family renewal night

Last week was sort of a rough week in the parenting department. A combination of things have made us realize (not for the first time) how much we are in over our heads with this whole raising children thing. It is humbling, but good, because we are reminded to depend more on the one who does have wisdom, and who gives it out freely to those who ask (James 1:5).

We have made a commitment together to focus on parenting more purposefully, with God's help, on a daily basis. It is so easy for me to get in a rut of just "getting through the day" with my children. Then, at the end of the day, so often I realize that I have not accomplished a thing towards helping them reach our ultimate goals for them. So we've made some changes; hard changes, some of them, but we know they are for the better.

To commemorate our renewed efforts together, Jessie surprised me by taking the night off from his second job so we could spend some family time.

We headed to one of our favorite parks, where we cooked us up some hot dogs, and just enjoyed each other while

playing in the dirt

watching the local dumpster diver's antics

jumping off of boulders

climbing up stairs...

...and down stairs

running through shell paths

throwing rocks in the water

stopping to smell the roses daisies

getting our faces good and dirty

and visiting the "bus bathroom"

(always a source of great excitement at this location).

I'm excited to see what God will teach us this year about raising children. We are so blessed to have them. Sometimes we may miss out on things because we have the great responsibility of raising them, but the new experiences that we have, and the lessons we learn through watching them grow more than make up for them.

I love our family - and I'm so grateful to be sharing it with this guy.