Contagion

This really is a continuation from my last post, just a different thought.

Ever met a sales(wo)man that was trying to sell you something that they didn't believe in? They had never experienced the thing they were selling...there was no passion, no heart...just words. They were frauds.

I wonder how many times we, as Christians, are looked at the same way. We come across as trying to "sell" people something with our pitch of the 4 spiritual laws or the romans road or whatever else it is we've learned. But in the background, there's no passion, no heart...just words. In effect we've become Christian frauds.

I don't want that! I don't want to say I believe something but have the nagging thought in the back of my head that I don't really know what or why I believe it. I don't want to live my life not encountering God and having my life completely altered because of what he's done for me. I need this! I don't want to be a fake.

There has to be more than...just words.

I just read this post and it reaffirmed my thoughts about the church completely. I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again.

People aren't interested in what your church isn't (in a prior post I said that our original web domain name was www.notyourgrandmaschurch.com - the Christian ghetto people thought it was hilarious (myself included) but those not in church thought it was lame) Just like you're not interested in what a car isn't that you are going to purchase. You want to know what it is!

So many times churches think that they are in competition with each other. They say "We're no like them...we're better! Come to our "church" instead! We're 'cool'" Meanwhile, buddy on the street walks by laughing and disgusted.

We strive to do our best because people are programmed to not gravitate towards awful. When I go to a restaurant, I expect to be greeted, treated warmly, asked how I am, seated at a nice seat, served good hot food - fast, not alienated and asked to leave immediately after we're done...etc. On any given Sunday, we don't want people to walk away thinking that was the worst thing they've ever been too. The people weren't friendly, the music sucked, the coffee was bad, the speaker talked forever and lost me in the first 5 mins, I had no idea where to go when I got inside, etc.

However, in our striving to do our best, we also do our best to not compare ourselves to other churches...because we're not them. We are who we are. In fact, we aren't even in competition with other churches in our area. We are in competition with the lake, sleeping in, hangovers, shopping, breakfast in bed, cartoons, etc. We don't advertise "we rock...everyone else sucks and we aren't like them". Because people aren't interested in what something isn't...they want to know who you are, why you're that way and what difference the "thing" you're "selling" will make in their lives.

I was just looking on my bookshelf and saw my message re:mix Bible sitting there. I've never really read the message as I would an other translation. Not sure why - maybe because when it first came out everyone was freaking out that it wasn't "accurate". I understand it's not a literal translation and shouldn't be used for studying so I have generally used it as a parallel source to get a different vibe for passages.

However, I picked it up just a few minutes ago and read Genesis 1 and 2...and it was incredible! I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to just read a full chapter but Peterson takes this chapter and makes it explode off the page. In the past I've read this as kind of a history lesson. But this time I saw God as an artist, standing there with a canvas in front of him...maybe a goofy Italian hat (don't know where this came from...is God Italian?), full of passion and creating a work of art that only He can create. The use of highly descriptive language and exclamation points made it just jump off the page!

So I think I may have stumbled onto another tool that is going to help me stay passionate in my faith. Check it out and see what you think. For those who have a hard time paying attention while reading the Bible, this may be a secret you need to stumble onto as well.

For some strange reason everything's getting imported into facebook in two's...so I apologize if that irritates you as much as it does me. Not sure if there's a fix for this. You can see my facebook profile by clicking here. You will need a facebook profile yourself if you intend on seeing mine.

Ah yes...success at last! It was a long night of frustration but with my determination mixed with my amazing facebook superpowers...just 15 hours later...i synced my blog with facebook. Now we'll just have to see if it will continue to work!

Still can't seem to get this crazy thing to synchronize with with facebook. I'm one of those crazy people that can't sleep until I get the thing to work.

It's gonna be a long night...

Man I don't know what's wrong with me but I signed up for facebook and I love it. Not sure why...maybe I've got a little bit of a tendency to spy and like seeing what everyone else in the world is doing that I'm connected with. I think this may be really cool tool to use for connecting people in the church that may not normally be connected. Nonetheless, I'm getting all geeked up on it and this will be my first post that may potentially be posted simultaneously in my facebook profile as well.

