May 2016 update

School's finished for May.

Planning for next school year is in progress and all books are ordered.  Most of them have already arrived.  We start school again in June, but I haven't decided exactly when yet.

Kids have been playing outside, digging a hole in the backyard, and making "pets" out of roly-polies.

I picked our first green beans of the season from our small garden this morning and am looking forward to serving them for dinner.  Our garden is also proficiently growing volunteer basil plants.  A few other things that we planted are growing, but several seeds didn't sprout this year, so I am hoping to make it to a garden center to get a few extra plants sometime soon.

I've enjoyed having a little extra free time and playing the piano for a short while.

The twins are growing again and Kade likes to get out and crawl or cruise around.  Colt doesn't mind staying in the play-yard, but he's only been crawling for a short time.

Even though we don't have school, the kids seem to be getting up earlier in the morning than they were before school ended, so I've been having to enforce our morning quiet time until 7:30.  Some children have a harder time being quiet than others :)

Are Your Children a Burden or a Blessing?

Earlier this year I had a short conversation with a seasoned mom who mentioned that her now grown children told her they felt like they were a burden to their mom while they were growing up.  She said she never meant to make them feel like that and admitted that she was very busy with normal life, a child with special needs, and getting a home business off the ground.  She said she probably had too much on her plate.

As I’ve pondered her words, I’ve prayed that I haven’t made my children feel like they are a burden in my life.  If I have made them feel that way I hope that when they are grown they will not remember, unless they also remember that I love them and I worked hard to make them feel like they belong to our family.

What can I do to make sure that my children don’t think they are a burden?

Note:  I started writing this post a few months ago and had plans to add scripture to help remind us that the children God has given us are a blessing from him.  If God gives a blessing, who am I to undermine him by making my children feel like they aren’t a blessing.  Since I've been busy and haven't I wanted to post these thoughts anyway.

My prayer for those of you who read this post is to ponder the idea of how you look at your own children or other family members.  Do you treat them like they are a burden or do you strive to enjoy them, no matter how busy you think you are?