What Making Classroom Valentine's Taught Me.

There we were standing in Hobby Lobby starring at their 30% off Valentine's Day display trying to decide on what to get for Ava to take to pre-K next week. 

Me trying my best to persuade her to go for my idea that was way creative and over the top, I'm pretty sure everyone would know a four year old didn't come up with that on her own. 

Her reaching for the glitter glue pens and these foam hearts. 

Me again trying to direct her back towards my plan, and circling around a few other ideas. Her once again throwing more foam hearts into the cart and saying;

"Mom can we just get these? These are what I want."

I realized something that day in Hobby Lobby, it should have been clear to me after the months of her wanting to pick out her own clothing and weeks of miss matched outfits that just made her happy and delighted, or about how for months hasn't been on board with any of my 5th birthday ideas and readily had her own thoughts about what her birthday should be.

I mean who is she anyway?! I kid. 

Sitting there that day while picking out valentine's it struck me louder than before, she's becoming her own little person. With ideas and thoughts all her own. 

She gleamed at the idea of putting together her own special Valentine's and even though they weren't what I wanted nor as over the top as I wanted it to be. I remembered that she's growing and changing and taking ownership of her ideas. Expressing the things she likes. 

I wasn't about me, it was about her class valentine's and wanting to do them her own creative way.

It reminded me to take a step back and see that everything doesn't have to be the way I think it should. It can be as simple as foam hearts, some stickers and practicing writing her name 33 times for each valentine. 

To see her sitting at the table decorating each one with such pride and accomplishment. She wouldn't have gotten that if I'd taken it away from her to do my own silly thing. 

It not only taught her to let her own ideas come to life, it taught me a bigger lesson about letting go of my own ideas and what I think things should be. Or what I think I should do as a parent when it comes to school project and holiday parties. 

An important lesson, maybe you've been there too. Let's raise up a generation of confident kids. Kids who are confident in their ideas and let them explore their creativity and see it flourish. 

All it takes us us stepping out of the way sometimes. 

A Day in February.

I love documenting life, I consider myself the family memory keeper. Recording a 'day in our lives' once a month is not only fun but also a great way for us to look back on that season and see what we were up to.

My kids love filming videos with me too. This day in the life video is a bit longer than usual only because my kids got super involved. I filmed this last week, I hope you enjoy it.

Tell me, how do you keep memories for your family. What are your favorite ways? Do you like recording videos as well? Tell me in the comments below.

Teaching Our Children to Give Back

It has always been really important for Orion and I to teach our children the importance of giving back, serving and helping others. I truly believe that these principals and values start at home. It's my job to teach my children about these things. 

We don't have a lot, but we do have something we can give. There are always ways we can help others. There are always ways we can serve other people. 

Since it's nearing the holiday season of Christmas I wanted to share with you ways that we are teaching our children to give back. Since Ava has been a baby we've been buying gifts for children who might not otherwise have a Christmas. My husband's work has an angel tree that we've participated in before, our church now supports a local foster home and the children there. 

We always pick two children to give to, even before we had two kids we did. The first couple years Ava had no idea why we were doing what we were doing. Last year was the first year she got it, and she didn't fully understand why we were giving gifts to others. There were some tears about not keeping the toys. This year she's 4 now, and she really gets it. We were able to explain it to her, and she got really excited about giving to these children. 

Every Friday night we have "family night" so last Friday night we took our kids to Target and let them shop for the kids on our list. Ava had a lot of fun shopping for the little girl we choose. We came home and had a little wrap party with our gifts and talked again about why we were doing this. 

After we were done we took the opportunity to pray for these kids, and pray for the gifts were were going to give them. That they would feel loved this Christmas season. 

This is one of my favorite things we do as a family. As a family we are heavily involved in our local church and are always using this an an opportunity to teach our children to serve. They help us at church, they see us cleaning up and serving there. Ava loves jumping in an helping us with things and it's such a joy to see her loving being at church and helping others.

What ways do you teach your children about giving back and serving others? I'd love for you to share your thoughts in the comments below.

