I'm Thankful: Day 3

Day 3: My Children

As I continue to think about the blessings that I am thankful for in my life, I'm drawn to thinking about the 4 children that God has blessed our family with. God continues to use each of them to teach me about my relationship with God. Let me tell you about them...

"Peanut" - "Peanut" was our first child. We were looking to start a family and Peanut came along. When we went to hear the heartbeat, that's when we realized that we had lost Peanut. This little one has taught me that God truly is sovereign. Also, Peanut has taught me to not be afraid of being real with God about my feelings (even when I'm angry with Him).

Andrew - Andrew is our 4-year-old. He is one of the most compassionate people that I know. He has such a tender heart and cannot stand to see people hurt. He is also very loving and affectionate. My wife started a notebook to write down some of what we call "Drewisms". These are some of the sayings that Drew comes up with that are just priceless. We gave our first born the name Andrew Thomas after the two apostles of Jesus. It is our prayer that our Drew would be one who brings people to Jesus (Andrew - John 1:40-42) and one that would not just take people's word for it, but look for evidence (Thomas - John 20:24-25)

Samuel - Samuel is our year and a half old. He is also going to be our strong-willed child. He is so mischievous. He is also a "Daddy's boy". Sure, he wants his mommy when he's sick, but if he doesn't get some time with Daddy on a consistent basis, he gets all out of whack. Sam has taught me dependence upon God. Sometimes it's depending on God for patience to deal with him. Sometimes it's a reminder that if I don't spend time with my Heavenly Father regularly then I won't be right.

Nicolas - Nicolas (Cole) is our baby boy. At the time of this post, he is almost 4 months old. He was our "surprise baby." God showed us that His plans are sometimes not ours with Cole. Though Cole was not "planned" by us, he is such a blessing. He teaches me about how a child's laughter/smiles can warm a father's heart. There have been many times when God has spoken to my heart as I look at Cole smiling at me. God has told me that His heart warms in that way when His children find their joy in Him.

You can see that I'm very blessed with the children God's graciously granted to us.