It is all about the way you look at it!

Here is my youngest, my 4th born, my son. Oh what a SWEET handful he can be! In the first 3 pictures, he isn't wearing a shirt. That is because he got into the toilet when I was standing an arm's reach away cleaning the sink. He is lightening fast! Look at that face..I look at him often (especially from the bottom picture's vantage...looking down at him clinging to my legs), adoringly and sometimes with adoration and exasperation all wrapped into one. I think to myself, I am not sure how to right the apple cart of such an active boy in the home. How do I school the others with this child? How do I get chores done with this little helper? How is it possible that he can leave a wake of messes that I am unable to keep on top of? How do I give the other children a chance to play without his direct and forceful involvement? I haven't got the answers. What I do have is an opportunity! An opportunity to LOVE, to train (and he is wonderfully obedient!), to think outside the box and challenge my character to grow in the Lord. An opportunity to call out to Him, to be thankful, to count my blessings, and to raise a Godly seed that will impact this world for Christ. This is one of my Treasures and he is everlasting. How powerful is that!! When the challenges of raising and homeschooling four young children, keeping house, being a pregnant, and being a wife seem overwhelming, I try to keep it in right perspective. Each and every one of my children is a gift, and everlasting gift. Phil and I have been so blessed and our marriage is so blessed!

I really thank the Lord for the work He has done in me. While far from perfect and with so far to go, my perspective in life has changed almost a "one eighty" since I had Sawyer. I look back on my first couple of years with him and I feel a sense of sadness that I didn't take advantage of the opportunities I listed above. I was so lost in my walk. I learned what it meant to have a personal relationship with Christ for the first time in my life during those first few years of parenting. I learned to devour scripture. I learned what it meant to be broken and need Jesus. I felt a reverence and fear for the Creator when I became responsible for the upbringing, the guidance, the training of a life, an eternal soul. Who I was, what I was, wasn't enough for the task at hand!! (And still isn't by the way...see below).

People often ask, "Are they all yours? How do you do it?" It isn't because I have some sort of gift of patience and grace (in fact, those are huge areas that I still struggle with), it is because of Jesus plain and simple! I need Jesus.




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