Adventures in parenting

:: Gabriel started playing t-ball this week in a community league. They have two one-hour practices/games a week and so far he is loving it. Daniel tells me, with no repressed delight, that he is much better at t-ball than at basketball. (This isn't because Daniel doesn't like basketball, but that if Gabriel must be better at one sport than another, baseball is Daniel's preference.) Gabriel is, apparently, rather natural on the field. He especially loves playing the pitcher position (which is strictly a fielding position in t-ball) because he gets the most action there.

:: I have been cracking down on whining around here. I'd not realized how dulled I'd become to the poor responses to instruction until the other night at a mom's meeting when obedience was being discussed. Sometimes I think I get immune to the complaining and grumbling and don't even hear it any more. I'm thankful for reminders that there is no greater skill I can give my children in life than that of knowing how to cheerfully obey.

:: The kids have been very, ahem, busy this week, and have left quite a bit of destruction in their path. A large portion of my tulips were stomped on so that they are broken at the ground before they even get a chance to bud. There are ink drawings on upholstered furniture. A disobedient romp into the swamp out back one day while I was making dinner (and need I say exhausted by the end of the day?) resulted in mud up to waistlines. I was called outside two days ago by an unusual amount of commotion in the front yard, only to find that my son had been throwing rocks across the road and had actually broken the passenger window of a minivan as it drove by. In it all, I am not unaware of how the Holy Spirit desires to teach me exactly how to both do justly and love mercy. I am not, by nature, intensely compassionate, yet I am uncommonly mindful these days of the challenges of being a young child in a busy and confusing world. I am also deeply stirred to make sure my children learn how to take full and humble responsibility for their actions. I am thankful that He is guiding Daniel and I as we seek to shepherd our children through every single growing pain.

:: The children and I have had lots of picnic lunches and pleasant walks recently as we fill up long days without Daniel, who is especially busy as the school year concludes. We also had a chance to go over to a friend's house yesterday and play for the morning. The other day I was thinking about how lonely I would get when Daniel was working lots before my children came along. Sometimes I forget what great company they are and I take for granted how much I enjoy having them around. I don't want to do that.