chelan rene’ russ

on ministry, motherhood, marriage, music, munchies…

Archive for the category “About Braylon – our little boy”

That’s the Way to Think

When Bray was in 3rd grade at Boones Ferry Primary, Mrs. Parent & I had a talk about how we can come together to help him remember all his homework, as school lets out each day. I thought we crossed that creek, but here we are again in 4th grade & Mrs. Banet & I are saying the same things. We’re trying to come up with strategies to not just remind him when needed, but to help him think of ways he can remind himself…or simply put, remember what he needs to remember. This week we were particularly challenged, as something was forgotten 3 out of 4 days. But as Angel & I picked him up from school in our Mercury Villager, I went down the list (this time, before leaving the parking lot. Do I get a mini York Peppermint Paddy for that?). Each item was replied to with a proud & verbal “Check!” I said, “OK then. Are you sure you have EVERYTHING? You didn’t even leave your reading log?”

Then as we drove home between the tall colorful trees that line Wilsonville Rd, Braylon said back to me, “That was the OLD me.”

I smiled and high-fived him for that one. And I said THAT’s the way to think. Picture how you want to change – what you want to be & decide that the old habits are not YOU, anymore. Speak out loud what you want to become. Even if you’re a 4th grader who wants to be more responsible. Visualize it. Speak it. And don’t be afraid to ask others to help you reach it. Grown-ups, parents… it’s true for really anyone. You’ll probably surprise yourself and everyone around you with how close you come to that goal.

A Braysay about…Beauty and the Laugh

Tonight as Ricky & I laid beside Braylon just before he went to sleep, I asked him to name one thing that he liked about Dad’s personality that I don’t necessarily have, and something about mine that dad doesn’t have. About his dad, he said, ” his laugh. Mom, you don’t really laugh like him, and not as much.”

When it came to my turn, after much deliberation (which was borderline-upsetting! ) he actually thought of something: “I like the way you look at things. Like…how you see them. You say stuff like, “Wow, look at this beautiful bridge over this lovely river!” to which I replied, “oh! like beauty in nature? Yeah, dad doesn’t really talk about beauty a whole lot” & Braylon replied,

“well… he does when it’s about you.”

A Week of Memories in the Making with Gamma Janis

October 1st

To Angel & Bray’s surprise, we picked her up from PDX.

It was the longest Rick had gone without seeing his mom – since Christmas of ’10…over 9 mo.s.

Read more…

The Boring Way

Braylon loves to add excitement in stories whenever he can. Sometimes that means a little … well, exaggeration.

As we watched the movie, Radio today, Angel told us she wanted to go to church a few times.

As the credits rolled, she said it again & Braylon said,

We KNOW! You said it like 3,000 times already!

I replied to him, “…or 3″

He retorted with a smirk, “Well, yeah, if you want to say it the boring way!

A Bray Say… conversation about heaven

So what does God do up there all day? Sit in his chair and play video games?

-No silly. I don’t know…the Bible doesn’t say exactly. I guess he listens to prayers, heals people, speaks to us though his Holy Spirit, and pretty much controls everything…

… (we talk some more about sin, the sea of forgetfulness & God not counting our sin against us when we repent)…

Adam & Eve had it perfect. Everything was fine. Until they put clothes on.

-They put clothes on cause they were ashamed. Everything was different after that. Because of their sin, we all have the tendency to sin & feel ashamed & Satan tries to make us think wrong thoughts about ourselves.

I’ve done that before, and he even tried to make me think some stuff about myself that wasn’t true and then make me think that God was the one telling me that.

-Yeah, he does that. But don’t you believe it. God would never tell you you’re stupid, or a jerk or anything else, especially after you’ve asked him for forgiveness for something. If you hear that, know that it is always Satan.

I hate Satan.

-Me too. Ya know, before Adam & Eve believed Satan about that fruit & sinned, the world was perfect. We’ll never experience anything like that kind of perfect world again until we get to heaven.

There’s gold everywhere there. I think I’ll cut a big chunk out of a street when I get there and chuck it down to earth for the miners.

Will we all be like the same?

- I think we’ll have the same spirit, but we’ll have glorified bodies. I think we’ll be able to even walk through walls.

Coooool…

I call robbing a bank!

 

A Bray Say… about highlights of his day

What were the highlights of the day, for you?

playing Pictionary with you,

tackling Angel in the face with a pellow,

sip of RockStar,

the yellow tab (from the RockStar can),

…and Smooch (a Lifetime movie).

(I just thought this was a cute little peek into the value system of an 8 yr old).

A Bray Say…

OK…it’s been awhile since my last Bray say… but I got two from this week, to make up for it:

- We’re gonna have a healthier kind of pizza this week.

“like, Dominos? or Pizza Hut?”

-Uh, NO.

“Little Seizures?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then tonight he says from the other room (after hearing us laughing at something on TV & assuming what we were laughing at)…

“What??!! Did they show the BLURRY?”

A Bray Say… while sleep walking

Braylon just walked into the living room @ 10:25pm w/eyes all squinty, sits down on the loveseat, took a finger & twisted it in his ear (eerily similar to how he did that about 1 min.into this video of him @ 2 years old when we found him asleep on the bathroom floor)

…then he yawned a big sideways yawn (like he used to yawn) & mumbled,

you know. how mom prays for…

…that soldier.

(Rick and I look at each other and smile. Rick imitates him with his rotating-finger-move.)

it’s about a pepper…

and he’s not here.


I think it’s safe to assume he was sleep walking.

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