Florida Excitement

I am so excited to be heading to Florida this Saturday! However, I think Rebekah and Sam are even more excited then I am. They tell anyone visiting us or calling that we have just a few more days before we leave for Florida. I wondered if they were excited because they could sense that mommy and daddy were happy to be going on vacation or were they truly over joyed on their own merit. So I asked Rebekah why she was excited to be going to Florida. She said she wanted to feed the buffalo and swim in Mom mom and pop pops jacuzzi. The kids thought this was a small pool but last year Rebekah realized it was more than a pool when the jets and heat were on. She also said she wanted to go to Grammy and Pop Pops and go fishing on the boat. These were all the things she did last year. I sat there in awe of her memories and thought how precious that at 6 she already had impressed upon her what Florida means to her.

I then asked Sam why he was excited about going to Florida. He said to eat Alligator. "What", I said. He said what mom...dad and I are going to eat alligator. OK, where are you going to do this I asked. He gave me this look that well I knew I needed to put my serious face on for and just pay attention. He said mom dad and I are going to wrestle and alligator and then eat it. I said how are you going to do this...well to save us all time, he had plenty of ways as any 5 year old would. After listening to them all, he said mom don't worry we are going to a restaurant and ordering from the menu. Well I gave him this look and he took off running and laughing. I wish I would have taped him telling me about his alligator adventures with his daddy...he may have enjoyed listening to it some day.

Emma is so much better than the last time I posted...if she weren't I guess we would have major concerns. We are now in the mist of potty training and some days go better than others. She now says "yes mommy" when being corrected and willingly says sorry when she sins against her brother or sister. I am celebrating these accomplishments and giving God thanks for extending his mercy upon me with them.

I was recently convicted about my heart toward Emma. During a very trying time in December, I cried to 3 friends about the trials I was having with disciplining her. Simply, she was disobeying and disciplining her seemed ineffective. Consequently, I felt as though I had no authority over this 2 year old. Amazingly, I took something different from each of the conversations I had with these 3 moms and was now on course to change things. My conviction is that I did not persevere through the hardship without complaining about it. I was so focused on Emma's sinfulness that I was not at all looking at mine. Praise God for his amazing faithfulness to see us through the challenges and for the iron that sharpens iron.