Weekend Update

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day. My parents came and spent the night with us on Saturday night. We went to Shel's school for a fundraiser and ate fish then we came home put on p.j.'s and ate some more. Then we got up and went to church on Sunday morning and then we went to lunch to eat again. It was a great time. Shelby thought it was so cool that Nana and Poppa were spending the night. Especially since they live only 45 minutes away.

Sunday afternoon we went and visited with Mimi and Poppy and Aaron's mamaw. We had a nice visit and a relaxed Mother's Day weekend. And I didn't have my camera for any of it! I know it's terrible!

Saturday while getting the house ready for overnight guests the sky decided to fall. There was so much rain in such short amount of time and the wind was blowing so hard that the rain blew into one of the seams of our metal roof. Uh-Oh!! We had rain coming throught the ceiling . There wasn't a massive amount but enough to fill up a couple of bowls and get everything wet that I had just put on the table for Mother's Day lunch. I had all my placemats, linen napkins, plates, silverware, glasses and flowers on the table. They were soaked! We just started grabbing everything and putting bowls out. It finally stopped and all is well now that Bob The Builder came out yesterday and is going to fix all the problems.


Be a mom who gives time.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change" (NCV).
It takes time to be a mom, to know and to train your children. Every child comes with a set of characteristics already established by God. Our job is to identify those characteristics and then steer the child toward them. The original root word for "train" is the term for "the palate, the roof of the mouth, the gums". In the days of Solomon, a midwife would deliver the baby, dip her finger into the juice of crushed dates, reach into the mouth of the baby and massage the gums and palate to create a sense of taste and thirst. She would then give the child to the mother so the baby could nurse. Our job as mothers is to develop a thirst in our children for the right things. And that takes time.
There is a popular philosophy today that it doesn't matter the quantity of time that we spend with our kids as long as it is quality time. It does matter! Can a woman have it all - a home, a family, a career? I think she can. I'm just not sure she can have them all at the same time. There are seasons of life to which we must yield in order to be the mother God wants us to be. Time spent with children is never wasted! Every minute invested in your child is an eternal investment! Give your children the best of your time -- not the leftovers.
· Make weekly dates with your kids.
· Pull them out of school occasionally for a fun day.
· Have a meal together every day.
· Be involved in the things they enjoy.
In other words, be available! And just your physical presence is not enough. Our normal bedtime routine was to spend a few minutes with each child, talking about the day, praying together and then I would tuck them in for the night. When our daughter, Danna, was six-years-old, Dan was out of town and I was behind in studying for an upcoming retreat. I went in to Jered's room, completed the bedtime routine and he was asleep in minutes. However, when I went into Danna's room, and tried to speed things up, Danna refused to talk. When I asked her why, she cried out, "Mama, you're not here!" Confused and a little irritated, I responded, "Yes, I am! I am right here!" Her big brown eyes filled with tears as she drove the truth home, "But you're not really here on the inside." Be a mom who gives your children time.
Being a mom is the hardest job on earth and can bring out the best and the worst in you. I know being a mom requires great sacrifice and limitless energy, but to invest your time and best efforts into a child, to watch that child grow and develop, is to be part of the creative majesty of life itself. We're half the way there! Tomorrow, we will explore four more ways to be a mom that matters.