Must be doing something rght...

Parents frequently quesiton how they are raising their kids.  Do I praise my kids enough?  Do I discipline them the right way?  We want so desparately to be "successful parents" by raising stable, strong, intelligent, and well-rounded children.

For us, faith is an intregal part of that equation. 

We took the boys to church for the first time when they were just over a week old, and had them baptised the following weekend.  We want to raise them in the Catholic faith.  We carefully chose their Godparents - selecting those who would help us teach them the Catholic faith, but also set an example for how to treat people, and live their life honoring God.

These were decisions that Brian and I made for our boys. 

Now that they are older, teaching faith is getting harder.

Taking the boys to church is very challenging.  They are little boys...they don't want to sit down and be quiet.  The want to run around and make loud noises.  We continue to take them, but there are weeks that we don't get much out of church.  This is where my story begins.

We were having a rough time in church over a month ago.  We had tried getting the boys to read books, gave them snacks - nothing seemed to work.  Lincoln was unusually fussy, so I scooped him up in my arms.  I tried talking to him softly to settle him down, but nothing worked.  As a desperate attempt, I pointed to the crucifix that hangs over the alter, and told him that was Jesus.  I instantly had his attention.  I continued, explaining to him that we were at church to talk and pray to Jesus, but we needed to be quiet.  Next, he placed his little finger over his persed lips, and said "Shhhhh...".  My heart melted.

One down - one to go. 

Jackson is definitely a harder nut to crack.  He enjoyed looking at Jesus, and Shhhh'ed me as well, but exploring won out.  I declared a minor victory for that week.

It was a few days later that I realized it wasn't a minor victory, but a slam dunk.  We were taking the boys upstairs to do baths, and one of them pointed at the crucifix/sick call in our downstairs hallway and said "Je-sus.  Shhhhh."  Both Brian and I did a double take, but then our little guy said it again.  He remembered seeing Jesus on the cross at church, and recognized Him right there in our home.  We continued upstairs for bathtime, and were astounded when the boys also found the crucifix that hangs in our bedroom, just outside the door from where we do baths.  We again heard "Jesus".

This has continued over the past several weeks, and has become a part of our nightly bath and bedtime routine.  We say "Hi" to Jesus when we go upstairs for baths, and we tell Jesus goodnight when it is bedtime. 

Somewhere along the way, the boys seemed a bit confused by how Jesus could be in the hallway downstairs, then beat them upstairs.  Brian quickly explained this to them as Jesus is everywhere (like Brutus...but that's another story).  The boys have embraced that understanding - Jesus IS everywhere.

A few weekends ago, we went to visit mom to see how she was progressing.  We had to find Jesus.  That same weekend, we went to visit my Grandmother, and let me tell you she was beeming when the boys found her crucifix and proudly informed all of us that it was "Jesus".  She couldn't believe they had really said it, but we assured her she had heard correctly, and shared the story above with her.

Since that weekend, I've also made note of other ways that we have taught our boys the importance of faith, just through our everyday actions.  We always say prayer before dinner.   Lately, we have actually been saying "Are we ready to pray", and I'm very proud to say that some nights when we do this, I've actually seen the boys put their spoon/fork/food down, and stretch out their hands to Brian and I so that we can all hold hands around the table as we pray.  Additionally, the boys are starting to say "Amen" at the end of the prayer. 

I pray that God will continue to guide us in raising our little boys in His likeness.  And on those tough days, I'm going to remind myself that our boys know who Jesus is, so we must be doing SOMETHING right.  Right?