Oh Santa!

My child doesn't know you. It brings me such Joy.

As we walked through Walmart Nelson spotted the giant blow up Santa before I could. He began screaming "Mommy, Mommy, It's Nona!!!" Nona is what he calls Noah. I couldn't stop giggling as he told the cashier about "Nona" I tried to explain that we read his little bible with cartoons ... It was Wonderful! Thanks to "Nona" Santa has brought me a lot of Joy this year! Everywhere we go Nelson see Nona.

Lovely Memories

Emma Jane has started crawling and today she started saying "da-da". 


Nelson was watching the tommy nelson bible cartoons tonight. When we got ready to pray before going to sleep I asked who he wanted to pray for ... he said Peter. 

Colombian vs. Chinese

Nelson has some Chinese roots coming out from somewhere ... instead of saying "Pimentón" (a bell pepper) he says, "chin-chin-chong". How this makes me laugh. 


Emma is sitting up and days away from crawling. 


The love to laugh together. 


I am blessed with happy children.

A Class on Parenting

God has been dealing with my heart about parenting. For us as a family & for the church. Here are some of the thoughts and scriptures he has been giving me. I recently taught a class to some of the ladies from the church and these are the notes - This was the first time for me to teach in spanish.

Parenting

To be a parent is a huge responsibility. One that is not to be taken lightly. God has give you a child. In many ways it is like a small seed, and the quality of life and fruit that this tree will one day bare is greatly impacted by the gardener. 

You are the gardener. It is your job to cultivate a healthy soil. In Matthew 13:3-9 Jesus tells a parable of farmer sowing seed, lets read this passage. Verse 8 says “Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”. 

Now lets read Matthew 13:18-23. There are two things that see are important: Deep roots. Good Soil. Here in verse 23 we see what it is to have good or fertile soil. It says that those will good ground will do three things: hear the word, understand the word, bear fruit, bring forth. 

Today we are talking about cultivating this good soil (hearts) in our children. We are going to focus on 3 areas: 

What God says about parenting: 

(Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

Biblical examples of instructing / teaching children: 

(Proverbs 3:21-27,  4:20-27, 6:20-22, 7:1-3)

How to cultivate a child’s heart: 

(Proverbs 22:6)

What God says about parenting:

Before we are able to teach our children or cultivate their hearts the way that God desires we have to let go of our own ideas of parenting and began to seek God’s plan. As we look at the first commandment God gave us as parents we begin to see His heart towards parenting. Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

He says that we are to know who He is (The lord our God is One) and we are to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and might. After these things are in OUR heart we are to teach them DILIGENTLY to our children. This phrase to teach diligently means to sharpen, to teach (incisively), to inculcate any thing on any one.

Inculcate means to:

1. Instill (an attitude, idea, or habit) by persistent instruction.

2. Teach  (someone) an attitude, idea, or habit by such instruction: "they will try to inculcate you with a respect for culture".

I find it interesting that to teach diligently means to sharpen. In Psalms 127:4 it says,  “As arrows [are] in the hand of a mighty man; so [are] children of the youth.” 

God has commanded you - mothers, and grandmothers to first love God with all of your heart, but then to sharpen your children. To prepare them for the callings and purposes that God has for their lives. In 2 Timothy 1:5 Paul tells Timothy that the unfeigned faith that he had was first in his grandmother and his mother. God has placed your children in your life for you to impart faith, understanding, and truth. 

Biblical examples of instructing / teaching children:

According to Wikipedia, the words “my son” appear in the book of Proverbs some 20 times. The role of a mother is listen some 10 times.

I want us to take a few minutes and look at biblical examples of “sharpening” children. Listen closely to the tone of these passages: 

Proverbs 3:1-10 

Proverbs 4:20-27 

Proverbs 6:20-22 

Proverbs 7:1-3

What do you hear in the tone of these passages? (Care, Guidance, Explanations) He is saying “My son, remember what I have taught you, write it on your heart, keep it in your heart ... and everything will be ok”. The book of Proverbs covers “heavy topics”: adultery, lying, relationships, honesty, and wisdom. They are practical steps for living a pure, Godly life. Just reading the book of Proverbs to them, or making them read it themselves is not the answer. These are the things we need to be putting into our own words and teaching our children. Make it real for them. 

Today I want to give you some resources. Our kids are smart and you can’t fool them. It is important that your life is devoted to knowing the word so that you are able to teach them. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes discipline. 

