summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

instilling faith in my children

On the larger families board, the question was, "What one quality would you instill in your children?"....

I can't decide. I would like to choose faith. True, living trust that God weighs and measures each trial, and faith that never is anything more than they can bear.

But honesty is also essential. To be able to admit how they are before God, to be trustworthy.

Compassion is something they can't help but absorb growing up here in a house full of kids. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.." That is something they can't help but experience.

Strength: the strength to stand up for your beliefs, to say NO to sin, to endure in temptation....

Patience, and of course humility, since God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble....

See, it is hard to choose just one. I can be a loving, encouraging, and patient mom to 16 often wild, messy, loud children ONLY through the grace of God. I would have run out of steam long ago........there are alot of opinions and theories to help raise children, but patience and goodness have to be the foundation....

1 comment:

Thia said...

I like and agree with your meal philosophy. We do similar here. The problem I am having with my three year old daughter is that she rarely will ask for seconds. I give her a bit b/c I don't want to overwhelm her. When she finishes, I always ask if she wants more and she rarely says yes. I guess she could be full, but sometimes I really wonder if she's eating enough.