Thoughts on children....

This morning I had planned to meet up with a friend to talk about how my husband and I have raised our children. She loves the fact that our youngest two were so well behaved for her that she, I suppose, thinks we've figured out the secret to raising wonderful kids. LOL! (Little does she know!) :)

Anyway, here's where some of the application comes in, our youngest has not been feeling extremely well as of late (tummy trouble). So, in watching him this morning as I was getting the children ready for mother's day out, I decided I would take him with me instead and then bring him home afterward. However, this morning was also "Muffins With Mom" day at MDO, and my 5-year old daughter was going to attend MDO, so I thought, "okay, bananas only for Nate, and he should be okay if we only go for a little while." Well, we got through breakfast and I left with Nate to go to Starbucks to meet up with my friend--with a mini-stop at the grocery store for the BRAT foods he needed to keep his little tummy nourished, but calm.

The grocery store trip went well, but we walk into Starbucks and almost immediately, Nate shows obvious signs of losing his bananas (if you know what I mean), so we take off even though my friend had not arrived yet. And wouldn't you know it, we (my husband and I) don't carry cell phones so I went straight home to call her and let her know we'd have to reschedule. On the way back, I was listening a radio broadcast where the speaker was talking about how children are God's gift to us as parents. Just a wonderful reminder when our plans get changed because of one of these little "gifts."

Nathaniel (his name means gift from God, BTW) is fine. I think he really appreciates that he is home today without all the movin' and groovin'.

One of the things you learn as a parent is to take the signs and adjust your schedule, your priorities, and/or sometimes your attitude. Sometimes we're called to adjust THEIR attitude instead! But, we're always to remember that they are indeed God's GIFT to us and not a burden. Just as my dh is blogging on marriage and how tough it can be, raising children is no "walk in the park." No, you don't get days off (except on rare occasions), and you have to be on your toes to be ready to adjust to schedules, illnesses, attitudes, and responsibilities without placing blame or stressing out--it just comes with the territory!