...because it's not always this good and pleasant.

Psalm 133:1

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity...

Drill Sergeant Mama

I love my children. All of them, equally. Josh is nine. He's become very good at being nine. Suddenly, I know nothing. He's nine and I'm an idiot. Apparently he has received some high powered download of intelligence, and simultaneously it has sucked all the brains out of my head. (Shoot, just figured out where all his sarcasm comes from...darn it!) Anyway, lately our form of punishment seems to have very little effect on him. So, I have borrowed some tactics of our men and women in uniform. When he is disrespectful, rude, and/or argumentative, he now has to drop and give me 10 push ups. I have warned him that this could take place anywhere...home, baseball practice, church, the grocery store. So if you're walking down the cereal aisle in Bi-Lo and you see a kid on the floor, don't worry, it's just Josh. He has already done 60 push-ups today. (It's been a rough day.) I told him either he'll learn respect really quick, or he'll have the biggest muscles in school before long.

Pass It On

Judges 2:8-13
Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord's anger.

~

When I am tired. When I feel like I am making no progress. When I see no positive results. When I am tempted to give up.  Lord, help me to remember this passage of scripture. Help me to never forget that no matter how many miracles, acts of mercy, demonstrations of grace you have done in the past for your people, that I must be diligent to pass You on to the next generation, to my descendants, to my sweet angels with all their wide-eyed wonder. Help me to stay the course. Help me to never give up. Help me to press on. Help me to keep teaching them of Your goodness. Give me strength to continue to instruct them in Your promises. Because if I don't, then who will?

Playing hookey

Friday AND no school...what a great combination! We took advantage of a simply perfect sunny day in the Upstate, and made the most of it! Lily even learned how to say "BUBBLES"!

Yea, we know who's in charge in this group!

Sugar and Spice

With the birth of each child, our family has become new. Each has brought a special flavor to the Parra mix. Lily is definitely sugar...with a touch of spice. She has a sweetness about her. At any given moment, she will make her rounds, giving hugs and kisses, just because. We played hide and seek in the yard yesterday, and Lily chased the boys with arms wide open, squeezing her captives tight with lots of love. She has a smile that melts you and a giggle that is contagious. If I have music on or she is watching Miss Patty Cake on TV, you will almost always find her dancing and twirling to the tunes. But along with all that sweetness, there's a bit of spice mixed in. She can go from sweet to sour in 0.5 seconds flat. I'd like to think she gets her sweetness from me, and her spice from Dad...haha...but the truth is that even my sweet Lily has an old nature, one we are all born with, one that we must allow the Lord to break in us. I am thankful for both the sugar and the spice, because it reminds me that the joy of the Lord is our strength, and also that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.