Everyday I have to choose someone else over me. Quite frankly, that stinks. I like choosing me.
My kids take my time, they steal my showers, they wreck my prized possessions, they wake me in the middle of the night, they just need need need. It is in my nature to just choose me, but here I can't.
They make me be just a wee bit less selfish every single day.
Children are awesome.
And with that lesson I learn to give a little more freely - not just to them but to all my neighbors.
My kids teach me to be better to my neighbors.
They make me stop judging my neighbors because I realize how hard this parenting thing is.
They encourage me to smile at my neighbor because I know they might be battling the same challenge as me.
Overall, they just make me stop thinking about me and start thinking about someone else for a change.
Children are awesome.
Everyday I see at least one of them act in the most obnoxious, sinful, annoying way. I mean, I can't even describe it to you.
It is bad.
Then, I realize that is EXACTLY how I would act (and sometimes do) if it was socially acceptable for me to allow my inner crazy to be an outy. And then comes the learning - more on my part than on theirs.
My children are the single greatest mirror of the law that God ever made - they help me see my own sin so clearly. So, we learn together what it is to repent. And what it is to forgive.
It is a great lesson. I need it everyday.
Children are awesome.
With each child we have had (whether they survived or not), I appreciate my marriage and my husband more.
What is this rubbish about children being hard on marriage?
Granted, finding time or energy to date, kiss, and make more babies is somewhat difficult. But let me tell you, with each child, I know more and more how much my husband and I are
actually
really
totally
ONE.
I can't do it without him.
If I were to lose him, or he were to lose me, of course we would parent on with the help of God, but we would not be the same. We depend on each other completely - sometimes just for sanity. We share the same family jokes. We laugh at our children's individual characters. We know these little miracles and love them like no one else ever will, and we are the only two people in the world that feel this way. That makes me love my husband more every single day.
And somehow, most of us who keep having children keep finding the time and energy to make more...so, there must be something to that "ONEness" thing...
Children are awesome.
The more kids we have, the less money we have.
The less things we buy.
The less stuff we own.
The less I need things I don't really need.
My kids make me care about stuff less. Sometimes they actually make me hate stuff to the point of mass purges. Cable - don't need it. New furniture - sure, from a yard sale! Clothes that haven't been worn by someone else? I mean, they aren't even broken in! Who needs such things?
The fact is, we probably live on less money each month than we did when we didn't have children. I've learned to create in the kitchen instead of waiting for someone else's creation at a restaurant. We read chapter books and listen to audio books instead of sitting in front of the TV. There is very little entertainment inside our home, so we venture out into the woods or the library or the local park. My children make me love the world around us. And they make me thankful for the gifts we have been given.
Children are awesome.
There, I have given you so many reasons to know children are awesome without even mentioning the simple feelings. But feelings are good, too -
The warmth of a newborn baby.
The pride of the first steps.
The accomplishment of their first read word.
Fill in all the warm fuzzies here...
True statement - children are awesome.
