November 11th - Talking to God

Our family of four has never been great at saying grace before meals. Nightly prayers? Yes - it's a must. But grace has fallen by the wayside.

Until preschool.

The class says grace before their snack at school, which is really wonderful. Now, Ethan insists on grace before any food enters his mouth. "Prayers first" he always reminds us.

The grace that the preschool uses is the old familiar:

God is great, God is good,
Let us thank Him for our food.
By His hands we all are fed,
Give us, Lord, our daily bread.

Ethan always says it while squinching his eyes shut tight and rocking his head back and forth - it is really adorable. Abby knows every word and will recite the whole prayer.

I sure am glad we chose this preschool.



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We do nightly prayers together as a family. They are usually songs, but sometimes recited prayers like "Now I lay me down to sleep..." or impromptu spoken prayers. I am very happy that we share this time as a family, thanking God for the many blessings we have.

Tonight we sang one of the kids' favorites.

Thank you God for giving us [item]
Thank you God for giving us [item]
Thank you God for giving us [item]
For our family!

We usually do 6 rounds of the song, with each of us taking a turn choosing the item and the kids having an extra turn. I am always amazed at the things the kids choose.

Tonight's prayer went like this:

Abby: food
Ethan: Ryan [his cousin-whom he thanks God for almost every night]
Trista: family days
Mark: trains
Abby: Woody [from Toy Story] and Barbie
Ethan: fishes (not fish or fishies - fishes)

We end the day on such a good note when we take the time to pray together. Tonight I feel especially blessed with my children.