I Love You Stinky Face!

     

One of my favorite books is, "I Love You Stinky Face" by Lisa McCourt. A mom is tucking in her son for bed and he has lots of questions. "Mama, mama would you still love me if I were a big scary ape? Or a slimy swamp creature Or a super smelly skunk?" He is worried that she might not love him if..... Each time, the mom reassures him that she will love him no matter what. She comes up with creative and loving ways that would show her son that her love is unconditional. "I would dress you in colors that showed off your nice green skin. I would buy you a bigger toothbrush for your big teeth. I would move next to the swamp, and if you still smelled bad, I wouldn't mind, and I would whisper in your ear, "I love you, Stinky Face." ..." Many kids fear that no one will love them if people knew how bad they were. Many adults fear this too..they are unworthy of love. In this story the answer is very clear, "Nothing could ever stop me from loving you!" Of course every time I read this book I cry. The author somehow knew my mother's heart, "I will love my kids no matter what!" Do your kids really know or believe this? Does your husband know you feel this way about him? Have you told him lately that it's not about the job he does, the money he makes, or the all the reasons he has let you down..but you just love him? Do you believe this is the way God loves you? Or are do you secretly think that you have to hide from him because you also live with the fear that you are not good enough? 

      We have a saying in the Lee household, "I will love you for all the good you will do. I will love you even with all the bad choices you will make. I don't love you because of the way you might act or what you accomplish, I love you because you are mine!" This is actually harder to do than we might want to admit. We love our kids. They have our hearts! We would die for them! But our love is still human, still fallible. Only God's love is perfect.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

God's love is perfect. We do not need to be afraid he won't love us.

     "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

    Isn't that awesome...God loves us no matter what! If one of us is lost he will not only come after us but he will carry us home! (Luke 15:3-5) He loves us even when we are stinking with sin. Thank you for a God whose love never fails. I want to live like I really believe this!!!

Readers are Leaders..or at least have a lot to say :)

If you don't know already...I LOVE, really LOVE to Read! I will read almost anything...sometimes it takes me months to get through a book, sometimes I can read two books in one day, mostly I try to read a new book at least once a week. I do have a few unstated rules.
 
1) I NEVER reread it seems like such a waste of time.

2) I will finish the book no matter what, no matter how long it takes because I do not want to let the author down. (No, I don't know any of them personally but it is the principle of the matter)

3) I try not to pass judgement on the cover. Even if the cover has a guy on it that looks like Fabio from the butter commercials there really could be good content inside.

4) I keep a journal of the books I have read and write down a few thoughts from each of them. This does sound a little OCD but it helps me think that I am smarter than I really am.My facebook post a few months ago said. "I have read over 60 books in the last six months..everything from WWII, romance, religious studies, doctors in Africa, Jewish history, parenting, Gun-N-Roses bio, leadership skills to name a few... This is what I learned...God is awesome, people let you down, sex can be amazing, girls want to be loved, mean people suck, kids grow up and leave, helping others is important, and 90% of people will follow the crowd!!"

Reading lets you explore places far away you might never go, meet people you will never see, open your mind to things you had once closed off, tugs at your heart emotions, brings to light issue you might never have though about, improves your vocabulary so that you are a better Scramble player, and its fun! Reading lets you "catch a glimpse" of the presently unknown.

TEN WAYS TO RAISE A NONREADER (from the book, Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt)

1. Have a television on at all times. Make sure you put a tv set and computer in every room. Don't forget the kitchen.

2. Keep the place neat-no books or literary magazines in sight.

3. Never let your child see you read a book.

4. Never take your kids to the library.

5. Never read stories aloud past age two.

6. Never talk about ideas while eating meals.

7. Keep the lights down low. Buy only forty-watt lightbulbs.

8. Schedule your children for every activity you can think of so they won't be bored.

9. Never play any table games together.

10. Absolutely no reading in bed or good lamps to make it easy to do.A few statistics to go along: (www.readfaster.com)

* 40% of 4th graders can not read fluently.

* 50% of adults are unable to read an 8th grade level book

* 44 million of adults in America can not read

* 15 minutes of independent reading a day can expose a reader to 1 million words of text a year!Some of you are saying so what I hate reading, I have never even finished a book all the way through, reading is boring, what's the point, I am not good at it....

My father-in-law was a F-16 crew chief for 35 years. He never read anything but the paper or car manuals. He liked working with his hands, was really great at his job, and could rebuild a car engine from scratch. At the age of 55, he picked up his first book as an adult, read it all the way through, and hasn't stopped. Now when we go to his house he has a stack of books ten high by his recliner. He goes to the library and Bookmans all the time. He wants books as presents and gets very excited about ones that have series so he can read all of them. Just the other day we had a talk about an 800 page book we had both read! He said, "Kimberley, I never knew what I was missing by not reading all those years!" (With his hands full of grease, his shirt stained with grease, and his legs nicked up from fixing our car that morning!) It's never too late...just try it again!