Matthew + Lizi

Some of you may know this group, but they are new to me.
They opened for Robbie last week at the New Life fundraiser.
I LOVE THEM!! Seriously, I can't stop playing their CD.
They are one mega talented husband and wife team. They have four small kids, I found out talking to her, right at the same ages of ours! That made me like them more!
They support Compassion and Living Water, which made me like them more.
Anytime a CD makes me want to raise my soapy hands while I'm washing dishes in my kitchen, it is GOOD! The songs "Maker of the Wind" and "Open our Eyes" are my favorite!! So worshipful!
Go, quickly, to www.matthewandlizi.com and check them out.

To Train a Child

Prov 22:6
6 Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
This post is not about how to rear children, because I am right in the midst of that learning process. Maybe, hopefully, when I'm older I will have some fruit of these years, and can share some successes. But for now, I'm just holding onto the Lord daily, praying fervently, begging for wisdom everywhere I turn, wanting what's best for my kiddos, just like all of you (with children.) But I want to share with you what God is teaching us. One thing I have been mindful of a lot lately is what we are training our children in. They are all students, sitting in our classroom, soaking up what we are teaching, whether we mean to be or not. Incredibly frightening, isn't it? If parenting doesn't scare the crud out of you, what does?
The Bible says to train a child in the way he should go, and then he won't depart from it.
What is the way he should go?
Deut 6:4-9
4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. 8 Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Matt 22:37-40

37 Jesus replied, " 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."
So far, if you are a Christian parent like me, you know these verses. This is all very 'Duh.'
But how is this lived out?
Recently, our worship leader, Aaron, wrote in our church newsletter about worship. He wrote about how worship is not just what we do at church. It's not something we try to fit into our lives.
We ARE worshipping all the time.
But what are we worshipping?
And what are we teaching our children to worship?
How do we define worship?
One of dictionary.com's definitions is "to regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion."
So what do we show our kids is important to us?
We have all trained our kids in something. Some of them can show adoring esteem to your alma mater on command at the age of 2.
Some of them know more about nutrition than I do, and are trained well in what to eat.
Some of them have been trained in politeness and manners so they don't embarrass us or act like punks. (Who wants punk kids? Not me!)
Some of them are trained that education is everything. They are trained and on the path to the right college.
Some of them are in training to become professional athletes. They know sports is what gets the ardent devotion. It trumps everything else.
Some are trained to please themselves. Do what makes you happy. We've never taught them to step outside of themselves to care for the needy. In fact, they don't know that the needy exist. (I remember when our kids thought all of Mexico was the resorts we had visited. They didn't understand why Daddy needed to go there and do mission work? Those people were living the good life! Ouch.)
Over the past few years, Rusty and I have been asking ourselves, what are we training our kids in?
What do we give ardent devotion to in the everyday. Does God just get our weekend? Or is He woven into everything we do?
Have we built our lives and are trying to fit God into in somewhere, or are we building our lives ON HIM, and only doing what He is asking of us?
Our kids are sponges. They learn quickly, and they are not hard to train.
But Rusty and I have had to take steps back and realize that sometimes we have trained them in the wrong things, or with the wrong attitudes.
For example, in our earlier years of parenting, we were teaching obedience and good behavior, but not for the glory of God and obedience to His Word. Just to have good kids. We had to backtrack.
Also, we have been re-evaluating our time in front of the TV. Aaron wrote a great post on that recently that I will be writing more about soon. But as Heather wrote, I also let my first child watch WAY too much TV. We had it on all the time. I shudder just thinking about how foolish that was. When we moved here in 2003 it seemed a good time to turn over a new leaf, and my children quickly became accustomed to no TV during the day. It's never on during the day. That's just a general rule around here. We never let them watch live TV. I can't predict what's going to happen not only during a show, but during the commercial break. We turned off the TV, and started having family meals at the table in silence. That was five years ago. (We've since allowed some bad night time TV habits creep in, but I'll write about that later in the week.) I was teaching my kids to be slothful and that mindless activity is all good. It's not.
In our earlier parenting years, I cared more about what clothes they wore. They had more GAP and Gymboree clothing. As God grew us, we realized these things are NOT important. Not even close. We weren't going to teach our kids and spend our money foolishly just to impress our friends at church or keep up with the Jones', whoever they are. I avoid Gymboree like the plague, no matter what deals they offer, and when the kids need clothes, they are the cheapies.
I could go on. God has stopped us in our tracks, over and over, and re-taught us how to submit everything to Him.
If we want our kids to know that Bible Study and prayer are important, we have to not only let them wake-up every morning to us in the Word, but we have to teach and equip them to do it themselves on a daily basis. It's not going to happen magically when they get older. I want them to see prayer and Bible Study as the most normal part of their day. Like breakfast.
But it's too easy to train them in the world's ways. I don't want that. That means we have to talk with them more. If I want them to connect to the Body of Christ, then I have to treat their role in the church as importantly as I do mine and Rusty's.
While I'm driving to church on Saturday nights, trying to shake off the craziness of getting four kids dressed, fed, and off on time, I pray and ask God to prepare my heart for worship and see opportunities to meet visitors or someone who needs a word or a smile from me.
I became convicted that I needed to do the same for my kids. So I also am asking them to pray on the way to church, asking God the same things. One of the first times we did that, we pulled up to church and Emma befriended a little girl visiting and asked her if she wanted to sit with us. The guys who brought her were so relieved and told us it was an answer to prayer for Emma to take care of her. It was her first time, and they weren't planning on bringing her. Her Mom just sent her with them. And it was her birthday!!!!! Can you imagine? So Emma got to see the immediate fruit of that prayer. What a blessing!
I also was recently convicted that I haven't been sending their Bibles with them to church. They use them daily at home, but I was afraid they would lose them at children's church in the mass of children, games, and moving rooms. But it's important to have your Bible ready to read in worship for us, and it is for them also. So I sent their Bibles with them last night. They didn't lose them, and they got to practice using them during their story time.
I would love it if any of you would share how God is challenging you in this area as well. I want Him to open my eyes to every part of our lives where we are worshiping someone or something else, and in turn, training my children to do the same.
What gets our attention?
What do we get excited about?
When do our children see us beaming with pride at them?
What is a priority in time spent as a family?
We can say God is first, but are we trying to squeeze God in, or letting everything in our lives overflow from a love relationship with Him?
What is getting our ardent or adoring esteem or devotion?