Man, today was good. There was just a good vibe in our Sunday Gathering today. People seemed excited to be there. Regulars were meeting guests. I saw more new faces being trained in different volunteer roles. The band was smokin'. It was just good to get the privilege to hang out with so many awesome people all under the same roof...And I'm not just saying that. We have such a diverse group of people that are connected in with our faith community and it makes for an amazing gathering once a week. What's more excited is that more and more people are beginning to understand what we are about. They understand that, even though we want to have a good time on Sundays, Sunday's are really about every other day of the week. They re-focus us on our mission of reconnecting people to Jesus. Inviting friends to our gathering is only a part of that mission. The bigger part is what happens with those friends during the rest of the week. We're seeing the shift take place.

Going into summer I'm excited! I'm excited to see new friendships formed. I'm excited to see more lives changed. I'm excited to see more people take more steps towards Jesus.

The thing about today is that it's not over! Now I'm headed out to a volunteer BBQ where I, once again, get to hang out with the raddest group of people ever. This group comprises almost 50% of our church right now. Insane. And the best part is that one of those volunteers donated steak!

I'm in!

Ahhh...it feels like this weird funk I've been in the last couple of days has passed. I can't explain it when it comes...there's no root that I can really detect. Maybe it's spiritual. Maybe it's physical. Maybe it's emotional. Not really sure....I just know I'm glad when it's over. Even though it's cloudy out, it feels sunny.

I went out for coffee with a guy tonight that came to our sunday gathering for the first time 3 weeks ago. I talked to him that first sunday and he said that out of all the churches he's visited since being back from leading YWAM in New Zealand, TXC was the first one where he hasn't felt awkward. And he's a Christian! I find that odd and sad that even Christians are feeling awkward going to church...imagine how someone who doesn't go to church feels?!

It's always refreshing to talk to someone who gets "it". "It" being our mission as the Church. That it's not about us (even though in my earlier post I expressed that I sometimes want everything to be about me - I try for that to be the exception rather than the rule). It's always easy to tell when people are only interested in consuming. This guy isn't a consumer. He's a contributer. You can tell by the hunger in his eyes. He wants to be a part of something that's gonna make a difference. Something that isn't just about feeling warm and fuzzy. Something that isn't about feeding fat Christians but seeing mature followers of Jesus that actually care about the world around them and are willing to do something about it.

I was telling someone else today that because we don't have an office to meet in and, more so, the fact that all our staff are volunteers (one day...soon...I hope), it's easy to get lonely and feel isolated during the week. I think even the other staff feel like that. We can encourage each other when we are connected. Share dreams more readily. Have some interaction about our real passion...the church.

And so it's conversations like these that amp me up. They remind me that what we are doing is making a difference. That people ARE being reconnected to Jesus (And lots of them are Christians!).

It's conversations like these that make it all worth it!

I read this this morning...

"People are ready to hear about new life when we start acting like new life is flowing through us."

After reading it I was really convicted...again. I'm not sure people would see new life today.

Have you ever felt like you just want to live your life the way that you want to live it? A life where no one else matters and I can just do what I want - where I can live in my reality and if others want to be in it great...if not...even better!

Sounds like "new life" hey? Paul talks about the war that goes on within. He calls it the war between flesh and spirit. I've been made new...I have new life. It's just that there is this nagging little (sometimes it feels HUGE!) side of me that still exists...it's in the background taunting...reminding...condemning. You just want to strangle the very life out of it but it seems to be impossible to get your hands on. Just when you think you've got it...something else is brought up. And you just want to SCREAM!

Living in that new life takes work. I would love for it to be one of those things that makes you "feel" good everyday - where you don't have to try...it just happens. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Some days are better than others but most times it just takes good 'ol elbow grease. We can't earn this new life...but we have to be on guard so that our "flesh" doesn't creep in and steal it away. This makes me tired. Today I feel tired.

And yet...deep down inside...I feel this intense cry for that new life...for Jesus. To come and touch the driest parts of everything I am.

Breath that life into me.

Infuse me with Your joy.

New Life...it's coming.

The summer is an awesome time to decompress. We kill ourselves working day in and day out with hardly any room for rest. Even on our days off we're busy doing something. Taking the kids to a game. Fixing the house. Doing yard work. And we rarely take the time to just rest. We live in a crazy society that tells you that if you are not doing something, you are lazy and won't make it anywhere. So we fill our time. It gives us accomplishment. It gives us a sense that we are proving ourselves to the world that we are someone. We maybe even do this with God.

