What a busy week we have had!

We are slowly but surely getting the boys into a routine and on a schedule. It has been something that they have really needed and truly thrive off of. I love to see them know the "plan" and know that we aren't going to just up and change things on them... like where they will live, etc.

I sit and look at them and my mind wonders. What have my precious boys been through? What have they seen? It breaks my heart to even think about what has gone on before they were placed with us. I know that God has a plan and they are in a better place, but it is still something that I am struggling with. I want to be able to discipline them and teach them right from wrong, but I often wonder if we are being too hard on them or maybe not hard enough. Colby and I know that we have to do our jobs as parents, but we still have in the back of our minds that they have seen and heard some terrible things.

This is tough when you are trying to show love but also discipline. I have always heard the following two statements that I never completely and truly understood until now:
- "This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you."
- "If you love your child you will show them discipline."

This is where I am at: I want to be the best mother and give them things that they have never had (not necessarily materialistic) and show them things that they have never been introduced to. But I also KNOW that in order for us not to raise hellions, we have to discipline. I mean discipline is Biblical. We want to be Godly parents. But how do we know whether we are doing this "correctly" or not? Is there a "correct" way per say? Not every child is the same and they do not all react the same way to the same forms of discipline. We know this...

But I am struggling with whether or not what we are doing is what we should be doing.

Personalities will be learned from each of us and maybe time will tell, but I don't want to wake up one morning and realize that what we are doing is totally wrong and we need to start over. I keep telling myself that we have only been their parents for a month and we all have things to learn about each other.

We are listening to advice from everyone. Not necessarily taking and using that advice, but we are listening. Lol. I am simply praying to God and asking for His guidance and not guidance from anyone else. I am asking God to help me to discern His voice from others and His thoughts from my thoughts.

May God teach us to be the parents that He would have us to be. May we trust in Him alone and continue to have faith in knowing that He has a plan. He has had a plan for these boys from day one. He is just allowing our paths to cross and allowing us to be their earthly father and mother. May we continue to teach God's love to Marcus, Morris, and Manuel.  My God be the head of our lives and our family!