I’m a little late on posting our verse from last week. Giana really liked talking about faith and hope, but her favorite is love too!
https://youtu.be/xCWp-a8Wn20
Dolly Birthday Party
Giana told me that today is the birthday of Princesa Peach. I told her that we should have a party! Now, I don’t do this nearly often enough. My girls are creative and Lord knows this is not one of my strengths. So many times, we already have a lot going on, or I am too busy with work, or the thought of cleaning up a mess from a doll’s pretend birthday exhausts me. But today I tried, and when they look back on their childhood, I hope that is what they remember.
Psalm 31:24
Here’s this week’s verse! One thing about making sure that my kids know the word of God is that I am also getting lots of practice 🙂 This one was something we all needed to write on our hearts this week.
https://youtu.be/E7afDSosX8E
Isaiah 9:6
We spent the past couple weeks learning an important verse that’s a little longer. It’s a special Christmas verse about Jesus!
https://youtu.be/J1o8jN8rdLA
Mariel also picked up on some of it!
https://youtu.be/BqX0gdo3FpM
Psalm 145:9
https://youtu.be/J9oP8TxWEik
Psalm 33:11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z0JA5Qe4Ew
Titus 3:2
https://youtu.be/ZR_qeRbR-7o
Philippians 4:13
I was a bad mom today.
I was a bad mom today.
I was worn out and touched-out. I wanted to lose myself in Facebook or be able to complete a tasking while using both of my hands. I just wanted 10 minutes without a new demand to meet. I tried to hide in the bathroom and bribe my children to Just. Be. Quiet. Please.
Please.
I looked back on my performance as a mom at the end of the day. I didn’t give my emotional child enough reassurance. I didn’t give my active child enough patience. I didn’t give my needy child enough presence.
Not enough. Not enough. Never enough. It’s hard to sit down after the final good-night and think about all the things that could have gone better.
I tried to justify my actions. I thought to myself, “Self, is it too much to ask to have one glass of water without backwash from the toddler blowing bubbles into my straw?”
Yes. I was absolutely spent today, and if I’m honest, I have been running on empty all week. I am selfish and that selfishness has reared its ugly head.
Awesome graphic (and devotional!) from www.shereadstruth.com
The root of my bad mothering is sin. I have a sinful nature. When the baby poops through another outfit and the toddler can’t find the most important toy ever and the pre-schooler declares that she will absolutely fall over if she doesn’t get something to eat immediately, my response is usually frustration. Occasionally it is resentment. Sometimes it is even anger.
That response is wrong, and I know it. In the moment it happens, I hate it, because even if I don’t want to feel it, I do. That’s sin.
Lately, God has been opening my eyes to responding in the opposite way of anger or frustration – responding with joy.
After King David had some huge (like really, really, really huge) problems with sin, he confessed. He called out to God for help.
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.” Psalm 51:12-13
David asked God to bring back his joy after he sinned. Earlier in the chapter he asked for mercy, and he writes with the expectation of receiving that. However, to truly bring about change in his life, he asks God for joy.
Having joy in the Lord is enough to sustain David. He needs help getting through the day and even having the desire (a willing spirit) to walk in the right ways. Joy is the help he needs.
More importantly, with joy, David says he can teach people the ways of the Lord, and they will understand in a life-changing way.
That is such a promise for me as a mom! Since my top priority is the discipleship of my children, hearing this makes me smile. The sinners WILL turn to the Lord. I am a sinner and my children are little sinners. But with joy – true joy from the Lord – God is magnified and lives are changed.
Joy changes things. Join me for praying for joy in my life and in my mothering.
Joy brings willingness.
Joy affirms truth.
Joy redeems lives.
Pony Pool Party
I loved hearing my husband explain his interpretation of Ephesians 6:4 to a friend this past weekend. (Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.)
Rafa started a “pony pool party” for the girls on the deck. This is when the girls gather up all of their small My Little Pony figurines and dunk them in cups and buckets of water while pretending the ponies are at a swimming pool.
While playing, the girls start to get wet. No, not wet – drenched. Friend is concerned that girls are making a big mess. Additionally, they are now as wet as the Rainbow Dash toy they are dunking in an ice cream pail. Rafa replies,
“It’s okay. I have to remember they are kids and play like kids. I don’t want to exasperate them by getting frustrated with that. I have to save my discipline for when it really matters. If I give them a command and they don’t listen, that’s worth it. But if I discipline them just for playing like kids, it will exasperate them and it’s not worth it.”
It was a good reminder for me. Exasperation come from unrealistic expectations and poor communication of requests. Discipline and growth comes from clear commands and appropriate response to those commands.