FIRST – yes Halloween pictures will be coming soon:)!<\/p>\n
This morning I recieved an email from a friend that really touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you. I wrote Cathy and asked her if she would mind me posting it as the message is very transparent and personal. I met Cathy when Tanner was 8 months old. She was a writer for a pro life organization that was covering a story on embryo protection (when we testified in Wisconsin in 2002). Anyhow, Cathy and I have kept in touch over the last few years and when I read this email this morning I just sat at my desk with tears streaming down my face. Often times we get precious email stories but we have no idea what their validity is and they can be tough to authenticate. This story is personal and straight from the heart of a mother that I personally KNOW. I thought a lot of mom’s would appreciate a “triumph” story and I am so thankful that Cathy let me post this. I only pray that I can sit in a hall and cry one day over hearing a conversation like this one. <\/p>\n
As a single mom our home life can get pretty hectic. Tonight I arrived home at 9:00pm to find that there was still work to be Graham had a small red book in his hands and he asked me if he could have it I had gone down to do laundry and turned around to find Graham standing A few minutes later I heard nioses and went upstairs only to see their light I finally got them to sleep…I won’t say how late because both of their It is now 1:00am and I am still in awe of what had happened in their room. As I sat there listening to them tonight, I was again reminded that my With the Lord Begin Thy Task…why that one, why not something else? I knew May God bless your day and your family as He has so richly blessed mine. Cathy Morgan (and the boys)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FIRST – yes Halloween pictures will be coming soon:)! This morning I recieved an email from a friend that really touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you. I wrote Cathy and asked her if she would mind me posting it as the message is very transparent and personal. I met Cathy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mamas-diaries"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimanddoni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMost of you know, but for the benefit of those that don’t, my boys are 15,
\n12, and 10. I work late on Wednesday nights now and the adjustment has been
\nvery slow. The boys are here with Arie (15) and they are supposed to get
\nhomework done before I get home…I know pipe dreams…<\/p>\n
\ndone and fighting had commenced between Nathanial (12) and Graham (10). I
\nnoticed Nathanial hadn’t taken his afternoon dose of medication for his
\nTourettes so his tics were quite evident and frequent. After cleaning up
\nthe mess of kernals (the kind that would be all over the floor when you
\nbreak open a microwaveable heating pad) and laying down the law, the
\nhomework was finished and I sent them to bed…ok, it wasn’t that easy, the
\nword grounded came up a few times and I am quite sure I raised my voice
\nsince Arie stayed in his bedroom downstairs the whole time…(to his credit
\nhe did help them to get some homework done after he got home from
\nweightlifting and tried to keep peace)<\/p>\n
\nas he was leaving the table. He then said, “Actually I found it and I
\nreally wanted it, but since you are mad tonight you will probablly say no.”
\nI tried to explain that I was more disappointed and upset than mad but he
\nwasn’t buying it… Then the puppy dog eyes came into play. I asked to see
\nit and when I turned it over I saw that it was the God our Refuge book I had
\npicked up from Special Ministries a few years ago. He asked again if he
\ncould have it. I remembered that I actually had a small pile of books from
\nare presentation I had done. I said that I would get him his own if he
\nwould please go to bed.<\/p>\n
\nbehind me. A bit startled, my laundry was now on the floor. He said, “Now
\ndon’t get mad but I was wondering if I could have that book tonight.” I got
\nhim a book and told him to go back to bed. He made it a few steps in the
\nhall and turned around again to ask if he could have another one for
\nNathanial. I gave him another on and made him promise that he would go to
\nbed now. I reminded him it was now very late, and I didn’t want to hear a
\npeep.<\/p>\n
\ngo on and they were talking. Now I was very tired and frustrated so I made
\nmy way back down the hallway. Just before I reached the corner I heard what
\nthey were saying. “I want to do that part, ok then I will do this part.” A
\nshort pause and a throat clear later Graham started talking about lost sheep
\nand I realized that he was reading a bible passage. Nathanial then read
\nabout the washing of Jesus’ feet. The Tourettes’ makes it difficult for him
\nto read fluently so it took a while. Graham frequently reminded him to take
\nhis time and relax. He said, “No one else can hear you so don’t worry about
\nhow it sounds and no one can see your tics.” I sat down in the hall and
\nlistened to them for a while. When Nathanial finished reading he asked
\nGraham what he thought he had learned from the story. Graham told him and
\nproceeded to say, “and now we will sing a hymn.” With the Lord Begin Thy
\nTask,( 2 verses) came ringing out into the hallway. When they were done
\nsinging, they agreed they would work on the notes tomorrow this was followed
\nby Nathanial saying “hey we’re praying now bow your head.” After the
\nprayer, Graham said “Now tomorrow night I get to read the story and you pick
\nthe hymn.” They turned out the light and started to settle down. By this
\ntime I am absolutely sobbing in the hall. Then I heard Graham
\nask,”Nathanial, what does it mean With the Lord Begin Thy Task?” I opened
\nthe door and said it means that we need to start and end our tasks with the
\nLord. We need to ask for His help to start our day and thank Him for
\nbringing us through the night. What ever we do we should do it to God’s
\nglory and we should ask ourselves before we do something if it is
\nGod-pleasing. Graham flipped on the light and said, “Oh man, I need to find
\nsomething to read when we get up in the morning. Hey look Nathanial, they
\nhave a whole page on morning stuff in here! Am I too young to lead
\ndevotions mom? Do you think the Lange’s (one of his teachers) have
\ndevotions? I bet they do. I want to do it just like Mr. Lange does, hey
\nmom, he teaches bible stuff ya know.” He just started bubbling over with
\nthings. I told him that he was not too young, yes I thought the Langes had
\ndevotions and I certainly knew that Mr. Lange taught bible stuff…I told
\nthem how proud I was that they had held their own devotion and tucked them
\nin.<\/p>\n
\nteachers are reading this…but it was late, I’m sorry to say. I am hoping
\nthe Lord with bless them with peaceful and restful sleep so they are
\nfunctioning tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\nAs a single mom I pray that I don’t mess up too badly in the process of
\nraising my boys. Male role models for us are the men they see at school and
\nchurch. I attempted to have daily devotions before and they didn’t last
\nlong unfortunately with the schedules we all kept. Frankly, trying to get
\nhomework, dinner, laundry, dishes and getting them to sit for any period of
\ntime together is next to impossible. So, we used the Christ Light lessons
\nduring homework as our “devotional together time” and each of the boys
\noccasionally takes a turn to lead the prayer at meal times.<\/p>\n
\nchildren are God’s gift. What a gift…even when I feel I am falling short
\nof what I think I need to be doing, God steps in and shows me that He is
\nstill in charge. His Word works and He will find ways to make it known too.
\n It is my job to raise them and teach them to be leaders of their families
\nand in their church. But, how awesome to be reminded that when the seed is
\nplanted and nourished it will grow. And, how humbling as a parent to have
\nyour two youngest boys lead a devotion by themselves.<\/p>\n
\nthe answer…There is always time, it doesn’t take long. If I begin with
\nGod, I know that time for devotions will not be a problem. As with
\neverything else in our lives, sometimes it takes the faith of a child to
\nremind us why it really matters!<\/p>\n
\nThank you to everyone of you who has prayed for us and helped us in any way.
\n The little things mean so much. Thank you to Special Ministries for the
\nwork you do in producing these books. Thank you God for entrusting me with
\nsuch precious children.<\/p>\n