Teaching your kids how to learn certain life skills takes energy, patience, determination, and flexibility as they learn and make mistakes on the way. Yet, the value of teaching how to do chores not only benefits you, but also your child for now and the years to come. Let’s be honest here. There is always […]
A sandy-haired boy with deep ocean blue eyes and a strong stature, coyly sits. He reminds me of a young David in the Bible; fearless, handsome, and loveable. His emotions dangle off his sleeves as he lives his life in extremes. Hate and love are often on his lips… as he either disdains something or can’t imagine life without it. This boy, a warrior at heart, filled with passion and emotion is my son, Jayden.
My son has always been a natural born leader… Some call these attributes strong-willed. :) It depends on what paintbrush you grab, or what lens you view it through. His candle is bright, and his presence is unhidden. Each day he is being molded and shaped; crafted with God’s hands through time and experience, knowledge and love. As I look at my sweet boy, I am motivated to grow, to learn truth, to live out truth, to abandon excess baggage in myself so I can guide him with a clear mind and heart. His eyes are watching, and emulating everything to the umpteenth degree, because whatever he does, he does big and loud… Because his roar is meant to be heard.
I watch my precious kids grow up before my eyes. Each 24 hour period passes almost as quickly as it arrives. I try to balance all of life’s details, while still prioritizing my kids. Despite the slew of stuff that bombards each day, I want to stop and breath in the moments that make each day special. I want to appreciate my kids and savor the moments that I don’t want to pass by. Hopefully if I pause long enough I can create a memory that can’t be taken from me. So as I hear the laughter bubbling through my house, and the joy that kids bring, I want to put aside my tiredness, my work, my distractions and remember how fleeting these moments are. I want to soak in just one more memory.
My daughter Isabella Grace Houle is almost four. For a while I was convinced she was going to be primarily a daddy’s girl and I was going to take a back seat. To put it bluntly… we did not always see eye to eye.
Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I am not excited for you. I am. I know you will excel in school and do awesome. You are super smart; you always have been. You recognized the alphabet at 2 years old. That seems advanced to me. You love to learn. Your teacher already picked that up at kindergarten evaluation. They flattered me with the notion that they almost wanted to advance you to first grade. Your brightness shows.
It was 8:20pm, the kids were in their room winding down for the night. Me and my husband were relaxing on the couch, as I hear the pitter patter of little feet. This is a normal occurrence at night, the kids seeking their one (or three) last goodnight interactions.
As parents we need to be at the front lines for our children as their number one advocate and protector. Taking the first blows as situations come charging at our kids, whether it be filtering what they hear, protecting their steps, or nurturing their heart we need to invest in our kids with passion and conviction, teaching them what true love is and learning it ourselves. There are few days that go by that some foreign food substance hasn’t lodged itself on my shirt, or that the coffee pot has run dry way too early; yet, we need to plow forward. Not because it’s easy, but because we love our kids, and we are going to be held accountable for how we parented them.
The door shuts, as disagreements mount. There is a progression of pain, that escalates as one wonders where is this person I married? Does he hear the cries of my heart? Does he care? In a marriage you love deeply and hurt deeply. Each spouse knows the others buttons, and they WILL push them. What are some practical ways to make your spouse loveable again?
Peaceful that is what I’d call this moment. How is this possible with 3 kids? When I had no kids I felt frazzled, and yet now I am relaxed? What caused this paradigm shift? I stopped living as though I had no kids.