AVADIJ & A Little Bit About My Kids

Psalm 139:23-24 (New International Version)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

This is probably my favorite verse to actually pray. I pray this quite often. I have struggled with anxiety pretty much all my life and my anxiety has in part led me to some of the things that I know were offensive to the Lord. So I guess that is why these verses are so special to me. I think praying these verses has been so beneficial to me as the Lord has helped me to see that I can live free from the worries of this world. Still, I'm not perfect and so sometimes I let the fears take control again just a little bit, but with the help of my Savior I'm getting better and better at recognizing what matters and what doesn't. What matters is that I am a child of God, saved by His amazing grace and I may not win every battle, but the war has already been WON! Hallelujah!

My Kids--
Now, I'll change the subject to my kids. After reading HisGirl's post today I looked over the posts I have done so far and realized that I haven't really ever introduced my children. It seemed odd when I looked at it because my kids are such a huge part of who I am and what I do. I guess the reason I haven't talked about them much here is because I'm not sure how they would feel about me talking about them like this. So I will leave them somewhat anonymous for that reason. After all this is my story, not theirs and I think I should let them tell their own story.

M is my oldest and she will be 24 in July. It makes me shake my head just to type that because time just flies by so... She graduated from college with honors last year with a degree in education and started teaching 6th grade math. God knew what he was doing when he gave me my "easy child" first (Thank you Lord! I was only 19 when she was born!). She was the kind of baby you could take anywhere, because she didn't cry often. When she was a toddler, the age when most kids are into everything, she seldom was. She smiled all the time and was just the happiest baby. That compliant behavior stayed with her throughout school and most of her teachers adored her. Now that she is an adult, I really couldn't be more proud of her. She is such a hard worker and truly cares about people. She also has an incredible voice, plays piano and I think she could be the next American Idol.

K is my middle child and is 16. Since there are 8 years between her and her older sister, she kind of has traits that you see in both the middle child and the oldest child of a typical family. She has always been our most challenging child and if she'd been our first, I don't think I would've ever been able to convince my husband to have a 2nd child. She shares with her sister the tendency to be a "mothering type"to her friends and to her brother. Unlike her sister, she is not the compliant type. She is like me in that she wants to argue about EVERYTHING. My mother used to say that I "would argue with a fence post" and I know she's pleased that I get to know what that feels like from a mom's perspective. K is very intelligent and she loves to let us know that. One of our favorite phrases around the house is "just ask K". Her current GPA at school is 101.86, so maybe she does know everything...LOL. She is also very musically talented. She plays the flute in the band and has taught herself how to play electric and acoustic guitar, keyboard, and harmonica. She is a self-professed band nerd.

T is my baby, to which I know he would say "mom, you're such a nerd". He is 14 and loves it that he is quite a bit taller than I am now. He is our brilliant engineer who loves to take things apart. We currently have an old harmonica in many pieces as well as a disposable camera that I'm not sure we'll be able to have developed because he just has to see how things work. Usually it's the girls who tend to be more social, but not with our kids. T is the one who is always on the phone, cares the most about looking cool and his long blonde hair (which people tell him all the time makes him look like Leif Garrett back from his heart-throb days). Along with all that, he has beautiful blue eyes that the girls love to look at and he knows it. At the age of 12 he actually said "the only bad thing about being so cute and popular is that there are too many girls to choose from". At that, K and I made gagging noises...lol. T plays percussion in band and we all get to listen to the drum set at home.

There is so much more I could tell you about my children, but that's just a little bit about them. I am so blessed to have been given the opportunity to raise them and try to instill in them what God wants for their lives.