The Good Stuff

Parenting is not for the faint of heart.  I cannot complain in any way about any of my kids.  They have their struggles and drama, but I know that it is kid stuff in the grand scheme of things.  Today my heart is heavy for families that have committed to doing the real heavy lifting in their homes.  Some of the best parents I know are dealing with the things that make up my worst nightmares.  I know that God is good.  God sees all of this and God is not going to let them be crushed by the struggles their children have.  I have to hang on to that.

Knowing how challenging life can be makes me incredibly grateful for things like flat tires.  Yesterday my sweet daughter called to tell me she had a flat.  Totally flat.  No, I had not done awesome parenting and taught her to change her own tire.  In my defense, once we got the spare on it was just as flat as the flat, so really it wouldn't have helped.  My husband came in on his white horse and got all five tires back up and rolling.  While he was doing what knights in shining armor do, I walked downtown and bought Brook lunch.  We got to walk and talk.  Another  precious, unscheduled moment that I could treasure when she flies away.

I'm grateful for road trips.  We spent at least 12 hours of family time this weekend in the big white van driving across the state.  The girls got to shop for Easter dresses together.  We played Heads Up in the car all together.  We sang badly.  We stopped for pizza in the college town where Rick spent his freshman year.  We just got to be together.

I'm thankful that in God's providence we are all at home this year.  I hadn't planned on having kids move out so soon.  I am glad that for their last year at home we were home a lot more than we have been for the last several years.  We don't have a heavy track schedule since our girls can only compete as JV this year.  Karst is still in Jr. High so their lacrosse schedule is manageable.  It has been a really good year to spend time together as a family before we start having some big kids move on.

I am thankful that my big problems are extremely small.  I have complications, but not scary stuff.  My words of wisdom to other parents out there is to cut parents a lot of slack.  We all have a hard job.  Raising people is not easy.  When you see parents that have to make really hard choices with their kids, don't judge.  The truth is you don't know a tenth of it.  They need a hug.  They need you to lift them up in prayer.  They could likely use dinner, or even lunch.  Instead of speculating on how they failed in some aspect of parenting, give them some support.  Believe me they have more than enough judgement, but what they need is encouragement. 

I am also thankful for every one of the people in my home.  I think I will give them each a high five for getting out of bed.  I am going to praise them big time for reading books, mine don't generally love books, but that is okay, they are young.  I am going to make them a great dessert tonight so that they taste the sweetness that they are to me.  I am going to embarrass them tomorrow at their track meet by cheering too loudly.  They are all awesome, and they all need a hug.  I don't want to miss one more opportunity to show them how much they mean to me.