Last night was Isaac's turn to run errands with me. After dinner, we took off to the grocery stores. (Yes, that was plural. Would you believe I go to several because I'm such a tightwad?!) I have been convicted lately that I'm not being deliberate enough in my parenting, so I decided to make the most of our time together. I asked Isaac a lot of questions and I talked, talked, talked to him. I learned a lot of things I'd never heard before.Apparently Isaac and Daniel were in the orphanage for a couple months before Maya joined them. (The boys grew up with grandma, Maya grew up with their aunt.) They birthmom was a farmer ( I knew this) and Isaac pointed out all the produce she grew. My first stop is always the Hispanic market; they have all kinds of unusual veggies, several of which Isaac recognized from his mother's farm. He also told me all kinds of stories of Liberia, all were new to me. He remembers when Daniel was born. He said he thought he was such a beautiful baby because his feet were white. LOL!
I told Isaac all about our adoption wait. I told him what all we did in order to get them home and how I felt each time I looked at his picture. And I told him all the things I love about him.
We ended up going to more stores than I had planned because the two of us were enjoying each other so much.
7 comments:
That's awesome! I love one-on-one time. You can truly learn the heart of you child when you are alone together.
Keep it up! You're such a great mom.
You mean, "Sit down and watch TV or I'm going to bop you!" isn't appropriate parenting? Oh yeah, that was MY mom! You've made leapyears of progress in just two generations! During my Saturday with Maya, I was amazed at all the produce Nan grew on her farm - it sounded so exotic and tropical; not what I expected. Smiling Isaac has lots to smile about!
"I have been convicted lately that I'm not being deliberate enough in my parenting"
Care to expound on that? :):)
Did you mean that you seem to parent haphazardly? I don't get that at all from the other things you've written so I'm a bit confused. :)
By deliberate, I mean: making the most of opportunities I have with my kids.
Last week, our pastor's wife was telling us about taking her youngest son to get his driver's license. Long story short, they were there for 1.5 hours due to his error and she was irritated. She chose, instead of being mad about it, to make good use of the time and she and her son had a very good talk about all sorts of things. It would have been easy to just read a mag or not talk at all or complain. But she deliberately parented him instead. Her story convicted me a great deal.
How many times have I wasted opportunities with my kids by not making anything special of them.
sounds like you were able to have a special conversation with him. We try to 'date' the boys often one-on-one. It's always such a significant bonding time.
I really like this post. It's not just convicting, it's also inspiring. It's been over two years since you wrote it. I'd enjoy hearing an update as to what this looked like for you this month.
How sweet of you to say that, Girl I!
We are still doing this (taking one child at a time to run errands) but I've learned more about what to ask. Michelle Duggar says to "go deep fast", so I don't waste time w/ chit-chat. I get straight to the point. I ask pointed questions: What are you struggling with lately? What fears do you have? Are you getting along with your siblings? What are you tempted with?
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