This is my sweet daughter.

This is the same child, after being stuck in the car for hours.













My mother-in-law and I, around christmas time, had this bright idea to take a road trip first to North Carolina, to visit my parents, then up to Vermont to visit her eldest son and his family. With a two year old. and a elderly relative. and a ten year old boy. and a six month pregnant me.
mmmmmkkkk.
So! 3,659 miles later, here I am, Rachel Flores, reporting back on my thoughts on traveling with a toddler. I think I get to have some say.

What Worked:  
First, best toy award.

Doodle Pro 
I got this sucker for ten bucks around black friday, saved it all the way to her birthday, she didn't play with it after her birthday, brought it on road trip, Gold! She liked to draw, she liked me to draw, review the alphabet, whatever. It was a definite time consumer.


2. Movies. Apps.
I'm not a big TV person, but lets get real, the poor kid is strapped on her bum for 15 hours, you gotta let her watch some Franklin and veggie tales. This was a another life saver. If you don't want to invest in new movies, (and on road trips, new is always good) use Red box, you can rent and return wherever you are in the country.  Apps wise, I found some free applications on my IPOD for her, the most popular one was a kids radio that played kids songs ( twinkle twinkle, etc.)  and you just listened to it, but she could press the buttons to choose her song. Helped her wind down.

3. The Tray
We used a kitchen serving tray to put over her car-seat, but they have nifty devices you can buy for their car seats that are lighter and probably safer too, but I didn't have time to order one.  This way, she could color in new coloring books, hold the DVD player without it getting hot, even play play dough.

4. What was in my "bag"
I had a bag of just her toys kept at her feet. it held: markers, new coloring books, stickers, a few books, play dough, her leapfrog lap top, and any other little toys she got.   Slow introducing was a huge factor. The stickers, the coloring book, the play dough, all was new, but I did'nt whip it all out at once. I saved new activities for when I could tell something new was needed, or it was a new day.


5. Drive thru toys
Maybe your want to picnic all the way, but come on. I know you stop for coffee. So take 20 extra seconds, swing by Burger King and pay 99 cent for that little toy. Ariella Held on to the two we got her  the whole trip and it added just that extra "interest" factor that she needed to motivate her to get back in the car seat.

In Hindsight:


1. Make bedtime like normal bedtime.
The first night we tried to travel after dark, she cried for like a hour. off and on. So if you can stop, do. But the second time I knew we had to make it, so we stopped around seven, I had her brush her teeth and put on jammies and then we got in the car, read a book, and I tucked her in. I was also right next to her this time instead of front seat. She actually calmed down and slept and I think the slight "routine" Feel really helped.
2.  Have a ball at rest stops
We where blessed to find one rest stop with a playground, but having a ball the last few times was handy to get her to start running around. And realize you gotta take those hour breaks for meals, for sakes. You can shift positions and move around in the car. the poor little things are strapped down pretty tight, so have grace.
3. Baby wipes and protein
Have baby wipes handy. for all things, they are gold. and I let Ariella snack throughout the whole day, because there was nothing else to do, it occupies her, and she would rather run at rest stops than eat. make sure you balance protein snacks with the occasional treats.  But if you have gotten this far in this post, your a mom, you deal with this struggle on a daily basis. no need to preach to choir.

Overall we had tons of fun and Ariella did amazing, I was very proud of her. The night she kept crying she would cry for a little bit, the say "all done crying" while sniffiling and trying to stop, and the she would stop. She was trying to be a big brave girl! and she was.

now, to convince her that we are just going to the store, two miles away, not 2,000......

 Listening to: Anberlin, (*Fin)

"His eyes still haunt me to this day."

Did you know? there is a drought in the horn of Africa right now, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somali.  Those words above are the words of a mother who had to leave her sick child on the side of the road to die.

Her words haunt me on this day. I want take a moment, out of the relaxed, blessed, comfortable breezes of summer time in Minnesota to ask you to identify with this woman's pain.

Go read the article, and try to ignore the pain of the woman who gave birth in the desert, and hasn't eaten anything in three days since then, and is wondering at what kind of a world her precious little one has been born into.

maybe listen to that song from Anberlin while you read. and hear the voices of kid's in this situation as they ask if they are a lost cause. Do we consider them a lost cause? do we care?

How different does our gospel look when you are reading verses about Jesus being hope and and living water to people in situations like this?  We say we believe these verses, but think about reading them while looking into the eyes of your sick child as you have to choose to leave him behind and make it to the camp with your other four children or you all die.

How do these eyes change the desperation of your gospel? How do they change your response?!? they should.

Last thought.  Need it to get a little closer to home? Somalians are the one's having to make the journey to theses camps in Kenya. Minnesota has the largest amount of Somalian immigrants in the US.  how many of our neighbors have families back, living in these conditions, suffering? wondering if their husband/son/daughter are alive?

 Are they just lost causes to us too?

Listening to: Kye Kye


On his blog a past professor of mine is going through Romans, little by little. I have been daily following along for my bible reading as well. It's been awesome, with some weird sense of accountability not that he knows if I am reading it or even his blog or not, but Just that he posts every day, And so when I read it I like to have already read the passage and meditated on it myself to know what is going on and meditate more.

I digress.

Growing up a christian I have read the book of Romans, alot. It's A. In the new testament, so easier to read and B. picked apart like a thanksgiving turkey for "gem verses" and the roman's road. I read through the whole book first, and the beginning of chapter two really stuck out to me. Now, we are on the beginning of chapter two, and I realize sometimes, whoever decided to divide the bible into chapters was well meaning, but not always helpful. I read the "list" at the end of chapter one (that people, interestingly enough, like to pick out their anti-homosexuality verses from) and dwell on that list and use those verses as a "hey, these things are wrong" but never connect it with what Paul says next in our chapter two.

 

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man — you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself — that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

I want to focus on the first two verses, for this post. We pull out verses from the end of chapter one and throw them in peoples faces, and yet we, in pointing fingers, are "pointing four back at ourselves" (thanks Castor) And as a christian, it is so easy to lean back and say "well I'ma just a sinner, saved by grace" and stand on our chapter one soapbox while ignoring chapter two! this chapter brought a swift kick to the soapbox for me!  I Love how the message puts it: "Judgmental criticism of others is a well- known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors" It is a smokescreen. we are hiding, oh from the beginning in the garden we are hiding. by constantly look outwards at others, we never look inwards at ourselves and worse off, we think God is following our finger and looking away as well.  But more on that when we look at verse four.

Look at the part I made bold in verse two. We know. If we know what Paul says we know, yet point the finger anyways, in essence it is a lack of trust that God will do what He says He will do and that He can handle it without us. that's my thought.  I often say thank you captain obvious! and when I read this I felt like that is what Paul was saying to me.

Rachel translation:

Thank you captain obvious, God see's there sin just as much as he sees yours now,  do you trust him to take vengeance? the problem is do you see your sin little one?"

My translation should not be reprinted with any authority, mind you.

The Challenge is to put your finger down, let the smoke clear, and let yourself stand revealed before Almighty God. Then you won't have anytime for finger pointing.

I'll get into my thoughts on verse four later.

 Oh, and If you want, start following along in Romans in your daily reading too. It's not trashy summer romance novel, but it will sure leave you more refreshed in the long run.