Teenagers

I don't remember having so much of an attitude when I was 14, though my parents would probably disagree with me. Today Elis came over to me and said, "I like to make you mad. I like how you react." And all this time I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding it when I was mad at the kids.
Overall though, I am so proud of our teenage girls. After the insanity of early this week and our meeting with Bruce, things have definitely changed. They still get upset about things, but they are not running away, they are not getting upset as often and are not staying in it as long. They have also been better about asking for forgiveness when they do mess up.
This is a hard group of kids to be working with because we want to give them freedom, but also protect them. We weren't there to protect the older ones earlier in life and to teach them how to be smart and protect themselves, and it's very scary to even let them stand at the gate and talk with neighboors and other teenagers.
Pray for us to find a good balance of protection and liberty for our three teenage girls Simona, Elis and Maria.
And please keep praying for peace and for the children to learn about respect and obedience.