Joys of Parenting

So, in the midst of the chaos, God has given us glimpses of some of the joys of parenting. Gary and I were talking about how sometimes, especially now, when things are so busy and we're so tired, it can be easy to just go through the motions and do our practical parenting duties- like feeding,clothing, bathing, etc- and slack off in others- like discipline- and miss out on the blessings of parenting. 

One of the things that is a lot of hard work, but that I'm really enjoying, is the time of home school with Bekah. She just finished reading Charlotte's Web last week, so we had Brenna and Taylor over this past Friday night for a sleep over celebration party. We watched the "real" movie Charlotte's Web, made spider cookies, ate ice cream with spider sprinkles, and made friendship books. It was fun. Bekah had wanted to see the movie, but in our house growing up the rule was- you don't get to see the movie til you read the book. So, we've implemented that in our house too. It was a real motivation for Bekah. She read a chapter a day til it was done and was so pumped up about the celebration. Fun thing was, Taylor was reading it too. Oh, and by the way- doing Charlotte's Web during the fall is PERFECT. Lots of spider stuff out for Halloween.

The other night I was really tired by the end of the day, just from the regular duties of life. I sat in the bathroom while the three girls were all in the bathtub, and got to enjoy the three of them being very silly. We just laughed at them, and I thanked God for our beautiful girls that have a carefree life, are healthy, and are free to just be kids.

After bath time, we gathered in the living room for family worship time. I sat there and thanked God through tears for the reminder of why we do the hard things with our kids, even when we're as exhausted as we are. We were singing the Doxology, and all three of them were swaying back and forth, singing, or at least attempting to, clapping hands with smiles on their faces. I was so thankful for that little reminder, cause there are moments when in my flesh, I'd like to skip on the discipline cause I'm so tired and do I really have to deal with that AGAIN???...or skip on family worship time cause I'm too tired and just want them to go to sleep and have a moment of quiet...or skip on spending that extra moment and effort to explain to Bekah what she just asked about...etc. I was thankful for the reminder that God gives the strength to die to myself and do the better thing for the glory of God, the good of others- and for our joy.