And GOD HAS COMMANDED you to do it! You do not want to take it lightly.

(give out resources)

How to cultivate a child’s heart: 

Lets look at one last thing in the Bible before leaving, Proverbs 22:6. This phrase, “train up” = “chanak” means to put something into the mouth, to give to be tasted. It was a common metaphor in which taste is applied to understanding. It is said that in this time midwives would dip a piece of cloth into smashed dates or grapes and then apply it to the babies mouth. The babies would begin to suck. Its believed that the babies inners were cleaned, and an appetite was created.  

Psalms 34:8 says, “O taste and see that the LORD [is] good:” Our goal is to create an appetite for the things of God. When our children begin to taste of the things of God they will also begin to understand and will be cleansed. They will crave the things of God and live Godly lives. Hearts that are sensitive to His leading.

This is our responsibility. The world “child” in this verse is used to describe anyone up to the age of marriage.

One thing we must keep in mind is that God has created each of unique. We have different talents, different strengths and weaknesses. This is why we should not compare our children to each other or to the children of others. You need to know each of your children as individuals. Get to know their strengths and weaknesses. 

When read Matthew 13:23 in the beginning. It says that those who had good soil, or a well prepared heart would bear fruit, and the fruit would ripen. Then it says “some an hunderedfold, some sixty, some thirty” ... the important thing is that our children’s hearts are good soil for whatever harvest God has for them to do. 

Let His unique will be done for their lives. Do not try to copy what God has done in someone else. Affirm them. 

Here are some resources for your journey! 

Children:

Kids of Integrity: KidsofIntegrity.com is a website that has EVERYTHING you need to teach your children to develop Godly character and live lives of integrity.

Moms: 

The book of Proverbs

Thriving Family: thrivingfamily.com is a ministry of Focus on the Family that focuses on raising children. It is an incredible resource! 

Family Life Today: familylife.com is a website filled with articles and audio resources for parenting and marriage.

Mom Life Today: momlifetoday.com is a website where everything is for you to be the mom God desires you to become. There are online free Mom e-mentoring where you can ask questions about parenting. There is information for single moms, moms of special needs children, blended families, marriage, and more.

Focus on the Family: focusonthefamily.com is a site where you will find both spanish and english information. Enfoque a la Familia is the completely spanish site. 

Enfoque a la Familia: enfoquealafamilia.com is filled with articles and audio teaching on parenting and marriage. This site does not have as many resources as the other sites, but is all in spanish!

We love Jesus

Wow Nelson. You like to worship. People always make comments about how you are during service. You get so excited, and bounce so hard that you knock the water bottles out of the stroller sometimes! I love the way you worship at home too.  You are just starting to form longer sentences, but you sing right along with songs! 

Last night we were praying before going to bed. As I prayed you began clapping. You clapped and clapped and clapped. I felt overwhelmed by God's presence. I love to be in His presence.

Emma 4 Months

Wow, how time flies right by me. I am determine to just stare at you alot this week Emma. YOU are growing SO fast. You're moving all over the place. We recently moved. One day while moving furniture out of the house I put you in the bedroom with your little "gym" thinking you would be safe there alone. Minutes later we walked in to find you had scooted yourself into the middle of the floor!
You're rolling, holding your head up while on your belly, laughing, you seem to be developing an interest in food, and are quite social.

We love you. Nelson likes to make you laugh, and I like it when he makes you laugh too!
You two are just amazing. I'm thankful for you & want to enjoy every God given day I have with you.

Nelson & "Boobies"

Nelson and "boobies".

Today we were getting ready to go to a baby shower. A young guy from the youth group was with us. As we loaded up the car I talked to Nelson about going to play with his friends at the shower. I asked him, "Nelson, do you want to play with boobies?" (that's what he calls bubbles). Needless to say I had some explaining to do to the young guy from church.

Mamaw and Papaw were with us a few days ago. You noticed Mamaw's mole on her chin and said, "Baby eat?"

To be a woman

Today mine and Rene's conversation went something like this:

Rene: So when we get to the church Nelson should be asleep so you can work

Me: Yea, I can work on the computer, eat, and feed emma while I eat.

pause 

Me: Thank you Jesus for making me a woman! I couldn't do it if I wasn't!

Rene: You wouldn't have to if you weren't! 

Burst of laughter!

