Thoughts...and some pics too!

First, how ADORABLE are these two? They are my favorite people in the world! I am making some pretty big decisions lately and they are really my only factor. I am looking to God for guidance and really trying to hear what He is telling me. I have never been the person who knows when God is talking to me, so I try to pay attention to everything around me. Sometimes I think I know and I do not, but all is revealed in His time-not my time. So, I have been asking for His voice through The Bible and the three passages I got today were all about the land and doing what is right and distancing from evil. And the last part I read from my Mom's Devotional Bible is one of the extra passages just for moms:

"Trophies or Teachers"
"At the baby shower she gave me for my daughter, my best friend offered a devotional thought that has sculpted my mothering. To the women gathered in her living room, buried in pink bows and pastel wrapping paper, she asked a simple question, "Do you view your children as trophies or teachers?"
"If we view or children as trophies, we will place their personalities and achievements atop our mantels, step back and take the credit for who and what our children have become. We will be inclined to pressure our children to perform in such a way that will increase their value as trophies-and we receive more praise.
"But if we view or children as teachers, we will submit ourselves to the lessons we will learn from God at their hands. Lessons of patience. Of creative problem-solving. Of accountability. What matters in the end is that our children grow in their love for God and that they praise him with their lives. In this way, they become our teachers, drawing us closer to God and his ways as well.
"So what is it for you? Are your children your trophies or are they your teachers?"
Elisa Morgan P. 534

I try very hard to view my children as teachers and to take what I learn from them and share it with others. Both of my kiddos know things well beyond their age and I listen to them when they share things with me. It is my hope and prayer that they will always have that ability because I believe it is God speaking to them and through them. As children get older they lose that ability because the adults around them tell them what to think and do not listen to them with open hearts and minds.

How do you view your children? How do they know? What do you do to show them?