A sweet sibling moment

It's been one of those days today . . . when I felt like all I did today was referee between two children that love each other completely and drive each other crazy almost at the same time! In the relative calm after dinner, I was checking my email and then cleaning up from dinner while they played. All of a sudden, I tuned in to what was going on in the other room. Lael was snuggled up next to Jaden on the couch, reading him a story. That's actually a rather common occurrence here as she loves to read and he loved to be read to. What made this especially sweet was the story she chose to read. It's The Legend of the Easter Egg by Lori Wahlberg, which is the book we are focusing on in homeschooling this week.

The children have heard this story for two days so far (we read our "focus book" every day for five days), so there were a few words that she didn't yet remember and spelled to me so I could help her out. It's a beautiful story of the true meaning of Easter, but it also features the love of a brother for his older sister who was sick. As I listened to my little princess reading, I could hear in her voice the same enthusiastic expressions that I used in reading the story to them this morning. And as Jaden commented on the events of the story, I heard bits and pieces of discussions we had yesterday about the main character and his feelings.

As I blinked back a tear or two, I realized that when you think they aren't listening . . . they are. When you feel like you haven't gotten anything across . . . you have. And when it seems like it won't make a difference . . . it does. Parenting these two treasures from God is a huge task, often overwhelming. But in moments like these, God gives me a reminder of how blessed I am -- and I wouldn't trade this job for anything in the world!