We got to bed very late (or early) whichever way you want to look at it last night (this morning). So we slept in and had a lazy morning. My prince cooked pancakes for breakfast. I ate and did my New Years blog. My prince and the young prince were in the living room watching football.
One of the children and I had a heart to heart about open communication, and how important it is in a family. Anything other than open communication could be perceived as sneaking around, and we want to be completely blameless. If we practice open communication, no one can blame us of something, and make the accusation stick. We want to live our lives in such a way that we can be blameless. GROWTH
I spent some time reading/studying a book called Life in Community, in preparation for my Wednesday night small group. It convicted me greatly, because it was on the topic of hospitality. I know that this is an area where I am not naturally inclined. My mother was always wonderful at hospitality. Me, not so much. I definitely am weighed in the balance and found wanting in this area. But hopefully I will learn something through our study, and be able to do better in the future. GROWTH
Eventually all of the children trickled down the stairs, and we just enjoyed hanging out together. Something we do not get to do a lot of, with the kids usually going in several different directions.
At one point the young prince came through with an armload of dirty clothes he had gathered, and announced that they had been "marinating" in his room. I was just excited that he brought them down without me asking. I will take every little glimmer of hope of maturity I can get. Do I hear an AMEN from all the mothers of teenaged boys out there?
I decided I had been lazy long enough, and went upstairs to get ready for the day. The youngest princess came in and said that she had a headache, and it felt like she could feel her heart beating. Yuck. I have been there! I directed her to go down stairs and get some medicine.
My prince and the oldest princess were watching their team play. Thankfully their team was winning. That hasn't happened a whole lot in the last few years, so I am always happy when they do win, and my prince and the oldest princess are happy.
My prince and I had several discussions about the word(s) he wants to pick for the year 2016. He was inspired by a blog he read - Yay!
We decided to go for a late lunch/early dinner to a local Japanese restaurant. The youngest princess did not want to go anywhere, and the oldest princess volunteered to stay home with her, as long as we brought her home something from the restaurant. So my prince, the young prince and I all headed off to eat, with a promise to bring something home for the girls. We had a nice time, and I think the young prince enjoyed not having to compete with his sisters for attention.
I love it that at the restaurant, they know us and treat us almost like family. It has been a long time since I have been there, but still we are greeted with "Hello!" and "How are you!" and "Where are the girls?" Small town life. You just can't beat it.
Then of course there was a run to Walmart while we were out. The boys went in while I sat in the car. They picked up snacks for our movie that we wanted to watch.
When we got home, the oldest princess and I looked at her pictures from the youth New Year's Eve party last night. We played around with putting them in a slideshow. She was able to get some really good pictures of the fireworks.
Then we all gathered in the living room for movie night. Our movie of choice? War Room! My prince and I had seen it at a pre-release screening, and the oldest princess had seen it with a friend, but the young prince and the youngest princess had not seen it yet. Those of us that had seen it before loved it so much that we did not mind seeing it again. I love Mrs. Clara. I would love to have a real life Mrs. Clara in my life. One of my favorite quotes in the movie is when Mrs. Clara tells Elizabeth, "God is a good defense attorney. Leave it to Him." Excellent advice, and so very true. If we will just pray, and take all of our "offenses" to God, He will take care of them. Way better than we ever could ourselves. I know this from experience. I have seen it in action in my own life.
If you have not seen War Room yet, I highly recommend it. It even made my prince fight his "allergies" as he says (his way of not admitting that he was touched by a movie and is crying).
Also, in the middle of all of that, I have a book on my Kindle app that I am reading snippets of when I have a few minutes. It is called Raising a Modern Day Joseph by Larry Fowler. It is an excellent book for both parents and children's ministers (from pre-school all the way through youth ministry). I highly recommend it as well. I feel like I learn something every time I pick it up. GROWTH
Only one phone call in the middle giving us some news that made us sad. But we will take the matter to prayer, minister as we can to those we love, and sit back and watch God do great things.
Now as I type, I have one child at Dollar General, one playing the piano, and one watching television with her dad. It has been a good first day of the year. I love my family and having the time to relax and just enjoy being together. Maybe now I can talk them into playing a few rounds of Dutch Blitz with me? We will see...
No comments:
Post a Comment