By the way, for those of you who don't know, I now have a multiply.com site which I am using primarily for family related news and updates, such as the boys' football schedules, etc. The calendar makes it easier for me keep everyone posted of game schedules and other events the kids have going on. I have restricted access to some of it to my contacts, so let me know if you would like to be added as a contact if you are not already (assuming that I know you and you are not some perverted freak).
. . .changed my life?
the Bible.
. . .I've read more than once?
The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I love Kate Chopin. I have read everything she's ever written (including her other unpublished novel At Fault, which is delightful, but out of print so I don't have a copy), and I particularly enjoyed the process of reading the Awakening at different periods of my life. . .as a high school girl, a single college student, a young wife, a mother, etc. My perspective on the book was so different as my status in life changed and evolved and as I matured. I identified with the characters so differently depending on where I was in life. Indication of a truly well written book.
. . .I would want with me on a deserted island?
I suppose it would sound overly pious if I said the Bible again, though that is the truest answer. But in the interest of not sounding self-righteous (an oxymoron), I will say War and Peace, since that's the only way I'd have time to finish it in one sitting, which is my preferred way to read a book.
. . .made me laugh?
Brain Droppings by George Carlin.
. . .made me cry?
A Painted House by John Grisham. The only book of Grisham's that I would classify as "literature" rather than pop fiction. It's not a lawyer story. It's a psuedo-autobiographical novel set on a cotton farm in Mississppi. The kid in it reminded me so much of my oldest son, Ethan, that it drew me in even more than it would have otherwise.
. . .I wish had been written?
How to Do Everything Perfectly the First Time.
. . .I wish had never been written?
I'm Okay, You're Okay. I've not actually read it, but I'm familiar with the impact it had on the American psyche and the number of people who have been led astray by the lies contained therein. It's the original "Barney Theology". . .the lie Barney keeps feeding our children that you can do anything you want if you just believe in yourself. Blech. I'm not okay, and you're not okay. We both need a Savior. Deal with it.
. . .I am currently reading?
According to Promise by Gordon J. Keddie
. . .I've been meaning to read?
War of Words by Paul David Tripp
Tag Five Others:
Mandi-pie
Mountaineer
Joanna
Scott
Lynn
Edit: By the way, I should have mentioned that this post was in response to Monica's tag (bad_XO_twin at xanga)
Which is not a dating service. It's Sam's ad/hd medication. I the worst of sinners, who once believed that people who medicated their children for imaginary diseases such as add and ad/hd were just failures who were avoiding disciplining their children by doping them up instead. Oh, how God humbles us.
We've been out of Sam's meds since we went to Mexico. He has steadily gone downhill in attitude and behavior. Not logical normal behavior. Things like coming into the room where I was in the middle of looking for my lost contact, trying to put the little kids to bed and on the phone with my out of town husband and asking why I hadn't come up to read to him yet. When I responded that I would try to be up there when I got the little kids settled if I could find my contact to be able to see the book, he collapsed into tears. "You hate me. Nobody cares about me. You said you would read to me but you lied because you don't love me." Similar reaction every time I ask him to do something around the house, like take his cup to the sink. "I can't believe you always make me do everything. You just hate me and want me to be your slave." You get the idea.
So yesterday I got his meds refilled. This morning he took one. 45 min later I realized that the garbage truck was coming down the street. Of course I had forgotten about taking the trash out (Stephen usually does it). I rushed to the kitchen window to see how far away the truck was, wondering if I could manage to get it to the curb in time. There was the garbage can, at the end of the drive way. Sam had taken it down for me. So I thanked him, and went back to doing laundry. "Do you need help? I'll go get the dirty clothes from upstairs," Sam says. When he returns, I ask him to put the clothes in the hall floor instead of the laundry room, because I need to clean the laundry room floor. "You want me to sweep it for you?"
Now, I might be inclined to think that it was a random good morning for him if we did not see this type of radical change in behavior every time we start him on his meds. Now, he's not always this extreme. When he's been off it for a while and starts back, there is a huge swing to the opposite end of the spectrum from where he's been, and then as the days go by and the meds build up in his system, the pendulum settles somewhere in the range of normal, meaning he's not always waiting at my heels to do housework, but he's not flying into a rage of violence and tears every time I ask him to do something. His behavior is more controlled and predictable. The last few days, even when he attempts to play nicely with the younger kids, one of them is injured every 10 minutes, simply because he is so hyper and lacks self control regarding his physicality.
I think ADD and ADHD are probably way over diagnosed. I think there are probably plenty of parents who rely on medication as an alternative to discipline rather than a supplement. But I am so grateful that God has provided the knowledge and medical technology to aid those of us who have a legitimate need to balance out the physical variances that some of us experience. And I don't even want to think about how different our quality of life would be without medication.