Bindi the Jungle Girl

My Emma LOVES this show!
It comes on Discovery Kids at 7:30am. (At least that's when we DVR it I think.)
If Bindi says it, to Emma, it's the gospel truth.
She is often saying "Well,Bindi says, yada, yada, yada".
This little girl is pretty cute. Sometimes overly articulate children can be annoying. But her show is informative, and so interesting to my Emma, I just can't be annoyed.
Bindi even signs songs about animals, and has videos of them, like where a fan is blowing her always crimped pony tails. Those are pretty funny.
Why the crimping? Does anyone still have a crimping iron? I haven't seen mine since 1988. Is this an Australian thing?
Emma wants to live Bindi's life.
When they show Bindi's baby brother sitting all giggly with some monster snake that could eat us all alive, it tends to freak me out. But that is the greatest heaven Emma can imagine.
Emma lives, breathes, and eats animal life. Raise your hand if you've been to my house and Emma has tried to race you on all fours, barked at you, jumped in your lap like an animal, or asked you to play the animal game? Let's take a head count...it's everyone we know.
I know this is not normal for a seven-year-old, but this is pure Emma, at the core, she loves animals. Jane Goodall probably wasn't normal either though, right? It might be a sign of greatness! Emma was obsessed with animals before she could talk. She seriously had a major obsession with elephants at age 18 months. She couldn't say much, but she said the word "efelun" about 100 times a day. She only received elephants for her 2nd birthday, and her party was animal themed. She rode an elephant at the circus at age 2. The dinosaur phase came after that, followed by the horse phase (which stuck because she's been riding horses for years now and is going to be in her first horse show in April!!! Woo-hoo!) It's just built into her DNA, passed on by her father, of course.
So if you have an extreme animal lover, or a child who also likes overly articulate children, check out Bindi.
Also, FYI, I heard there's an A&M Vet School Open House this Saturday from 9am to 4pm. It's supposed to be pretty amazing, with exotic animals, trick pets, and things to examine under a microscope. It's basically an event designed for my kids. So Rusty will be taking the big ones.

