Grateful for my children

I recently read a blog by Lucy Swindol talking about how when we have those irritating moments in life we need to be grateful. She asked for comments on what are we grateful for. My first response (which was the exact number of characters alotted!) "My children and their desire to witness to friends.

Then I realized I haven't blogged about the kids for a while.

I'll start with Chandler this time. Chandler is doing great. We had a spell at the end of school/first of summer and I was very concerned about his attitude but along with talks and spanks we prayed. I don't know what I would do without prayer as a mom. When we can not change our children, when we can not get hold, God can. In this case God did and Praise God that Chandler listened. No one is perfect, kids are kids, but his attitude is dramatically better. Yesterday Chad and I (at different times) bragged on Chandler to someone. Two nights ago, we gave the kids some money. We are working on teaching them money management and it wasn't more money than we spend on them in a given month, but it was more than they usually get at one time. They will "manage" their money this month. They went off to their rooms and Chandler came back to me in the office and hugged me and said "mom, thank you for the money." I am so grateful that he has a thankful heart. He tends to be thankful for things that most kids just assume a right too. I hope that he continues to grow that attitude of gratitude. The second thing. He has wanted for some time to cook like Nicky does. So, he is doing a couple meals a week. This week he fixed an awesome chicken pizza (homemade). Last night Chad told a person who was eating a cracker at church because they were hungry, that he would be too if Chandler hadn't fixed his dinner. They smiled and he said yeah, he cooked hamburger added taco seasoning, warmed up corn, fixed instant rice, cut up tomatoes, set the table with the chips, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, pace picante and the stuff he cooked and we had a really great taco salad meal. My just turned 11 year old son did all that! (Will his wife be lucky or what? :)).

Both our kids are learning some significant life skills with us working full time and being so involved in church and family farm stuff. We all need quality time and they keep the house picked up and cook a lot of the time so we can still have an hour or two together at night to watch TV, talk, or play games. It keeps them busy and out of trouble and learning skills at the same time.

Speaking of, Nicky, as the oldest, decided on her own she wanted to take on more chores than Chandler recently and that is going really well. There are less fights, Chandler still has things he's responsible for, but Nicky is stepping up. She's thinking ahead and learning to manage money. She's thinking about her future and planning for it and becoming an awesome young lady (if I do say so myself!) On Wednesday nights, our van is full. Chad takes 6 six (Chandler, Nicky and 4 of her friends) to church with him. She has a friend that spends every Wednesday night with us so she can go to youth group. I'm so glad that God has put a desire in her heart to include/invite others and share her faith. She was made fun of at school for being a Christian yesterday because she is taking her Bible to every class (it's a pre "see you at the pole" thing for 30 days.) She was happy about that. She said she would much rather be made fun of for her faith than some of the stupid things people say and she even laughed as she pointed out that one person started to make fun and stopped, she said "I could tell they were getting convicted!" She is very sensitive to God and I am so glad that as she gets older that grows deeper and wider.

So, today's blog. I'm grateful for my children! :)