hammers and hearing

today was home depot workshop day. the excitement was summed up as we pulled into the parking lot and bennett shouts, "hammer!"

i must say, the kids did quite well with their craft. ella has even learned to stop hammering when she looks around to see what everyone else is doing. i no longer fear that my fingers will be broken.

and bennett has learned to read instructions. ok, not really, but he must have learned from watching daddy and pretends. and he is quite good with the screwdriver and hammer.
and throwing the football through the uprights was fun for all...

on a completely different note, i will also add that i thoroughly enjoyed the insight of dr. dobson in Bringing Up Boys. yes, it did take me over a year to read it, but i definitely learned a lot and highly recommend it. some would say that boys and girls are the same and their environment shapes their tendencies and personalities. these people have not raised a boy and a girl. i learned from dobson the actual differences in a male and female brain, something that happens early in the womb. God has created each gender unique. and you know, its a good thing. we have completely different roles to fill in life.

so... i have noticed that bennett has a much more difficult time listening to me. or maybe i should say hearing me. ella has a difficult time listening to me when i'm saying something she doesn't want to hear and she is having an emotional breakdown so severe she can't hear me over her hysterics. bennett has a hard time listening to me because boys have a one-track, compartmentalized mind and he just doesn't even hear me. he isn't (usually) trying to be defiant or disobedient. he's just usually too focused, having too much fun to stop and absorb what it is i am saying. life is quite exciting to this happy little 2 year old and mom's voice is an easy one to tune out. this is not an excuse, but it does help me to remember that we deal with our children based on motive, not strictly behavior. intentional vs. unintentional. deliberate disobedience vs. irresponsibility...

so why am i rambling about this? at 6 am, with baby einstein playing in the background (thanks to bennett who doesn't understand that saturday mornings are for sleeping in) i was doing a bible study on obeying God. i read how in both the old and new testaments, the words translated obey are related to the idea of hearing. hmmm... i thought. how interesting to think of this in connection with bennett and the idea that he doesn't hear me. then the strangest thing happened... God showed me how it actually applies to me. i thought about how life can be so fun, or so distracting, that i just don't take the time to listen to him. its not so much about me being deliberately disobedient to God, but not being intentional in hearing his voice and leading in my life. hmmm... gotta love lessons like that.