Creativity (super creative title, hu?)

The kids and I were lying on the trampoline earlier tonight playing the cloud game. You know, where you look at the clouds and say what you see.
(You meteorologists are thinking something totally different than the rest of us.)
Jax immediately said he saw a battle, and a giant alligator.
The rest of them spouted something off as well.
What did I see? I didn't know...I kept looking...and looking...why didn't I see anything?
It took me a while, but I saw something as well. I saw an eye.
Kids are so creative! They're born with creativity just waiting to bust out!
This morning, we had the opportunity to go to the church my brother Chris pastors, and my brother Robbie leads worship there. We saw Chris' oldest, Hanna, be baptized and take her first communion. It was special and wonderful.
Ecclesia is in the heart of Houston on Taft Street. It is a hub of creativity.
Art lines the wall. Creativity is seeping through the rustic, cracked interior of the building.
At Ecclesia, they actually have a table to paint at during worship. They see art as a form of worship. And why not? Now granted, that wouldn't fly at every church. It fits at Ecclesia. It would fit at some churches in our conservative military university town almost as well as Democrats. But my kids were all over it.
They were in Easter clothes, which weren't new or fancy, but the looked cute. Emma was even wearing a little white sweater over her dress. When they asked to paint and I voted yes, Rusty looked at me like "what?" However, he got on board quickly because Rusty is an artist at heart and one of the most creative people I know. Pretty remarkable since he's also a science nerd too.
We explained to them that it was a form and act of worship to do so. Emma was on it! She painted passionately for a good part of the service. The boys dabbled in it as well. Rusty and I both wanted them to have the unique experience of worship through art like this, despite the mess. Now today, there were mostly minors seated at the painting table, but I know that's not true all of the time, because amazing art lines the walls of the sanctuary. Art is highly valued in their community. Expressive and explosive paintings are everywhere, and many are painted by an artist in their church that we've known for years. (My brothers are lucky enough to have her art in their homes as well.)
I'm not proposing that we set up an art center at all of our churches. That works in Montrose, but not everywhere. But where is our creativity, grown-ups? Why do kids look at clouds and see a million things, and we have to study them?
Why do we overflow with creativity when we're young, and are deplete of it when we're grown?
Where does it go?
How are we allowing our creativity to be sucked out of us?
And what's it for? IT'S FOR GOD.
Every good gift He's given us is meant to bring Him glory, to make Him famous.
But our creative button is broke, so I'm learning that my kids know a lot better how to worship God than I do.
We think worship is an hour on Sunday morning, from 11-12. Or we think it's just the music segment of our service.
Where did we get that idea? Is God insulted that we have narrowed the concept of worship to that, or what?
Worship is a lifestyle. As our worship leader has recently reminded us, we are all worshipping something or someone all of the time. I'm afraid too much of the time, I am worshipping my own pleasure and convenience, and not God's greatness and glory.
My kids grasp this more easily.
When we dance, it can be worship. When we run, when we draw, when we learn, when we clean...it can all be in a spirit of worship.
If I tell my kids we are going to paint as a form of worship today, they're on it.
We're going to journal about our Bible verses, they're all for it.
They don't blink or look at me quizzically. They just do it, and they so often do it unto the Lord.
I'm afraid I am using my gifts and the remnant of creativity for my own purposes.
For those of us who love to teach little ones, we still long to be creative.
We teach Kindergarten just so we can read books, write books, color, paint, and mold things out of Play-Doh.
What would happen if we stirred up and revived from the dead all of our creative juices and poured them into worship and adoration of God?
I wonder what it would look like.
I'm going to be working on that.
There are many creative desires I've had for years that I've allowed fear to contain.
I want to play the drums, I want to play the piano more, I want to make more cute bookmarks with my awesome colored pens (thanks Amanda!) and my super cool laminator (thanks Shelby!)
Even more importantly, I want to protect the creative inclinations in my children and teach them that every one of them is for the glory of God. It is not meant to be squashed and stamped out, suffocated by "maturity" and replaced with cool, new aloof grown-up attitudes. It makes me want to cry just thinking of my kids giving up all their creative endeavors in the name of growing up.
So everyone, grown-ups, break out your markers, instruments, dancin' shoes, pencils and paper, and get to work. You may have to sit there for a while before a creative idea hits you, but just like me and the clouds, it will come. And maybe the more we practice that, the easier and easier it will come.
I want to try. I'm going to watch my kids for ideas.
You watch yours, if you have them or are around them, just mimic them for a while. They don't need ANY help in being creative.

