What is a U.N.F.O.?

Well, let me tell you what a U.N.F.O. is... it is an Unidentified Non-Female Object that appears at your door one afternoon to see if your daughter can come out and ride her bike around the neighborhood with him. WHAT??? Yep! So, Kayla has boys that are friends from church and once in a while one of them will come over to play, but it doesn't happen very often. So, imagine my surprise when a very cute young man shows up at our door on Tuesday to see if Kayla can go for a bike ride. Um, excuse me, cute young man, who are you???? Well, apparently, he is a boy that goes to Kayla's school and he rides the same bus as she does. Thankfully, Kayla was grounded on Tuesday and has a flat tire on her bike so I didn't get too much grief over not letting her go. However, we did discuss that she will not be going bike riding with anyone around the neighborhood except her parents! Yeah, yeah, call me an over-protective stick in the mud, but... that's just the way that we roll. We welcome all children to come and play in our front or back yard, boys and girls alike, but my child is not traipsing all over the neighborhood with a U.N.F.O.

For clarification purposes, apparently this young man is just a friend, but still...

The past couple of weeks have been rough parenting weeks for Craig and I. We covet all of your prayers and will have blisters on our knees from our own prayers. This is the time in our life when we are hearing, "everybody else does, why can't I". This is also the time when I am learning, really learning, that it is not about being my children's friend, I am a parent. That is a hard lesson, especially when you feel as though your child is continually exasperated by you and your rules. Each new stage brings good and bad with it. Lord, let me focus on the good!