Tag Archive | mother

GFQ: Did Baltimore Mom Go Too Far or Not Far Enough

Girlfriends_Question2-298x300Unless you have been living under a rock, we have all seen the image of the Baltimore Mom Toya Grahm publically reprimanding (slapping the stoop-id out of) her son when she spots him in the riots following Freddy Grey’s death. What I saw was not “Angry Mom beats her son for participating in riot” I saw “Scared and Desperate Mom beats son out of fear that he’ll become the next victim of police brutality.” Some say she was right on time, others say she was out of line. Before you answer, consider the 16 year old young man who was being transported from Tennessee to Philadelphia when he escaped the ‘prison transport agency’. The very first thing that the first person the news reporter interviewed said was “Where is this boy’s mother that he would be a 16 year old in prison.”

What do you say, too far…or not far enough when you look at this situation as a parent afraid for the life of your children….from Under Your Brim.Blog Signature

Church is not for the Faint of Heart

“C’mon, we’re going to be late” I heard blast through the house. “I’m COMING!!!!” (I screamed back). Good Grief! It’s easy for you to be on time. After I deal with getting the kids ready, can I have a moment to slip on some lip gloss for goodness sake.  – I gotta get these kids together without starting a third world war or it will be a looonnngggg service…..for me in the pew.

It was the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship District meeting (or something like that) being held at a church in Chester, Philly, NJ….or somewhere that required an extended period of time with antsy kids in the car. Sunday School and Morning service at our church…run home, get some food together, grab a bite to eat, change the pants that a stain somehow jumped on my son,  replace the missing barrettes and re-braid my daughters hair, clean up and back on the road again to get there on time.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Lord and worship is how I express my love; however, the Lord knows that I am exhausted every Sunday trying to be a worshiper and an attentive mother. I don’t want my children to disrupt the service or interrupt another worship so I sit on pins-and-needles….hoovering, watching, waiting to deal with a fidgety kid, a bathroom run, the loud “STOP IT!!’ when one touches another all while looking poised and together, follow the service and actually hearing a Word….I am WORN OUT.  Continue reading

What is my Motivation??

Pencil and paper

A new day is like a clean piece of paper!

To wake up in the morning is a blessing.  When I first wake-up, open my eyes, say my prayers, stretch and turn on the news, I am ready to make my mark on the world!! Raawwwwwrrr!!!! The new day is as a fresh sheet of paper waiting for more of my life to be written on it. My actions, activities, interactions, goals met,  goals set and even goals dismissed. It’s a chance to make a change, move a stumbling block, press forward towards a goal….they sky is the limit and the options are limitless on this fresh new day. Continue reading

What is Your Highway Story?

Congestion……. another word for my commute along with the words long, frustrating and tedious.

grandma-signal-memePair the stop and go tedium of my commute with a very active imagination and you will find me peering over the dashboard giving every car a story. It’s my harmless way of entertaining myself to keep from intentionally crashing into the slow-for-no-reason town car in front of me. Here’s how it works, I look at a car that I’m inching through traffic with and create a story for the driver based on my observations. I call it Highway Story. Today we met Gwen….she is driving a ridiculously shiny (considering all of the salt and brine on the roads and every other car) black high-end SUV with her sunglasses propped up in her beautiful hair. Continue reading

SOMEBODY SHAVE ME!!

“mommy”….”Mooohhhhmmmmeeee”…..”MOHHHMMMMEEEEEE”!!!

were the increasingly loud whispers that (to my horror) were coming out of the mouth of my little angel…..in church. My almost 3 year old had seen enough, heard enough and was getting restless. Can’t say that I blame him and I really don’t expect his undivided attention to last for so long, but there were certain rules to Sunday Service that he and I had come to understand. Tapping my leg and ignoring my wide-eyed-lifted-eyebrow-teeth-bared-tight-lipped stare…was a violation of our agreement.

He could quietly color in his Sunday Book, draw on his tablet, reconfigure his Power Rangers…. shoot he could build a house if he was quite. For his quietness (even though I didn’t believe in food in the sanctuary, I would reward him with an occasional fruit snack or two. Continue reading