The Mood has Struck! -- Dec. 5, 2008

Today, as noted in my earlier blog, I am up early and I have been been blessed with a desire to write, so you get a second posting today.

God is so gracious. I have been brooding for a long time how to insert myself more into my children's lives but as I thought of all of the things I could do with each one it seemed boring even to me so how could I expect them to enjoy the time?

This took me to a place that all of us should go when faced with a nagging problem (The first place for any and everything in all reality!): prayer. For a long time I have agonized how to reach out to my children and leave a legacy of something more than "Whose Line is It Anyway" and "Wife Swap". TV was becoming the legacy my children would inherit. A worthless, time-wasting legacy! (I DO watch TV and can watch too much also but I have been trying diligently to cut out some TV time, with a degree of success, I might add!)

Finally, the week before Thanksgiving I decided I would just start something with Logan and see how it went. Here is what we do:

1) Watch a movie together (I KNOW! It's TV but that is not all we do! Pay attention, now!)       

2) We have a 30-60 minute Bible study and talk about how to apply it to our lives. This has been a terrific time! I am actually getting to know my son! He is a fascinating person! You all should get to know him!

Through this we actually have mission statement for ourselves and we are going to keep each other accountable to our mission statement!

Here is the mission statement Logan and I came up with ( I want to add one more part but for now it helps us to focus): "To love God, love people, and do the best we can in everything we do." Next week we are going to flesh out what those points mean. It is really cool! You might say it's a "mission from God"! :-)

3) We play a game that requires thinking. Chess, Othello, Mind Trap, Bible Trivia Pursuit, etc.  I want Logan to start using his God-given brain to think and this is partly how I am going about doing this. I also do not allow "I don't know" as an answer to the questions I ask him when we're doing our Bible study. This encourages him to think outside the box and it has worked! He really puts forth a brilliant effort to answer my questions! I am inspired and I think we are both growing! I am really loving this time with him! It is so cool! I praise the Lord for it because He has answered my prayer, at least in part.

4) I want to incorporate exercise into this as well but last night we ran out of time.

Now, as most of you know I have a daughter too. She is Alyssa and she is 16. She is not only 16 but she is active in school. She is not only active in school but she also has a job, a real job. She not only has a real job bit she has friends, friends not only from her school but from other schools as well. I think you get my point, she is very busy! This is daunting to my desire to spend some time with her too. I realize it won't work to do the same things with her as I do with Logan but I want to do something.

Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. If God gave me an answer for Logan He will give me an answer for Alyssa too. It will be different and not as much time in one sitting but it will be a good thing.  I'm praying, Alyssa! This means God will give me an answer! Stop rolling your eyes, young lady! You can't run from God's plan! tee hee!

Well, I am done for now. I need to pray and get a dose of God's word before I run off to the office. Maybe even some breakfast in the mix.

God is so gracious! In my next post I will tell you more about this Guy!

Bye!