Time, Time....is 18 years enough???

How did my little Samuel and Anna get so big, so fast? It seems like yesterday that they were this.....

And this.....

I often ask myself "Is 18 years long enough?" Is that enough time to teach them all we need to teach them? Is that long enough to say all I want to say to them? Is that long enough to watch them grow up? Oh sometimes I get so weepy thinking about all this....being a Momma is hard work....mothering is hard work...I am not saying that "fathering" is not hard work...but a mother's heart sometimes just cannot handle all that goes on inside a home.

I am so incredibly thankful for the MOMS ministry at our church...and I am thankful for Jean Stockdale, our MOMS leader and teacher. We meet in the spring and the fall on Thursday mornings...she has taught me so much about mothering. Like alot of moms, I tend to beat myself up, allowing satan to tell me that I am a horrible mother....but then Jean encourages, lifts, and prays over us and helps to move us forward!

I only have 18 years....that may seem like such a long time....but really 5 of those years are gone for Samuel....let me dry my tears. Children do not stay little for very long...there will come a time when they no longer need me to do certain things for them...and that is okay (I guess!)....I want to release them well into the adult world....I don't want to hold them down, bog them down, or keep them from opening their wings to fly. There will come a time when they will no longer run to me crying with a boo boo, or a broken heart....and I pray that they will run into the arms of the Father....for I know He has put my heart back together so many times.

I write this today because I have so enjoyed listening to my children giggle, laugh, and even cry....those sounds are filling our home and I love it! But how much longer? How much more time do I have? I must be about the Father's business...I must be about teaching them, training them, bringing them up and giving them the opportunity to experience HIS grace and mercy. Oh...I want to do it well....I want to leave no regrets...I want to make sure each day that there is nothing left unsaid between me and these two blessings....I want to help them find their strengths and use them...help them grow in their weaknesses....I want to make sure they know that I love them unconditionally....I want to make each moment count with these two....their daddy and I will strive to do that....as we live the Taylor Dream....