Prayer Journals for Christmas

Look at me on a blogging streak!  Haha.  I'm on a roll.  Today has been a busy and hectic day.  It was a blessed day, but a full day.  I slept better last night than I have slept in a while.  Adam and I have been going to bed super late for some reason, and last night we didn't go to bed as late....12:00 a.m.  Yeah, that's not as late for us.  Goodness.  We are usually in bed around 10:30 or 11, but lately we have been night owls...like 1 and 2 a.m.  Oops.  Anyway, this morning August slept in until 8:15....so I slept in until 8:15.  I try to aim to have us both ready to go out the door by about 9:10.  Sunday school starts at 9:30, and since Adam teaches middle school youth, we can't be late.  If August and I aren't ready on time, then we have to drive separately, which is no fun.  Adam spends the morning in preparation for teaching, so August is my responsibility on Sunday mornings.  So, since we slept in, we started off our morning running behind.  After I nursed him, changed his clothes, got myself ready, got the diaper bag ready, hunted for shoes, etc. we were headed to church.  I decided to take August to the nursery for Sunday school for the first time.  He usually stays with me in Adam's class, but lately as he gets older, that is harder and harder to do.  He is very wiggly and just wants to play with everything.  It makes it very hard to focus.  So I took him into the nursery, passed him off to the teacher, and he immediately started screaming.  I searched through his diaper bag and realize I didn't pack everything I needed.  So I leave him with the nursery worker, rush home (in the pouring rain), rush back to church (still pouring), and get back to the nursery to see that he is still screaming.  We are going through a clingy phase.  It's been going on a good month or more.  The nursery teachers are so great with him though.  I'm pretty sure they have more patience for that than I do.  Haha.  So I gave him a bottle when I got back.  I decided I would just try him in the sanctuary during the church service.  He didn't even make it to the actual sermon.  He wanted to sing too apparently, and very loudly at that.  So back to the nursery we go.  I stayed with him since it was a bit busy back there, and I was hoping I could get him to sleep.  No go. 

When we got home this afternoon, I needed to get the house ready for our middle school youth party this evening.  I already had the kitchen cleaned up, I just needed to prep some of the food, sweep the floors, clean the bathroom, and just pick up around the house.  Adam and I also decided to make the students prayer journals as their Christmas present.  We went to Walmart (ugh.) yesterday since I needed to make a return and bought the supplies we would need.  I made the journals for the girls, and Adam made them for the boys.  He is so crafty! :)  Haha, he even admitted that it was kind of fun making them.  We wrote out a prayer inside the front page of the journal specifically for that student.  I wrote one for each of the girls, and Adam wrote one for the boys.  I think doing that showed them how much we care about them and pray for them individually, and it also models to them how to pray.  Not that there is a specific format or that you have to use certain words, but I think sometimes it's hard to know what to pray about if you have not been praying.  I think a prayer journal is beneficial for anyone for a lot of reasons.  1) It's much easier to focus if you are writing down your thoughts. 2) A prayer journal is something you can look back on and see how God answered previous prayers, or how he answered them in a way that was surprising to you.  3) Prayer journals are also a good place to record encounters with God- those moments where you just know that God is speaking through you to someone else or God has purposefully placed you somewhere and used you, etc.  I think those kind of moments are good to look back on in hard times because it solidifies your faith.  I think recording those things is important.  A homemade prayer journal could be a great Christmas gift for a new believer, friend, son/daughter, or anyone really. 

One of the journals Adam made for the boys. 

One of the journals I made for the girls.

I love how you can personalize a prayer journal.  If your child is older, you could let them create their own.  They might be more likely to use it that way.  I have planned on starting a prayer journal for August ever since he was 2 months old, and I still haven't started it.  I want to write prayers for him in it.  Prayers about his salvation, his witness to others, his future, his thought life, his obedience to us and to God, his potential wife, his education, his time management, just everything.  I think it will be neat to give to him when he is older, so that he can see how we have prayed for him through the years, and he can see how those prayers have been answered in his life.

Adam read the Christmas story during the party, and we ate food and played a game.  Well, I missed the game part since I was nursing/bathing a little one. :)  But that's ok.  I missed being part of the fun, but I enjoyed the time with August since we have had such a busy weekend.  I fixed a cheesy rotel dip with chips, cocktail sausages, frozen pizza, cookies, and I let the students bring drinks and other desserts.....it was the party food of champions.  Haha. They seemed to enjoy. Ahh to be in middle school and eat whatever you want without the guilt.  Must be nice. :)  (By the way, am I the only one who has problems with eating too much of the food?  I eat it before they arrive to "test" it, I eat with the students during the party, and then I eat as I am cleaning up the leftovers.  Ughhh....I seriously need to start practicing some self control, because if I do this for the rest of my life, I'm gonna be huge.)

Well I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend.  I will probably be recovering tomorrow, but I also have a lot I still need to get done.  Ummm...Christmas cards anyone?  I have them and haven't mailed them out yet.  That is terrible.  So I HAVE to get on that tomorrow, especially since some of the cards need to make it to Texas!  Ahhh.  Goodnight y'all!  Have a peaceful evening!