Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Unglued

*Comments are now closed. I'm taking my kid on one last summer adventure today and if I'm not entirely wiped out tonight, I will determine and announce the winners then. I've loved reading your stories. You guys are great!

We put a pool in our backyard earlier this summer. My kids and I love nothing more than swimming together and it has been great for family bonding. Our golden retriever, Beckham, is so happy we're in the backyard with him, he doesn't know what to do. I love seeing him jump in like he's a rescue dog, but unfortunately the water makes him greek, as Jackson says. (Reek, if you were wondering.)

There's a strange phenomenon that happens to Annabeth every time we get in the pool. Within 5 minutes she has to go. I wish I were talking about the kind of go you can deal with by having your kid  find a grassy patch around the corner of the house (don't hate), but noooooo. It's the kind you have to dry off and go inside for. Since you painstakingly waited 15 minutes for your carefully applied scunscreen to soak into your skin, you just blot yourself and your kid with a towel and then the floor gets soaked. Fun times. 

It happens like clockwork. I've done everything in my power to try to persuade my daughter to go before getting in the pool, but no. I don't want to! I don't need to! I can't! I don't like it! I feel certain that I will see a flock of feathered pigs soaring over the backyard on the day she finally cooperates.  Early in the summer I made the risky move of telling Annabeth that since she refused go before, I would spank her if she made us have to get out because she needed to go. Five minutes later I could tell she needed to, but she was fighting it because she didn't want a spanking. Ugh! Trying to control a preschooler's bodily functions is simply maddening! I had to take back my threat so that we didn't have a problem in the pool. 

This scenario made me come unhinged a few of times, but Annabeth pulled the stunt so frequently that I had to learn how to deal with my frustration in a wise way. 

It's oh-so-fitting that our pool was the setting in which I devoured Lysa TerKeurst's new book, Unglued. I was tested many, many times while reading about our human tendency to come emotionally unglued. At one point I couldn't find my book and Annabeth told me she had thrown it down under the lounge chair. It was resting in a small puddle of water. Jackson was playing with a water gun, and that's probably all I need to say because you can guess how that went down. 

Coming unglued is something I have struggled with for a long time. Lysa says raw emotions can make you come unglued in two extremes - by exploding or by stuffing. I can easily recognize that I do both of those things. I tend to explode in my home or with my family and I tend to stuff in public or with those I'm not related to. I've been through three bouts of Christian counseling in my adult life and two of them were because of this issue. The first time was for exploding and the last time was for stuffing. 

So Unglued pretty much made me feel like Lysa had been reading my mail. But she is such a woman of grace (and humor) that I didn't mind too much. I could relate to just about every story she told on herself. And oh, if I had the time to share all of mine! Help me, Lord! 

I sent Lysa a text message the other day saying, "I'm loving Unglued!" Except I typed it wrong and it read, "I'm living Unglued!" Eek! With Christ's help, not anymore. Thank You, Lord, for giving this message to the Church so that we can learn not to live unglued.




As a participant of the blog tour for Unglued, Zondervan gave me a free copy of the book for myself and two to give away to my blog readers. Yay! If you'd like to win one of the books, just leave me a comment and make sure I'll be able to contact you. If you want to share an unglued story, I'd love it. 

231 comments:

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karenk said...

i always enjoy reading your posting, amanda.

thank you for sharing your beautiful family.

and thanks for the chance to read
'unglued'

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

Alisa N. said...

I'm on hold for this book at the library! Can't wait to read it! nelson_alisa@yahoo.com

Allison C. Lee said...

Well, only because I told my 7 year old to "GIVE ME A DAMN BRAKE KID!" Do I feel like I should possibly read this book. Not proud of that moment. Not proud of the language. Anyway, thanks Amanda!
~Allison
Twitter address @the4leegirls

P.S. My husband and my 13 year old daughter are training to run for "As Our Own" in Atlanta 2013! So happy they are fighting for the girls!!

ss said...

i have a 4 1/2 & a 1 1/2yr old. i've def been coming unglued. would love to win

Heather said...

I would love to win a copy of this book. I noticed I've become more unglued since having kids...yikes! ;)

Mrs. Smith said...

Unglued. A few words:

Husband - Three years of law school, 3 months TOTALLY unavailable at Marine Corps training, 6 more months of combat training with week-long unavailability.

Me - three kids under age four, five moves in four years, four states.

And then, today my hair got colored.... into the most (un)lovely copper-pipe brassy blonde instead of the banana-sunlight-yellow blonde of my youth.

I just saw this book on Amazon.
Lysa, thank you.

Mrs. Smith said...

(and my email is AlecandJillSmith at gmail dot com.

Stephanie said...

this story brought back so many memories......We lived in West Texas when my daughter was little and close to a water park. We had a season pass and went daily, my daughter also "had to go" five minutes after we got in the water every time! I tried EVERYTHING; bribes, warnings, one spanking, it broke my heart because she would say, " i just wanted to swim and have fun wiff you momma"
I had to rethink coming unglued then too! love your blog. Got to meet you once at my brothers wedding in Irving, you and Curtis were their college class teachers. Thank you for your service to them!

