~a sunny day with my children~

I just spent the morning helping my older two boys pack for a week of camp.  Their daddy took them to camp as I stayed home with the sleeping baby.  Honestly, I all ready miss them a little as I think over this week being spent with them away.  I know the boys will have fun and I know that they will hear some Good News too but I will miss them all the same. 

When my children were little babies and so dependent on me for everything, I really could not see what our relationships would one day be.  How could I?  This is one of those things that you can’t grasp until you are there.  I really thought that our relationships would always be me feeding, cleaning, giving, doing…and I still do those things…I always will.  But it has changed so much at the same time. 

As my children have gotten older, our relationships have transformed.  Besides just  primarily taking care of their physical needs, the emotional needs also have come into play.  They still need me to feed, clean, and do for them but now they can help me (which lessens my load and prepares them for adulthood) but they also need me to help more with the emotional needs.  They need me to be there for them.

Now I’m not the parent of a teenager yet or a child who has made it to adulthood, so I’m pretty limited on my knowledge & experience here.  But in my twelve years as a mom, I have been so surprised and astonished that as my children have gotten older, they have needed me to be there and listen to them more!  When they are little, we talk &  talk & talk to them but as they get older, it seems that they need us to listen & listen some more. 

Sure, they still need our guidance and counsel.  I still go to my parents for those two things so I don’t see that ever changing.  But they need us to listen to their words.  Really listen.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to close my mouth, be still, stop what I’m doing, and listen to them.

 

Actually the other day, Flower Girl asked me if she could say what I had been babbling on about in a shorter way.  What I had been rambling on and on about, she condensed into a one point-taken sentence.  She didn’t need me to talk at her…she had it.  She needed me to share what little bit of wisdom I may have, listen to her thoughts, let her go, and watch her grow.  When it happened, it made me laugh that she thought I was saying too much but at the same time, it was an “ah-ha” moment. 

I’ve pretty much been rambling in this post the way that I sometimes do with my children so it may seem like I was jumping around a lot.  I probably was ;).  I guess, I’m just feeling like I need to talk about my kids today.  I will miss my older boys this week.  I will miss when Hot Rod makes me laugh with his little jokes.  I will miss when Hunter Boy tells me about some new tidbit that he has been learning.  I will even miss listening about fishing & hunting trips.  I’m thankful for my children and thankful to God for the opportunity to spend these years with them before they leave to begin their own lives.  I guess this week is just the beginning of things to come one day when my older boys will begin lives outside of my home.  May I be ready for those days and may I be diligent to prepare my boys by giving them roots in God’s word as I share with them and listen to them.

~Per his request, Hunter Boy is absent from pictures on this post.  He is reaching the teenager years and at times craves his privacy.  So while I wish that I had a picture of him here, I have respected his privacy.  If you see one of my children omitted from posts, it will be because the child has requested so.~