blessings

this week i have had not 1, but 2 wonderful opportunities to witness my eldest exhibit his giftedness.  on tuesdays, he participates in a homeschool band.  with my background, i have been enlisted to help out - but not with his particular beginning band.  this week however, i had the privlege to rehearse them and was highly impressed with jonah's performance.  he played intricate rhythms & stayed in time.  band being my thing for so long, i didn't really know if he would even want to do it, much less excel at this.  i mean when someone says that they want to play drums, it usually means they just want to bang on a drum set (which he also does...really well!).  but he was back there playing the concert snare drum with musicality & excellence.  :)

then last night, i was overwhelmed as i worshiped with our youth group while jonah played bass with the praise band.  this put my "proud mom" feeling over the top.  not only was he ridiculously amazing at the music side of it, but he was up there praising GOD with his talent.  i'm sure every parent goes through great moments of pride in watching their kids do that which GOD designed them to do, but this week i am feeling extraordinarily blessed.  i can't wait to see all that GOD has for both my boys as they continue to journey through life. 

parenting

yesterday i was blessed to spend time with some amazing women & engage in some invigorating conversation about raising our children.  i don't know if you're anything like me (probably not), but i spend an enormous amount of time questioning everything i'm doing.  "was i too hard in that decision?", "am i going to mess them up forever?", "should i allow this or not?", etc.  i heard a speaker a few years ago talking about choices (specifically about children & teens) and he said this:  "i'm raising my kids to leave".  this is really how we try to parent...equipping these boys everyday for tomorrow.  yes, there are boundaries, and a lot of discipline...but in such a short amount of time, these boys will leave our home.  it is our job to train them to be men, while they are still boys. this seems sometimes like a daunting task.  but in the end, i just try to remember that if we're teaching them to love GOD with all that they are and to love others as themselves, then i guess we're getting something right.