Pure Joy

For the first time, this past Christmas, I bought Advent calendars for Abbe and Luke.  Just cheap little cardboard ones from World Market.  Each night they would open their little window, eat their chocolate, and snuggle in my bed with me as I read a few of the Christmas books I have collected.  EVERY NIGHT.  You who know me well must know what an amazing feat this is.  It was WONDERFUL and all three of us looked forward to it every night.  Then, Christmas was here, and the calendars were empty, and we went back to the old way of doing things.  And...we all missed it.  And...I got really convicted.  These precious, beautiful, amazing children are a GIFT!  I had BETTER be able to put aside a half hour a day to spend with them.  So, on Sunday I picked up a devotion a day book from my churches library, and we started our nighttime reading/snuggle routine again.  And tonight, my precious son asked me to pray with him to ask Jesus in his heart.  And then he asked if besides reading the devotional book, if I would read at least one page of the Bible with him each night.  My heart is overflowing with joy.  Abbe, too, has been profoundly effected by this.  One of the devotions talked about prayer and about how when we pray it is just like talking to a friend, and that Jesus really is our best friend and will never leave us.  Abbe has has some mixed feelings about moving, but the other night when I tucked her in after our devotion time, she said "even if all my friends here forget me, and I don't make any new friends in Minnesota, I know that I will always have at least one friend".  I said, "and who would that be?"  She replied "God".  Thank you Lord for the Super Strength Miracle Grow you are using on me and my children.