Future Me

Future me is reminding me to blog today.  "Remember how fast this goes" she says, "remember how much you like to look back and remember all these little tidbits"  So in order to appease this nagging voice in my head I am continuing my gratitude list (yes from September!!) that I have been keeping these past few months.  These past few weeks I have been coming to the Lord in prayer quite a bit praying about parenting.  Parenting my children's hearts.  We have reached a new era.  We are less about time-outs and getting the right behavior and more about trying to recognize why the behavior is happening and what each child is struggling with.    I have had some super awesome conversations with my kids about our sin nature and our need for a savior and I think "wow...this is going well"  and I guess I feel they "get it" and then 2 minutes later it is something else and I feel like we are backpeddling.

But, as I am in constant petition to the Lord for strength, wisdom and patience in parenting,  I have also been greatly reminded of His rich blessings in our life now.  What a great time to write these out and have them for a reminder that He is always working and I am not a finished product, nor should I expect my kids to be.

So continued from September:

140.  Playing games with our two oldest.  Spoons to be exact has been a new favorite.  To be able to move past candyland and go fish and play something a little more entertaining has been amazing for my own boredom this winter.
141.  Isaac's quirky faces when he is being silly or trying to get us to laugh
142.  Digging into Exodus, Leviticus and now Numbers.  So I am sort of late to the whole "knowing the bible" game and while I have been pretty well versed in New Testament, I was lacking in my knowledge of old testament.    It has been awesome to study these books in depth(which I formerly thought were boring) and realize how much of them were pointing to the Savior to come.  All the festivals and how Christ's death, burial and resurrection lined up perfectly with the festivals that really stood for each of those parts.  Mind has been blown....
143. Smell of Caleb's skin after a bath (only time when I feel like he still kind of smells like a baby)
144.  Hours spend writing, drawing, reading, coloring, cutting with two oldest
145.  Open nights and days in our schedule this year....more family time
146.  Kids playing pretend animals for two hours....love that they still play "younger" games

147.  Andie praying and reading her bible before school some days
148.  Fresh bread baking
149.  kids giggling with one another/sharing a private joke

150.  Pitter patter of footsteps through the house (not always loving the clomp clomp and stomp stomps but know I will miss those too when they are gone)
151.  Bare Oak trees against a blue sky
152.  Mild Winter
153.  Friday hiking dates with friend and Caleb
154.  Midnight Girls Club:   What fun it is to share a night of laughter and "inside" jokes and understanding and transparency.
155.  Teaching a 2nd Grade science lesson - suprising Andie at school.

156.  Ice skating and cocoa date with my favorite girl

157.  Candlelit night hike at our state park.  What a great memory for the kids.  They swung on a tire swing over a frozen creek, our hike was lit by candles, we enjoyed cocoa, and roasted marshmallows over a fire.

So there you have it Future Sarah.  I know you will be so very happy I wrote these out.