My relationship with running

Due to circumstances in my life right now, I am unable to go to the gym and haven't been for months. Fortunately, this is temporary. In the meantime, I need to get exercise, so I have been running. Micah reorganized the garage for me so I can get the jogging stroller in and out easily and I've managed a couple to a few runs per week.
Here's the hitch: I loathe running. I don't understand how people (like my dear husband) love it. I just force myself to do it because the sedentary alternative is not an option for me and its an activity that's easy to incorporate with little ones.
This morning, I finished another horrendous run and without knowing how I was kicking myself over iit, my mom sent me this screen grab.
How's that for perspective? I will keep this in mind on my next run.

Parenting Challenge

Something we have been in the throes of lately inspired me to reflect.....



Our children our so different!  And they are so different from us!  Personalities, work styles, temperaments  strengths, weaknesses, reason, paths to faith.....

We have been enjoying studying each of our children and learning what makes them tick and then tweaking our parenting of them to help them become more successful and productive people.

One may never leave our side, while another is more adventurous.
One may crumble under pressure, while another thrives under the same pressure.
One may process information and discern carefully, while another reacts impulsively.
One may panic while another remains cool, calm and collected.
One may be self motivated, while another needs a little help with motivation.
One may connect with God through active prayer while another may prefer quiet meditative prayer.
The list goes on infinitely.

We are challenged as parents to identify those traits and to help our children learn to work within their God-given gifts, talents and constraints in the best possible way for success.

Personally, I am enjoying this part of parenting at the moment because I love a good problem solving challenge and because it brings me great joy to know my children intimately and to see them succeed.
However, the harder part is not making them into something I want them to be simply because it is easier for me or make more sense to me.  I need to remember God made them as they are with a purpose and a plan in mind and it is simply my job to help them to learn to work with what they've got and temper themselves.

My hope is to eventually send each of my little ducklings out into the world with their own personalized skill set making them the best duck they can possibly be.