Mother's Day 2009

Mother of 4 (plus 4 more equals 8)

Grandmother of 16 - and each one feels special, listened to, loved

By her beautiful example, this sweet lady is impacting the lives of her children and grandchildren.

By her gracious spirit, she is teaching us what it means to go through hard times and smile through them, knowing that God will walk with us.

We honor her this Mother's Day and every day.

She has cancer...but cancer does not have her!

Is life fair? From children's perspective...

The other day, Lauren had an assignment to write an editorial. She was having trouble thinking of something she was passionate about. One of the boys spoke up (this happens often during our school day) and asked her if she thought anything was unfair (We don't really use the word "unfair" in our home, but I let it pass this time). This sparked a discussion of what our children felt was "not fair" in their lives:

• parents getting to stay up as late as they wanted
• parents watching being on the computer as much as they wanted
• parents eating whenever they wanted
• parents not having to do schoolwork

Then I asked them what they got to do that parents do not get to do. This got them thinking and these were their responses:

• parents have to pay more money
• parents have to do lots of chores
• parents have to change diapers
• parents do not have time to do sports
• parents have to work while they play
• parents have to clean up Preston's messes :D

They all decided that being a kid was not so bad...it makes me think of the country song that talks about all the stages of a life:

"You're going to miss this...You're going to want this back...You're going to wish these days hadn't gone by so fast...These are some good times, so take a good look around...You may not know it now, but you're going to miss this."

This little moment of talking taught us all a lesson and makes me want to enjoy all these things that make up my days; not always pleasant, but God-given and here for a season.