God's Home

Tonight, while saying her prayers, Ella said, "God we are coming to your home tomorrow."

I love how going to church is so much a part of her life. She knows that every Sunday, we go to "God's Home". She expects it. It is part of our life together as a family.

One Sunday we missed church for being out of town, and I overheard her telling God that she was "so, so sorry for missing His day."

I tell Ella she can pray or talk to God about anything she wants to. We do not say a memorized prayer at night. I tell Ella that all God wants from her is a relationship -- for her just to talk to Him. Some nights her prayers aren't very typical and some nights they make perfect sense. But that doesn't matter. At the age of 4, she gets it. She knows God is listening and that He cares about her -- He cares about every hair on her head. And that it does not matter if your prayers and needs are big and important, or just tiny little random thoughts. There are no right or wrong things to prayer about. He just wants us to talk to Him, and Ella does just that.

It is never too early (or too late) to start instilling in our children the importance of going to church and of spending time with God each and every day.

Money for God

Just this morning Ella and I were playing in her room while Wilson was trying to nap. We got her piggy bank out, as she loves separating the different coins into piles, sorting, and making patterns. (We think she’s going to be good in math!)

I watched as she made 2 separate piles. She looked up at me and said, “Momma, this pile is for God.” After thinking a minute, she then said, “But how does it get up to God?” I explained to her that we give it to church, and our church is able to do incredible, amazing things with the money that we give.

She continued sorting and separating. I noticed she had made 4 piles. She then went on to explain to me, in such a grown-up way, that …

one pile was for God, one pile was for our church, one pile was to spend, and one pile was to save.


She gets it. At only 4, she gets it.

(Ella and her daddy before Donuts for Dads. I'm not sure who was prouder!)