Jax's Salvation & Baptism

This is Jax's baptism last Sunday night. What a special night for us! Look at my sweet little boy! I took his hand to walk him to the front when Butch called his name, and he looked at me and said "I can go by myself, Mom." Those moments kill me! He did. He went on his own, and climbed in that baptistry without fear.
I have to testify as to what God has done in his heart. When Emma was baptized, he freaked out! It appeared to be the most terrifying thing to him! He would tell us ALL the time, "I don't want to be baptized!" Emma would try to talk to him about being saved, and he would just say "But I don't want to be baptized!"
In his own time, he began asking lots of questions, and he discovered that we had something he didn't have. Salvation. He grew in his understanding of his sinful state, and what Jesus did for him. He developed a faith, even at five-years-old, in what it meant to trust Jesus. We talked about salvation just about everyday through his AWANAS verses, and our family Bible study and prayer. When he realized "hey, this is for me! This applies to me!" we couldn't hold him back. He was just five, and in my flesh, I wanted to give it more time. But last December, he was ready, and he basically told me on a Sunday at home he was praying to ask Jesus in his heart right then. I could join him or not, but he was praying! Wow! His eagerness to be a child of God was intense! He did pray, and he told everyone that very day that he was a "son of the King!" The Holy Spirit came and filled my son that day. The scripture says He will. I could see it immediately. All the fear he had about baptism evaporated. He never flinched in his desire to follow through with baptism, and even being a grown-up doubter, I thought some of that fear might re-surface as it came closer. It did not. He was excited about it. This was just God, because he is not my child that wants to be the center of attention or upfront. I have a few of those, but that's not Jax. He would rather hide behind Emma. But you can see him in this picture, brave and excited. He was also so excited to take his first Lord's Supper that night.

This picture looks scary, like they're holding him under. They're not, I promise.
We baptize by immersion, because that's exactly as Jesus did it and told us to do it.
It does not save us. It is a command in scripture, and he says to do it following your conversion, but it is an outward testimony to what has happenned in your heart. I am realizing more and more that it's not enough to experience the power of God in your life and keep it to yourself. We're supposed to proclaim it to everyone! We're supposed to publicly proclaim His faithfulness! Baptism does that.
Jax has gone from death to life. Just as Jesus taught Nicodemus in John 3, he's been born again. I gave birth to him, and it was one of the greatest days of my life. But the joy of seeing true salvation in my children is unparalleled. Jax has a hunger for the Lord. He loves God's Word. He loves to pray. These are fruits of his salvation and the child-like faith that Jesus tells us to have. I do see a pure and untainted faith in my children that I myself long for. There's no greater blessing than to see that in your children! Walking and living their whole lives for Jesus is their only hope! If we are making ANYTHING...education, sports, healthy lifestyles, whatever, more important than this, we are MISSING IT! There are many good things to teach our kids, but this is PARAMOUNT!
Here are some verses I am praying over Jax.

Ps 101:1-4
I will sing of your love and justice.
I will praise you, LORD, with songs.
2 I will be careful to live a blameless life —
when will you come to my aid?
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
3 I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all crooked dealings;
I will have nothing to do with them.
4 I will reject perverse ideas
and stay away from every evil.


