And I thought I was going to be teaching my child about life

I am a relatively bright person. If IQ tests have any merit, I'm a genius(please understand I
am laughing as I type that.) But I never knew how much I was going to learn from my kid
instead of the other way around. I had visions of teaching her all the things in life that I learned
the hard way and thinking she was gonna be at such an advantage to be saved making the same
errors I have. You know all those sayings, "too late smart" and all that. I so wish I knew then
what I know now and can't help but be a little bummed thinking of the pain and aggravation
I might have spared myself if I had learned a few lessons earlier than I did. Spilled milk, water over the damn etc. But, just like her dad, Olivia seems to prefer not to listen to me until it actually proves true by her own experience(a real drag when she does something I've warned her not to and suffers the consequences but I guess lessons stick more when learned first hand, one could hope).But isn't it amazing how much you learn from your kid(s)? Unfortunately for them, you learn a lot of it when you realize
you made an error in your parenting and then correct yourself.(I try to save for college AND
psychotherapy) ;o). I am learning more and more however and since she is a pretty darn good
kid, I guess I'm not botching it too badly. Tim and I seem to be a good blend. I am the more cerebral but also more intense one. Translated: I'm the one with the anxiety issues. He is the more laid back one and smart in other ways that I am not. He is courageous. I am yella but we do a good job of filling the gaps for each other and there's not a lot of head-butting going on when you have your "job descriptions" set out and agreed upon with no interference. By the
grace of God, Olivia seems to have grabbed the best from both of us and is smart, yet fun-loving
and courageous. She reminds me of what the bible says about haiving faith like children. Some of us
adults just analyze the living c*** out of everything where as to a child, it's all pretty cut and dry. Life
is so simple to them. At least when they're young anyway. There's a trust and innocence that
us big folks have lost along the way. Sometimes we make things more complicated than they
need to be. I've mentioned before that I stumbled onto a blog about neuroblastoma which is
a devastating childhood cancer. I've followed it for awhile as well as a few others that are linked
to it. The courage of these little kids is awe-inspiring to say the least. The lessons they are teaching the adults in their lives is amazing. It makes me wonder if God puts people with illness
and disabilities on this earth for the sole purpose of teaching us about what is important. How we
are supposed to live our lives. What courage, faith, and real love really are. The boy from this blog is 5 and has been fighting NB since he was 7 months old. He's had over 50 rounds of chemo
treatments. His parents are trying to raise money to help find a cure for this cruel cancer and there is little government funding that goes towards the research needed. Yet he just told his parents he wants to take some of the money out of the spare change jar they collect for the
NB Alliance and send it to Haiti because he said"those kids need help too." Amazing. Where a lot of people are up in arms about the U.S. sending money and supplies over there when we can hardly take care of ourselves, this kid just knows that even though he needs help, other kids do too and they deserve it as well. We can
learn a lot from kids. You're a smart adult if you realize that.
Song for the day: "God's Will" by Martina McBride. Will is this little boy's name and it's an incredible song that reminds me of him. Google the video, but grab your kleenex first.