Having a Happy Home

I can hardly believe it but any day now I'm going to be a grandma! My oldest son and his wife got married a year ago and now they're expecting a new baby. The baby was due on Friday and we're all very eager to meet this new little one. I'm so proud of them for taking this huge step in their lives. It takes faith to bring a child into the world, although I don't think I realized that until a few years after I became a parent myself.

This last weekend I went to a church meeting where we talked about how to strengthen our families. We watched a video clip on a pioneer single mother whose husband was killed early in life. She crossed the Great Plains with her 9-year-old son driving the wagon. She relied on God to help her through all the hard times. She raised good children and her posterity continue to honor her name. As I watched this clip, my thought was that all the effort of being a good parent is worth it in the end. We just can't give up.

So my resolve is to improve my relationships with my children and have a home with a happy and loving spirit in it. But the big question for me is how do I encourage my children to be responsible and follow through with homework, practicing, chores, etc. in a loving way, without them feeling criticized and harassed?

As I think about it, here's what I come up with:

A. Pray.
B. Persuade them in a loving manner.
C. Focus on the positive things they do.

At least, that would be the ideal. This is definitely a work in progress for me. But I'm posting this as a reminder to myself that this is what I want in my home and I need to keep working on it.

Here are some pictures from a recent campout where everyone's looking pretty happy! My youngest three got incredibly dirty playing in the ashes left in the fire pit.

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