a heart for God

at this age kids just soak up everything around them - it is truly incredible. and i love that we can decide as parents, what we want to teach our children. we want them to know God - not just to know the Bible stories and who God is, but to really know Him and develop a heart for Him. this is hard. so hard. so many kids raised in the church learn knowledge of God and the Bible backwards and forwards but don't have the heart behind it. i pray that we find the balance and that the Holy Spirit would guide us in wisdom for how to teach our kids about the heart.

all that to say, right now sierra remembers everything she hears...and she repeats it. (side note: my eyes have been so opened to how influential teachers and school are to a child. i'm thankful that our MDO teaches Scripture, but it makes me nervous to one day send our kids off to school having no idea what they're being taught).

here are some sweet things sierra's said recently:

* me: sierra, do you know who Jesus is? who is Jesus?
S: (long pensive pause)...God loves me
me: (heart melting)...yes, sweetie, you're right. God does love you
S: and God loves Reid...and God loves Mommy...and God loves Daddy

* she has been singing a song she learned at school and i can't understand all the words, but this is what i can get:
"God our Father, God our Father....a blessing, a blessing...a-a-men, a-a-men"

* most of the time when we ask if she wants to say the prayer to thank God for our dinner, she says no and just holds our hands while daddy prays. but recently she's started praying out loud more. it's very sweet.

* this, however, is more common - while daddy is praying out loud, sierra starts praying at the same time - also out loud. it is precious!!! usually i can't help but giggle because it's so sweet. those prayers are usually "..and thank you for a-yi, shu-shu, baby hudson, thank God mommy, daddy, and reid...thank you for my milk...(etc.)".

* when we pray before bedtime, she likes to thank God for (by listing out) all her family by name, her teachers (ms. barbara and jojo) and friends at school (yuke, patchick, liliana, michaela, wooby (ruby), maya, pawpeh (harper)...and every stuffed animal in her crib (my goo, white bear, puppy, macaw, groovy goo, monkey)...and of course her paci.