Blessings of Teenagers!

There are many blessings to having all teenagers around the house.  Some are just the ease of having a large, capable and helpful cleaning crew that makes the chores go faster.  However the thing I feel most blessed for at this time, is their cognitive abilities.  Because of their age and understanding, we are now able to have a really deep gospel discussion for Family Home Evening.  We have taken advantage of this by introducing a monthly Stop-n-Jot session.   Here is how it works.  Bill and I prayerfully find an Ensign article that we want to explore in depth.  He then prints out a copy for each member of the family, and divides the article into parts.  Each member of the family brings their journal to FHE and after opening prayer and introduction to the article, we all begin to read up to the first marked stopping place.  We all then record in our journals our thoughts and feelings about this article to this point.  When we have all finished this particular entry, Bill calls on each of us, in a random order to share what we have written.  We continue this pattern to the end of the article.  Yes this usually takes several pages in our journals, but the individual introspection is amazing.  Our teenagers are very deep thinkers.  They have a firm grasp on gospel matters, and a great love for the Lord.  I love hearing their thoughts on the subjects we are reading about.  Often their thoughts cause me to reflect further.  I love the minds of my teenagers.  I am really blessed to be their mother.  They as those who are now grown have been Bill's and my greatest blessings.  I am very thankful Heavenly Father chose to send them to us.