Ps 86:11-13
1 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

I am asking God to help him live a blameless life. I want him to serve the Lord with an undivided heart. I am overwhelmed that He has delivered my child from the depths of the grave. I am asking God for big things for my children. Not big worldly successes, but I'm not going to concede that my children must make a string of foolish decisions or rebel against us and the Lord later in life as a normal part of growing up. NO! I want him to walk in the path of righteousness and NOT depart from it. He will make mistakes. He will sin. But I want him to live in the abundant life promised to all of us who are believers. I want him to be a mighty worker in God's kingdom.
God has saved our Jax. Our hearts are full of gratitude to the Lord, and we take our job of teaching and discipling him very seriously. Praise God that I don't have to do that in my own strength. Praise God that that responsibility doesn't rest on me alone as a Mom, but that my husband leads us in that. I can only humbly pray that God would become more famous and glorified through our lives as a family.
That's what it's all about.

HOPE

There is so much to cover in scripture on hope.
I am overwhelmed by it.
God has been speaking so clearly to me the last few days about hope.
There is one verse He has gifted me with that I have to share.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13

We serve the GOD OF HOPE. There is no hope to be found anywhere else! But our God is the author and source of all hope!
So who are we to ever feel hopeless if we know Him?
I was feeling hopeless in a situation with one of my little ones. I felt discouraged and defeated.
That was wrong and sinful.
There's no place for hoplessness in our lives as believers! Not even a smidge of it!
We so easily forget, like foolish, ridiculous Israelites, we serve the GOD OF HOPE.
And in the midst of something horrendous, He can fill you with all joy and peace.
JOY AND PEACE.
That's something I haven't had lately in this trial.
I can not only be filled with hope to overflowing, but I can also have joy and peace in the midst of it.
Can I have any of this on my own?
No way Jose.
"...by the power of the Holy Spirit." Only by the powerful God living in us as believers can this happen. If God can raise the dead, He can give me hope, joy, and peace. In fact, He can produce all of the fruit of the Spirit in me. (Gal. 5:22 "And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self control.")
Without the Holy Spirit, we are unkind. We are impatient. We lack joy and peace. We are not good. We are certainly not faithful. We are not gentle, and we cannot control ourselves.
Praise God that He decided to come live inside of us when we accepted Him.
Without Him, there is no hope.
With him, there is ALL HOPE!
This sounds simple, elementary. But how many of us are living with hopelessness hidden in our hearts?
Hopeless that things will change.
That our loved ones will come to know God.
That our circumstances will change.
That God will move.
We envision God to be about as powerful as we are. He's not.
We envision Him to be as faithful as we are. He's definitely not.
We think we know what love is aside from Him. We don't.
So take heart. Be filled with overflowing hope today.
Memorize and meditate on this verse as I am. He's faithful and good. He keeps all of His promises.
Praise God today that we serve the God of hope.
And if you don't know Him, today is the day! Enter into a forever union with true love and hope in Him.
To read some good scripture and insight into putting your hope in God alone, read my friend Tamra's blog about this. It's great!

"New Day" on TV tonight!!!!

Hey, I don't know if anyone reads blogs on Sundays. Do you? Are there specifications in scripture about blogging on the Sabbath? Probably not.
Just in case, I wanted to put the exciting word out that Rob's song "New Day" will be on Oprah's Big Give show tonight. Set your DVR if you have one. We will be at church...in fact, my whole family, including Rob and Liz are going to be at Living Hope tonight for Jax's baptism!!!!!!!! More on that later...but we are all going to come back here and watch it together.
My sweet little boy is going to be baptized tonight!!! I'll have to share about that when my house does not need me to clean it.
Set your DVR's!

Make your own free t-shirt!!!

A friend e-mailed me this awesome deal! You can get on Vista Print and make a custom t-shirt, and it's free! You only need to pay for shipping. (Lowest is less than $5)
Think of all the awesome things you can put on a t-shirt!
I've got too many in my head to choose from right now...I need more sleep to make this decision.
Let me know if you make one!
www.vistaprint.com
(More real posts will come after Spring Break.)

Read this...