I know that most of us have to keep on working through the summer but what if we planned it so that our day off could be exactly that...a day off. If it's Saturday, go out to the lake. Make sure all the extra work is done and just relax. Just be.

Sometimes I think we can miss the fact that God loves us because we are his kids. Not because of what we do or how busy we are. It's possible to just "be" and have God still love us. In religious terms this is called the Sabbath. Bring it back into your life.

Stop.

Rest.

Live.

Be.

My dad never had it easy growing up but he faced the odds and became the man he is today. It would have been easy to quit but he kept on moving forward. He's taught me a lot over the years and here are some of the things that stand out today.

My dad taught me the importance of investing in my kids. I can remember way back when I was super young, my dad letting me stay up till 12. I specifically remember coloring in a sylvester and tweety coloring book.

My dad taught me the importance of putting my kids before myself. On too many occasions, my dad would come home from work exhausted. And yet, he would still come outside and play basketball or throw the baseball or football

My dad taught me the importance of pursuing my passion. He was always and is so passionate about singing. I remember putting on his self made mix tape of all the songs he used to sing for people and falling asleep to it. I'm more than sure his love for singing has something to do with my desire to plant a church.

My dad taught me how to love my wife. Despite all the crap that he went through in his life, he has still emerged as a man that loves my mom and is completely faithful to her. I'm sure there was more than one occasion that he could have thrown in the towel. My committment to Bek is for a lifetime and that's because of my dad.

My dad taught me to pursue Jesus. I can still remember various times in my life where I was watching my dad seek Jesus. Whether it was singing or praying for someone. He loves Jesus and that is something that I want to pass down to my kids.

Dad, thank you! I will do my best to help the legacy that you are leaving for us to live on!

Not too sure why, but every night that Bek's been away I've stayed up until 12 or 1am. I just get this extra boost of energy after the kids go to bed. I've been caught up with facebook. I swore I'd never join just cause it would take away so much of my time. That's what happens when you're stuck at home all day I guess.

I'm looking forward to heading up to whistler tomorrow for our lead team getaway. It's going to be good to just have some concentrated time spent with the people that blaze the trail and help to make TXC what it is. I need this but I imagine they need it even more than I do with working full time jobs. I anticipate that we're gonna come back well rested with some fresh ideas and dreams for the future!

Now...I will try and get some sleep!

Two things have begun around the Richardson house hold in the last few weeks. Riley has gotten way more strong willed and just wants to do his own thing, like running away or doing things 5 more times after he's been told not too (typical 3 year old i guess). As well, he's started asking the question that every parent dreads "Why?" This question is being asked about everything! The worst part about it is the fact that he'll ask why after you've explained something to him the first time he asked why.

For example "Riley, stop standing on that chair while it's spinning around in circles".

"Why?"

"Because, you could fall off the chair and hurt yourself"

"Why?"

What do you say to that? I've found myself just saying the thing I swore I'd never say...

"Because I said so!"

It's got me to thinking though. I wonder how God feels when we just won't stop asking why?
God could explain the answer to us a million times and I'm sure we'd still ask why? Does he get to the point of wanting to say "Because I said so!"?

The thing with Riley is that I can see the danger he's going to get into if he continues down the path he's headed down. Our tables have razor sharp edges on them and the thought of him splitting his head open on it makes me sick. I don't want him to get hurt.

God sees into the future and knows that what we are doing is stupid. He sees the consequences and his heart is for us not to get hurt. It's just that we have this tendency to push it. To see how far we can actually get without getting burnt. And then when we get burnt, we ask "Why?"

I'm learning that I have to trust God. I just have to let go of my life. I've got a picture of where I want to be and what I want to do and how it should all turn out. But in the end, no matter how many times I ask why, God is still God - I'm not - and he has a dream for my life that is far beyond anything that i could ever come up with.

