Friday, October 26, 2012

Little Miss photographer

Beware: picture overload...

Mylin's favorite new hobby this week has been photographing herself, her family, and the house...

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for my upsurd faces - I did not know if she was actually even taking pictures and when they might include my crazy mug......















Huh - I must have taken this one...






 



















 


 
We were baking...




 
SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

My war is not against flesh and blood

Little can be sweeter than victory after nasty defeat!

Naptime and bedtime still rages war in our home.
We have prayed, and prayed, and PRAYED over this situation
We have sought so much (wise) counsel as to how to 'break' Mylin of getting out of bed, or how to 'make' her obedient, and how to do it lovingly, or patiently, or absent of anger
But let me tell you - for a girl who struggles with an angry heart - this has been HARD

Today I was blessed with some very encouraging counsel from my mentor (thank you, Mom Life!!!)
I was reminded that this is my highest calling - to care for, teach, and train these children God has blessed us with
I quit my job for this - a job that I loved...but also used as a 'break' from being a mom
That is not where God wanted my heart

Satan loves to remind me that I could get my job back - or get so flooded with opportunities to serve, or volunteer, or fill my days with 'stuff' that keeps me away from my focus on my children
But Satan's work gets so skewed in my mind and I find myself being angry at Mylin for not staying in bed and not going to sleep and manipulating me
Or I get mad at Joel for 'messing up' our routine by being home and wanting to take over naptime on the weekends (uh, hello - this is a team effort, Rachel - get over yourself and let go of the reins...)

But my war is NOT against flesh and blood
Joel so wisely reminded me a few weekends ago:
"We're on the same team"
Wow, you're right - so why am I so mad at you?!?!?

Get behind (me) us, Satan!
We need to put on our armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) of God daily and remember that we (Joel & I) are united in Christ and fighting with Him agains the evil one.

I so appreciated this reminder and the flood of refreshment it brought to my mind, heart, and spirit
God is using this to teach me self-control...how can I expect my 2 year old to have it, when I cannot even display it during a routine naptime?!?!

This is all about training her heart too...that obedience to mommy is done out of love for mommy
Just like mommy is obedient to God out of her love (and sacrifice of self) to Him

God is using this tiny, frustrating, beautiful, big-grinned, silly goose 2 year old to train my heart
Thank you, God, for an adorable lesson :)


Sunday, October 14, 2012

House Rules and Family Values

In our house we have been trying to establish ways to build character in this little sweetie:


So I've adapted some tools from my sister-in-law Jill (LOVE her) - that she used with her kids as toddlers

House Rules:
1. Love God
2. Obey Right Away
3. Have a Happy Heart (Jill's was 'Tell the Truth')
4. Be Kind
5. Work Hard

Over the last several weeks we've been reciting these with Mylin with a corresponding finger on her hand - an easy way for her to remember, right?!
It has worked great - she enjoys learning them and saying them and often asks us "Which one is this?" and holds up any number of fingers, wanting us to tell her which is which again :)

Today, Joel brought up that 'Be Kind' is an outward expression of relating to others, not a heart issue, and wondered if we should change, adapt, or add another rule on to address the heart of how we treat others
Then we discussed maybe having family values (much like the list of verses in 1 Thessalonians 12-22) as a separate part of character building in our home - something that older children can learn, but not as simple as what the toddler will memorize...

What are your thoughts on this?

What house rules or family values do you live by in your home?
What evidences of character building do your children memorize?

We would love to have more ideas!!!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The praying mantis

A few weeks ago we found a praying mantis while playing!
 

 
Mylin got her chair and shades and sat down to watch it :)
 

 
Then our silly daddy made a funny pose one day that I captured on camera that fits the description of this blog...

 
Seriously. I love this guy.