Facilitating growth over cocoa with kids

One of my parenting goals for the year was to spend more individual time with each of my kids. I have a pretty strong conviction about our collective and individual worth as human beings... that each of us has the opportunity and potential to do truly divine things in the big and small moments of our lives... and we should steward those moments wisely.

As a parent, I want to be a facilitator... helping my kids to identify and pursue the things that are central to their being... the things that they were created and designed to do. Simply put... I want to tell each of my kids what makes them special and encourage them on their way to knowing the God that designed them that way.

Over the past few weeks I had great moments over meals with each of the boys and Ben had a night out with Maggie. Nothing profound or life changing in those conversations... but I am hopeful that in the long run the bits of encouragement we offer will transform their little hearts and prepare them for a life of intentionality and purpose.

Thankful - Jonah

Denial... inability to "nest" or think about any of the logistical details of bringing another human into the world.

Denial... arriving home after a 12 hour road trip - 72 hours before having a child.

Denial... driving to the grocery store while in labor to get ingredients for freezer meals.

Denial... cleaning  bathrooms between contractions, instead of packing a bag for the hospital.

Denial... walking down the hall to triage saying the words "this is not happening" 

Those of you that know me well, can attest to the deep denial I dealt with upon the arrival of our fourth child. It was a little bit of an out of body experience. I was not ready... and then he came.

Jonah (a name decided upon a good 24 hours after his birth) was easy from the get-go... easy is actually a huge understatement - Jonah has been a delightful, dreamy, angel of an infant.  No doubt he will make up for lost time in his toddler years - but this charming first year of his life couldn't have been more perfectly timed and orchestrated.

It is very appropriate that his first birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year. I am thankful for Jonah and all the joy and laughter he brings to our days. Happy Birthday Jonah - we love you sweet boy!

Library day

The library is a great place...
I love going there alone... and with one kid... sometimes with two kids... with three kids it becomes stressful... and with four kids it is painful.

I will count it as a great victory on the day that I can quietly walk in and out of a library with all four of my children and my pride intact... but until then we will have library day at home.

Library day at our house goes like this...
* I go to the library by myself or with 1 to 2 kids.
* pick a bunch of books on a variety of topics
* line the books up on the floor
* watch what the kids like reading
* refine selection for next time

The "lining-up-of-the-books" is a new and exciting addition to library day... I think my meager attempt to recreate the "library feel" goes a long way in the eyes of my 6 and 7 year old. Max has a new favorite genre - comic books.
Read more about "ritual & routine".