Here’s another radio broadcast you’ve got to listen to if you can find a few minutes during your day. James Dobson is speaking today and tomorrow on Standing for the Family in a Lost Culture. Download this and listen to it while you’re folding clothes or washing dishes. It will inspire you.

He told some funny stories about his son, Ryan, and reminded me I can’t give up on my kids — even when I’m having a hard day! Those stories probably weren’t too funny when they happened — but now that Ryan’s grown, Dr. Dobson and his wife can laugh about the trips to the emergency room and all the difficulties of raising a very ACTIVE boy.

If you’ve never read James Dobson’s Bringing Up Boys and you’re a mom of boys, this is a book you’ll want to add to your collection — even if you only have time to read a paragraph every now and then. It will keep you sane, knowing what the long-term perspective is on raising a boy to become a godly young man.

Last night at church, I was waiting in the hallway outside the room where my girls were making their Operation Christmas Child boxes. My three-year-old son has entered this babbling brook phase where every single thought of his turns into a “why” question or something he must tell me. I know it won’t last forever, so I’m much more patient now than I was with my oldest.

Another mom looked exasperated with her three-year-old son who was wiggling and chattering while we waited for our sweet little girls to finish their project. Finally, she said, “Why don’t the two of you race each other down the hall?” So they did. Our two boys spent the next ten minutes alternating between running up and down the hall and hopping up and down the hall like frogs saying “Ribbit.” She turned to me and said, “I don’t know about you, but mine just wears me out. Maybe they’ll run off all this energy and go to bed easier.” HA! I agreed.

I just have to tell you that a few days ago, I got an email from a writer at Focus on the Family asking if I had any suggestions for how a mom of a 0-3 year old child can begin inspiring her child’s personal faith. Wow. That was pretty cool to be asked! She needed something right away, so I told her the first things that came to mind, then she wrote back and asked if it was OK to quote me as “Heather Ivester, mother of five and founder of Mom 2 Mom Connection, a popular blog for mothers of all ages.” Um, yeah. That’d be all right.

See, you just never know who is reading your blog! 🙂

But after I sent that, I’ve been more aware of how I try to instill faith in my young children. It really goes way beyond teaching them to say the blessing and pray before bedtime. Since I stay home with my kids, I talk to them about God all day. Really — every chance I get. You never know what’s going to stick.

One thing I try to do is catch my kids being good and tell them, “God likes it when you do that. Do you know God is probably smiling right now because you shared your toy with your sister? Do you know when you read a book to your little brother, you are making God very happy? Oh, I’m so glad you told me that you were lying because God already knew you were lying, and that makes Him so proud of you when He hears you telling the truth.”

My kids are far from perfect, but I hope I’m teaching them what’s right and wrong now, so when they’re grown they can catch themselves being good.

At least that’s the plan.