After reading "The Blessing" by Gary Smalley and John Trent, Chad and I were excited to plan these special days of prayer for our children. I started by choosing songs for them and compiling pictures from their lives so far into short videos. In addition, the prayer is connected to the past (their gift of birth and life), present (the ways they are blessing us now) and the future (how God has gifted them and ways we can see them glorifying Him). The prayer time was instructed to have a physical component, holding hands or laying your hands on the child who is being blessed. It also gave suggestions to connect a small object to their spiritual gifts and giving a homemade gift.
As we shared this vision with the kids, the girls were pretty excited to make something. Andrew was going to be the first one to have his blessing day, so he caught on soon enough. We gave him his choice of dinner, and pizza delivery was on course for the evening. Sierra lined up socks to follow into the basement where she'd hidden a note that she would make him breakfast in bed the next morning. Olana read the small scrapbook and notes from family members inside. He was shyly smiling through the praise. His video was to the song "I Need You" by Shawn McDonald. After watching it he said, "I love the video." We played it over. The focus of his spiritual gift was in his patience and we talked about him being like a puzzle, and how staying the course completes something beautiful. In the morning Sierra found him sitting up in bed with a smile on his face waiting for breakfast in bed.
Two days later Andrew was making a trail of light sabers and swords to a note Olana had written for Sierra promising her breakfast in bed. Andrew made her a pair of earrings with my help. We made a trip to the mall for Sierra's ear piercing and ate at Clover's (as Andrew calls it instead of Culver's.) Mom was supposed to make macaroni and cheese but had ingredients ready for chicken noodle soup and made it by mistake - we had to postpone her dinner for lunch the next day! The ear piercing sort of took over my attention for the day. However, Sierra's video was to the song "Sierra" and had a few classic pictures of her wearing layered clothing and jewelry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auiqhy_AoDA&feature=channel_video_title We discussed Sierra reminding us of a band-aid with her caring heart and concern over injuries.
We wrapped up the week with Olana and I having some enjoyable alone time together. While Andrew and Sierra had Garden Camp Olana and I went to Whisk and Chop. Andrew made a special drawing for Olana and Sierra gave out another Breakfast in Bed coupon. Sierra got a tad nervous with the order of toast, lightly browned and peanut butter and cereal (she hates peanut butter). We made it a family project to complete Olana's breakfast order. I appreciated the cute 4-yr-old photos in Olana's video and the song was "Promises" by Desperation Band. Olana's symbol were headphones because of her desire to listen and asking good questions. She had a lot of prayer requests for starting middle school. This is the link for Olana's video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxygwQ3BBS4
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