Melissa P. said...

sometimes it feels like i don't have any glue at all :) i would love to read this book! thanks for a great giveaway

Jessica said...

I love that there are women like you and Lysa who are willing to tell us like it is for the sake of rising up a better generation. And as a new mommy I definitely recognize the need to learn how not to become "Unglued". Goodness, as a person who has relationships with people I definitely could use a good dose of Jesus in this department!

ChelseaSalomone said...

When I taught kindergarten, I had to pray over and over and over every single day just so I didn't come unglued. Like the time one of my students gave herself a full on BATH- down to her birthday suit- at the back of the classroom with hand sanitizer.

Would love to read the book!

ChelseaSalomone said...

Oops! My email is chelseasalomone05@gmail

Mary Margaret said...

It's crazy how easy it is to become unglued around family... glad to know I'm not the only one!

Leah said...

So fitting that I just read your post because as my husband and I were watching Project Runway tonight (yes, we do), there was a crazy designer that came insanely unglued over everything and I saw a bit of myself in her. There are just too many times when I let things bother me wayyy more than they should. It's at the top of list of things I want to work on with the Lord.

leahbebout@gmail.com

Sandra said...

Oh yeah...I need to read this. I brought my now 18 month old daughter home from China in March. Since then, I feel like I've been living in a constant state of "unglued". It's not a place I like. Ugh! I could use a Jesus sized dose of super glue!!!

kelli said...

I would love to read this book!

Kelli

kopp@att.net

Deana said...

Wow you are talking about me too. I would love this book. Thanks for sharing.

deanasboys@gmail.com

Tammy said...

Would love to read it as one who comes unglued but learned to stuff! (I think based on what you said).

Thanks!
Tammy Elrod
btelrod@comcast.net

Hayley said...

Everyone in my house would appreciate me reading Unglued! :) Sounds like a great book!!

Kristi Cherry said...

This sounds like a book I need to read also! I love your blog and sometimes I feel like we are going through a lot of the same things! I have a 6 yr old son, a 3 yr old son, and now a 3 month old son! I came unglued a lot during this last pregnancy. I am doing better, but I could still use some encouragement and advice in this area! Kristiandbubba@gmail.com.

Kelli said...

I am a Living Exploder.

I cannot even blame it on the kidney failure. That is just another contributing factor.

Been through the counseling as well, but still lose it. Almost daily.

I would ♥ a copy of the book. Lysa is a fav author of mine, and I devour even single blog post she creates!

Leanne said...

My kids are the same ages as yours plus one more who is just starting to crawl and empty all the kitchen cabinets... I'd love either a copy of this book or a cute straight jacket (Size 12 months). Love your blog!

Anna Lester said...

I can so identify with this. I just had my second, sweet baby (13 months apart :) ), and I have struggled with my emotions coming unglued in this season of my life more than ever. I can't wait to read this book!

Tami said...

Hehehe. Had to laugh at your poop story. Our (now) 6 yr old boy used to have issues going #2 (constipation) and one of the tricks we read, and then used often!, was to put him in a bath tub full of water that, when he sat in it, would go up to his armpits. Like clockwork, after 5 minutes or so of sitting and playing in there, he needed to get out and go #2! It worked great and helped him so much to be able to get it out. It was a lifesaver for us, but sounds like not so much for you & AB...!?
Thanks for your honest sharing on your blog. I love reading your stories. And Lysa's new book sounds awesome too! :)

Deanna said...

The more I hear about this book the more I think I need to read it!
My "unglued moment" ? ...... 1990-2008 ....pretty much any moment during those 18 years. I was a YouTube video waiting to happen but thankfully during most of those years cell phones were still big as a brick & most didn't have video capability. I did deal with some deep rooted junk with a good counselor but I still find some stray unglued moments popping up - I guess its one of those things to always be working on

April said...

Wow, I'm not sure I really want a copy of this book, but God may have a different plan for me....I think I found my next book to read.

peterandapril@gmail.com

Nina said...

God started opening my eyes to how unhealthy it is to come unglued about 4 years ago. My oldest is 4.5. :). Told some mom friends we ARE doing this study together like yesterday.

Oh... My story involves coming unglued because my daughter asked for water. Yes. Water. I think we were headed to church. Yes, water on the way to church. It's a long story, but the bottom line. Unglued is not very Christ-like! Nina_butler@hotmail.com

Amy said...

Amy
amydwhite1974@gmail.com

Donna said...

So this is the third blog I've read today about Unglued. I think it's something I should definitely read. The older I've become, the more I've struggled with losing it. Last summer I realized how bad it had become. Time to make a change.

Donna said...

Uhm...yes, please!

Alyson said...

Stumbled onto your blog, and read this. I'm in England so probably you can't send me the book but I will be looking out for it. I am a 52 year old mummy and mimi (I stole that from you Americans)and my husband and I have just left (after 43 years for me) our precious church mainly because my history of explosions, which came because I was trying to stuff down, came to haunt me. People remembered too much and although I am soooo much better now I only had to 'unglue' a little and it was held against me. We didn't run away, we believe God told us to go as we couldn't be used. I want to be different - so different - maybe this book will help me. x

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