Gabriel and Ross had a spat this morning and we had a talk and worked through it. Things are changing with those two. Ross is not the really little brother anymore he is able to think and play games on an older level with out his big brother holding his hand so much. They can play the board game Axis and Allies by the hour together and have a great time but I think sometimes Gabriel forgets Ross is an older boy now and doesn't always treat him as a peer but as a little kid, which causes friction. Ross on the other hand may at times look for ways to shove this new "manlihood" in his older brothers face. Overall they are great friends and Ross wants to be like Gabriel and do what Gabriel does. Anyway, after the disagreement I had them apologize and say they will do better. Then I told them to hug each other. Instead, Gabriel gave a quickly delivered punch to Ross (which I thought was a bit hard but I left it due to the response). Ross smiled at the punch delivered to him in his torso and delivered a blow right back at Gabriel and they ran off to play outside. Guess my little boys aren't so little anymore and I have some learning curves!!
Gabriel has been changing in his desire to be a help and wanting to be more of proactive around the house instead of me having to ask him and remind him to do things. He has told me frequently lately that in the morning he prays that he will do a good job that day in doing what he is supposed to do. This morning he and Carson worked on doing laundry (not an assigned task). Gabriel told me the cute story of how Carson ended up helping. He asked Carson if he wanted to help him with the laundry and Carson said "No thank you." Then he told Carson that Jesus likes it when we help people. Carson said "No thank you YES." That is Carson way of saying "yes". Gabriel thought that was funny.
Last week Gabriel finished reading through the Bible and is back reading in Genesis again. I told him today as he reads the Old Testament this time through I wanted him to concentrate on seeing God's Holiness as he reads. We hear so much of God's love but we also need to understand His holiness.
The other day in the van Gabriel asked "Why do so many people comment on
how we act?" We had just been somewhere and someone had come up to
comment on the kids and their good behavior and it really does happen A
LOT and I can see why he would ask that. Babe and I started naming
reasons and Gabriel broke in and said "It's because we have good
parents!" To hear that was an encouragement to Babe and I for sure.
We are SSSOOOO watched when we go out. I take that as a responsibility
and know we need to try to reflect the love of Christ out to the world.
The difference I want to show is Christ's love in our lives.
Hearing Carson pray lately has been heart warming to say the least. I love hearing his prayers from his heart. Thankfulness for chocolate milk, food, horses, and for Jesus dying on the cross. Asking for help to be good and for daddy in his job.
Annalina came the other day to me and pinned a badge on me for being "the world's best mommy". She is SOOOO sweet and such an encouragement. A few weeks ago we were in the car and Babe and I didn't realize that any of the kids were listening to our conversation. Babe was praising me for something I had done that he thought was just extraordinary. Annalina piped up from the very back of the van and said "Daddy why are you saying that? Mommy is always that way!" That girl is such an encouragement to me. Each of my kids are a blessing in such different ways.
The last story is about Ross and how he dared to be a Daniel and dared to stand alone (literally). I started this story and didn't finish it. The kids go to a homeschooling group once a week during the school year. One little boy Ross's age saw that Ross prayed at lunch and started giving Ross a bad time about it. One thing the boy said was "I have prayed to God and He didn't answer my prayers." or "I don't like you". But the prayer he really gave Ross a bad time about. Ross kept praying at lunch undetered. Finally, I found out about it when Ross didn't seem so keen on school. We talked about how to handle it and in Ross's own words he "ministered to him". He talked to him about God and about prayer and how sometimes God says wait, sometimes He says Yes and sometimes No. He felt like things were getting better with the boy then other kids in the class decided to join in. Things were tough. I knew the principal and knew she would not want a kid uncomfortable to come to her school. We had a meeting with the boys and the one other mother. After the meeting with the boys in which Ross ended with giving the other boy a BIG hug. The boys walked out and I was a bit surprised to hear the reaction of the two ladies. The other mother was floored by Ross and thought he was amazing. She said she was so interested to see how God would use him as an adult!!! The principal said over and over "That kid is a prophet!" The principal was probing during the meeting Ross's attitude towards those that don't accept his beliefs and so she asked him point blank how that made him feel. His answer "sad". Not mad or angry just sad. This school sends out reports 2 times a year. Before the first report came out they said we give very few and often no outstandings or whatever the highest was. Ross got A LOT of those on his report card and one of the things he was rated high on was his how he socialized with the children in his class. By the way, later that day I went to that other mom's house and we sat and talked for hours and had a great time!
