Getting a toddler excited about God

I've always heard every youth pastor say, you can't just take your child to church on Sunday and expect us to do all the work.  If you want your kids to have a faith that lasts, you need to be talking about God all day, every day.  I totally agreed with it.  I totally understood it.  And I 100% supported what they said.  Silently committing to be the parent who shares Christ with their child daily. 

Until I had my own kid.

I'm not saying I don't want to talk with Jake about Jesus. And I'm not saying that I myself only think about God on Sundays, but honestly, trying to talk about God to a 3 year old can be hard.  How do I make it relevant?  Jake seems to look away anytime I try to share something about God.  How do I make prayer fun?  (Instead of forcing Jake to not hum or sing every time I start to pray lol) I know God's word is powerful and I don't need to share the gospel daily using Mickey Mouse analogies or bribing with fruit snacks, but honestly I get stuck.  It's so easy for me to simply say a quick prayer at meals, throw on a veggie tales DVD, or read a Bible story at night, and assume I've done my duty as a godly parent, but I find myself craving something more.

 I LOVE Deuteronomy 6 where God says, "You shall teach them (God's commandments) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  I want to be a mom who naturally talks about God.  Who is thanking God throughout the day and pointing out to Jake how God has provided.  I want to stop during our day and pray for Dan or our friends.  I want to be a blessing to our friends by showing them love and I want to show Jake how God wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  And I want Jake to listen and get excited about God.  I just don't seem to do it that often, and when I do, it seems like Jake is more interested in the ant crawling on the side walk than me pointing out how awesome God's creation is. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that my efforts are all in vain, it would just be nice to have Jake seem just 50% interested in what I'm saying whenever the topic of God comes up. 

Recently, I purchased a book on our kindle titled, "I can learn the Bible, " for kids, and something the author, Holly Shivers, said in it was super convicting, "We cannot make every "right" decision for our children, nor should we.  We cannot be ever present, and the older they become, the less and less they need us.  That is why we must do what we can while they are young.  We want to turn them toward the one thing- rather, the one Person- who will be there for them: the Person of Jesus, and His living and active Word hidden deep in their hearts."  I loved this quote.  One thing we can do for our kids right now is give them scripture to take with them.  And scripture is powerful- it is truth and will convict their hearts later on when they are presented with decisions regarding loving a mean classmate, or being honest, or showing kindness.  There will be a day when I cannot kindly encourage/ force Jake to share his toys with his friend. 

So, Dan showed me this app called "scripture typer."  It's an app that helps you memorize scripture, so I've created different categories for myself and Jake.  For Jake, I thought through what could be most helpful for him at this stage of life.  So, I found a verse about anger, being kind, and being thankful.  There are many other areas but those are the ones I am focusing on, and I currently am memorizing the verses.  I definitely want to help Jake memorize them, but I figured if I want to share scripture with Jake in the moment, I need to have it memorized.  So I am currently working on memorizing scripture, and I hope to get a chalk board to help him memorize scripture as well.  At church, he has memorized two verses and it's crazy how quickly he catches on and how much he loves memorizing things.  And they have cute little hand motions and actions that go along with their verses, so I *may* need to try to come up with those to make it more fun ;)

Anyway, I just thought I would share what the Lord is convicting me of and teaching me!  I would LOVE to hear any other practical ways you are sharing the gospel with your toddler throughout the day!  I honestly have read so many books and they have great ideas, but many of them are a little over Jake's head, so I'm trying to find things that will make sense to him.  Any tips would be MUCH appreciated!

Here are some pictures I've taken lately :)  Mainly from baseball games because those are Jake's favorite currently!

An Early Birthday and our Adoption Race

This past weekend we traveled to Ohio to run in the Cleveland Marathon!  Our original plan was to do the full, but for unforeseen circumstances we had to end up running the half.  I have to admit though, it was SO fun to run a race again!  Even going to packet pick up I told Dan that I missed this.  All the crazy runners testing out different gels and energy drinks and trying on really expensive shoes.  And then getting up at the crack of dawn to try to hydrate and eat before the race.  There is something about it all that I just love.  And Dan and I had so much fun with this race!  We weren't going too fast so we were chatting most of the time and talking to other runners, however most of the runners were pretty serious- they had their headphones in and they were set to go.  However we found a few who would joke around with us :)  And we definitely enjoyed the pace setters- they were probably our favorite.  Dan and I decided a goal one day would be to be the pace setter for the 5.5 hour marathon- they were cracking jokes the whole time and a 12 minutes pace seemed right up our ally.

