Posts
Welcome to Parent Jam! I have so looked forward to this time with you because I am so excited about sharing my experiences as a parent.
The parenting journey has been very sweet but it has also has taken us through situations that were very sticky. Honestly, I do not know how parents make it without the Lord in their lives. It is funny because I am thinking about the crazy feats that are shown on YouTube and they always put a statement on the bottom of the screen "Do not try this at home!" I think I need to put a scroll across the bottom of this blog, "PARENTING, do not try this at home without a relationship with Jesus Christ!" God has been with me every step of the way...when I was almost sleepwalking because of sleep deprivation, when each of our babies cried and I had no clue why or what to do, when we made trips to the emergency room, when my heart was breaking because of choices made, when our children were disappointed, when we were told our daughter had a one in four chance of living, when our son and his beautiful wife moved across the country--God was there. He has always been there. I can see how He guided us as parents and has given us wisdom when we so desperately needed it.
Being a parent has brought so much joy that is difficult to put into words that ooshy gooshy feeling I get inside when I just think about how much I love our two wonderful children. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. I would not put that pressure on them. It is amazing to me how hindsight is 20/20 but what I understand even more now is that we were looking into the future with 20/20 vision because we depended on God (and still do) to show us how to pray for our kids and how to believe for a great future for both of them. Win and I can see how God has worked in their lives from the moment they were conceived. Today they are successful young adults who love and serve God.
I will close this first post with a poem that I found many years ago. I am a director of Kid's Day Out Christian Early Education and at the end of our spring program each year I read this poem. The author is unknown. Tears usually flow down my face as I choke through the words.
If I live in a house of spotless beauty
with everything in it's place, but have not Love,
I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker.
If I have time for sweeping, working and
decorative achievements but have not Love,
my children learn cleanliness--not Godliness.
Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints
on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up
the spilled milk.
Love is present through the trials.
Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler,
runs with the child, then stands aside
to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation's message
to a child's heart.
Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in
God's perfection of my child. As a mother, there is much I must teach my child,
but the greatest of all is Love.
The parenting journey has been very sweet but it has also has taken us through situations that were very sticky. Honestly, I do not know how parents make it without the Lord in their lives. It is funny because I am thinking about the crazy feats that are shown on YouTube and they always put a statement on the bottom of the screen "Do not try this at home!" I think I need to put a scroll across the bottom of this blog, "PARENTING, do not try this at home without a relationship with Jesus Christ!" God has been with me every step of the way...when I was almost sleepwalking because of sleep deprivation, when each of our babies cried and I had no clue why or what to do, when we made trips to the emergency room, when my heart was breaking because of choices made, when our children were disappointed, when we were told our daughter had a one in four chance of living, when our son and his beautiful wife moved across the country--God was there. He has always been there. I can see how He guided us as parents and has given us wisdom when we so desperately needed it.
Being a parent has brought so much joy that is difficult to put into words that ooshy gooshy feeling I get inside when I just think about how much I love our two wonderful children. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. I would not put that pressure on them. It is amazing to me how hindsight is 20/20 but what I understand even more now is that we were looking into the future with 20/20 vision because we depended on God (and still do) to show us how to pray for our kids and how to believe for a great future for both of them. Win and I can see how God has worked in their lives from the moment they were conceived. Today they are successful young adults who love and serve God.
I will close this first post with a poem that I found many years ago. I am a director of Kid's Day Out Christian Early Education and at the end of our spring program each year I read this poem. The author is unknown. Tears usually flow down my face as I choke through the words.
If I live in a house of spotless beauty
with everything in it's place, but have not Love,
I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker.
If I have time for sweeping, working and
decorative achievements but have not Love,
my children learn cleanliness--not Godliness.
Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints
on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up
the spilled milk.
Love is present through the trials.
Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler,
runs with the child, then stands aside
to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation's message
to a child's heart.
Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in
God's perfection of my child. As a mother, there is much I must teach my child,
but the greatest of all is Love.
