Promise With A Capitol "C"

Thank goodness Journey has dedicated people in its congregation that love serving in children's ministry. I think it was Kristy yesterday who taught the kids about the value of a promise! I, so often, fail the kids in this area. I will tell them, "we are going to do that soon, or on such and such a date we will..." and then never end up doing it. The take home paper that went with their Sunday School lesson spoke to me loud and clear. Stop lying. Tell the truth. Let your word be your WORD. Along with Jeff's lesson on loving one another our day pretty much mapped itself out. Love our children, and keep our promises (even though the sermon was on loving the church body, we knew we needed to start in our own home).

After reading the "Growing Together" Sunday school exercises, I knew that I needed to fulfill a long awaited promise I had given the children. The kids wanted a pet. We love going to Petco in L.R. Everytime we go there though, we promise the kids that "yes, soon we will get a pet, just not today." It breaks their hearts everytime! Well, not yesterday. We piled up in the car, after church, with mom having absolutely no sleep in18 hours (I worked Saturday night), went to Petco, and procured the newest member of our family, Chopper! Chopper is our new short haired, orange and white, male, shy, skidish hamster! After riding two hours in a small brown box, no one can blame him for his high anxiety levels. He also took a nice little bite out of Val's finger, and peed on Mark twice before he had a chance to get into his new "CritterTrail X" mansion. His home comes complete with a spinning wheel, slide, tunnel, and a upper area sleeping room. Of course, we had to buy the rolling ball too! We spent about 30 minutes last night watching, and laughing as chopper rolled all over the kitchen floor. Although he didn't explore his cage last night, as the four of us were watching his every move, I did hear him in the middle of the night running in his wheel. It was a soothing and relaxing sound. We, even me, are enjoying his presence in our house!

So make a promise with your kids this week, and keep it faithfully. Keep those promises whether it be reading in bed, painting a picture, riding bikes, getting ice cream, seeing a movie, praying together, or making sushi together. I hope that our kids know now that mommy and daddy keep their promises. Chopper is evidence of that! I want them to believe that no matter what they do, how they grow, how they mature, how many body piercings or tattoos they have, or the circumstances they find themselves in, we will still love them. We have promised to love them forever, and mommy and daddy don't lie. Our word is our WORD.