We will spend our lives on You.

While on Three, God and Me this morning, I read this post. There was one particular line there that really grabbed me.

"As for me and my house,we will spend our lives on you"

That line caught my attention. I don't believe I've seen it said that way before, and it really is a great way to put it. Like I said in my reply to her post, our family prays together, reads the Bible together, goes to church together, and I'm starting to teach them to reach out to others, but am I really teaching them to spend their lives on Him?

So how does one do that?

It is not merely enough to be dependent on the Lord yourself. Meaning, you may pray all day in your heart to Him, fully relying on His strength to give you patience and wisdom while being a mother or in a career, but your children will not see that. They may see you always being patient and wise, but that won't be enough. Taking them to church isn't enough. We have to actively teach them. How?

We started something a few months ago that is a start, I suppose. The goal is to have one person each week that we bless as a family. With small children, that looks like a phone call from the kids or me, drawing pictures/writing letters to mail, sending ecards, and even taking them some flowers or a meal while visiting. Then at home, we pray for them. As I said, the goal is to have a different person each week, but I've not been faithful enough with it.

This is going to take some prayer and some thinking. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on purposefully teaching our children to spend their lives on Christ.

Hide!

Sweetheart is just a doll these days. Well, I suppose he is most of the time, but lately he is just even sweeter. Today he took my hand, dragged me into the living room, and while holding his favorite fleece blanket, he said, "Hide! Hide!" So we sat on the floor together, covered by the blanket, breathing stale air. He kept grinning and giggling, pulling his little head into his shoulders - do you know the silly gesture I'm describing?

Oh, he is soooo cute. And I'm not biased.

My heart is so full!

This morning is a rainy, yucky morning. Very very dark out there, even at 10 am. But on this type of day, I always want to stay in our jammies, bake cookies, read lots of books and have a generally cozy, homey day.

So, I made a bigger breakfast for the kids than I typically do: oatmeal, scrambled eggs, biscuits (don't be too impressed - they were the refridgerated type), fruit, milk and OJ. Now, I do fix these things frequently as it is, but not all at once; usually they only have two items at breakfast.

What a reaction I got from the children, though! I got extra special hugs, many I-love-yous, and plenty of contented smiles. Who knew they'd be so happy? And they really stuffed themselves. Most mornings they don't eat half of what they did today.

I've cuddled with the wee bairn this morning. I felt her little fingers stroke my face while she nursed today. I've seen their sleepy-smile faces straight from their beds. I've heard their little giggles and goofy antics around the kitchen table.

They bring me so much joy. On the phone last night, my husband reminded me that one day, there will be no more tiny clothes in the dryer, no more tiny bottoms to wipe, no more waking in the middle of the night. And it is so true. I will greatly miss these days.

But before I can get too sad about losing those chubby baby fingers and the belly laughs when someone plays peekaboo, I know that I will get to see them transform into wonderful young adults. I will get to laugh with them over jokes, watch them grow in maturity, and, prayerfully, watch their faith grow.

And homeschooling my children allows me to be with them even more. I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be with them all day. I love homeschooling. I love the excitement Sunshine has over learning. I love that she asks every day for phonics and math. I love that she is disappointed when we don't do school on the weekends. What a blessed thing it is to see your children grow and learn!

A new twist

Sunshine woke up this morning without any undies on under her pjs. I asked her why they were missing.

She said, "I don't know. I had them on last night." She truly looked puzzled. Then her face brightened and she said, "Maybe Satan took 'em!"

Well, that's a new one for me.

Peter and his mama

The other morning we were acting out the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water. (I do this occasionally to mix up our family devotional time.)

I asked, "Who wants to be Peter?"

Sunshine: I do!

Sugar-n-Spice: I want to be Mama Peter!!

...LOL

Which font size do you prefer?

I did these last two posts in larger font. Which font do you prefer - the larger font I tried out or the smaller font I typically use?

Please, enlighten me

Why do children insist on telling you their bowel habits?

I regularly receive an update on their happenings. When Sunshine was little, she went through a phase of describing the color and shape of her bowel movements. Occasionally now she'll tell me its degree of firmness. (I'm sooo sorry. I'm trying to keep this from grossing you out as you eat a sandwich at the keyboard. Or brownies. Oops. Sorry.)

But these days, mostly they run up to me, holding themselves and declaring their needs loudly. "I"ve gotta go p*tty!" And even less exciting to hear, "I've gotta go p**p!"

Great... so go already. Don't come tell me. If you're holding the pertinent body part, then you probably don't have time to gamble with, you know?

Kids. Gotta love 'em.