Ballerina

This past spring, Emma had the opportunity to take ballet lessons. It is amazing these days, how so many extra-curricular activities are available to children, and how tightly we can get roped into things, and how everything costs money. Evidently, all of her lessons were leading up to the program. So, then you have to buy a costume for the program. Then, the parents have to buy tickets (as well as any children that attend). Then you have to buy the program. They sell flowers, and refreshments, and you can purchase an "advertisement" in the program saying how wonderful your child is!!! I'm not saying these aren't wonderful things.... I'm just saying that we thought we were just signing up for ballet classes, we were not quite prepared for all that this entailed.

But at the end of the day, we had the experience, we are glad to be done, and Emma is indeed, a beautiful dancer. Very well suited for ballet.

Learning...

I don't know if I have said this before or not, but two of my all-time favorite child training books are: Shepherding a Child's Heart, and Instructing a Child's Heart, both by Tedd Tripp. They are just a fantastic encouragement towards gospel parenting... going after the heart, not just behavior. Anyhow, my dear little Ezra is full of energy and sometimes quite a bit of mischief. I would say about 90% of my child training energy goes toward him right now, which is probably normal considering he is 2 and a half. But, he is also a little more, ahem, energetic (insert CRAZY!!) than the average child, so it requires more energy from me as well.

Well, I had a bittersweet encouragement last week. I found myself in a situation where I knew I had done the wrong thing. The Lord gently convicted me about it, and I had resolved in my heart that I would go to a friend and confess my sin and repent and ask for forgiveness. But I hadn't yet seen her, so there was a couple of days between the conviction and the confession. Those days stunk!! God was so gracious and tender, and I was still able to worship Him, but I felt sick. It was like my bones were rotting. (As a side note here, the confession went very well, and I was received with the utmost grace and mercy!!) But, in those days while I felt so uneasy, it reminded me of what I am doing when I discipline the kids. When they disobey, there is something between us, and between them and God. And after feeling that, I would never want to just leave them in that place, and not love them enough to confront their sin and deal with it quickly!!! I want them to have unhindered, unspoiled, beauty of relationship with their God and with Ben and I. And so, I have to keep on keepin' on. Trusting the Holy Spirit to give me the energy and strength to discipline. =)

I love you, Ezra Lucas.

"He who spares his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him promptly."

Proverbs 13:24

Almost 3 months...

Judah is growing so quickly. He is getting to be a big boy!!! So, I thought it only fitting to go back a bit, and look at all the kids around this age:

Emma Faith Hester

Caleb Paul Hester

Noah Benjamin Hester

Ezra Lucas Knight Hester

Judah Sean Hester

It's kind of a fun when you have a big family-every time I look at Judah I see a little bit of everyone else. He is well loved!! He's about 15 pounds and I can't remember how long, but this kid is big. He is so much fun, and when he smiles at me, I can barely concentrate on anything else at all.