Giving Thanks {Day 17}: Encouragement

I am thankful for the gift of encouragement.

Encouragement is so important.  

Giving it, receiving it.  

Asking for it, being open to God's nudging to give it someone in particular.  

I've been feeling really discouraged lately in my parenting.  I have been overwhelmed with the idea of bringing another new life into our home and training him to be a Godly person.  I've been questioning whether I've even begun to scratch the surface with the four that I have and questioned why God would give me another life to help mold.  

I've been blessed several times lately by people who have encouraged me in this.  

The teacher who stopped by my desk to let me know how much she enjoys having one of my sons in after school tutoring.  

The basketball coach who complimented Lincoln on how well our children obeyed.  

The assistant principal who stopped me in the hallway this morning to tell me how well behaved another son was when he was with her a few nights ago for a special outing.  

The friend who just emailed me to tell me that she wished her son hung out more with my third son because she thinks he's a great kid and trusts what we teach in our home.

I emailed a friend and said:

 "I can't take the burping and tooting and loudness and hyperness that fill my home...and it's not even winter time yet!!!!!!"

She, having a much better outlook on life, responded with this:

Seriously. J smells. Like, he’s not dirty – he just smells. He has that boy smell already. And although I can’t distinguish a H smell yet – I sure know what a L Boy smell is. And it’s not any better. They smell. And I hate it. When I think of the apartment (and future homes), I think about how much more perfect they would remain if it was just me and R. If it was just us, things would smell nice. Like, burning fragrant candle nice. Things would look pretty. There would be organization and efforts made to have the house look aesthetically pleasing. At all times. Furniture would coordinate and the house would have a shabby chic theme. With white. A lot of white. But, instead, I have two boys. Boys that are toddlers, but will soon grow into boys – forever. Smelly, awful boys.

However, these smelly boys will forever protect their sister. They will grow to be teenagers that can do stuff. Like trash, mowing, fixing, labor kind of stuff. They will adore me and I’ll be their first love. Their wives will thank me for raising fine men. And they’ll turn into the heads of households. So, boys are important. And, remember, girls aren’t exactly angels either – hello teenage years (and beyond)! J

Encouragement...it's so important!