What will you miss?

"Is a nickel twelve cents?"

Corin came to me asking the above question. I don't know where that thought came from, but I like it :) I like it b/c it's cute and it shows a learning mind - but a mind that knows so much less than it will know as time goes on.

Yvetta wrapped her arms tightly around Luke's neck and with a look of absolute adoration said, "Oh, Dute, I love me!" She calls him Dute. Caleb she calls 'Buddy', Corin she calls 'Nony', Laura she calls 'Nina'.

I feel like I never want to be without a little one in the house, but I know that the time will come that our children will grow up. They'll learn and develop and they'll stop making cute mistakes and adorable foibles. There won't be a pair of chubby legs, clad in colourful tights, dancing through our home. Little socks and little diaper shirts won't spill out of the laundry basket on the way up the stairs. The last one will learn to read, the last bag of diapers will be bought, the crib will be put away for the last time.

Sad? Yes. But happy, too. Love the littles though I do, I wouldn't want them to remain little forever. Our lives are one change after another. One stage succeeds the last. I don't know what the future holds. I don't know what tomorrow looks like for my children. But I know that the Lord knows and for now that's enough. He'll reveal the future day by day, minute by minute with the grace to meet each need.

Know how I know that? Because Jesus Himself has prayed and does pray for them.

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,[b] that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world,[c] I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept;[d] and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has d them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

In Him I can be ready to face what the future brings. Because the Father will keep us in His care through thick and thin. Even in a house without little ones :)

What will you miss when your wee ones are all grow'd up? Or, if you're already past the little kid stage, what are you missing in a home without little kids?

Over the Kitchen Sink

LONGING

I'm lying here on the couch. I've been on the couch for the last coupla days except when I've been at the chiropractor. It's my back. It's bad again. I've had a "flare-up" as the chiro calls it - I hope that's true and it's not just professional jargon for "we'll leave you with enough hope that it can be fixed so that you'll keep on coming back" :) I won't believe it's just talk. I can't believe it. I'm longing for my back to feel better and we've sunk a lot of money into this treatment. It's gotta work.

My little boys just went upstairs for their "camp-out". They made plans to sleep on the floor in their bedroom, pillows side by side, one big blanket spread out as their mat and another one to sleep under. I even let them watch a movie in bed on our schoolroom portable DVD player. Before they went to sleep they did devotions together. Of their own accord. Caleb read a Psalm to Corin and stopped often to explain things. "We have to love the fear of God more than we love gold - and gold is worth a lot! So the fear of God is worth even more." "Honey is really sweet - one of the sweetest things. But God's Word is even sweeter than that." Then they prayed together - and they prayed for my back.

Why did I need my little boys to remind me that there are things much more important than my back? Why can't I take the things I talk about in "good times" and actually believe them in the hard times? I drove to the chiro's in tears of pain and frustration this week. And Sons of Korah (a Christian group from Australia - I highly recommend them) came on with Psalm 139. And as the Lord reminded me of His care - that He created me - knit me together in my mother's womb; knows all the plans/works He has for me b/c He planned then before I was even born; that there is nowhere I can go that He is not - no pain I can be swamped in where He is not there with me - suddenly I could smile again! I could sing and smile and cry for joy! God is real and He loves me. As moms and wives and friends we spend a lot of time speaking of God's love and His care to others. At that moment I let that scripture song speak it to me and it felt wonderful.

The more I come to know people the more I see that many of us have great sadnesses and great longings. Longings for health, for friends, for children, for freedom from addictions and pain. Longings for joy, for work, for peace. Longing for a return to "normal" life, longing for someone to understand. Longings for ourselves, longings for others. A dear woman, someone going through a particularily difficult trial in her life, wrote this to me:

"All is in God’s sovereign control. And such a comfort that is! We don’t understand the why’s, but God has a purpose. We don’t always know what the purpose is, but to know that there IS a purpose is comforting and strengthening. Sometime ago at Ladies Bible Study, one of the ladies commented that we are sandwiched between God’s sovereignty and His everlasting arms – is there really a better place to be? Even with the pains (be they physical or emotional) of life? Press on Cher, for God is faithful. I will pray for you, we do pray for you, and your family. I understand your request for prayer for contentment – that is so much in line with the struggle that we have too!"

Press on dear friends.