Going through the motions

I have two kindergarteners this year and for homework they are supposed to read (or be read to) for 10 minutes. This sounds totally easy right, 10 minutes a night? IT IS SOOO NOT! First of all that's 10 minutes a night times 2 children which makes it 20 minutes a night. It might as well be impossible at that point. Because do you know what my 2 year old can do in 20 minutes while his mother is distracted by educating his brothers?? The horror.

So a few months into the school year I got smart and realized that if Seth (who is an independent reader) read a book to Judah for 10 minutes, then we could get this task checked off no problem.

Look closely and you can see the kindergartner on the floor reading aloud. Now move to the kindergartener on the couch who is supposedly being read to. Yes that's an iPad in his lap and, yes he is looking at the TV.  Reading homework? Nailed it.

Not really though, huh? What their teacher assigned in small increments for the purpose of learning and advancing throughout the year, our family has totally failed at and we are just going through the motions.

I get like that in parenting sometimes too. The daily grind and repetition of working, cooking, cleaning, laundry, homework, practice, diaper changes, breaking up fights, "don't talk to your brother like that," and "why are you crying (again)?"...  it wears me down. I start going through the motions of parenting, but my heart is not in it. For me that means I become reactive instead of pro-active. And with three adopted boys who have come from a hard place they need more than a mom who is faking it.

That's what I loved about the Care RX:video last Tuesday at Fellowship. It was a chance to re-focus and remember the bigger picture of where our foster/adoptive kiddos are coming from and the awesome task we have at hand. The point is not to check them off as an assignment that needs to be  "completed" but to dive in every day with all that we've got. And then rinse and repeat the next day.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow night.

And see tuned below for some other upcoming events hosted by different churches and organizations in our community.