We Miss Daddy!

Zach left yesterday morning for a conference in Californa, and will be home tomorrow night. We miss him! We've been keeping busy- had dinner at a friends house last night with some of the other wives and their kids whose husbands are out of town too. That was fun to get together with them. Then today, Teda had school, and the boys and I headed to the mall to run a few errands and play at the play area for kids.

Tonight is Teda's preschool ice cream social, which she's super excited for. And tomorrow night we're celebrating my sister Sarah's birthday (it was on Tuesday). Happy Birthday little sis!!! So it's nice to have things planned when he's gone.

My kids have the most wonderful daddy. Seriously! He is very missed right now, and I'm thankful for that. Teda is counting down till he comes home. So am I! Things are just not the same when he's not here. Luckily he doesn't have to do this too often. Once more next month for three days, then summer camp in June. But the rest of the year, he's not out of town much. I have a lot of respect for wives whose husbands are in the military and get deployed. I don't know how they do it! Or families whose husbands travel all the time.

Bedtime and naptime have been really challenging lately. Dane is just really having a hard time listening and obeying lately when it's time to go to bed. It's NOT fun. So there have been many tears shed on his part, and lots of reigning in my frustration and working on self-control on my part. Time spent in the corner for him, losing his blanket, etc. He's my one that doesn't think about the consequences before he makes a choice- I can just see his future clear as day if we don't help him figure this out and learn to obey his mommy and daddy- which ultimately helps him to learn to obey God. It's so hard though! And so hard to stay consistent. He somehow can make me feel like I need to change my mind- like, what's the harm in letting him change his jammies just one more time after he's all in bed and settled? Or what's the harm in letting him have just one more drink. Or that last band-aid... etc. He also thinks he's the exception to all rules. Which makes it fun as his parent. It's funny though- he's totally Zach. And Zach struggled in his teen and college years with doing the "fun stuff" like partying, drinking, and all that. I don't want that for Dane, and all I can do is my best to create a foundation for him now that he can always return to, to help him to know he is loved always by God and by us no matter what, that he doesn't have to do what everyone else is doing, and just because it sounds fun doesn't mean it's okay to do. Also, trying to help him to think about the consequences of a choice before he makes it, rather than realizing it after. Each of my kids are SO different, and I am already starting to see that each of them require different styles of parenting, or different approaches depending on their personalities, etc. But Dane is my one that I'm really struggling with right now. For a long time it was Teda, and now it seems as though it's switched for a while. I hope this doesn't last for too much longer. I just have to keep on looking to Jesus for my strength. Because the second I take my eyes off him, I'm done for. And it's for sure happened. Many times. So I know this is crucial in helping them to learn and grow in Him. Wow, this is hard work! But I'm up for it.