Thinking of the children, as they start a new year

Dear Children,

The holidays are now over, and life has gotten back to its frantic pace. I am remaining committed to spending my early hours with the Lord, but journaling my experiences has become more and more of a challenge.

It is a challenge that I am confident I shall overcome, because the Lord has been helping me to redeem the time, so I become a bit more efficient every week. I’ve just got to hang in there and stay committed.

I want you to know that staying committed and believing that “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” (I Th. 5:24) Therefore, “let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faith not.” (Gal. 6:9)

I had an effective time with the Lord, this morning. Sometime, it takes longer than I anticipated and I am not able to accomplish all that I had wanted, but every step is important. I made a list of things for which I want to pray every day and a couple of scriptures that I feel God has given me for this year, and I know that God is in it.

As for the past couple of weeks, let me begin by saying that you have each been a joy to watch, in many ways. Allow me to list just a few:

Alana: You have such a tender heart. Many times, your concern and sensitivity to the needs of those around you has warmed my heart. Last week, you were the first one awake and I was already working hard in my office.

At about 7:00 a.m. or a little after, you brought me in a glass of water, even though you hadn’t been in to see me yet. When I asked you if you had decided on your own to bring me water, you replied that you thought I might be thirsty. I thanked you and hugged you tight. You made my day.

You and Carrie Beth Hendricks are absolute best friends. You can hardly wait to see each other, and you love each other so much that you hate to say goodbye.

Elijah: You are always surprising me. Sometimes you are so attentive and sometimes you are so oblivious. I guess that has a lot to do with your age. Once, last week, you saw Tabitha in her swing all by herself and drew her a picture to hang on the side of the swing. The picture was of a person, to keep her company so that she wouldn’t get lonely.

I took you all sledding on the week of New Years, and everyone was so excited about it. We went to Bro. Josh’s house and sledded down the hill. You actually stood up on the sled and rode it down the hill by yourself, like you were snowboarding or surfing on the snow. At just six years old, I was impressed.

You are so smart and read so well. You think about things that most kids your age don’t think about. Now, if we could just work on your attention span. *sigh*

You like to wrestle with me, and we have been doing that a lot lately. I’ve tried to teach you a few moves, while we play fight. You are so determined that you won’t give up until you finally beat me.

Josiah: You have started to say more words, now, which is an answer to prayer. You’ve always been the silent type—unless, of course one of your siblings took something from you, in which case the whole house can hear you. It’s so nice to hear you answer along with Dora the Explorer or Diego. Dora says: “Say map.” You yell out, “MAP!” I love it.

You’ve also become more affectionate and desirous of my attention. Although you were always close to me, when you were smaller, you have been ok with letting Moriah hog a good majority of my attention until recently. Now, you insist on making her share. It’s nice to see that. You, like her, do not like it when I have to stop playing and go back to work.

Moriah: Yesterday (January 14) was your birthday. You were so excited. You couldn’t wait to have cake. You couldn’t wait to open presents. And you were so excited for everyone to come over. Faith & Hope gave you a stuffed bumble bee, and you sure have loved that thing.

You have also become much sweeter, recently. We were watching a movie, one night, and eating popcorn, but Elijah realized that he did not get any of a certain kind and said so, disappointedly. You brought him over a handful so that he wouldn’t be sad. Then, you brought him over a kernel or two intermittently, for several more minutes.

You LOVE your daddy. It seems like you want me to hold you constantly, and I have to exercise a lot of willpower to walk away, some times, so that I can get my work done. You hug me tightly and lean your head against my own. You always want to sit on my lap, and you’re the first one to run up to me and throw your arms around my legs, when I walk in the door.

You also LOVE spending time with Grandma Jenkins, and she loves spending time with you too. She always reads to you and talks to you. You just eat it up.

Tabitha: You are growing more expressive everyday—and louder, too. When you are happy, you are SOOOO happy. You LOVE to laugh and smile. And you are CRAZY about your Mom. But, when you are tired or hungry, you are MISERABLE (and so is everyone else!)

You have learned to roll around, now, from front to back and from back to front. You can move a good distance on the floor, just by scooting and rolling, and you hate to be left out.

On Saturday, we all built a snowman. It was probably the best snowman that I have ever built. You all helped, and it turned out quite large. We packed it good, so that it wouldn’t fall apart if the temperature warms up a little. Then, we dressed it up with fixins from a snowman kit that was given to us last year. He turned out to be a handsome snowman, to be sure.

It’s been a good couple of weeks, and we’ve been consistently getting a beautiful snowfall. It’s snowing as I write this letter.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of this week holds in store.