. So she helped me edit it down to what you can see below.

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We have an eight year old girl and a four year old girl at our house. That combination makes for some exciting times at our home. Some really fun times and funny times. But that combination can also produce whining, aggravation, frustration, crying, mean looks, and sometimes tears…and that’s just how I sometimes feel!

Just kidding.

But at times my two girls get along perfectly. You’d think they were custom made for each other. But more and more lately I’ve seen the two of them starting to act rude, mean, quite disrespectful toward each other. And amazingly often times it’s either perpetrated or perpetuated by the oldest. She seems to purposefully try to stir up and aggravate her younger sister. And my four year old usually is happy to comply and will answer with a snarl, shriek, whine, cry or other sound that I don’t like.

So I have had a talk with them. Actually multiple talks, but the last one was my most serious. I think I realized I need to not let my own emotions get stirred up when a fight breaks out. Usually I get frustrated by the sounds my younger one is making, frustrated by what the oldest is doing to make the youngest make those sounds, and frustrated why the oldest thinks it’s necessary for her to intentionally create this chaos. Why can’t she just act in a nice, loving, humble, kind, self controlled manner?

Of course the answer is that she’s a person. And all of us people have times we’re thinking wrong thoughts and sometimes we act out on them. But last night as I was lying in the still of the bedroom after the whole house was asleep I was asking God to shape their hearts to be more and more like His. And for him to pour into their lives the fruit of His spirit (love,  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control). But as I prayed I realized that He was asking me to help pour those things into their lives. That my wife and I are to be the primary shapers of who they become. And for me to pour anything into their lives (their buckets), it’s got to be in my life (bucket) to begin with. That’s humbling.

Joe Paslay told me that a long time ago as I was interviewing to work at Camp Lake Stephens. His talk was from the angle of being a counselor and pouring into campers as they are under your watch for the week. But the concept is the same. I can’t give, teach, show my kids anything into my kids that I am not already understanding and living out myself first. It’s a concept I have known for years! But as the kids grow up, parenting gets more challenging. I thought I was a smart and awesome dad when I had just one child. But it’s getting more challenging as they grow, mature (and sometimes seemingly decrease in maturity).  And I am going to want them to rely on Jesus more and more. And He is showing me that I have to rely on Him just as much or more in order to show Him to them effectively.

Now…add to the mix a boy who just turned 15 months old…and the next couple of decades of my life will be an exciting adventure!

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So there’s a new addition to the Thompson household. Yesterday my wife went to the gym for a quick workout. She called me before she got inside to tell me there is a lady giving away cute puppies in the parking lot and can we get one? She asked an impulsive question, and I responded with an impulsive “Yes!”

So she comes home w/ a puppy in a box. We were going to surprise the girls. They were sitting at the end of the driveway. So I walk out there with the box and ask them if the garbage man was coming today. They said no. I sigh and say I guess I’ll have to leave this box out by the road until the trash collector comes on Tuesday. Of course the wanted to look in the box. And they found this:

So we’ll see if this little cocker spaniel survives two very “hands on” little girls. He whined and cried off and on last night. For some reason my wife brought the dog home, but I was the one who took him out the most.

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Last time my daughter had a soccer game we all got ready as a family to go to the game. She got her uniform on and we all loaded up in the van. We get there and park close to the field, so I tell Addie to run on over to the field while I get her baby brother out of the car seat and everything. So she runs on over while I follow behind. And her mom and sister are bringing up the rear. I get there and notice they’re already playing. Huh?

They must have started early, because it was only 6:08. The game started at 6:15, right? Addie gets in the game but soon the last whistle blows and it turns out that the game started at 5:30. OUCH! How did I make such a mistake? So after appologizing profusely we go to a local park and play a bit before coming home. Man, she was disappointed, and I felt likc crap.

So after a week off with Spring Break we had another game last night. I double checked the time. Yes, it’s at 6:15. Addie asked me if I was sure. “Yes, I’m sure, honey” was what I told her. And I was.

So we get to the fields again and I tell her to run on over. She asked if they’d started already. I told her that it was just the game before finishing up. We’re a little early. But we get over to the sideline…and they’re eating their post game snacks. WHAT!?! Again? Holy moly! How do I screw things up like this? I even double checked the schedule this time.

So you can imagine how low I felt. To know your seven year old was disappointed last time because she didn’t get to play soccer after getting all into her uniform and driving out to the soccer complex. To be ready to have fun and have her parents watch her. And then to realize it was all for nothing. And it was ME that realized I’d caused this disappointment in my daughter. Again.

That really sucked.

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Sunday night while I was at a Super Bowl party with some folks from church, Sarah was getting ready to have her daughter over in Tupelo. And before we knew it, Sawyer Belle Ward was born. A huge congratulations to Pat and Sarah. I think they’re actually returning home right now after a couple of nights in the hospital.

But my daughters were staying with my mom for a few days. And they were asking lots of questions about the baby and if she’d be born yet. My mom was looking on Pat’s blog to see if there was any update there. Alas, he’d not updated there yet eschewing for the other technologies of Twitter and Facebook. But my mom did find this picture on Pat’s TwitPic page. My mom called the girls over and said, “Look, this must be Pat & Sarah’s new baby…”

Ella, my four year old, stared at it for about two minutes. Looking hard at the picture. Then she said, “It doesn’t look much like Sarah, but it’s a cute baby I guess.”

