Blessed

Lately my 3 "precious" kids have been driving me crazy! They are hyper (even Grandma had to have a "talk" with them today), they haven't been listening/obeying very well...just plain naughty! Sometimes I'm really embarrassed when other people see how badly they behave (in church, for example), and I feel like we have no control over them. We've really been working hard at praying for God's to grow in our hearts all of the 9 fruits of the Spirit. We've been having many talks about being respectful, obedient, and kind. We've amped up the discipline techniques. Ultimately, though, it comes down to surrendering them to Christ. They are HIS kids and if He wants them to "shape up," then we're going to have to trust HIM to show us how to make that happen. We know that He has a plan for each one and is molding them into who He wants them to be.

It makes me wonder how much God must feel the same way about me. How often am I distracted, disrespectful, disobedient? How frustrated must HE be with me? How many time-outs is it going to take for me to shape up? I fall into the same sinful patterns again and again.

I realize how incredibly blessed I am to have a Father that will NEVER give up on me. A loving Savior who is ALWAYS there to love and forgive and gently restore. The Spirit who is constantly there to guide me into the truth. I pray we can demonstrate that same kind of love, forgiveness, and firm-yet-gentle parenting that He gives to us.

We love our kids so much... you know that.... we are incredibly blessed by our 3 PRECIOUS children. Tonight (it's always at bedtime that the things deep in their little hearts come out) Anna wanted to talk about why Grandma had to have a "talk" with them today about being too hyper. Her defense was: "but that's what kids are supposed to do." I could tell she felt bad and she really wanted to understand the line between having fun and time-to-obey when the parent or grandparent tells you to stop.

I'm blessed to be a parent and to be on this journey. Through it all, I'm realizing that God is not only shaping & molding our children, but He's continuing to mold & shape US, too, as He gives us both challenges and blessings and lets us work through some hard stuff of parenting. It all is really such a blessing, and I'm so thankful for our children and what they teach me!

Noah is learning more & more new words each day. The one that stole my heart, though: On Mother's Day he learned to say "love." He doesn't pronounce the "l" clearly, so it sounds like "of." I was so excited when he said it, then he immediately starting filling in all the people he loves: "of mommy. of daddy. of nana (Anna). of eye-ee (Rylee). of papa (Grandpa). of mama (Grandma). of esush (Jesus)." Awwww!

Today he caught on to the 3-wheeled scooter, so now he tries to keep up with big sisters:

I don't have a picture, but a little story about Anna. The girls are in "Mighty Kids" class... a little intro to Karate that they absolutely LOVE. Well during one of the activities Tuesday night, Anna and another child had a pretty hard collision: Anna's face to the other kid's forehead. There was blood dripping down from a bloody nose, she had a really swollen lip, and it almost knocked her loose front-tooth out and it seriously loosened the one next to it! So now, she has 2 teeth ready to come out any day. Anna was tough, though, and got back into the game (a bit more tentatively) after just a few minutes.

And Rylee, my "middle-est" child (as she refers to herself) is as "Rylee" as ever. She loves to pretend she's a tiger or a dog... almost all her pants have holes worn in the knees. Her 4-year-old neighbor friend just got 2 new puppies, so Rylee is in her glory; going over there every day to hold the puppies. It's really cute!

Here's a picture of me and my 3 blessings on Mother's Day: