New Years Resolutions 2013- Prayer and Time

Happy New Year, y'all! I hope that 13 days into the new year you have all quit smoking, lost 25 lbs, cut all meat out of your diet, and decluttered every room in your house. I know I have.

Except for that smoking thing. Hard habit to break.

Kidding, Mom.

Although I do plan on losing the rest of my baby weight this year, I thought I would share my New Years resolutions.

1. Time.

I am fully committed to spending more quality time with my kids this year.  And for the record I spend a lot of time with my kids. A lot! And when I write that I mean I am around my kids all the time. But sometimes I am just around. I am on my computer, on my iphone, watching Sports Center, laughing at that wacky Dowager Countess, doing dishes, folding laundry, talking on the phone, etc... I am around a whole lot. But my New Years resolution is to spend more one on one time with them where I am fully engaged in what they are saying and doing.

I do not think you should entertain your kids 24/7. I like the way my kids can entertain themselves. They will play in their playroom for long periods of time without any structured activities and I love that about them, but I am so sick of the way electronics and just life itself make me realize at the end of the day that I didn't really look them in the eye and connect with them.

Five years from now I won't remember that website I browsed. I will have no recollection of that game of words with friends. And there will always and forever be laundry to do and dishes to be washed. But my kids won't be 4, 3, and 3 months forever. I want to connect deeper and remember.

Rob and I have started having electronic free evenings. We try our best to do this as much as we can on Saturdays anyway, but during the time after dinner to bedtime, we are shutting down all electronics, forgetting housework, and playing with the kids. And they are soaking it up. Bennett especially is overjoyed when Mommy, Daddy, Will, Lainey, AND Meg are all in our playroom just being together. I don't even have to do anything. I sometimes just sit with Lainey on my lap and observe, but my mere presence and undivided attention means more to them than words can say.

I know I am not alone in this. Many people already do this far better than I and others I know are working on it as well. But that is my 2013 resolution. More quality time with my family.

2 Praying specifically for my children.

If you are a parent and you don't have this book, go get it right now.

A friend of mine recently challenged me to dig deeper and pray a whole lot more specifically for my children. She noted that as Bennett would be starting Kindergarten this Fall I should identify her strengths and weaknesses in areas of learning. She told me to pray that Bennett's strengths would be strengthened even more and that I should pray for wisdom in how to help her grow in her weaknesses regarding to Kindergarten. That was the wallop upside the head that I needed. I cried as I prayed so specifically for my daughter and committed to doing it for all three of my children in 2013.

I love this book because it gives you areas to pray for your children. It highlights key verses you can use to pray for their character, relationships with their siblings, their salvation, and much more. It also inserts their names into your prayers which makes it hit home so much more to me.

I will say that I always pray for my children. But in 2013, I want to dig deeper and commit to praying for them much more intentionally.

Heavenly Father..... I pray that Bennett's identity will be firmly rooted and established in Christ's love, and that Bennett may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and how high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that she may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.     Ephesians 3:17-19

Heavenly Father....... Let your spirit rest on Will. Give him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord- that he might delight in the fear of the Lord. Don't let Will judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide what he hears with his ears, but let him act with righteousness, justice, and faith.    Isaiah 11:2-5

Heavenly Father..... Show Lainey that she is fearfully and wonderfully made, and that your works are wonderful. Teach her that she is precious in your sight, and that you love her.   
Psalm 139:14; Isaiah 43:4

So, New Years 2013- More quality family time and more specific prayers for my kids.

And the usual 25 lbs, organic eating, cutting the nicotine, and running 20 miles a day. Of course.