14 Years

I have primarily been a stay at home mom for 14 years. It's been an amazing blessing to be able to be here to love my kids, care for them, and train them up each day. But I'm not gonna lie. There are days when 24 hours feels a lot longer than 24. Every at home parent knows what I'm talking about.

It's easy to feel unappreciated and uninspired.

That's why I LOVED reading this blog post today:

http://www.oursaviorct.org/blog/?p=2063

It's powerful in its simple truth...the little things we do in life matter. Caring for children is shaping the future for GENERATIONS of people. We're raising our kids to be world changers! Arrows! And that takes a lot of "little" things to accomplish...like being present to challenge and correct a wayward child, like taking time to read inspiring books, like finding opportunities for a child to serve others.

As I go about my day, I'm thankful for the opportunity to be at home. Even if it means folding the whites (ok, I really leave those for my husband because I just can't STAND matching socks).

The next time I'm questioning my sanity in the decision to stay home, I want to remember just how important what I do is. And just how important the little things are. Because people matter.

If your sons catch a rabbit

If your sons catch a brown baby bunny they're going to run down the hill and squeal with glee. They'll ask you for a box.

When you find a box, they'll fill it with soft green grass, a bowl of water, and a fresh crunchy carrot.

When the food is gone, the boys will sit with the bunny and give him a name. They will wait for Dad to come home to proudly show their special pet. Their love. Their bunny named Fudge.

When dad comes home, he will see that the bunny is very, very small and agree with mom that the bunny just might not survive without his mother.

Mom and Dad will say the baby bunny should be set free.

The boys will sadly walk up the hill and let Fudge go. They will come home with tears in their eyes, collapse in your arms, and SOB.

They will cry like they rarely cry. Deep aching sobs for a bunny they loved. For all of 1 hour, but apparently deeply.

After being held and told how true love does what's best for someone else even when it hurts, they will be put to bed.

When they are put to bed, you will still hear their sniffles for a long, long time.

When you go back in to console again, you will feel weak and broken and quietly whisper in their ears that this is a birthday week for both of them and perhaps...just perhaps...a bunny would make the perfect present.

They will smile and agree and then dissolve again into tears and say,

He may be cute, but he'll never be our Fudge.

And you will realize that you may never figure this parenting thing out, or that maybe you have and it's just really hard. In either case, you better hide all the boxes in the garage

or they're going to want a bunny to go with them.