Anna's 5th Birthday

Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast

Presents from Gramma, Grampa, Daddy, Mommy & John Caden

Sprayground at Riverside Park

Lunch at Bugaboo Creek

Surprise trip to REI to pick out a bike

Family party and more presents

John Caden "Swimming"

Training Little Disciples – A Work of Grace & Patience

Training Little Disciples – A Work of Grace & Patience

by Lindsay Edmonds of Passionate Homemaking

“But you, O Lord, are compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” - Psalms 86:15

I have two little disciples – one sweet boy and one sweet girl. They have been specially assigned to me. I’m training little hearts today through my every word and deed. Daily I struggle to instruct, nurture, and guide my little disciples with grace and patience. But these little eyes are watching me. How easy it is for me to erupt in frustration when I must repeat a command after multiple attempts, and my own laziness delays a prompt response. These are the moments I must stop, step back, and remember, these are my disciples. This is my assignment: train these little disciples to love and follow Jesus. Can they see Jesus in me?

Jesus is our example. His twelve disciples continually had so little faith in His power, they fought over positions of glory, before abandoning Him altogether in the garden at His deepest hour of need. And yet, Jesus patiently loved, taught, confronted, and exhorted them. He gave three years of unceasing devotion to equip them in turn to go forth and make disciples. Our little disciples are watching us – they need patient instruction even if it has to be repeated on multiple occasions and locations. The same was true of Jesus. He faithfully planted the seeds which in due time following His accession into heaven, it bore much beautiful fruit for the Kingdom.

Patience and humility go hand in hand. The reason I loose my temper is tied to pride. It is when I feel I need to be in control, or things do not go the way I plan or prefer, that my children don’t behave. Confess your weakness and be open and honest before the Lord in repenting it. Fruit is born when we stop and acknowledge our short comings and apologize before our children. That is when they are attracted to such grace and humility in Jesus.

Never cease praying for patience and grace. Pray daily! Pray at the start of each day that God would supply you with divine grace and patience in your mothering. He is faithful to answer and equip you for the task. God gives such supernatural strength to those who ask.

Stop dwelling on the “tough” portions of your day and focus on the beauty around you. Look at the sweet gifts around you and the little blessings that took place during your day. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord! It does wonders to our spirits.

I deserve the wrath of God because of my sin, and yet God extended such patience and forgiveness again and again. Likewise, can I not extend mercy and patience when such love has been lavished on me?

It is said of the Proverbs 31 woman, “When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness (Prov 31:26)”. Is kind speech flowing from my tongue today?
I’m training little hearts today, through my every word and deed.May they see Christ in me, and by grace be understood.

I can rejoice today because training these little disciples is all apart of that greater beautiful picture of God’s divine grace, pruning, and refining in my heart – equipping me each day to be a better mother tomorrow.

Passive Learning

In preparation for homeschooling in the Fall, I've been working with Anna on a few things this summer and training John Caden how to stay occupied. :) Today Anna and I were doing a memory activity in which we said, "I'm going to the store and I'm going to buy a ..." and came up with as many silly things that start with the letter "m" as we could think of. When John Caden, who was working on an animal sorting activity nearby, heard me say "I'm going to the store and I'm going to buy a monkey" he quietly came and dropped off the little monkey below into my hand. He sweetly said, "Here's a monkey for you Mommy. You don't need to go to the store." So cute! And so observant of him! Can't wait to see what else he'll pick up on and learn as I'm teaching Anna during the year.

Rainy Nights

I happened to glance at Anna on the video monitor tonight and saw that she had raised her blinds and fallen asleep watching the rain fall. She's my kind of girl! I think I'll teach her one of my favorite songs tomorrow...

"Well, I love a rainy night

I love a rainy night

I love to hear the thunder

Watch the lightning

When it lights up the sky...

Our Little Rebel

Upon hearing some commotion in his room after putting John Caden to bed, I went in and found that my sweet baby boy had gotten his cap down and placed it on backwards. Too much for a mommy's heart to see--he looked like a little teenager sitting there! (Quick snap with cell phone camera in dark room = poor quality picture) :(

Saturday Evening's Living Room Performance

Anna & John Caden rearranged the house Saturday evening to accommodate the large number of guests attending Anna's ballet and John Caden's guitar performances.

This is an example of one...
...of the many guests who were in attendance.
Anna and John Caden then joined the crowd and requested Mom to have her own turn performing.

Saturday Morning at the Marietta Square

Bike Rides with Daddy

Sunday afternoons have become bike riding time with Daddy. Although they have their own trikes & bikes, Anna & John Caden still love riding in the bike trailer. The minute Tim reaches for his helmet, they both squeal with excitement and jump in. What a workout it is for Tim--especially the hills!

A much needed reminder

Just as I sat down for a few minutes to work on homeschool lesson plans, I heard John Caden calling, "Mommy....Mommy. Daddy, where's Mommy?" To be honest I was hoping Tim would divert him from finding me---I was hoping for just 30 minutes of productive time with no interruptions---but no such luck. Tim told him I was in the office. :(

"Mommy, " he said as he walked in showing me the little wooden doll below, "this one kind of looks like you." His voice was so sweet. My heart melted when I looked at the doll. Her face looked so loving, so compassionate, so unhurried, so welcoming...so much like the "mommy" I desire for him to see me as...yet so far from the busy "mother" I'm afraid I often am to him. I was humbled---from all the other wooden dolls he could have chosen from, he picked this one.

And so I pray, "Lord, Instill Your character within me and bring me to a greater spiritual maturity (Titus 2:3-5) so that as Anna & John Caden grow, I'll look more and more like You to them---help me to love like You, forgive like You, give like You, and serve like You. I pray that I would reflect the love that You have given me, that I would give them the grace I have received, and that they would desire You above all else because of the beauty of You that they see in me."

Weekend Fun

Swinging with cousins...

eating home churned ice cream (thanks to Granna) with Poppa...
and of course, picking more blueberries...

...but this time with cousins...

...and this time John Caden learned how good they are fresh off the vine so he ate,...

...and ate...,

and stopped picking all together and sat and ate lots more.

We also went hiking on the Stilesboro Road trail.

The car was so muddy from our trail adventure that John Caden graciously vacumed and washed our car for us when we returned home!