Beautiful girls

These are my beautiful girls.Actually,one of them is my little SISTER.:) My sister is on the left and she is 16.My oldest daughter is on the right (11) and youngest daughter in the middle.My sister is actually taller than my daughter by a couple of inches but thats it! :) They are great friends!! :)

It makes me feel REALLY nervous ALOT of the time that I have the power to be such an influence and example to these girls.It is a scary and wonderful thought.I am always influencing........a.l.l the time.Even when I don't want to! Those are the scary times! The way they view marriage,mothering,children..........Even things like pregnancy,childbirth,herbs and breastfeeding........Then there are things like attitudes,thankfulness and joy.I SO want to be a godly example to them.

My sister has been staying with me for a long visit.When I think of the times that I have been impatient or frustrated with the children.....When I get overwhelmed with how much I have to do.......I cringe that I am not being example to her.She is at such an important time in her life.

I HATE that my daughters don't see a mother who never gets irritated,is always encouraging,never gets short with them and is always thankful and content.I want to ONLY influence them in a godly direction.

I HATE that I can't be the perfect mother!

On the other hand.....I KNOW that the Lord knew I would be imperfect when he gave me these children.My own parents were imperfect but guess what? Looking back,I see what there heart was.I KNOW that they wanted me to have the best.They wanted me to be godly.They tried to make the best decisions they could for what they knew.It doesn't even PHASE me when I think about the fact that my Mom could lose her temper pretty quickly or that she didn't have tea parties with me every weekend.I couldn't love her more! She did her best and so did my Dad.I can see how HARD it can be to be PARENT.I am 33 and my siblings are 27,18 and 16.Every single one of us love Mom and Dad SO much.YES! Inspite of their faults......I have been critical of how my Mom and Dad raised my younger siblings.(They were 12,2 and 5mo when I married) Guess what? The other day I was going to paint my girls fingernails for the first time.I asked my sister if she wanted hers painted and she said "no". I found out a few days later that she wanted to call her Mom and Dad and ask if it was ok first.Can you believe that? A 16 year old girl that wouldn't even paint her nails at her SISTERS house......600 miles away from her Mom and Dad......

When she talks to them on the phone she grins from ear to ear.She loves them SO much! Just like I do.....Like ALL of my siblings do.

I am starting to not beat myself up so much.Don't get me wrong,I will not EVER quite trying to be my best for the Lord and my husband and children.It is my sincere desire to be the best influence for the Lord that I can be.......

BUT:

I am pretty sure that because we are not hypocrites,we have an excellent marriage,we are dedicated to being the best parents we can be to our children,they love us and love to be with us more than anyone else,they hear us pray to the Lord to help us be all we should be for them and to forgive us when we fail,we are a HAPPY family that strives to live for the Lord.

I bet someday that with all the love they are receiving from us that they will be able to forgive our faults!

That is such a WONDERFUL feeling!!

Thank you Lord for forgiving children!