lessons

i found this picture from last weekend...of the bake sale rebekah did.
there were so many lessons in that day for her (and me!)
i helped her a week ahead of time, to tell me the groceries she would need, to plan out which days she would bake which treat. it wasn't just going to all appear on saturday morning, you know?? :-)

she made a sweet poster to market her cause.

she was up early and working HARD that morning to get it all set up.

and LOTS of her friends, and family friends, came by to support her. friends came to help sell. friends came to donate. a neighbor brought over clothes to sell, and gave rebekah all the proceeds! ALL of that is a testimony to rebekah's heart and to how she loves people.

she's 13 years old. and she has a lot to learn in life. pat and i are overwhelmed most days with the teenage years we have ahead of us with ALL our kids. even though rebekah is easing us into it, it's still challenging and we don't know what we are doing! we are constantly trying to discern what is important and what isn't. what do we focus on and what do we let go? what do we stand our ground on, and what do we let slide and let the natural consequences fall on her shoulders?

we make mistakes. and so does she. the day might have had frustrations or daggers shooting out of someone's eyes or hard truths spoken a little too harshly..but at the end of it (which is getting later and later!) there will always be soft words spoken reminding her how much we love her and are FOR her, there will always be us asking for forgiveness for how we wrong her heart when we are fumbling through the hard moments, there will always be a hug and a prayer to remind us Who is in control over it ALL and loves us no matter that the day looked like.

we fail her daily. but we cling to the One that never fails. and we stand in awe that He's given us the blessing of parenting these 6 precious souls.