A Child's Prayer

I love hearing my children pray.  I know that eventually they need to learn to have such a personal relationship with God that they can pray silently. Right now, though, I enjoy having the opportunity to hear what they have to say as they pray. 

My 3 year old is one of my favorites to listen to as she says her prayers each night.  She is so specific.  "Please bless this owie right here that it will get better, and this one," she'll say as she points to various places on her leg.  I could learn a thing or two from her.  I need to be so specific as I pray to God.  I'm pretty sure he wants to bless us specifically, not just generally, and kids get that.  Listening to their prayers reminds me that I have a lot to learn and improve.

Cousins

I love the fact that my kids are growing up knowing most of their cousins and being able to play with them. Granted, the closest cousins on my side of the family live 2 hours away, so it's not like they get to see them on even a monthly basis.  Still, though, every couple of months, they get to see some of their cousins and hang out and play with them. 

Extended family is pretty important in my family.  In fact, I'm pretty sure my family extends more than most families.  My husband (who has 3 cousins he rarely sees) was always amazed that I knew my second cousins (children of my parents' cousins). Even though we lived on the East coast while many of them lived out west, we still had family reunions on a regular basis (every couple of years) and got to see and play with them. 

I'm so glad that for most of their cousins, my children don't have to wait several years to see them.  There's something to be said about knowing your relatives and seeing not just family resemblances, but personality resemblances and idiosyncrasies and knowing that you share a common family history.

Hooray for family! Here's to family reunions and cousins.