Well, single fatherhood is almost over for me (at least until Bek goes away on business again). It's been a good time. It's funny how much more cuddly the kids are when Bek's not around. They definitely need their dose of affection from both of us. It was good to just spend time with them for the last three days (including tomorrow). Perhaps I spend too much time with them, seeing I had a message to write and didn't get it done. I guess I had no other choice though. It was good for me to experience life with the kids and without Bek. I think that we are a pretty good team when it comes to the kids and taking care of the house. I know I should probably do more around the house but I do help. I'm not always a lazy bum. But with Bek being gone, I've had to do everything. It's felt like I've been cleaning up all day, every day. But more importantly, I've realized how much I need Bek around here. It sucks being by yourself with two kids all day long. I was so bored and I can definitely say that she is my best friend and I wouldn't want to spend time with anyone else if I had to choose. I'm looking forward to have someone to laugh with again. Tomorrow can't come soon enough!

I totally feel this guy...seems we are in almost the same place with regards to church planting

I never really realize how reliant I am on Bek to bring stability to our household until she's gone. For the next 3 days I'm home alone with the kids. It's not like it's the end of the world but once she's gone I realize all the little things that she does that I take for granted or just never know she does. You think guys should be tough and big and macho. They love to put on that face when other people are watching...take away their wife and their like lost puppies. I'm no different, however much I hate to admit it. It'll be a good three days just spent with my kids...once I figure out what I'm doing:)

Now to go figure out what we're going to eat for supper....ahhh yes! Nothing like pork and beans!

Seth posted this today...

"When you are sitting right on the edge of something daring and scary and creative and powerful and perhaps wonderful... and you blink and take a step back.

That's the moment. The moment between you and remarkable. Most people blink. Most people get stuck.

All the hard work and preparation and daring and luck is nothing compared with the ability to not blink."

I feel this way with TXC. I feel like we have made so much progress as of now. We are seeing things happen that only God can get the credit for. New people are testing the waters of our faith community each week. More and more people are getting connected into UnderCurrents and contributing their gifts in the different areas that are a part of what TXC is.

However, the temptation to blink and have a reality check looms in the background. The temptation to take a step back and ask "What on earth am I doing?!" Sometimes over thinking things can be one of my greatest enemies. I'm not advocating turning my brain off but sometimes God just isn't logical. He asks us to do things that don't make sense in our brains and if we try and analyze it and sort it out so it makes sense, we just end up giving up. We blink. I don't want to blink. I feel like we are on the edge of something great and the last thing we will do is blink.

Maybe God is calling you to something great too...whatever it may be. Maybe you are wondering if it's even from God at all. My encouragement to you is to not blink. Be obedient. Walk into the unknown. Ya, it scares the snot out of me too at the best of times. But there really is no better feeling than knowing that you are doing what God wants you to do, even if it doesn't make a lick of sense. Just take a step. You never know where it will lead to!

I read this on a blog today and it really resonated with me. This is how I feel sometimes...crazy.

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, quote them, disagree with them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Apple Computer Commercial in 1997

ht: Gary Lamb

One of my dreams is to have a creative team that maps out our series' and adds the creative elements to them. With our lead team mapping out the next year's worth of big ideas next week, they will have some huge lead time in prepping for a series that is 3-5 months away. My ideal is to have 2-3 teams of 2-4 people that plan out a series that is 3-5 months away.

For example, in September we would meet together one night and begin planning out the details for the series we will do around Christmas time. Initially this could mean that we meet a few more times so we can plan out Sept, Oct, and Nov and get ahead of the game.

In these teams would potentially be people that oversee the props, video, drama, visual art, digital art, music (i.e. when we used daughtry's "It's not over" for our marriage talk a few months back), object lessons/take aways, etc. The list could go on and on.

This is still a dream right now but I'd like to start moving towards making it a reality. Maybe we won't have enough people to make multiple teams so we start with one, I'm not sure. All I know is that I don't have enough creative energy to come up with things for every series. We are trying to plan our summer series (beatitudes) now and we're coming up blank. (If you have any creative ideas, let us know)

My hope is that come Sept, we can at least have one team off the ground. If this is you (the creative type) and you wanna use some of that energy to make our Sunday gatherings more creative, let me know and we'll try and get you connected in right away!

Next week our lead team and their spouses are headed up to whistler for a couple of days of rest, prayer, dreaming and planning. It's will have been five months since we launched and it's been a good push. We've experienced some really high high's and some really low low's and the adventure has just been amazing so far. At the same time, with the exception of me, all of our team work full time jobs, some even more than full time and other a full time job plus side jobs on the side. I think this weekend is much needed and many of us are feeling the burn and just need a day or two to unwind and dream. I couldn't imagine a better team to work with. Especially with the fact that they are volunteer but work as if they are full time. They give like they've got nothing to lose and just pour themselves in this church. We wouldn't be where we are without them.

