lessons on Faith

Braxton's goal to read every day

Adelle's goal to do better at sharing
Notice how Adelle wrote her own name
Notice how Adelle drew her own people
Notice how Adelle drew her "baby sister???????"

Today was a hard day. I'm just throwing that out there so that all y'all know that I have a bad day once in a while too.
Change is hard. I missed Braxton. I missed his questions and the sweet way he plays with his brother and sister. I missed his help in distracting and entertaining the little ones. I missed his excitement and enthusiasm. Emmett is teething and was difficult. He didn't want to nap, he'd rather scream apparently. Adelle and Braxton bickered at each other instead of their usual playing together. Adelle had an accident (this rarely happens). Jeff worked until after 8:00pm. blah blah blah blah....
By the time 7:00pm finally hit and Emmett was safely tucked in bed, actually asleep, the last thing I wanted to do was sit down and spend quality time with my kids. I felt too wiped out and my nerves were had. I had to act on faith.
On Monday nights in our family we have Family Home Evening. Basically we hang out, spend time together and we throw in a spiritual message and sing a song. It's something we just do, on Mondays. It is part of our routine and the kids know it. It's something that our Church really encourages us to do and Jeff and I have found that by doing so we are more united as a family.
Tonight it took a lot of faith on my part. I didn't want to do it. I wanted to get my kids to bed early so that I could have a break! But I knew I needed too and I knew that it would somehow bless me and/or my family.
I told Braxton and Adelle that it was time for Family Home Evening and they cheered. Then we sat on the floor in a triangle and I asked Adelle if she would choose a song to sing. She picked, Families Can Be Together Forever. Singing this song with my two sweet children immediately changed my mood and my perspective from lousy to blessed. After that I said a prayer and then I taught a lesson that I got from a friends blog on goal setting. We all drew pictures of ourselves and then wrote down one goal that we wanted to work on during this school year. Braxton is really into reading and for his goal he choose "read every day." Adelle is sweet and simple and when I asked her what she wanted to be better at she said, "I'm going to do better at sharing." I did not lead her to this answer. This was all her and I was so impressed. She is already a good sharer but I liked that she recognizes the importance of sharing.
At the end of the lesson we always open up the floor and ask if anyone has anything they would like to add to the lesson. At this question Braxton responded with the sweetest, purest, testimony. I turned over my goal picture and started scribbling notes as fast as I could as he spoke:

"I have something to say. So I know we should keep our bodies clean and always dress modestly. And I really love my family a lot. I love mom and dad and Adelle and Emmett and Sofie. And do you guys know who you should love the very most? Anyone? Jesus. Right mom? And I just really know we should talk nice and play nice and don't hit anybody or kick or pinch. And you shouldn't say you can't do this, you're too little. You should just say, come on and give it a try. That's it. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

And that, today, along with my little girls song, was my much needed lesson on faith.