Snow in England

As I write this, I'm looking out the window at a winter wonderland. I see the magpie with the gimp wing that lives in my front garden is eating the last few berries on the bushes.

It began snowing this morning before we woke up and hasn't stopped. I'm not sure of the official total yet, but I think we've had about 4-6 inches of snow, yes inches! Unfortunately, Brendan's school was one of the only ones that wasn't closed for the day. We don't have an excuse not to go, since we walk to school, but many ride the bus, and those weren't running this morning. I hope he's getting plenty of time to play outside. I can't wait for him to get home so we can build a snowman.

I walked with him to school this morning and continued walking for over an hour taking photos. I couldn't help myself. Every time I turned the corner, there was another postcard-perfect picture that I had to take.

The world is beautiful under a blanket of snow. It transforms everything into something magical. See if you agree.

Childhood Angst

Yesterday, Brendan used the ultimate kid complaint on me. He huffed, "Why is Dad the boss of me, if I'm my own person?" This was brought on by the fact that Bill insisted that Brendan get his hair cut. It was almost touching his ears, for heaven's sake!

Brendan wants to grow his hair longer. He's had the same short cut since he was practically in kindergarten. But, he doesn't spend much time styling it in the morning, or at least the way Bill finds acceptable, so he insists on keeping it short.

I don't have a problem with his hair. I think he should be allowed to wear it any way he wants. But Bill sees it as a sign of poor parenting if his child goes out in public with bed head. He likens it to wearing dirty, ratty clothes. I think it's one of the only ways Brendan has of expressing himself since he wears a uniform to school. But that argument doesn't hold up when Brendan doesn't fix his hair.

I'm certain Bill having this argument with his dad, who was in the military at the time. I've seen school pictures of little Billy in his buzz cut. But at some point, his dad let up, and by the time we started dating, he had hair way past his ears. So when is that point going to happen for Brendan? I've sworn to stay out of the middle of this. I told Brendan that he needs to talk to Bill and present a convincing argument why he should be allowed to wear his hair long, but he doesn't want to bother, yet. Maybe it will become a bigger issue in Secondary School.

I imagine it won't be too long before I hear the other immortal complaint, "You're not a kid. You don't understand what it's like!" I've heard that it is a scientific fact that, just as in child birth, the brain forgets the pain of adolescence, and so it may be true. I won't be able to understand. Perhaps there is something to this tweenager thing that I hadn't seen in Brendan before. Lord help me. The ride is just beginning!

Tweenagers

Over the weekend, I attended a Children's Ministry Conference in Eastbourne, a once grand town by the sea. It's the only beach I've seen in England. I've been told to go to Wales or Norfolk for the best. Eastbourne has beautiful Victorian hotels lining the seafront with a boardwalk, bandstand and pier. The conference is during the off season, so it's cheap, but the weather was nice enough for a brisk walk if one decided to ditch one of the workshops.

The conference was a great place for six married ladies to recharge their batteries, get re-energized for children's work and get to know each other a little better. They had a brilliant worship band that led us in songs every morning and evening.

One track that ran through the entire weekend was working with tweenagers, the new number one marketed-to consumer group of 9 to 14 year olds that has unseated teens as the people with the most expendable income and the most pester power. These people are still children but spend their money to look and act like teenagers. It would be a huge insult to call them kids. They're leaving church in droves because they've outgrown their idea of what God is and church is boring! This is my group! It seems an insurmountable task to try to keep them engaged and excited about developing their relationship with Jesus as their personal saviour!

But this is my son's age. And even though I don't see him as sophisticated and grown up as the demographic info suggests, he's at the point where he's asking tough questions, like "My friends are good people and they don't go to church, why should I?"

I came away from the weekend with some great ideas, hopefully enough to keep them interested. I'm going to start employing more technology, send out termly newsletters via their email address, and possibly starting a chat room on MySpace, or IM on certain days of the week. Either way, I need help and prayers. I'm feeling a little obsolete. Any ideas?