30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 13

Today I'm thankful for my parents.  

I have grown in my appreciation of them so much since becoming a parent.  Sometimes, when I think about how we parent our kids, it seems like I have to learn everything from scratch, because we're learning how to parent kids that haven't always been ours, and have different issues and frames of reference.  But it has since occurred to me that the principles by which I try to parent can still be directly traced back to the things I learned from my parents.

My mom never gave up.  Never quit.  Never walked away from what mattered.  She read books on how to parent, talked to other people, listened to Dr. Dobson, and did her best.  If she didn't have every answer, it wasn't for a lack of effort.  She put her career on hold to take care of us, to homeschool us, and to put up with us.   Every time I am tempted to take an easy route in parenting, I think of what my mom would do, and I know she would always do what was best for us, even if it was hard, or time consuming.  Every time.  No matter what.

My dad stuck with things.  He treated things like they mattered. He celebrated accomplishments with joy, and called me on sin issues with seriousness.  My dad was such a big example of truth and grace to me.  So often I would have to confess poor behavior to him, and he would call me on my behavior.  Every.Single.Time.  Then he would hug me, hold me, and remind me that his love would never change.  Every time my kids are in trouble (mostly just days that end in "y"), I hope that I live up to his love and grace that he showed me.

The details are different.  Times change, situations aren't the same, but the basic principles are there.  And I'm so thankful that my parents modeled how to be a parent for me when I was young.

Best Parents Ever.