Random, I Know

Our oldest is growing in his speech every day. He can say pretty much anything and is starting to put things together. Here are a few things he's said, most of which he's said in the past 24 hours:

While playing in the yard last week he ran up to Jason and said, "Dad, do we have any pirate shovels?"

Tonight I told him he had good ears because he heard a noise that was really soft. He said, while pointing at my ears, "Someday I'll go get big ears like that."

I asked him where he would get big ears and he said, "The museum. And they'll be green."

While looking at a book with bible verses, he informed me that he wants to be a shepherd. "Mom, someday I'll be a shepherd."

I told him he would make a good shepherd because he is kind and would make a good leader.

Any time we tell him that we love him, he just says, "Yeah." As if to say, "Of course you do."

I so wish that I had the same response when my Heavenly Father tells me that he loves me. I often scoff and doubt his love for me.

Tonight we went to church to watch a puppet show. Our original plan was for me to take Jude home after the first half hour, and Jason would bring Micah home with him. Micah spent the first half hour begging to go home and holding his hands over his ears. So, I took him home with Jude and me. After we left he begged to go back and kept asking, "Where are the puppets? I want to see the puppets."

After asking him to 'do everything without complaining or arguing' over and over, I finally made him sit on the rug to think about obeying and not complaining. He DID NOT like this, and spent the first few minutes yelling "I'm happy. I'm happy."

It struck me that I'm just the same. I groan and complain about where I'm at, and God moves me or my circumstances change and all I do is complain more.

Parenting is such a learning curve. It's so hard to know how to impress upon your children the things that really matter and to show them who God is. Lately I've been convicted, am I applying the principles that I'm teaching our boys to my own life? Because last I checked, actions speak louder than words.