Are You Connecting?

How do you connect with your kids?

I was home nearly all day. I feel like I was busy all day.
Going from getting ready in the morning to getting the kids ready. Putting down the baby, doing school with the girls, calling my husband, and talking to a friend. The baby got back up, I got the girls down for rest time. I managed to get in a quiet moment before my husband got home.

Then it was date night (YAY!) and grocery shopping. Home again, put away groceries and get the kids to bed.

Phew! I know I was busy. I feel like I missed connecting to my kids somehow, even though I was home till after 4pm.

As I sat rocking my baby to sleep, him nustled against my chest, I thought back on today.

After the baby was awake and fed I got up my middle daughter. She, my eldest, the baby, and I all sat on the floor and chatted and smiled and connected. We laughed at the baby's giggles, we talked about the day ahead. It was sweet and fun and beautiful.

After my prayer time, my middle daughter (who babysits during that time) came out with the baby. We sat in the sunshine and thought of thankful things to be grateful for. 

After breakfast, the baby went down for his nap. My daughters and I sat down on the couch and learned about World War II and started reading a book about it together. Then my eldest and I headed back outside to do school in the backyard. We read and talked and had a great time.

It was a beautiful day. Though it felt like a blur. Even though at the end of the day I wondered if I'd done a good job, I look back and realize I was with my children. There is such power, such LOVE in being present. In being there, in the moment, with my babies. Whether that revolves around the mundane or the exciting, being with them is special. Being with them matters!

Some days are full of the normal stuff of life, lots of days are. We work and rush and sit and touch. We do all the little tasks we have to do in a day and at the end did we make a difference? YES! We were there and that means the WORLD to our kids!

-Joy

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