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'Your Legacy' Dr. James Dobson Review + Giveaway

I have been a long time fan of Dr. James Dobson and his books for a while now. I started reading them when Ava was a little over a year old. He's got some great books on parenting children & discipline. I love his commitment to raising Godly children and having healthy Christ centered families. Dare to Discipline is a favorite of mine. 

I had the chance to review his new Building a Family Legacy series which includes 8 DVDs on various topics (see below for the complete list.) I think the idea of leaving a legacy for our children isn't something we talk a whole lot about these day, or even hear about. I feel though that it's so vital to consider this when raising our children. 

My husband and I are always asking ourselves;

What do we want our children to remember about our family?

What values do we want them to have?

How can we leave a lasting impression and legacy for them?

In the Your Legacy DVD Dobson unpacks the value of leaving a spiritual legacy for your family, shares his own experiences with his own ancestors and what he did for his own family. He also challenges us to do the same for our families.

Other DVD titles include:

• Your Legacy
• Bringing up Boys
• Bringing up Girls
• Love For A Lifetime
• The Strong-Willed Child
• Dare To Discipline
• Straight Talk To Men
• Wanting To Believe with Ryan Dobson

Now for the fun part; I'm giving away 3 copies of the Your Legacy DVD by Dr. James Dobson. To enter comment below with your best tip for raising healthy families. It can be anything you want, the best way you get dinner on the table, how you get your kiddos to eat their veggies or your best tip for breaking up sibling fights. I wanna hear about it. Contest will run from now until Friday night. Winners will be announced Saturday morning and emailed for notification. Connect with them on Facebook & Twitter. 

A Perspective Shift in Mothering

We're on the homestretch in my series of #31DayofRestinginHim. As we're coming to the end I wanted to share with you a post that I wrote last year on Mother's Day. I thought it was worth sharing again here on the new blog. Motherhood and parenthood in general is so tough sometimes but as I learn to rest in the Lord he guides me and gives me wisdom. He even surprises me a little. 

I hope you enjoy this encouragement today. It encouraged me again today as I read it. 

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I've had some really hard weeks these past few months. Days when I for sure thought I was going to lose my mind, days when I felt like giving up on this whole parenting thing.

Pretty sure I wasn't doing a good job.

Pretty sure I wasn't getting through at all to my toddler who seems to test my will more than ever these days.

Days when I've sat and cried for a few minutes while they are tucked in their beds for nap time. A few times that I've snuck into the pantry alone and sat there for a few small moments reminding myself to breath, and come out with a smile on my face.

Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a definitive handbook on how to raise children? A handbook that told you exactly every single scenario that was going to happen and how to handle it? Yup, that would be awesome sometimes.

And just when I'm sure my child hates me, and doesn't like me at all she says something that forever changes my perspective on mothering and parenting.

My husband knows just how much of a hard time I've been having lately and does a great job of checking in on me throughout the day.

Sunday night (mother's day) my husband did the bed time routine with Ava while I was doing my best to calm my screaming 4 month old.

He came down after tucking her in and told me this story;

He was reading Ava a book before bedtime and it was about friendship and best friends. He asked Ava at the end;

"Ava, who's your best friend?"

Ava replied; "Mommy is."

This little two second conversation to me has completely changed my perspective. I realized that how I see myself as a parent my failures, my short comings, etc. Isn't how my child sees me at all. To her I'm her best friend!

Even though I discipline her, and loose my patience sometimes, and cry over the fact that she isn't listening and think about how hard this parenting gig is she doesn't see that at all.

Now matter how many times we mess up or think we fail, or feel like we just can't do another day remind yourself as a mom that your children think you're amazing, you're their hero and they love you so much.

I will repeat this to myself when she's tired and cranky.

When she's being disobedient and needing me to teach her.

When we have hard days.

When I have a hard day.

Sometimes all we need is a little perspective shift and a little encouragement to get us back on track.

As I learn to rest in the Lord this includes resting in Him to give me wisdom as a parent. Patience to take on each day and it's challenged and joys. Resting on the fact that he's given me all the tools and talents I need to be their mom. And when I don't know what to do he's there to help.

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