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Last Monday we ordered Addie’s camera from Amazon.com. She checked the mail a few times a day every day (even on Sunday). She was so anxious. Especially after the package tracker said that it was supposed to be picked up from Memphis on Tuesday. That is only about 70 miles away.

But it never looked like it was going to come. So I come home from work yesterday and a shrieking seven year old is squealing, “Daddy! Daddy! My camera came! It came in today!” We go inside and see that yes indeed it came, but no one had figured out how to put the batteries in or anything else. It feels good to be needed in this family.

So she has gone nuts with it. She has taken TONS of pics but deleted tons too. She does some self cataloging it seems. But we’ve gotta make sure of what she’s taking pictures of too. Some things don’t need to be put out there: dirty underwear in the floor, her baby brother getting his diaper changed, her mom while she’s sleeping!

But soon she’ll be wanting to show friends and family what she’s creating. So we’re trying to figure out the best way right now. Any suggestions, let me know.

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A year ago today I started my work at The Orchard in Oxford. It was a pretty large change for the life of my family. We’d spent just over three years in Clinton working in the youth ministry of FUMC. We liked it there. Wasn’t looking for any reason at all to move. But when Pat spoke to me one day about possibly coming to help plant the church in Oxford…it just seemed right.

Yes, even Oxford felt right. Not the red and blue aspects of it. But what I would be doing and who I would be doing it with. And at the time I didn’t realize that I’d be living in my dad’s basement for five months or that gas prices would get so crazy. Nor did I anticipate the chore of finding a house in Oxford. But after looking back on that first day here in Oxford lots has happened. 

As I said in the last post, I’m going to put together a few ”

I think I’ve learned quite a bit the last 12 months. But I realize how much more I need to learn, study, and apply myself. I see where God has worked, but I see lots of opportunities to partner even more deeply with God in serving Oxford and Lafayette County.

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Well, it’s another year. I woke up and didn’t really feel any different. I still wondered if Jack Bauer was going to find Habib in time (watching season 4 right now). I didn’t feel any older or wiser. I was still as inflexible as I was yesterday. But I decided to do a little something about my inactivity over the past year.

While living in Clinton I went to the YMCA at least now and then. But I was no stranger to the place. And I ran some now and then around the neighborhood too. Even ran a few races here and then. But since moving to Oxford in late May I’ve been a sloth. And I’ve noticed a difference the past few days. So I’m not one into resolutions and all, but I realize something needed to change. So I decided I’d wait til January 1 to start running again. And I did.

I didn’t run very far. But I took Addison with me so I wouldn’t have to make an excuse for going short and slow. But she impressed me. She looked like she was going to get tired, so i told her if she ran alllllllll the way to the next stop sign w/o stopping she would earn $2. I didn’t think she’s make it, but she made the corner. There was no stop sign there, but I assured her she’d get the two bucks. But as we were walking the rest of the way home catching our breath (she seemed to be racing me to the corner) she all of a sudden said “I’ll beat you home!” and took off. Wow!

I caught her and ran with her all the while encouraging her. I want her to see some things that she can enjoy and be good at. I don’t know if she likes running or just beating me at something, but I let her do both. Funny thing is she almost didn’t go running at all because we made her wear her sweat suit in the cold wind. She thought her clothes looked silly and thought people would be watching out of their windows at her running. But I convinced her to drop that concern and RUN!

So as 2009 starts I realize that I need to just go forward with some things and not worry about if anyone is watching or if they think I’m silly or goofy…but if there’s something I want to do are feel called to do… then GO FOR IT. There are bucket fulls of cliches I could give to try to spur me on, but safe to say I know I should.

So, there are a few specific things I might reveal soon that I want to get better at in the coming days. Also a few “best of ‘08″ posts as well. But safe to say that blogging more regularly is something I want to get better at as well.

Peace.

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Here’s a quick video made w/ Gawker.  Make sure you watch the dog.

A Quick Christmas Look from Blake Thompson on Vimeo.

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This past week or so I’ve had a few conversations and read a few blogs (1 & 2)about whether I/we should tell our kids that Santa Clause is real or not. Early on, before our first kid was old enough to even talk I’d heard the idea that telling kids that Santa is real, that he’s always watching, that he has super natural powers, and will bring good gifts to us if we are nice instead of naughty can be damaging. Damaging if you line it up next to telling children that Jesus is real, always watching, loves us, and gives His grace and mercy even though we’re undeserving.

But what happens to a kid’s mind when they grow older and realize that the whole Santa thing has been a ruse and that their parents had been pulling their leg about this guy? Will they start to question the validity of the Jesus guy as well if the Santa guy reality is blown out of the water? On one hand it makes sense, but then again, I know plenty of people who love and believe in Jesus, but thought Santa was real earlier too. So I don’t know.

But the perceived dilemma was solved for us when our oldest was deathly afraid of Santa early on. Now she knows he’s not real. And she doesn’t try to tell other kids that he’s not real. I’m not sure where our 2nd one is on Santa. She’s never asked either way. But we’ve decided not to “lie” to our kids by telling them that Santa is real. A lot of people will probably think we’re scrooges for that. Especially family.

But I was surprised by a few conversations where I found similar thinking. And then I saw a series of blog posts called “Giftless Christmas” by Shaun Groves. Really eye opening. Counter culture. And cool at the same time. I know that Christmas Eve might not be the time to sit down and read through four posts, but I encourage you to read it at some point if you have children.

Shaun Grove: Slaying Santa Clause
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 1
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 2
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 3
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 4

So.. What happens at your house? Do your (or will your) kids believe in the whole Santa Clause thing?

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