Ross King wrote a great post about what everyone needs to know about adoption...about talking to adopted kids or parents of them.
Plus you get to see pics of his adorable boys!!! Go there, quick! It will only take a minute.

Lily 7 & my Bible Study

I know I've mentioned before that I write for a website called Lily 7. There are seven of us writers, and we "discuss" topics on the blog.
But I am excited to say they are also posting my Bible Studies under their resources. I have a new one up there, "Citizens of Heaven" and you can download the pdf version easily if you are interested. I know that's easier than printing it out from a blog, like I have linked below.
Just go to the Lily 7 site (to the right under our ministries), click on resources, and choose Bible Studies. It is at the top.
Just a little FYI.

Stinky McStink Face!

This commercial happenned to sneak into our DVR viewing last night, and I watched it five times, while I laughed so hard I cried!!!
My favorite part: "What the French, Toast?" I can't get enough of that part!
I like the way they're all chewing gum the whole time too.

Who are you callin' a cootie queen, you lint licker!

Are you smarter than a 1st grader?

I am not, I confess.
I wrote on my blog last year about what I was learning teaching the kids Kindergarten.
1st grade has been even more enlightening.
Now, before you write me off as a total moron, let me throw out a few of the kids' test questions from this year.
(You can decide I'm a moron after that.)

What is a shaduf? (hint: used in early civilization farming)
Locate and color the mesopatamia on a map.
Label all the continents, oceans, and define island and peninsula.
What are the three kinds of rocks?
Identify rocks into these three categories. (We actually did this with buckets of rocks and a Geology Professor in the A&M Geology building. I love this town!!)
What is a sun spot? solar flare?
What is the largest planet?
The hottest planet?
Which ones have rings? (hint: not just Saturn)
Who was Sir Walter Raleigh?
Who was Pocahontas, and what did she do? (hint: Don't go to Disney for accurate historical info.)
Who was Paul Revere's vitally helpful friend on the night of his famous ride?
What did he do?
How many bones are in the body?
Label atleast 10 correctly.
Explain the process of digestion.
How much saliva do we produce each day? (This grossed me out.)
Name 5 different types of animal habitats.
Map out a food chain for each kind of habitat.
What is an animal called that eats both animals and plants?

Did any of them stump you? Maybe 1 or 2?
More than a couple for me. Science was NOT of interest to me as a kid. Obviously it was to my husband, and my kids are very much like him.
But it has been my pure joy to learn everything again, or for the first time even, and teach it to my kids.
Weirdo Homeschool Legalist Disclaimer: Let me remind you, I don't think homeschooling is for everyone, or the only way, or GOD'S WAY, or whatever.
But it is a blast for us! We are having fun studying food chains this week.
I don't think I learned all this stuff!!! This is awesome!
I wish I could show you the picture Rusty drew on the board for me of a food chain. It's awesome. Having a brainy husband with good artistic skills is super helpful!
Emma and Jax are so excited to learn something new, so teaching them is a bright spot in my day every day.
Emma is what Rusty affectionately calls a "nerd", which he is as well, so he's very proud. But ask Emma any question about one of these topics, and you'll get her going. Especially if it pertains to animals. She'll talk your ear off. And you might learn something! I usually do, because the girl stores away additional animal info. from her Zoobooks magazines, library books, and anything Bindi says!
I included a few pics of our schooling lately.
Emma was working on "Solving for the Unknown" or what we called "Solving the mystery" in math. It's really like early algebra. X + 7=16
So when we started this section of her math, she immediately went and dressed up like a Sherlock Holmes type of detective. Notice the pipe in her mouth. She cracks me up!
She also made a robot one day.
And finally, my favorite, was our MLK day activity of eating the Great Divide ice cream. (1/2 vanilla and 1/2 chocolate.) This was their idea when we studied Civil Rights and desegregation before MLK day. We mixed them up some for symbolism sake. How funny are they?
I'm really not saying my kids are especially smart or are learning any more than everyone else's kids. Not at all. But they love learning, and I super love teaching them!!! I am learning so much from them, and learning to love knowledge, especially of God's creation, all from 1st grade.
Hopefully, I am getting smarter than a 1st grader.