Why would you ask THAT question?

Christmas and I have a love hate relationship, its true, I hate Christmas. I hate the expectation of gifts. I hate the "want" list. I hate the disappointment. I hate the stress of buying the perfect gift. I hate the commercialized idea of what Christmas has become. I love Christmas, too. I love being with family. I love the treats and sweets. I love seeing the look on my kids faces when they wake up Christmas morning. I love our traditional 6 am breakfast on Christmas eve. I love that everyone makes it a priority to be together at some point during one day. I love the pictures. I love the memories.

If I have heard it once I have heard it a thousand times--

What do you want Santa to bring you?  

Why, why ask that question? Are you going to go out and buy whatever the newest latest most expensive toy is? No, your not and now my kids will be disappointed because they have told 78 different people what they want Santa to bring them! And newsflash, we have 6 kids and they will NOT all be getting Beats, Ipads, Xbox One's, BMX bikes and four wheelers! What about that kid who's parents don't have ANY money for Christmas and they won't get anything at all. Or what about that child that will only get what is donated to them..an Ipad doesn't quite compare to some hot wheels cars donated by a local charity. 

Next time, why don't you ask "How are you going to celebrate Christmas?" or "Are you going to visit your family?" or "What's a nice thing you can do for someone during your Christmas break?" Why does it always have to be about Santa?! 

With 10 days left before Christmas we are going to sit down with our kids, like we always do and talk to them about being grateful for what they get, not having a "want" list, and reminding them of the children that don't get any presents. We collect gifts for foster kids and they usually help deliver them every year so they know first hand that there really are kids that don't get anything and this isn't something we just say.

I want my children to grow up knowing the real meaning of Christmas and knowing that there are far more important things than getting the newest latest toy on the market. Don't get me wrong my kiddos get lots of gifts for Christmas (they have 14 living grandparents, if that tells you anything) and we all appreciate their gifts and generosity very much, but we want our kids to value the time they spend with them as much as the presents. And fortunately for us all our family has the same values, so its not a battle within our own family, just the rest of the world. 

What are you going to do for someone else this holiday season? Remember the reason for the season is our Lord Jesus Christ! Celebrate His birth, His life and His sacrifice so that we may live forever.

Merry Christmas from The Kirks'! 

Parenting 101

Whew! Made it through football season now on to basketball season. Jeremy is coaching JV Boys in Haskell. This wasn't the plan. The plan was to have an off season between football and baseball. I think Finn and Jeremy might have gotten together and made a plan. If Finn played I didn't care if Jeremy coached. Finn agreed to play. Jeremy agrees to coaches. Finn quits. Jeremy still coaches! Seems a little fishy, but its all good! I love watching the boys play and it gives us another chance to build bonds with the boys before baseball season. Plus he would be there anyway cheering them on and lets be real, he's a lot louder when he is sitting beside me! 

So back to parenting. UGH! Where is the manual? When you get done with it can you pass it on to me so that I can read through it...wait, read?! Who has time for that? Anyways, there's been lots of emotions going through the Kirk house this week and I am going to blame some of it on stress. Shattered my phone (that parts ok its all the info in the phone I lost that sickens me, doctor appointments, doctors contact info, important notes, pictures, etc), sick baby [normal sick], bullying incident at school , wrecked car, and a few communication problems will make for a really hard week!

I have learned [well I am working on it] to stop, breath, relax, and enjoy my kids amongst the craziness of life. There will be great days, loving day, horrible days, hateful days, short days and long days but every day is a day we cant get back. Why did it take me so long to learn that? Oh wait, probably because I haven't read the manual. I knew this all along, I know we cant travel back in time, wouldn't that be nice, but I took advantage of time with my boys. It took a 16 year old kid to teach me this lesson, weather he knows it or not he did. I want my boys to remember the time I spent with them but I have to spend time with them before they can remember it. If you have read my blog much you know that their happiness is the most important thing to me and will always be.

Why are we [moms] so hard on ourselves? We've all been there. Are they happy? Are they sad? You've skipped homework too and sent them to bed without a bath on a late night. You've had a miscommunication on the  most important topic in their life, the paper turkey, or the "girlfriend", or the M&M's that were just for him and no one else.

Or the big one: You've forgotten to tell them you love them before they head to the bus stop and you worry all day if they know. They do.

The 4 minutes and 35 seconds you sat  with them while they scarfed down the pancakes you got up early to cook them said it for you. Even if they didn't say thank you.

Your not a horrible mom when your child's teacher ask you where their coat is. There goes your nomination for "Mom of the Year", that's what your thinking right? WRONG! The teacher doesn't know what happened the night before when said child refused to look for their coat while you prepared dinner, fixed lunches for the  next day, did dishes, started laundry, did other child's homework, cut flash cards out, chased the dogs down the street because they got out for the 239th time...today, administered medicine to the sick ones, oh yeah and you had to go to the bathroom, the bathroom oh the bathroom that is flooded because your toddler just filled up the biggest cup they could find and drained the bathtub that you forgot to drain from 10 am this morning when you were giving baths) onto the floor cup by cup. Breath, momma. You just taught your child a few valuable lessons. Forget the text that seemed like she was pointing at the most neglectful parent in the whole school. Trust me your child wasn't the only cold one!

So in the manual I don't have time to read I am learning that the most expensive thing you can buy your child is time. Stop. Hold them. Love them. The day will be gone tomorrow and you can't get it back.

Getting back in the game!

Well now that everything is official I am the newest exchange coordinator for Share! Southwest, our exchange organization! I am so excited about this new journey. We are unsure if we will host again (just because I don't think we could get a better student then Finn) but we will definitely not even consider it until Finn goes back home. We will cherish every moment with him while he is here!

So what will I do exactly?

I will be recruiting host families for our partner organization and welcoming our exchange students, settling them into their new home in America and following up with the student and host family throughout the year! I will get to work from home and kind of make my own schedule which will be nice. Our area manager is in DFW area so it will be a lot of communication through email and over the phone.

Why did I decide to do this?

Well I think that's kinda obvious! I want EVERY one to get to experience what we have experienced this year so far. It is life changing. I also am a part of on Exchange Student Facebook group (the let the mom in, can you believe it!?), anyways, on any give day I will have 2-3 exchange students message me asking for help, advice, how to approach a subject, questions about American culture, etc., I just love helping these students out! My personal Facebook page is slowly becoming everything BUT English, and I love it! :)

So if you are interested in becoming host parents feel free to message, call, email, text, whatever and I can explain more, although you may not get a student as AWESOME as Finn! Just kidding [kinda] there are many many good students! We have 8 students waiting to come to America in January, boys and girls and from Australia, Germany, and Italy. If you would like to see their profiles and are interested please contact me for more information.

Stay tuned for the FAQ's about hosting!

Mkirk.bigcountrysharesouthwest@gmail.com