love, love, love them

Thank you for all your very sweet comments about the new look on my blog.  I really cannot take any credit for it.  My amazingly talented husband did it for me.  I told him what I wanted, and he made it happen.  Just like that.  A man of many talents I tell you.  I’m crazy about the love of my life.

I love the fresh new look.  We still need to update the pics of Hailee and Harper on the sidebar.  It’s a work in progress.

Goodness but I love my children. I am so proud of our older kids. Connor and Kellan have amazed me every time we have added more children to our family. They have truly embraced each addition with open arms–as if they were their own flesh and blood.  There has never been any resentment about having a larger-than-normal family. They very, very rarely complain about having to help out with carrying little ones, or strapping them in car seats. Their hearts are so tender.  And I could not be prouder of my big boys.

I am so blessed to call these two growing young lads my boys–the ones the Father blessed us with first.  The ones who had to put up with all our parenting mistakes as we learned what our parenting style was in those first few years. Yikes, thank goodness for God’s grace for new parents.  We were clueless (not that we would ever have admitted that). We had two boys in eighteen months and had to learn fast. Nothing quite like being on the fast track to learning how to be a godly parent. We did some seriously dorky things with our first born children. We read every Christian parenting book known to man to try and find the perfect way to parent our boys.  I read day and night to find solutions to the never ending issues that arose on a daily basis.

We learned the hard way that when all else fails…ask God first!  Duh.  His Word has every solution to every parenting issue we will ever face.

These days we parent differently.  We still do many totally dorky things. But we have learned along the way that though parenting books are great and very helpful, we have to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit when it comes to parenting our blessings.  They are all so unique. One size does not fit all when it comes to the way we deal with situations with our children.

We’re learning along the way.

The “little kid” years are a thing of the past for our two oldest sons.  Now we face the the big “P” years.  Yep–puberty is upon us.  Dang, I’m sure I didn’t go through it when I was like eleven years old. I’ll just blame it on the hormones in chicken, or something. 

The years sure do pass quickly.  I long to make the most of each and every day I have with these two sons of ours in our home.  I long to savor the moments, the memories, the love, the laughter, the growing up, the hugs, the challenges, the mistakes, and the incredible gifts from the Father they are to us.