"Oh heavenly father, make me a better parent..."

    At Lyndsey's wedding (June, 2006)

                   Not sure.  Lyndsey probably 4 and Jeremy 7.


    Jeremy, almost 3.  Lyndsey, 2 days old.



     Jeremy, 4, Lyndsey, 18 months old.



     Our trip to New York City, July, 2005



     Jeremy's wedding, June, 2005



    Jeremy 16, Lyndsey 13

    Not sure.  Lyndsey probably 10, Jeremy probably 13.

    Jeremy's graduation from Hardin-Simmons, May, 2003

                    Jeremy, 21 and Lyndsey, 18

     Couldn't resist adding this one.  Jeremy, 3, Lyndsey, 6 months, and me, 24 or 25


    Lyndsey, 13, and Jeremy, 16

     Lyndsey's bedroom in San Angelo, after moving out of the dorm!



    Oh my goodness!  I look like a baby.  A baby with a very bad mullet and a very bad perm!!!

                    L, 13, and J, 16


     Jeremy, 3, and Lyndsey, 3 months



     Fun at the mall!  Jeremy, 5, and Lyndsey, 2



     My beautiful daughter on her wedding day (June, 2006)

                              My handsome son on his wedding day (June, 2005)

I've been looking through boxes of "stuff" lately...trying to get ideas as to how on earth I'm going to get organized.  Its been a mission of mine for at least the last 40 years.  Seriously.  I own every organizational tool, system, and secret ever invented.  I kid you not.

I came across this prayer that was in Dear Abby many years ago.  It was written by the late Garry C. Myers, the founder of the "Highlights for Children", a wholesome, educational monthly magazine -- now in its 4th (by now, probably 5th or 6th) generation.  I laminated it at work and it hung on my refrigerator for years.  No telling how many times I've read it...sometimes more than once a day, especially during Jeremy's first year of college!!

Its also possible that it is EXACTLY what I needed to come across today.  Our children are our children, no matter how old they are.  The last few days have been a little rough, partly my fault...partly not my fault.  Jeremy and Lyndsey, please forgive me for some of my recent actions and words.  I love you both more than you will ever know...and I always will.  No matter what. 

Love..........mom

A Parent's Prayer

Oh, heavenly Father, make me a better parent.  Help me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say and to understand all their questions.  Kindly keep me from interrupting them, talking back to them, and contradicting them.  Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.  Give me the courage to confess my sins against my children and ask their forgiveness when I know that I have done wrong.

May I not vainly hurt the feelings of my children.  Forbid that I should laugh at their mistakes, or resort to shame and ridicule as punishment.  Let me not tempt a child to lie and steal.  So guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me.  May I cease to nag; and when I am out of sorts, help me, Oh Lord, to hold my tongue.  Blind me to the little errors of my children and help me to see the good things they do.  Give me a ready word for honest praise.

Help me to treat my children as those of their own age, but let me not exact of them the judgments and conventions of adults.  Allow me not to rob them of the opportunity to wait upon themselves, to think, to choose, and to make their own decisions.

Forbid that I should ever punish them for my selfish satisfaction.  May I grant them all their wishes that are reasonable and have the courage always to withhold a privilege that I know will do them harm.

Make me so fair and just, so considerate and companionable to my children, that they will have genuine esteem for me.  Fit me to be loved, and imitated by my children.  Oh, God, do give me calm and poise and self-control.


The End.