I’ve really enjoyed having a couple of friends guest post on the past couple of Wednesdays, and I’m hoping to share more guest posts with you soon! Today, though, I’m just gonna take a couple of minutes to share a piece of MY heart…
My sweet little girl is growing up so so fast. Some days she struggles, and that tends to be what I focus on. But the past week and a half to two weeks has been absolutely wonderful. She is kind, and thoughtful. She is helpful and attentive to the needs of those around her. She is… she is… she is amazing. I love this little girl with everything in my being, and I’m so very proud to be her Mommy.
Yesterday as we strolled through Hobby Lobby looking at various craft supply items, and planning and giggling about her birthday party (in June), I just had this moment where time stood still. She had gotten a little too loud and a little too excited, and I had taken the cupcake sprinkles out of her hand to put them in the basket (she was shaking them and banging them on the cart). I didn’t tell her what I was doing – I just yanked them from her hand, and threw them in the back in my sudden shift from funny, silly, goofy gal to seriously frustrated Mommy. And she didn’t know what she did wrong. I realized as soon as I did it that I didn’t offer any correction or explain, I just did to her exactly what I’ve spent the last almost ten months of her life telling her not to do to her brother. She immediately started crying. I pulled into a side aisle, and hugged her close and whispered in her ear. I told her that she needed to calm down, that Mommy was getting frustrated because she was being so loud banging the sprinkles on the cart. I told her I was sorry that I had acted so quickly, but I was just frustrated and that I needed her to calm down or we were going to have to leave the store. (Fully realizing I had allowed her to ramp up and even encouraged the silliness.) Her bottom lip quivered as we took a deep breath together, and then she told me, “I’m sorry I got you frustrated. I’ll be sweet now and not so loud ok? I don’t want to leave yet. I want to get tie dye. Pleeeeease??”
And in that moment, as time stood still, I realized what a gift God has given me. A child who wants to please. A child who knows how to work for a reward. A child who seriously loves art and recognized my willingness to step out of my normal comfort zone to do an activity with her… and hold my feet to the fire that we’d really get the supplies and do it. A child who is rapidly learning how to use her vocabulary to communicate her needs and wants. A child who understands common manners and how to use them appropriately.
My child. My offspring. Who just a few days ago was an infant, learning to crawl. Who just a few days later was learning to walk, to run, to climb. Who seemingly just yesterday was a brand new big sister holding her tiny infant brother. Her tiny infant brother, who will be ten months old tomorrow. Where does the time go? It flies.
I know that I’m not the perfect parent. No, I’m far from it. But I thank God for little moments like that when He turns my inappropriate response into a moment of realization. When I can stop and see the blessings around me.
When we got home, we went out into the bluebonnets and took these beautiful pictures. His beauty and blessings are all around me, but often I get so very bogged down in the household chores, the work tasks, the sick husband and baby, the preschooler who constantly wants me… So bogged down that I begin to miss the fact that I have a beautiful home to clean, a job that pays well, a handsome husband and adorable baby boy, and a sweet little girl who is going through a clingy phase and now (finally) wants Mommy more than anything or anyone else.
Yes, we live in God’s country. And there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here, Deep in the Heart of Texas, surrounded by His beautiful handiwork, with my wonderful little family. We are so blessed.
Butterbees and Bumbleflies 