Stages

Today, I was noticing the stages of my children. I sometimes get concerned about balancing five children, parenting them according to the stage they are in and the person they are. It is easy to blow it and just say, "all of you to bed" when it is just one or two being annoying. It is easy to be so busy that you don't stop and really look at your child and notice the little things about them. But the past few weeks, I have been noticing.

Hockey Player, well he isn't a child anymore, he isn't a guy/man yet, so he has earned the name "Man Child" and/or "Mowgli". He carries himself taller. He is compassionate and yet firm with his little brothers. He is independent. He will start fixing dinner if he is starving and doesn't want to wait for me. (Not gonna catch me arguing with that.) He offers to mow the yard.

Fun Mom is taking on more leadership/teaching roles this summer. This week she told me working with pre-teens is a big eye-opener. You don't have to do for them like the preschoolers. You just tell them what to do. She told me it was hard getting used to taking a step back and letting them do. Which led into the conversation about parenting and pondering these new observations and applying them to her parents and maybe extending us some grace when we fail to step back when we should with her.

Little Princess is long and leggy. Actually, when the 3 olders grouped themselves around Grandpa and hugged them today, I was astounded by how tall these 3 are! How much they have grown. Little Princess is not quite a pre-teen or tween yet. There is still a lot of little girl still in her. Yet, I know from experience, there isn't much time left of these little girl years. She wants to learn the needle arts this summer. She is taking the task on with much enthusiasm.

Daddy's Buddy has entered the season of right and wrong and justice. He is problem solving. This next year he is going to take on the world. He will start reading and his independent nature will grow another 6 inches with the new skill. Already, independent, intelligent and opinionated he is uninterested in the world of little boyhood. He looks up to aspires to be like big brother the Man Child.

Flutter Nutter still the youngest, the baby. He quite likes the role. He has a Peter Pan complex and doesn't want to grow up. Yet, he doesn't want to be told he isn't old enough. His legs are starting to catch up with his body. He is starting to share his blankets and walk away from them willingly. But still my snuggler. He has learned to do his own seatbelt, a woohoo milestone. Getting in the car is that much easier! Yet, I can see we will need to be changing his nickname soon. He is growing up and away from "Flutter Nutter"... It will be interesting to watch his character develop.

Life's Totem Pole according to Daddy's Buddy

Tonight, Daddy's Buddy explained the order of "best" of the people in his life.
The first best: GOD
The second best: Grandpas
The third best: Dad
The fourth best: Hockey Player
The fifth best: himself, Daddy's Buddy

In an effort to pacify Fun Mom who is offended at being left out,
Girls are the First best because Fun Mom makes cakes, cookies, brownies and sometimes pancakes for us. God and the Boys are second best.

In All Things He Works Good....

I have lived a life that I could easily allow to overwhelm me. I could easily just give up and let the storms overwhelm me. Instead, I have entrusted my life to the One who created it, the One who knew me in my mother's womb, the One who knitted me together. It hasn't always been easy. I find myself often saying to my Lord, "Ok, just use this for Your glory Lord, just use it. It hurts and I don't like it, I wish it wasn't to be this way, please don't waste this hurt, use it for YOUR glory." Through the storms, I hope I have gained wisdom, the ability to extend grace and love. Human as I am, I do struggle with my flesh, but I do long for His good and perfect will and plan for my life.
In the midst of this last week, God has restored unto me what I thought the locusts had eaten and destroyed many years ago. My heart is full. About 20 years ago, there was a great divide in my family. One that left me feeling very alone, orphaned and lost. I felt there wasn't a one who would know if I went missing. Anger abounded, and I felt much of it focused on me. And I didn't know how to fix any of it. Through it all, my Lord knew me, He loved me, and He heard my cries. A couple of years into this season of seperation and anguish he restored unto me memories of happy and wonderful times, memories I had lost in all the pain. Memories, I cherished through the hard times because I knew it wasn't always this way. I knew God heard my cries, I knew his tender loving mercy in giving me back my good memories. In His time and mercy, he has healed the wounds and allowed for restoration over the years. It has been a gradual process. It has never been on my time table or my doing. Never has it occurred as I woul dhave planned it out. Funny how that works.
This past week, I have found myself thanking my Heavenly Father for how he has orchestrated this week. My sister was visiting with her children, when my father needed to be hospitalized. He was in really bad shape there for about 24 hours. Now, we are in the waiting period for his body to heal well enough for him to go home. The two of us, as sisters, were able to join together and take care of things. I wasn't alone in facing this storm of life this time. Not that I would ever have been, my Father is always there, but it is good to have a sister, it is good to have earthly family. God, afterall, put us in families for a reason.
During this time, I have had the opportunity to sit quietly with my dad and sister and visit. There was no way 8 children could join us in the hospital. So with God's arrangement of peace and no distractions from 8 charming children we found ourselves together. So in the midst of pain and suffering, there has been joy, peace and healing. Time to share and heal more than just a broken body. Time to heal a relationship with a grandmother, I have been unable to speak to for 20 years. Time to heal relationships between sisters and a dad. My heart is overwhelmed with the restoration of relationships I had long given up on ever having. Humbled that even though I had given up and lost hope that there would ever be reconciliation, my Heavenly Father IS and Forever WILL BE working all things together for His glory. In His time and my lifetime, I have experienced these reconciliations and my children, will know the ones I have loved throughout my life, for this I find myself in tears, grateful and feeling my humbled, blessed, loved and cared for.