During these couple of days we are going to be planning out the next years worth of big ideas (series), getting our calendars syncronized with coming events over the next year and dreaming up the goals we want to accomplish in the next year. It's going to be an exciting time as we're locked away in our old run down cabin in the woods.

So I want to encourage you to do something. If you are a part of TXC, the next time you see one of our volunteer lead team, let them know how much you appreciate them. Tell them something specific that they have done to impact you. It will make a world of difference!

The water is rising...but they keep saying that it's not going to flood. The water is supposedly supposed to basically reach the top of the dykes and stop rising...not too sure how I feel about trusting that prediction.

Here's my dilemma: Bek is going to Calgary on Monday for a few days..if it hasn't flooded by then. What we don't want to happen is for the river to flood while she's away in Calgary and be stuck on the other side. So there's a possibility that I may be staying with my parents with the kids if this sucker doesn't go down by Monday.

The risk with this is that I may also get stuck on the other side of the river if it floods while I'm over there. So, at this point, we're just playing it by ear. It rose 2.5 feet yestderday alone so it's getting nuts.

This could be one of the most interesting tests that our church will have to go through in it's infant life. I really have no idea how to pray about this. I don't want the flood to happen for obvious reasons and yet at the same time it's hard to pray that it won't happen...maybe lack of faith. Maybe just wanting God to be in control.

What's hard for me to see is the future. I can't see what the fallout would be if the river did flood. Could it be turned into something good? Could our faith community become even more influential because of it?

Tons of questions, very few answers at this point. The only option is to keep trusting that God knows what he's doing and wading forward

I was just sitting here thinking about Sunday and how good it felt afterwards (here's a few pictures). There wasn't anything really out of the normal. We switched our order up a bit and had some spontaneous "story time" instead of a message, but it wasn't exactly earth shattering (still really good though). There was just a vibe in the air like everyone wanted to be there. We started @ 9:30am instead of 10am and I wasn't sure if anyone would remember...sure enough I was wrong. It was the first Sunday of our existence that almost the whole congregation stood during worship. We have made a decision not to get hung up on whether people stand or not. However, we noticed that the vibe in the room changed when people changed their posture by standing. Sometimes I worship best when I'm sitting down but a lot of the times I sit because I'm just lazy.

Anyways, I don't want to get hung up on Sundays on this blog and pump it up like it's gonna be some rock show and declare that "you won't be disappointed!" Sunday is just a part of who we are but it was just good to walk away with the thought "That was fun!"

We just planted our church in January and we are seeing some great progress. People are getting connected to Jesus, we're seeing more people volunteer every week (approx. 30% right now) and things seem to be clicking right along. We're getting amped up for summer and the possibilities that it brings. But there's this one thing that is looming in the background...a flood.

Yes, that's right...a flood. I'm sure this has happened to other church plants somewhere in the world, but I'm sure it happens very seldom! Usually there are tons of other hurdles to overcome and trust me, we've probably got everyone of them right now. But a flood?!

On my way into Abbotsford for our lead team meeting the traffic was absolutely jammed and it hit me that this was getting very real (not that the traffic had anything to do with the flood). And then at our meeting I found out that if it's going to flood, it will more than likely happen by Monday. So we've got some isues!

If it does flood by monday, we probably won't be gathering because our theatre is possibly below the flood line. This means that if it does flood, we're gonna have to clear out all of our stuff that we have stored in there (approx. 35-40k worth of stuff). The reality is that there is nothing we can do about this. We just have to make the most of it and the reality is that it could be the best the thing that we could face. Sounds lame, I know, but it's possible.

If this becomes a reality we are going to keep moving forward. Because half our church is attended by people people from Mission and the other half from Abby, we will become 1 church in two locations. I know we talked about being multi-site within the next 5 years, but it may happen within the next 5 days!

Regardless of what happens, be praying for the future of our faith community. It's been the ride of my life up until now and there's no sign of it stopping any time soon!