"Yea, It's a Wow-Wow" - Nelson

Nelson is sleeping Emma's eating. I sat dawn to write and can never seem to remember all of the things that have happened that I wanted to write about and cherish forever. Then, one thing comes to mind.

Nelson is incredibly brave, daring and filled with adventure! I have seen him hesitate on very few occasions. Today was one. 

As his dad dressed for work he followed him around the house saying "papi bye bye, ne-ne bye bye". He would then come to mami to tell her his plans of going bye bye with papi. As he paced back and forth he noticed something on the side of his high chair. He showed his papi and papi said that's "yuck". He continued play but not forgetting to sporadically check on his chair. 

Once Rene left Nelson checked on his chair this time caring a wet wipe saying "keen, keen" meaning, "clean". As he reached the chair began to tell me about the "wow-wow". He looked close and the backed up nervously. (The high chair  was in our room because he had been watching a movie the night before) He continued to watch the chair from the edge of the bed softly saying "mami, wow-wow". I smiled and encouraged him to go ahead and get it. He moved close in again quickly knocking it to the floor with the wipe and quickly moving next to me on the bed. I began to laugh telling him no it's ok it's only a piece of spinach from you pasta yesterday. He left the room and came back with a little cup. I watched as he tried to work up the courage to trap the "wow-wow" with his cup. Finally I moved closer and as I used his "keening" wipe told him, "Nelson, it's just a piece of food, it's trash." He moved closer and inspected the dried wilted spinach leaf I was holding and stated rather matter-of-factly, "yea, a wow-wow"

Nelson Scared

Nelson is sleeping Emma's eating. I sat dawn to write and can never seem to remember all of the things that have happened that I wanted to write about and cherish forever. Then, one thing comes to mind.

Nelson is incredibly brave, daring and filled with adventure! I have seen him hesitate on very few occasions. Today was one. 

As his dad dressed for work he followed him around the house saying "papi bye bye, ne-ne bye bye". He would then come to mami to tell her his plans of going bye bye with papi. As he paced back and forth he noticed something on the side of his high chair. He showed his papi and papi said that's "yuck". He continued play but not forgetting to sporadically check on his chair. 

Once Rene left Nelson checked on his chair this time caring a wet wipe saying "cle" began to tell me about the "wow-wow"

Nelson has had a cold. A few days ago I was cleaning his nose, and of course he doesn't enjoy the experience. So afterwards  I showed him what I had gotten out of his nose. Hoping to help him understand there was a purpose behind his discomfort. As I opened the wet wipe to show him he stated "Nose Caca".

He also has an imaginary bird that he carries around in his pocket. I randomly see him take it out to play with. If you're lucky he will throw to you so you can hold it as well!

Recently we were going through the whole "donde esta sus ojo's? la boca? la lenga?" and so on when I asked him, "Nelson, can you worship?" He looked at me very thoughtfully and a second latter jumped. He then jumped again, and again. My heart was so overwhelmed with joy ... He gets it! On another day I saw him all alone, pacing back and forth across the room. He would occasionally pause, jump, clap, and lift his hands ...

"That's Nice"

Nelson is such a ham! A couple weeks ago we were going to church. Walking down the stairs he points to my shoes and says "that's nice" (in his sweet "southern" voice) ... I laughed and said my shoes? He smiled and squinted his eyes as he shook his head yes. I replied, "Well, your shoes are nice too". He then stuck his  leg out to show off his nice black church shoes.

My mom told me that later that day in the nursery he was excited to see that one of the little girls in the class was wearing yellow shoes. Very observant child.

Baby makes 4

Baby Emma was born April 26th, 2011. Nelson you were Just 20 months old. From the moment we came home you have been looking after Emma. Even though you have had so many changes and new emotions you continue to amaze me with how caring you are. The first day home you brought Emma your quilt from your bed. You like to pull off her socks and kiss her feet. Last week you held her for the first time (with my help of course). You giggle when she makes noises and like to touch her noise.

Emma at 6 weeks you are already trying to pull yourself up into a sitting position. You have even pushed yourself up into a standing position, but you need help for balance of course. You are very close to sitting on your own it seems. You're doing great with holding your head up & are very observant.

What it's all about ...

Life is fulfilling when you're living the life you're intended. Being a mom was definitely part of God's plan for my life ... I love these kids!

This is a treasury of the joy Nelson and Emma bring to our lives each and every day from my perspective of course.  Mom+Two