If Only I Had Known

This post is sort of a mismatched conglomeration of thoughts I have had recently. However I will throw in a few pics of the kids just to keep your interest=).

If only I had known when I was "young married with no kids" how important it was to help couples with children, I would have helped more. I would have saved them money by keeping the kids and not letting them pay me.

Because I do know, now I will remember....
when our kids get a little older and easier to deal with, we will "adopt" a young family in our church that doesn't have family living near them and help them out. Invite them for dinner. Love on their kids.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I will raise my children. How has God called Brian and I to raise our family?  What will He have us do?  How will we point our kids to Christ?  What will they see in me that points them to the Lord?

I have had several conversations with friends/mentors that have older children than mine about this.  My oldest is only 2, and I have already encountered times that I must explain to her that "this is what our family does*," and "that may be ok for them, but it is not ok for us."  I realize at 2 1/2 these are not earth-shattering moments. But at 10, 13, 16 they will be. I don't want those to be the first times she hears that "our family is different" and "this is the way we do things because we believe that is what God/the Bible teaches us."

(a sweet little church friend; she's on our approved to marry list)

We are currently looking into doing a study of the book, "Growing Kids God's Way."  One friend told me something she learned from this book is that we as parents are not here for our children's happiness, but for their holiness*. wow. That really stuck with me because in our world, it's all about making our children happy. Giving them the best, the latest, the newest, etc.  But as true believers, God has called us to something different. 'Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.' Colossians 3:2
I don't want to keep up with "the Jones'" and do what all the other parents are doing with and for their children. I want to do what God has called me to do. And this is no tall order. And I fail miserably every.single.day.  Thank goodness for a forgiving Savior.

(too sweet not to post)

I'll leave with a story......

I was bathing the kids one night and singing, "What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."  I began to explain to Natalie that sin was when we disobeyed God, etc. She then asked me, "why blood?"  I told her that because of our sin Jesus died on the cross to save us and when he did, he shed his blood. side note: at this point I realize I'm kind of in over my head and trying to figure out another way to explain this to a 2 1/2 year old inquisitive mind, but I'm not doing a very good job!
So then I continue by telling her that God did this because He wanted us to live in Heaven with Him one day.  To which she replies, "yeah but not right now because we gotta take a bath." ha! way to keep it simple, kid.

**Thank you Shelley and Beth for your words of wisdom. I'll be coming back for more!