Random Sunday thoughts.

It's the first Sunday after Christmas and I'm sitting at home with Nicholas, helping him rest. He needs rest because he lost his voice yesterday. It might have been all the yelling and excitement of having his telescope put together and getting to look through it and see stars. It might also be a cold. So to be safe, I stayed home from church with him to rest.

We watched GI Joe - the original one from the 80s - for 3 hours. I had so much fun with him.

Which made me think: What matters the most for me with my children?

The caramel might have turned out differently than I wanted, but it was more important that the kids and I did it together - that we had fun together and spent time doing something. The memories matter more than the caramel.

The answer: Having fun with them, raising them right, and showing them that I love them.

Those three things don't always go well together. Sometimes we have to punish so that they know they pushed their limits. Consequences come because I love my kids. I want them to understand there are limits. Consequences are the natural thing that follows when you break the limits. Rewards - good consequences - come when I see wonderful things happening.

So my New Year's Resolution to my children - the one about them - is that I will spend more time showing them that I love them. It's important. probably the most important thing I will do from here on out.

I mean more than just telling them that I love them. Showing love is totally different from saying love. They should know I love them when they jump at me and I catch them. When we cuddle on the couch, in a fort, or on a chair and read. When we pray together at night. When I take them outside and hike and go slowly so they can enjoy everything. We go on walks and take our time. When I slow our life down so that they have time to enjoy things.

It means that I have to focus on them - almost wholly - when they are awake. Not my computer, not my job, not work. Just on them.

This might mean less "stuff" going on at the Wunderlich house. But that's fine. It might mean more time outside- which is awesome. But what it means is more time doing the love stuff and less time just saying love.

It's going to be the one thing I can do for them that's going to matter the most in the long run.