Adam has been continuing to have counseling each week on Saturday or
Sunday to help him to focus on his relationship with Christ and how he
can rely on Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit to help him
overcome his difficulties with OCD and ADD.    Mostly focusing on the ADD issues now since the medication seems to be helping the issues with OCD.  Counseling has been great
and Spring and I have learned quite a lot from Scripture and have been
able to make some changes in our parenting.  Included in that are some
new house rules.  The most important of the rules is that the kids (all
of them) need to obey the first time we ask and obey immediately.  Too
often, we have to ask a second and third time to get them to obey and
that is no longer going to be allowed.  The first time we ask is all and
after that, discipline takes place.

Also, our second
rule relates to appeals.  We do allow the kids to have a appeal which
simply means that if we ask them to do something, they can appeal our
decision and ask for something else so long as they begin to do what we
ask first, and then if we deny their appeal, they need to accept it
without question and do what they are told.

All this
sounds very strict, but if you think about our relationship with the
Lord and how these rules would relate, it makes more sense.  We are
trying to train our kids to respond to us in the way that we should
respond to our Heavenly Father.  How many of us when God ask us to do
something, don’t respond and then He has to repeat the instructions many
more times and eventually discipline us in some way because of our
failure to either listen properly, or obey what He asks.

Also,
when God directs us, we may come to Him in prayer asking for an appeal
of sorts, but in the end, if His answer to our prayer is no, we need to
submit to Him because His plan for us is the best.  So we are hoping to
train our kids to follow us in obedience now so that when they become
adults they have the proper training to give them a good foundation to
hopefully follow Christ in their lives.