The second question EVERYONE asks is, "Sarah, how are your kids so well behaved???"
Well, maybe not everyone asks that.
But the kids do get comments a lot, especially in public. People notice how they make eye contact, and politely interrupt. How they look out for each other and take care of the babies. How they help me with groceries, and take "no" for an answer without falling apart and losing their minds (most of the time anyway). They are easy to be with, which is why we can take them places - yes all of them- and not worry much about it. We take them to restaurants, sit-down ones with long waits and servers! They go in stores where they're not allowed to touch anything, and into people's homes where nothing has been "childproofed". We trust that because we spend a lot of time training those little hearts how (and why) to love God and love others we can reap the benefits of being together as a family and we can be a blessing -instead of a hinderance- to others.
Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
the fruit of the womb a reward.
It hasn't always been this way.
Mark and I knew from before we even had kids, that we wanted to train them according to the Bible. We had ideas of how we would discipline our kids, but when push came to shove I didn't exactly know how implement such ideas. Good intentions mean nothing unless they're actually acted upon, but as much as I wanted to - I just didn't know how.
Training Hearts for Jesus was a life changing parenting class for me, Mark too, but it was big time for me. It's a Biblically based class that gave me the tools I needed to implement the parenting ideas I had. It taught me about the heart issues behind the sin I'd see in my kids, and how deal with it. Besides the Bible, the class is largely based on the book Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Trip. SUCH a great parenting book!! Every parent should tackle this book. It's on my "read again, and again, and again, and again" list.
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Guess what?
TEDD TRIP IS COMING TO ORANGE COUNTY!
He's speaking at our kid's school, Cornerstone Community School, in two weeks. I'm so excited! He's going to share some wisdom and then answer questions. This is a phenomenal opportunity for every parent, grandparent, youth group leader, pretty much anyone who comes in contact with children. Everyone will benefit hugely from this evening. From newborns to high schoolers no age is exempt from needing solid, Biblical training. PLEASE COME!!
Our kids are not perfect, and we aren't perfect parents by any means. We get the opportunity to daily show them the love, grace and compassion Jesus Christ shows us. Training Hearts for Jesus and Tedd Trip gives the tools to help us do that to the glory of God, isn't that exciting!! Hope to see you there!
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