My Gifts

 Forever learning and growing.  It never reaches an end, at least not here on earth.

We said goodbye to the Christmas season and welcomed 2022.  I spent time tweaking our daily routine and tracking our progress on school goals before we started a regular school routine.  It has made a big difference and is helping our days go smoother.  I also found a way to work our routine into a lesson plan set up so I can write into the routine what activities I have planned.  It helps me stay on task and not forget what comes next.

Our toddler is becoming a little boy.  His comprehension is increasing, his vocabulary has exploded, and he wants to be involved in all the things just like everyone else.  He watches his older brother and mimics him frequently.  He now loves to have others playing with him and is starting to participate in cooperative play instead of just parallel play.  I love it when he says to me, "Play me, Momma.  Play me."  He skips the "with", but his intent is clear and so sweet to my ears.

Our kindergartener is just learning so much and reading like crazy.  I haven't even taught him the phonics yet for many of the words he is able to figure out through the context and sounds he does know.  The other day, he was reading with Daddy and was able to figure out the word "contraption" with Daddy's help on the "tion" part.  He is constantly surprising me with what he is learning and figuring out.  Questions are non-stop and often ones I wouldn't have ever considered.  

He asks things like, "When are we going to build a rocket ship...a real one?"  Which led into a conversation about NASA and scientists, and I said if he wanted to he could learn as much math and science as he could to maybe build a rocket ship after he is done being a swim teacher (his current career goal).  He was quick to inform me that he was ALWAYS going to be a swim teacher and no other jobs.  He is such a sweet boy, and determined in his own mind what he is going to do.

That's how things are going with our littles.  Our teenagers are on a whole different level of development, although they all stretch my brain power!

Our 8th grader is really beginning to develop more of her own person this past year.  She is focusing more on her interests and finding herself.  She is skilled at protecting herself and it has been a work in progress to reach her in a way that encourages her to open up to us.  Discipline is a careful and intentional process to reach her at a heart level and not trigger the protective brick wall that hides her most vulnerable thoughts and feelings.  Getting to know her is such a joy.

Our oldest has been through such struggles this past year, and she continues to persevere.  Rather than any negative way she could reasonably react, she continues to push herself to work on her areas of weakness and seek the Lord in all she does.  God told me she would have a strength of faith and a love for Him before she was even born.  Watching her faith in her struggle and the way He is molding her heart to His is a blessing.

And those are my four gifts.  God has called me to be their mommy, and as often as I fall flat on my face as a mom, I feel so blessed to be given this opportunity to raise them and love them.  They make my heart happy.