six kids and a chair

Well, I've hardly looked at any of my photos from this past summer, but nonetheless, the kids started school last week and Sean E. turned 3 months.  Time for The Fifteen Most Dreaded Minutes of the Entire Year (a.k.a. The Annual Photo Shoot).  Just kidding - it's really not that bad.  Especially since this time B.J.was around to help hang my old backdrop on our patio and make the little men smile.  So here are a couple of each of our children with two extra of Sean E. for good measure (since he's so scrumptious right now).

Eli sat fabulously for a few shots, then climbed off the chair and said, "Dere.  All done." And he was. Somehow those few photos all turned out slightly blurry, and, though I'm not sure why, it's Eli...so I'm not surprised.  ;-)

Nath for fake...

...and Nath for real.

Ahh, now here is one who actually enjoys having her picture taken...

...in fact, she'll hardly stop giggling long enough for me to get a natural smile!

Will Jays.  Pretty straightforward.  Click.  Click.  Done!

M' Leah, looking more and more like my mom all the time.

Hey, it's only been 13 minutes!  Let's go for a group shot...

...or not.  Where's Eli, anyway?

Ah-ha.  There he is.
Naptime for Sean.
Exit Daddy and baby and everybody but Leah, who enjoys this so much she wants to try a few more poses.

Ack!  What's that!  Oh, Eli.  Hello, Eli, my boy with the gray-green eyes.  (Fellow Anne Shirley lovers, did you ever wonder how she could have gray-green eyes?  I sure did.  Figured Lucy Maude must have made that color up, but now I've got a gray-green eyed boy of my own.  Hey, this photo's not blurry.  Too bad he's been snacking in-between time.  Anybody know what Eli's been eating?  Anybody?)

Yikes!  Beware the Eli!  Oh, wait...you're just trying to show me what you've been eating, Honey?  Well, I can't tell.  Looks like The Snack is All Gone.

(Guess he's not all done, after all...

...he'd like to get in on Leah's shots as well.  In Sean E.'s bumbo seat, of course.)

Wait, was that a beep I just heard?  Time's up!
Hope you enjoyed The Annual Photo Shoot.  :-)

Rewarded According to Grace

Ahhh...summer.  Does it really end next week?!  Here's a column I wrote more than a month ago.  Hopefully it's not too dated to be of some benefit.

   

                It was shortly before summer began that my husband and I talked about re-vamping our allowance system.  We had been giving each of our children who were three years old or older $12 at the beginning of every month.  Four of those dollars were for giving, four for saving, and four for spending.  While that system taught them to budget their “income” (and also put an end to a lot of whining at Wal-Mart), B.J. thought that it was important that they also learn that money is earned, not just dispensed.  I was hesitant – I didn’t want them expect 50 cents every time they threw their dirty clothes in the laundry or put away their shoes.  “We’re a family,” I often say.  “That’s why we all pitch in.”  But I gave it some thought and eventually came up with our “Commission Chore Chart.”  The kids are still expected to keep their rooms tidy, pick up the toys they play with, and help clear the table at every meal.  But when they complete a task that’s over and above their daily duties, we mark the chart.  At the end of each week, they are rewarded monetarily for their work.

                Our older children, who are almost ten and eight years of age, do fairly well with this system.  Eager to add marks to the chart, they practically beg to mow the lawn, clean the bathrooms, and vacuum the van.  However, it’s not gone so well with our younger children, who are nearly six and four years old.  They dawdle and whine and get so distracted while doing the simpler tasks that are theirs – emptying the dishwasher or folding and putting away their baby brothers’ cloth diapers – that those chores can sometimes take well over an hour.

I could simply not reward the younger children for their shoddy work.  To be honest, this was my approach at first.  But I want them to learn to stay on task and to know the satisfaction of a reward for a job well done.  And so, I help them along, at least verbally, but sometimes physically as well.  “Let’s start with the silverware.  Here, I’ll stack the plates for you.  Do you remember where that pan belongs?”

                A couple of Saturdays ago, as I gave each child the amount he or she had earned for that week, I couldn’t help but shake my head.  Did the younger two really earn anything?  In reality, none of their chores would have been completed without my constant supervision.  But as they pranced away to divvy their dollars, a thought occurred to me.  Their reward is according to grace, just as mine also is.

                The beautiful, centuries-old Heidelberg Catechism summarizes this truth of Scripture this way:

Q.  But why cannot our good works be the whole or part of our righteousness before God?

A.  Because that the righteousness which can be approved of before the tribunal of God must be absolutely perfect, and in all respects conformable to the divine law; and also, that our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin.

Q.  What! Do not our good works merit, which yet God will reward in this and in a future life?

A.  This reward is not of merit, but of grace.

Q.  But doth not this doctrine make men careless and profrane?

A.  By no means; for it is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ by a true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.

Who among us likes to hear that even our best works are defiled sin?  Not one.  But that’s what the Bible teaches.  You don’t “work for Jesus.”  Neither do I.  Rather, it is the Spirit of Jesus Himself Who works in us and through us.  And it’s His own work for which we will be rewarded when we stand before the tribunal of God.  All praise be to Him for such an undeserved, gracious reward!