There is Something About Children...

There is something about your first born. Holding your baby, your first baby girl, for the first time. Knowing that from then on out things would never be the same. Knowing that this moment, would never happen again. You would never be a parent, for the first time, ever again. Terrified, excited, humbled, not really understanding all the hard work that was about to start. Wondering what kind of parent you would be. Wondering how you would ever find space in your heart for another.

But there is something about your second born. She squeezes her way into your heart and finds that space you thought wasn't there. You realize that you can experience the same amazing joy, though different, a second time. You watch as she is doted on by an older sibling and you pray and hope that they will always be this close. You begin to wonder how you will find time for both, but you do. And even though you never really got that "alone" time with the second one, you know that she is perfectly content being number two. She gets a special place because she not only gets to be a little sister, but a big one as well.

And there is something about your last born. He got the honor of being both the baby and the brother. Holding your prince in your arms, looking at his tenderness and knowing that you are responsible for teaching him how to be a man. There is something about knowing that he will be your last. The last first cry, the last first word, the last first step...

Sometimes I have moments like these, when I am overwhelmed with the joy and responsibility placed on me by God. To raise children is all at once amazing and daunting. I can imagine few jobs that I feel more blessed to have. I am honored and humbled that God has graced me with children. Every spilled glass, every scraped knee, and every broken heart, I hope I never take for granted. There is something about children that reminds you how blessed you really are.