All joking aside, it was super fun to run the race also for such a great cause- bringing our little kiddo home!  I love that running can unite so many people together for so many different causes.  And it was crazy how in our 30 minute bathroom line before the race we were able to share our story and met two people who had adopted siblings! It was so fun :)  We definitely want to run another race sometime soon- and if this adoption process goes long enough maybe we can do another one for our little boy or girl!  And we've decided that we are going to train only in the spring/ summer/ and fall from now on.  New York winter's were BRUTAL for training!

While we were in town we also decided to celebrate Jake's 3rd birthday a little early as well!  We would have driven back for memorial day, but we've been traveling the past two weekends and we couldn't make another long trip.  So, we bought some Mickey Mouse decorations and a cake, and hung out with our family.  AND, Dan's brother and his wife surprised us all and flew in from Colorado!  So it was so fun having them in town as well :)  What a huge blessing it is when the whole family is together!  It's so rare these days :)

Enjoy some pictures from the weekend!

Rochester and the Strong's Museum

A couple weeks ago Dan needed to be in Rochester for work so Jake and I went with him!  We visited our friends who used to live in Binghamton and they were so sweet to let us crash at their house all day and then also meet up with us at the Strong's Museum.  And Jake and I were at the museum for 6 full hours.  Yes, it is possible to be in this place for that long with a 2 year old.  And let's just say he was wiped out after all that playing!  It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon though and we enjoyed exploring the Rochester area :)

 

 

Finding a balance with Mother's Day

I struggle a lot with writing Mother's Day posts.  Over the years God has brought a lot of people into my life who have shared with me how this holiday can bring so much pain and heart ache.  Whether they have lost a mom, have a strained relationship with their mom, or deeply desire to be a mom, there are so many emotions that can come with one day and my heart aches for every. single. situation.

 

And my biggest struggle is finding a balance.  Because how do I celebrate the two beautiful mom's in my life and the blessing of the little boy that made me a mom almost 3 years ago when there are so many people who are hurting?  Especially as we have shared about our season of infertility, I have met so many other sweet women who have tried for months and years with no baby of their own.  And unfortunately this "holiday" is yet another reminder of that emptiness, and at times the thought that I could hurt another person prevents me from saying how thankful I am for being a mom myself. 

 

Yet this is what we are called to do.  Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.  Celebrate the blessings and mourn the losses at the same time.  But how do we do this?  If anything God has showed me that being a mom has absolutely nothing to do with me.  The rejoicing is not about pointing to what an amazing person I am because I am a mom.  The rejoicing is about pointing back to Him.  He is the creator and author of life.  I did nothing to deserve the privilege of being called a mom. He is the one who gives me ANY sort of love, patience, and wisdom to be a mom.  Mother's Day isn't about how great we women are who are moms.  Mother's Day is a reminder of God's unconditional grace.  The grace He showed us when he undeservedly entrusted us with our little boy.  The grace He showed us when He called us to adopt a child.  The grace He shows me every single day when I give my best efforts to be selfless, loving, and kind, only to be reminded it's not about pointing Jake to how great I am, but pointing Jake to how great our God is. 

 

And so this Mother's Day I praise God for the two wonderful mother's that are in my life.  One who selflessly gave up basically her life for 18 years to raise 3 kids under the age of 1.  And the other who raised my amazing husband to be the respectful, patient, and loving man he is today.  And I praise God for the gift of Jake.  Because it's days like Mother's Day that God reminds me what a privilege it is to parent him even though there are difficult days. 

 

And this Mother's Day I mourned for my friends who have lost their sweet moms.  And my heart ached for my dear friends who deeply desire to be a mom, yet patiently wait on God and His timing.  For the moms who have suffered miscarriage after miscarriage yet strive to see God's goodness through the hurt.  I wish Mother's Day was easier, but it's not.  And such is life.  With every celebration there can be a reminder of what was or what could have been.  That is why our hope can't be in a holiday but in God who never ceases to show us His kindness, who never stops loving and pursuing us, and who promises to bring us unconditional joy.

 

I was so thankful to spend the weekend with my extended family :)

 

 

 

 

This is what it looked like trying to get everyone together for a family pic lol