My birthday girls!!!

Well I wanted to make this post about my two September birthday girls. Yes, we celebrated a decade old girl and an eight year old and now I am starting to understand this whole concept of time flying by.....cannot believe my two oldest babies are 10 and 8. Yet I can believe it because I have been with them each day just about watching them grow and change into beautiful girls of God, sometimes not realizing and understanding what a blessing it is to be in each of their days. Some days got either a little overwhelming or we busied ourselves with too much activity or I just didn't stop enough to enjoy being with them in that day. I can't paint a picture of perfection here people, because of course life has not been perfect.... yet they have taught me so much and so I feel I have to post about it now before another ten years passes by....

-my oldest daughter excepted Christ before I did and she has taught me Christ-like faith. That I can come to Him in any situation and that I can believe that He is real, that He answers prayer, that He will help with big things like blessing us with a trip to Disney World or little things like dessert every night after dinner or for mommy to never pack any more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, ever again....
her prayers for a brother have been answered too and we can't even imagine having a better, more enjoyable, more dirty and stinky! lil' dude in our house than him.

-both the girls are of course different and opposite in usual and unusual ways. They are also different than mommy. Sometimes mommy has to pray really hard and ask God to allow me to embrace these differences and use these differences to glorify Him or as a training experience for our family. The girls both like to talk, K likes to ask questions and figure things out while she is probing for answers. Z likes to just talk and talk....K likes to play outside, read, and play educational games on the computer. Z likes to play inside, read, and play entertaining games on the computer. They both share a room and that has been challenging in that one is more organized than the other, one likes the door open, one likes the door closed, one likes the fan on, one likes the fan off (most of the time...unless her sister was nice to her that day, then she likes it on), one likes the overhead light on, one likes the lamps on....you get the point (I remember sharing a room too and the challenge of opposition...) It's these kinds of life situations that I think really teaches them the concept of what the word of God says, "...treat others better than you would want to be treated." And, "love one another as I have loved you." It is training me to instill these kinds of character building traits in them and in me....

-my girls have taught me how to be more patient, kind, and loving. I want a good relationship with my children and I know the Lord put them in my life to help me to not focus so much on myself...but to truly look to Him for Strength and Wisdom and Knowledge in training them up in the way they should go...in His Word and His Ways.
I can't give myself any glory or any praise in how beautiful they are becoming. Because it is not me doing it but the Holy Spirit who is working in my life and theirs to draw us to the Truth and to the will of the Father who has a purpose for each of us and for our family.

May the Lord God continue to bless and protect my daughters as they continue to grow....and may each day draw them closer to Him. I know I can only do so much as a parent. I want to continue to allow the Holy Spirit to fully operate in my life so that I can be all that God has called me to be as a mother. I consider it a priviledge to be able to have these blessed children in my life and I hope that we can make many more memories together, that we can continue to work together, as we strive to do God's will in every area of our lives.

Much love to my daughters and sistas in Christ.....