Do You Believe?

This afternoon I was given a wonderful gift of one-on-one time with my oldest.  We were originally scheduled to see the movie Do You Believe with the youth group after school and I was slated to be a chaperone.  I had a babysitter lined up for Hope and David and Wednesdays are Mike's teaching days. 

Then Kyle's youth group leader got sick and the plans had to change.  I decided last minute to just take Kyle to the movie and have some precious time with just him.  Thirteen is a HARD age-he is a great kid but he is in the middle of puberty.  His voice dropped just about a month ago and he looks more like a grown man now than a boy.  Typical for teens, he would rather spend time in his man cave than with dear ole mom.  I am no longer allowed to take pictures of him and it feels harder for me to connect with him. 

So off to the movie we went and we were both in awe of this powerful movie.  It gave us a great springboard to have a conversation about matters of faith as we chatted about the different characters in the movie. 





What a blessing this afternoon was.  I love the chance to spend one-on-one time with each of my children.  Because of our schedules I have lots of time with Hope, and even with David but between Kyle's sports activities and busy schedule, I do not have as many opportunities with Kyle.  Sitting in that theater this afternoon felt like pure bliss.  There were only a handful of folks in the entire place and the movie was AMAZING!!  Kyle and I got to spend precious time together talking about the movie and some upcoming things in our lives like David's next scan.  What a gift to step into a dark theater and block out the world for a few hours and focus on a strong and intense movie about Jesus. 

Parenting is hard.  It is a hard and long marathon.  You can never rest on your laurels.  Parenting requires prayers, diligence, consistency, and time.  Lots and lots of time to connect and pour all the love and hope in Jesus that you can in a very short amount of time.  Mike and I take our parenting roles straight from the bible and they involve us training up our children.  Training takes immense time and investment but sitting with my first born today in a theater reminded me that it is all worth it.  My desperate desire is that our children will grow up and know, love, and serve Jesus all the days of their lives.   Today I was thankful that my sweet thirteen year old agreed and hopefully enjoyed this awesome date movie as much as this Momma did.