Time for 'debotions'

I remember, even as a little girl, how my grandparents always did family devotions at night time before bed.  They would never miss it and I loved spending the night at their house and knowing they were going to do devotions with us before we all turned in for the night.  It was reassuring, for some reason.

I felt that when I became a parent, I really wanted to do something like this with my family.  So recently, my husband and I have been trying to integrate this tradition into our lives with our kids.  It has taken quite nicely, and maybe they feel the way I did, but they love and look forward to our 'debotions.'  They very rarely ever let us get away with putting them to bed without devotions.  hahaha.

We found a cute little daily devotional for kids that literally has a verse to start, then followed by an easy paragraph of a story, and then a question for the kids to answer and then it ends with a two sentence prayer.  Pretty short and sweet, or so we thought, until we started reading them to Ava.  Our daughter is a 'thinker' and she shares ALL of her opinions and thoughts.  She is only four, almost five, and she is very confidant that what she has to say is ALWAYS very important.  :)

So, a short devotional, that could be done in under three minutes, usually takes us about seven minutes, cause she has so much to say.  (for those that know us, you will agree, she def. gets the incessant talking from her father)  ;)   This is actually good though, because she is retaining it and getting exactly what we wanted her to get.  It is very sweet, when we are not in a hurry, and when we are in a hurry, it is a great reminder to stop and listen to what our kids are saying.  I just hope we can keep using this time to help them to grow up to be the people God wants them to be.

Last but not least, I am so grateful for what God has done in my life and what I see him doing in my family's lives.  I can't wait to see what he has in store for us and especially for them.  I will always cherish these devotional moments as a family.