In addition to our new grocery budget of $35/ week (at least the average) and my list of 7 books started in 2010 that I plan to finish in 2011- I have some other areas in my personal and family life I plan to bring change to.

Prayers that can be heard…

A few months ago, we started teaching the boys again about praying. This was a real struggle, especially with the immature silliness that comes naturally with little boys. I gave up for a long time and then when one of our pastor’s wives, Pat, suggested having them draw a request out of a basket.  We tried it and you can read about it here. However, we still have the natural silliness that happens to boys during serious moments like this and I feel the important lessons, the heart issues pertaining to praying will take a good while to sink into their ornery little hearts.  But its part of our routine and they will “get it” eventually.

I was greatly encouraged, after I read an article in the October 2010 HomeLife Magazine (the only issue I have, I received at The Relevant Conference)  to pray specifically for my boys…

A mother shared her story about something she learned while bathing her baby girl while her 4 yr old was standing by.

Mother was praying for baby girl while she was rubbing baby lotion on her feet…”Dear God, bless Sadie’s feet. Let her feet be beautiful ones that carry the good news of Jesus to people who don’t know him. Thank you for Sadie’s hands. Let her hands be ones that serve others…” and so on.

Well, the 4 yr old busted out crying telling her mommy – “You don’t pray for me like that. You only pray for me at bedtime.”The mother realized her daughter needed to hear her pray for her at other times as well. It wasn’t enough that mom was praying for her 4 yr old all the time otherwise- because the little girl wasn’t aware of it, she couldn’t hear it.

I do believe this makes a big difference!

I pray for my boys, mostly in secret. Sometimes I will go in their room when everyone is in bed and I’ll stand in there just watching them, sound asleep;  I’ll spend some time talking to God about them and their future.

I do pray with them before we start our homeschooling.

But now I try to  pray extra for them at bedtime or at least one if not both of us (my husband & I) pray after the boys do.

The needs of others…

I also want my children to be aware of the needs of others. This month I started assigning them to pray for one person each that I knew was sick or has a need from our church prayer sheet or otherwise. Then I have them make a card for that person that we can mail. They can do at least this much to show care for others. I’m even thinking about putting together a “Care” binder for us to use, to keep ME organized. If I do I’ll likely post about it. I also want to share my coupon binder eventually.  {You can go here to see my Home Management Binder and my Homeschooling Binder.}

Part 2 will be about  our friend-relationships.

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*Linking this post with MomsTheWord: MakingYourHomeSing.