Knowing our sheep

I just finished reading an a.m.a.z.i.n.g book, Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic. It was encouraging, challenging, and filled with practical, Biblical tools for parenting. I have to say, this book makes my top ten list for sure! One chapter that really spoke to my heart was titled Know Your Sheep. I confess that I sometimes spend my days parenting 'the girls' rather than spend my time being a mommy to Wubs, and being a mommy to Bella. Does that make sense? I can forget our children each have different needs, different struggles, and different love languages. The words jumped off the page when I read, "Christian childrearing is a pastoral pursuit, not an organizational challenge. The more children you have, the more you need to be pastorally minded. Look in each of their souls and each of their needs. Study them. Seek them out." I am trying hard to make an intentional effort every day to learn more about each of our children, and minister to them individually . These years will go by too quickly... the Holy Spirit has reminded me ot that. And learning more about our children is lots of fun! In addition to asking lots of questions, intentionally trying to spend more true quality time (and not thinking about my to do list in the midst of that special time, wink) I have tried to be creative! The other day, I gave the girls a few magazines, scissors, and glue. Their only instructions were to cut out pictures of things that they liked. I wasn't very specific because I wanted their search to be broad. It was so sweet to watch them flip through the pages of my parenting and cooking magazines, looking for favorite pictures. It was neat to watch Emma Grace carefully choose each and every picture, glue it with precision, and neatly write the name of each item. Bella, on the other hand, was cutting page after page with great excitement and slinging glue! wink! When they were both done, they each described each picture to me, and told me why they chose it. I modeled, "I chose this picture of chocolate cake because it looked so yummy to me." to help get them started. Both girls were chatting away about their collages in no time! And they enjoyed looking at the pictures that their sister had selected as well! I am so thankful that the Lord continues to guide us as we raise our children. It is such a joy to be a mommy! "Love each other as I have loved you."- John 15:12