love to paint

This morning the kids and I were blessed to get to spend time with a friend and her children.  The other mom, my friend, and I snuck bits of conversation in amidst talking to our kids, getting them what they needed, putting coats on and off, eating, walking...  Bits is a good word.  Altogether they made a conversation, but on their own, they would be "bits".  That's what life is with kids, isn't it? I was struck as the kids and I left them by something that I have been pondering.  As much as I learned about my two strong willed children in the past two weeks, I also learned a lot about me.  I am very black and white.  I am loyal to the core.  I am a mama bear to my children, husband, and friends.  I don't live in the grey area very easily.  If there is something that my attention is drawn to, I feel the need to decide what I "think" about it.  It's hard for me to let things go. What came to my mind this morning is something th...

What is the point of parenting?  What is our goal?  Is it to have well behaved kids?  Is it to have kids we are proud of?  Is it so that we can live through them?  Are they the point?  Are they supposed to be the center of our lives?   Here is what three books on my desk say: Tim Kimmel says in his book Grace-Based Parenting that we are to equip our children well so that they can move into adulthood as vital members of the human race...(he) didn't say "as vital members of the Christian community." We need to have kids that can be sent off to the most hostile universities, toil in the greediest work environments...and...not be the least bit intimidated by their surroundings.  Furthermore, they need to be engaged in the lives of people in their culture, gracefully representing Christ's love inside these desperate surroundings." p. 9 Here's another author's way of putting what the goal of parenting is:  to raise great kids.  A gre...