she is here!

Sophia Claire, 11/24/11 8:39 am, 7 pounds 13 ounces, 20 inches long.

my house may be messy...

and the kids may be tired and need a nap, but it will have to wait. We were blessed with beautiful weather today, all the snow has melted, and we have been spending way too much time inside in front of the TV lately. So I kicked them out. All of them, and me, too, I've been needing some sunshine. Usually I keep Gabe in the kitchen with me. He had so much fun out there with his brother and sister, I love seeing the relationships between them develop.  Hopefully they will sleep well tonight, too.

my big boy is taking steps!

Who's children are they?

Well obviously, when they are good they are mine, and when they are naughty they are my husbands. Realizing what we are raising children for is an important part of how we deal with them.

Before we had children (feels like forever ago) I was in a ladies Bible study, the teacher, a dear friend of mine, was teaching on this very subject. Giving our whole lives to God, and realizing that our children are not ours, but His, he gives them to us to raise and nurture, but ultimately they are his, to do with what He wills.

 I was reminded of her teaching as we dealt with the early stages and uncertainty of Gabe's injury. I did not want to see him suffer, or for things to be difficult for him. In praying for him in the early stages, when we did not know how much use of his arm he would recover, all I could do was rely on the fact that this was in God's plan for his life, and that He would use it for His glory.

I have been feeling weary lately, and like I am not doing a very good job of raising my children in Him. I cried out to the Lord, that He has given me these blessing, and to please give me the strength and the knowledge to raise them according to His will. The scriptures were my answer

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. - Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. -Ephesians 6:4

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16