Well, we survived and enjoyed a trip to San Diego (Lee had a pediatric conference, and we went with him), and then we all took a three day off-roading trip along the Mojave Trail with my family. It was a valuable time for the cousins to all spend time with my dad especially, and I’m thankful we were able to do it. Now we’re back, and I’m realizing that we have a lot to do before we move in a few months!
What are we working on?
- Obedience right away (not on the child’s own time scale). I found Psalm 119:60 this morning, so we’ll be talking about it at breakfast!
- Whining–
- Waiting for mommy to answer instead of interrupting (I’m realizing I have a long way to go on this one, but I’ve been working on it).
- We went out to dinner with a group of pediatricians, and although the children were well behaved and delightful, they displayed an obvious lack of awareness that the visit didn’t revolve around their ability to carry on a conversation. Something more to work on….
- Slow to Anger (Laurel can quote: Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath!)
On the positive front, it was thrilling to see Laurel and her cousin Stephen playing together. They are about a year apart. A year or so ago, it was extremely painful when they were together: they needed intervention literally every few minutes or so. I’m sure it was a combination of personality and development, but it was discouraging how little visiting Martha and I could get in because of the constant bickering. Thankfully, as they’ve gotten older, and as we have all worked on helping our children understand they are not the center of the universe, they actually became best friends! They pretended and played cooperatively for hours together, even in the car on our road trip. Happy, happy, happy, to see this.
I was reminded on this trip how thankful I am to have my children home with me. I know that preschool is a good thing for many families, but I’m amazed at people who really do believe that preschool is better than home in EVERY case. (We spent time with a number of pediatricians who are also mommies, and they by necessity must hold this position.) I must respectfully disagree, and yet I need to renew my commitment to provide a good, nurturing, and spiritual environment for my children. It’s not always an easy road, but for me it is the right one, even if it is less traveled by.
Finally, I’m reminded how important it is to pray for the children our children come in contact with. If you’re a relative, or if you go to my church and have children my own children play with, or if our children play with another occasionally or frequently, you get prayed for! I deeply appreciate the kindness and good examples set by those “older” children in my own children’s lives. It is precious to me, and so I’m deeply interested to see that spiritual growth continue. (Of course, no child is perfect and not all of our children are redeemed, so I’m thankful for friends who are also committed to working through conflict alongside me as my children and others sometimes learn by a more rocky path. It’s good, even if our coffee grows cold and the fellowship is short.)
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