Here are some of my highlights of the chapter 'The discipline of self-awareness' from "Practicing Greatness", the book we are going through as a lead team.

The discipline of self-awareness

• The single most important piece of information a leaders possesses is self awareness...includes self-knowledge (knowing who you are), self-mindfulness (understanding your motives for doing what you do), self-vigilance (knowing what makes you tick and what ticks you off!), self-consciousness (knowing how you come across to others), and self-alertness (maintaining your emotional, physical and spiritual condition)
  

• Great leaders who know themselves know what they bring to the table in terms of talent and abilities. They also know what they don't know...

• Digging into who you are
• Your family of origin.
• Know where you came from. What were your relationships with your family like. How are those relationships affecting who you are today
• Your blessing
• Where you blessed as a child? Did your parents approve of you or were you always "not good enough". Many times if we weren't blessed, we will work our tails off in order to get the blessing of our peers. We may rebel against those who are in authority over us because of harbored anger we hold towards our parents.
• Your Boundaries
• Compliants
• People walk all over them. They can't say no. They don't want to "hurt other's feelings". They tend to give in and seeth because of lost time and energy. People with a high need for approval from others are especially susceptible to compliance issues.
• Avoidants
• They shut the gate when they should let others in. Verbal gate shutting, creating emotional distance and even withdrawing. Leaders with this boundary problem usually end up lonely and isolated. this is a tough issue to overcome and usually requires some close friends who are willing to take the time necessary to bring the person out.
• Controllers
• Don't respect other's boundaries. Aggressive controllers bull their way around. They tell people how to think and live. Passive controllers use guilt and manipulation.
• Non-responsives
• Don't respond to others' needs or problems.
• Personal markers that shape who a leader has become
• The Call
• Great leaders can detail their call. They know that they aren't doing this just because they want to. They feel it deep inside and can't escape it.
• God-given talent
• Great leaders understand that they have been called, not in spite of who they are but because of who they are. They understand their talents and they work within them. They understand where their gifts have come from, God.
• The Dark side of being a leader
• Compulsive leaders - need absolute order. Their organization reflects directly on them. Status conscious. Often angry, rebellious and critic of themselves and others.
• Narcissistic Leaders - view anyone elses' achievements as threats. No accomplishment with fill their need for affirmation. They use other people to further their own ambitions.
• Paranoid Leaders - Suspicious of others and are guarded in their relationships. They over react to criticism. Develop a type of "spy network" to gather info that helps them stay in power.
• Codependent leaders - Have a schedule that is overloaded and out of control with other peoples' needs. They often minister to others in order to feed their own need to be needed. This can lead to burnout.
• Passive-Aggressive leaders - resist others' demands by procrastinating and being stubborn and forgetful. Blame their failures on others' lack of support. Can be irritable and impatient, they create an unstable environment in which people are on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
• The price of lack of self awareness
• Hollow leaders - no sense of self that works for the expectations of others. Just play the role of being a leader.
• Self-absorbed leaders - Unaware of others' needs. It's all about them. How they are being treated, how they are affected, how they look and how they are responding. They minister to others to get their own needs met, still in search of self.

As I read this chapter, there was a lot of stuff that jumped out at me and challenged me to keep moving forward in who I am as a leader. There wasn't a lot of areas that I would say were totally me, but I could pull different elements from lots of them and apply them to my life. It was a good wake up call. The hard part is that this is only chapter 1!

Fewer things in life are as sweet as being forgiven when you really need it and don't deserve it...like a breath of fresh air when being suffocated.

I'm breathing deeply...

Sometimes I can be a pretty careless dad. One of the things I find the hardest is watching what I say. In my eyes they aren't horrible, life ending things but when you hear them come out of a 3 year olds' mouth, it just doesn't sound right. So, here are the top 3 things I've effectively taught my 3 year old son Riley to say:

"Holy Crap!"

"Emma! Get lost!" (note of clarification, I don't tell his little sister to get lost. He just understands that you say the persons name first that you want to get lost!)

And finally, he said this not even 5 minutes ago,

"Emma! Seriously...you're driving me crazy!"



I'm not sure if this is normal for a 3 year old to be able to pick up on this stuff. Seems pretty complex to me...but then I'm biased towards my little genius.

Now...time to go teach some more English to my little sponge...