Rose (7yo) and I have started something new this week, keeping a notebook in the center of the table where each day we write one thing we are thankful for. It has been helpful for obvious reasons; she is very similar to her Momma.               

Being inspired by an old friend's daughter who is relatively newly married with just one sweet daughter (so far), I've decided to also do a thankfulness activity about my children. She is doing this toward her home and her husband, something else I could do later! Her parent's taught her well.               

•  I'm thankful Rose is able to help around the house when I am not feeling well. 
• I'm thankful Willow is loving toward her brother during playtime.
• I'm thankful Forest gets excited to have one of his sisters help him pick out his pajamas at night. It's a little game he's made up by himself where he asks each of them on different nights if they want to please help him pick out his pj's.       

My beloved husband has been gone for 5 days, and I am so glad he's home! Thankfully this trip was broken up with a visit from my closest-in-age sister. It's been too long since she and I sat up late talking. You know how there is just nothing like those talks. I love having sisters! Next time I hope my oldest sister can make it down as well.

Anyhow, today was our roughest day sans daddy. It was probably due to the fact I'm clearly coming down with a cold (I am not admitting to officially having said cold yet). So, I was not as friendly, which I don't like.                                            

In an attempt to get on a good path, we went to the Y, had lessons in Bible, arithmetic, reading, reading comprehension, did AWANA verses, EEL and Foundations. We did not do IEW; just not enough energy for that. Of course we had dance today and did a lot of domestic training, both of which offer so much for learning discipline :). I'm grateful the kids helped so much with laundry and house keeping today.

We decided to carve pumpkins this year using this illustration of how it is similar to the life of a Christian. It's a beautiful way to still do something fun with a pumpkin while not celebrating Halloween. Our pumpkins were cheerful and cute, until...                                   

Nasty, ravenous squirrels got a hold of them. Then they became horror film pumpkins. Look at the mouth of the big one. You can hear it screaming practically!                                                                                    

I've been talking with friends who have children older than mine and some who are the same ages as mine about the difficult stages of parenting. While we all at one time thought babies were SO HARD, we're showing our age by realizing we had it so good back then. Sure, it was hard in a sense, but there was an entire dimension missing, one that I had no clue about until entering. And now that I'm beginning this phase, I still have little clue most times on how to deal with the trials.        

Life used to be physically hard: little sleep, diapers, lots of laundry, new and challenging allergies, long days with little social time for me, but mentally, it was pretty simple. My childrens' needs and struggles were defined and dealt with. They needed care and love.       

Now we are dealing with the emotional and cognitive part of life that is difficult and causes us to pray more and ask God for wisdom, patience, understanding, grace, and HELP! It is so hard when your child is struggling with feelings of being hurt ot rejected....hard when they struggle with sin in their lives and you can't make them stop but just try to help them...hard when they go a direction you have dreaded (we haven't gotten to that age yet). All of these issues cause us to cry out to God who is the only One who can really reach inside their heads and hearts to show them the way. Our job is to help them come to know and trust Him so that relationship will be established when they begin to need council far outside of my ability.                  

While the parenting task gets more difficult as the children age, it also gets more rewarding. Getting to know these little people who are not clones of us, seeing what they like and who they like, seeing how they care for each other, watching them all snuggle up to read or watch a movie with popcorn....those tender moments together when you look into their eyes and know and understand each other are priceless.            

God bless our children and keep them safe. Use them to glorify You in these dark, last days.

ps For a funny SNL video, go to www.VAThinker.blogspot.com .

My son is explaining how the mommy longlegs eats the daddy longlegs. But then, the father eats the mother. God could turn the spider back into a daddy longleg so he can then eat his wife. They're gonna have baby longlegs if they be nice to each other and don't eat each other.  I find his logic dizzying, but he's intense in his explanation, so at least it's cute. Intensity, sans logic and cuteness, would get tedious.

My lovies picked these for me the other day. Fall flowers :).