My children are teaching me

Well I've been a mother for 13 years now and I've changed a lot. I feel like my children have taught me a lot. Some things are more important than others. Little talks about their day are more important than watching TV together. Family game time is more important than dishes and laundry. Making train tracks and playing race cars or legos is more important than blogging, Facebook or reading emails. My boys need my attention and when I decided "THE MESS CAN WAIT" it made a huge difference. When Jacob was a baby I constantly picked up after him.

Then Jaron was born and he needed extra time for feedings, so the mess was NOT priority. Dishes can wait until they go to bed. I have taught my boys that we don't go to bed with a mess so we can start the next day with a clean house. One thing I've struggled with is getting on the computer to read something and getting interrupted several times. I get impatient with them and then feel guilty for it. So I try to reserve my time online for after their bedtime.

Jonah's name means "dove" and that was God's symbol of calm after the storm in the Bible. Jonah was born after Jaron and he didn't have a cleft. I was so worried he would and we would have to go through that experience all over again. But when we found out through ultrasound at 11 weeks pregnant he was not going to be cleft affected, I was SO relieved. He was my calm after the storm. I relaxed even more about keep things so perfectly clean all the time. I enjoyed nursing him for 11 months and we bonded so much during that time. I learned to appreciate the little things.

Justus is our last child and and after he was born he got the flu at 3 weeks old. It was a very difficult time in our lives. We were so broke and it was Christmas. Chris was off work for the holiday and he stayed home with the other 3 boys while they had the flu also, and Strep throat. But tamiflu is SO expensive and we didn't have the money to buy it. Our pastor's wife came to the hospital and handed me a one hundred dollar bill and it was right on time! God always knows how to provide right when we need it. Justus was very sick with a high fever and they even had to do a spinal tap to rule out everything. I was nursing him hourly to try to replenish his fluids because he was so dehydrated they had to put his IV in his head. I know that mother's milk is like liquid gold and the best thing for a baby so I did all I could do. After 3 days of laying lethargic he finally came around and the fever started to go down. I learned to trust God in that dark valley and have more confidence in my husband to take care of the children when I cannot.

I'm not perfect and there are so many things I still want to do better. This is just some things my children have taught me. Being a mother molds us into better people. God knows our struggles and I just need to learn to ask Him for more help instead of trying to do it all on my own.