I ran across this little gem today and thought it would be fun to see what the kids would have to say six years later.
Me According to My Kids, they keep me humble
This is a composite of all 8 kids.
1. What is something I always say to you?
Clean your room, make your bed, stay out of the kitchen
2. What makes me happy?
Chocolate, sleep, clean rooms
3. What makes me sad?
Us
4. How do I make you laugh?
When you talk to Uncle Brant
5. What do you think I was like as a child?
Wild, naughty
6. How old am I?
38-39
7. How tall am I?
5'5, 5'11
8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Read
9. What do I do when you're not around?
Clean, read
10. If I become famous, what will it be for?
World's Greatest Mom, Huh, that's hard, cooking?
11. What am I really good at?
Cooking
12. What am I not really good at?
Drawingl
13. What is my job?
Mom
14. What is my favorite food?
Lasagne, chocolate
15. What makes you proud of me?
You're a good cook, and you scare away all of the guys
16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?
Rabbit (from Winnie the Pooh)
17. What do you and I do together?
watch movies, shop
18. How are we the same?
We're cute, we're naughty
19. How are you and I different?
You're older
20. How do you know that I love you?
you kiss us and hug us, and keep us from being naughty
22. Where is my favorite place to go?
The beach
They worked together on this. There you have it.
Here is what I found in the 2015 version:
1. What is something I always say to you?
I love you; can you make food?; Go to your room; It's a good thing you're cute; Get up; Walk your bike across the busy streets
2. What makes me happy?
Quiet; When we respect you; chocolate; reading; When we do our chores
3. What makes me sad?
When we disrespect you; Being in the same room as all of us; When your kids don't love you; lazy kids; sad movies
4. How do I make you laugh?
By saying something funny; When you talk about other people, sarcastically; You don't
5. What do you think I was like as a child?
Organized and disrespectful; Rebellious; Obedient (she's too sweet to be honest); Full of life; Lonely
6. How old am I?
45-46
7. How tall am I?
5'4-6'0
8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Read
9. What do I do when you're not around?
Clean and do laundry; Read; I don't know, I'm not around; Blog; Talk about us
10. If I become famous, what will it be for?
Reading a lot of books; Writing a book; Cooking; Telling people what to do; Jewelry; Acting, or maybe being a comedien using the skills discussed in #4
11. What am I really good at?
Reading; Loving us; Counseling people; Cooking; Not being too fat
12. What am I not really good at?
Keeping stuff to yourself; Remaining calm (There were a few long pauses here, and the look of "do I really tell her?")
13. What is my job?
Mom; Keeping us alive; Teaching us and disciplining us; Keeping the family intact; You don't have one (I don't make him laugh either, huh)
14. What is my favorite food?
How should I know?; Salad; Smoothies; German Chocolate cake; huckleberries; Dove chocolates (followed by debate about the definition of food)
15. What makes you proud of me?
When you apologize for mistakes you make; When you cook for me; When you're cool; When you're happy all day (apparently this has happened before); That you can bike for 10 miles
16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?
Daffy Duck; The Tasmanian Devil, Raven (character with anger management issues); Hunter in Bugs Bunny
17. What do you and I do together?
Read; Make fun of people; Cook; Talk; Watch Blackish; When I'm down you talk to me.
18. How are we the same?
We love God; We try to keep things clean; We're both introverts; We both like to read; We're good cooks; We're both white (duh); We avoid conflict
19. How are you and I different?
You're older; You get to lecture people a lot; You wear different clothes everyday; I'm happy all the time; How we handle certain situations; your a girl; I'm black
20. How do you know that I love you?
You hug me; You haven't kicked me out yet...You forgive me; You tell me; You feed me; You don't nag me to wake up anymore; You let me play Farming Simulator; You cuddle me when I'm sad
22. Where is my favorite place to go?
Grandpa Madson's backyard; Somewhere quiet; Somewhere quiet with a book (and a view of water); Your bedroom
If this leaves you thinking I need counseling, rest assured, I'm way ahead of you. If you are my counselor, well this should be illuminating. Several things jumped out at me during this process. First is that the reason my kids can be so disrespectful is because I am. Second is that I really need to work on my anger issues, like really. Third is that I am very thankful that there are a lot of books in the world to keep me from hurting someone. Fourth is that God has a big mess on His hands starting with me and trickling down to the ten year olds hanging out at my house.
My older kids weren't home when I was asking these questions. I would love to see what they would say. They are pretty good at being brutally honest, which is also a trait I have passed on, so I better prepare myself. As I read back through the list it pains me to see how my anger is mixed with my love which I'm sure is messing with their healthy psyche. I'm also shamed by knack for sarcasm at the expense of others. I make fun of myself plenty as well, but I really need to work on my sense of humor.
I realize that it is July, which isn't really the season for resolutions, but maybe I need to get started now. God has been speaking through a varied number of voices lately to prompt me to work on being kind, patient, positive, encouraging, long-suffering, less vocal with my opinions, basically a healthy loving person. The angry woman needs to move along. I regret that I did not commit to working on this many years ago. I could see it back then, but I thought other things were more important. Things like home-improvement, adoption, social justice, education, big things that are important. Sadly, now I have some grown children and I can see how my sloth in dealing with my sin has spilled over into their lives. They have trouble being kind to their friends. We are good at expressing anger, but not great at expressing love. I am hoping I'll be a better Grandma than I was a mom. I know the mom job is infinitely harder, and I need to get it together so I can be a help not a hindrance.
I am thankful that it is never too late (as long as I am still breathing and able to speak) to trust God and let Him heal my sin. My resolutions are only as good as my willingness to humble myself and let God work through me. I know steam will still come out of my ears when I see my kitchen. I need to be thankful for another opportunity to let love cover it. Tonight at midnight when all my little darlings are not all in their beds I will have another opportunity to forgive and trust God to watch over their sweet souls. My life abounds in ways for me to stop being angry and give things to God. I need to love quiet less and enjoy the chaos of happy voices, laughter, loud music, silly debates, and this time of year water fights. My life will quiet down eventually, probably when I go deaf (no sarcasm there). I prayed for years for God to use me in mighty ways. He has answered abundantly more than I asked for. It just looks nothing like I expected.
I'm right in the middle of this crazy story God is writing in my life (I hope). Things are definitely getting interesting. I am past the chapters where I was just sure I had life all figured out. I knew how to do my job, I had all the right methods for raising happy, healthy, good kids. I didn't really figure on them following me quite so well. They have me all figured out. My middle age wisdom of the moment is to work on my issues. I need to love Rick well. This is something I have let sit on the back burner way too long. I need to hold my tongue, and ask forgiveness when I don't. I also need to be aware of what it is tempted to do, because it does reveal what's really in my heart. All I have to offer this hurting world is what God has let me walk through. He has let me go through a lot of painful things, and they are not what I would want to be specializing in, but that is really the result of a lot of bad choices I made. I want to be more intentional in this second half. I realize that my time is limited and the painful stuff has to be dealt with. I can't avoid it. I don't want to leave it for my children to deal with. Happily Ever After is a lie, no matter who you are. A good life is a lot of work. That work is calling my name, so here I go!
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