Finding Faith in the Battle

Our dogs are always chewing on things and jumping up, and I've read all the books on being a good doggy-mom, so I got the spray bottle to 'humanely' discipline them. And it works!!! Gotta love a blast of cold water in the face to make your will known. SOOOOOOO.... Since it works with dogs, couldn't it perhaps work with a strong-willed 1-year old? Better than smacking hands or flicking ears, surely! So we've been having trouble with Isaac screaming, and I mean ear-piercing screams, whenever he wants something like another bite or a drink. It makes for a very noisy dinner, not to mention a splitting headache. So last night, in order to more fully enjoy our Ranch-marinated Tilopia filets with rice, I got the spray bottle out. As soon as he discovered he likes fish, the screeching began. I wiped out the spray bottle, ready to withstand his anger until it worked it's magic and changed his behavior, and gave it a squirt. I would do anything to have captured on video ...

It may seem that I’ve been silent since our fateful Christmas day, but I assure you we have not been still! We were able to get away to the lake for a wonderful 3 day-2 night stay in a ‘beach-front’ villa complete with kitchen, living room, and house-helper who washed our dishes and swept up the sand the kids brought in. LOVELY! The place was situated between two villages, so our beach-play was curiously watched by hundreds of kids and not a few women washing clothes and men bathing, but that’s what Africa’s all about, after all! After an uneventful time, we drove home, deciding to stop at a small game park along the way. We got all of 1 km into the park when Chad stopped the car, and said in all seriousness, “If I go another foot, I’m going to get stuck in the mud. If I reverse out of here, I’m going to get stuck in the mud. What should I do?” We opted for reversing…and we got stuck in the mud. To give him the due credit, Chad did an amazing job and almost made it before the mud final...