For the Parents... The Machine

This is kind about technology so I'm going to write it.

If you are a parents of a young boy or girl struggling with bed wetting at all, you need to try this.  I've hesitated writing this review out of respect for my son being possibly embarrassed, but I feel like others need to know about this type of product.

We call it "The Machine".

The story: Our oldest son was great with potty training.  At about two and a half years old, he learned quickly how to use the real toilet and has never looked back.  But nighttime was a different story.  He just never woke up when he needed to go, so he'd wet the bed.  From two and a half until five, he would wear Pull Ups at night; unable to stay dry.

Our second son was a potty training rockstar!  At about the same age, he was ready to get out of diapers too and learned in just a couple of days.  But this kid is a camel.  He never has to go potty.  I swear, he goes less than I do.  So nights were never an issue either.  He could hold it all night, wake up in the morning, have breakfast, play, and then a few hours later go to the bathroom.  So imagine the frustration for our oldest when his younger brother could wear underwear to bed while he was still wearing pull ups.  We tried incentives; even to the point of bribing him for staying dry, but he just couldn't control it.

After a conversation with my mom and the things they used when we were kids, I went to the web for something that would help.  Mom mentioned some kind of alarm that would wake up a kid when they were wet in the night, so I started to search.  I found some $100 machines that made that claim, but wasn't sure I could invest that much.  Good ol' Ebay had a better answer.  A DryNite Bed Wetting Alarm.  This was the best $15 I've ever spent.  I knew that for such a low price, it may not even work, but I could handle losing $15 if it didn't.

The Machine came in the mail a few days later, small and cheap looking.  The Machine is a small clip wired to a little pouch which holds a tiny speaker and a 9v battery.  The claim is that if you clip it to the outside of a child's underwear, it will sound the alarm when any moisture touches it.  So if the child starts to go potty, it will wake them up; hopefully training their brain to wake up when they need to go.  To try it, we put a 9v battery in it, and I clipped it to a wet washcloth.  A loud, high pitched alarm pierced our ears.

That first night, I couldn't believe he even was willing to wear it.  But he did, and woke up in the middle of the night crying from the sound of the alarm.  The next night the same, and the next night again.  But over a few days, we noticed that the amount of wetness was decreasing.  He was waking up and stopping.

Two weeks into it, we retired The Machine.  And after several months, he hasn't had a wet night yet.  Often in the middle of the night, he'll wake up needing to go to the bathroom, but always dry.

If you have this situation with your child, spend $15 and help him/her.  I'm so glad we were able to get him past this before he felt more embarrassed about it.

Viva la Machine!!
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God in the Theater

Where was God when a young man walked into a theater showing of The Dark Knight Rises and began to shoot?  Isn’t that the question we ask when things like this happen?  What a terrible tragedy that seems so senseless and evil. 

Since the shooting, I’ve read response after response of religious and secular people alike giving their opinions of who and what is to blame for this event; as well as trying to explain how and why this could happen.  Many of those questions and blame are aimed at the God who let it all transpire.

While God doesn’t need me to defend Him, I do think it’s helpful to try to understand the world we live in and God’s part in it.

Who’s to blame?  That’s easy; the young man doing the shooting made a choice.  Going all the way back to Adam and Eve, God has given us a choice.  Rather than creating robots programmed to love Him, God made us with the capacity to decide to do our own thing.  The consequences of our choices can affect not only us, but others; and this has been going on for millennia. 

James 1 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”  God is not the originator of evil acts, but His desire for real love from us requires Him to offer us freedom to sin.

So where was God?  There in the theater.  God has never promised that life would be easy but He did promise to be with us.  And He’s not only there; He’s working on us and in us.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  That’s not an “Everything happens for a reason…” cliché; it’s a reality that God can be in the midst of pain and suffering working to heal.  His desire is for good for all of us.

I wish I could say I understand all that God does and doesn’t do, but the truth is, I don’t.  God, the creator of the universe knows and sees beyond anything that we can understand.  How amazing is it that He chooses to invite us into relationship with Him?  So I choose to trust Him in the midst of tragedy.  My prayer is that you do too.