I hope you don’t mind me being a little real with y’all today.
Sometimes I read other blogs and everything just looks so happy and all-around awesome for that blogger – as if they never have to bribe their kids with M&Ms so that they will smile for a photo or that their marriage never hits a bump or that they never raise their voices at their children.
In fact I was reading a blog the other day and I showed it to the Happy Hubby and said in frustration, “She makes everything look so easy! So perfect! And how in the world is it possible that she is an awesome writer/crafter/mom/wife/photographer/AND genius-at-coming-up-with-clever-Elf-on-the-Shelf-poses all-in-one?!”
The Happy Hubby replied, “Well, babe, you kind of do the same thing on your blog…”
I realized in that moment that he was SO right.
Happy Home Fairy is one of my favorite things – beside my faith and my family.
I want it to be this fun, creative, inspiring place for my readers (whom I treasure deeply). I want it to be happy – not filled with lots of posts heavy with trials and tribulation.
But I realize that in my attempt to do that, you only get to see a small snippet of our lives.
This blog does not reveal everything that goes on in my world.
I am going to share with you some ‘real’ things today because I NEVER, EVER want this blog to be a place that stirs envy in my readers. I NEVER, EVER want my readers to walk away feeling some sort of emptiness because the enemy led you to believe that somehow I’ve got this thing called living all together.
Because I definitely don’t.
To be perfectly honest, life is hard right now.
I told a girlfriend yesterday that lately it just seems like we have had to face one difficult thing after another. Being a mom is the toughest job I have ever had!
The Happy Buddy has been really challenging me as a parent lately. He has been choosing to push the limits more than ever before and by the time I get him in bed, I am literally drained of all energy and questioning whether or not I am cut out for this mothering gig. Not to mention feeling guilty for the moments of weakness where I spoke to him with impatience in my tone or chose to harp on his behavior instead of remember to point him to Jesus.
The Happy Baby is sick… again. He is struggling to keep his food down from having yet another icky cough and therefore is losing precious ounces that we have worked sooo hard to gain. We are sooo thankful that his feeding tube is out, but we still face daily battles and question marks concerning his health.
The Happy Hubby and I are trying to figure out how to train up our boys, get through the busy Christmas season, and still find time for our own personal needs like exercise and date nights.
I am physically exhausted. I truly feel called to this whole pumping thing, but ladies, phew. I am excited for the day when I can go somewhere and I won’t have to pack up my Medela as if it were my third child. All the sanitizing, cleaning, storage, bottling, feeding, etc., etc. is boggling my mind. By the time I am finished, the whole cycle starts all over again. I am fully aware that I could stop at any time, but as tired as I am, I still don’t feel the Lord leading in that direction… yet.
I have even been failing to keep up with Ned! I started the month out with this great desire to do awesome stunts with him every morning – all of them Christ-centered, of course – keepin’ it about Jesus’ birthday, people, 🙂 but our mischievous Ned has been sitting in the same spot for the last 2 days. And what’s hilarious is that the Happy Buddy hasn’t even noticed. He is so excited every morning about the chocolate Advent calendar that Ned brought that he hasn’t been all that interested in Ned himself.
I could list several more things to prove to you how un-perfect I am and how our Happy Home is struggling to make sense of the day-to-day hurdles alongside everybody else, but God gave me a little pocket of truth that I would like to share instead.
When I was holding the Happy Baby last night and the throw up was just pouring out everywhere and I could sense my heart journeying toward despair, I was reminded of Jesus’ mother, Mary.
I was reminded how an angel appeared to her – out of the blue – and told her that she would be the one to carry God’s Son.
We can only imagine what that must have been like – did Mary’s brain immediately start making lists of all the ways she she felt she fell short of the calling, how tired she was, or how would she ever survive all of the ridicule of a pre-wedding pregnancy? Do you think she worried about this child’s future or how His coming might effect her relationship with her fiancé? Do you think she got upset with the Lord for placing a call on her life that inevitably meant things would suddenly get very, very hard?
Maybe.
But the Bible only records what Mary said in response to the angel’s message.
She bowed her head quietly and said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38)
This, my friends, is the reason why God chose her to be Jesus’ mother.
She ‘got it.’
She understood this whole living thing.
She knew that choosing to walk by faith is never easy, but always best.
You can hear the trust in her voice – ringing out like Christmas bells – when she spoke that phrase of ultimate surrender, modeling for the rest of us how to follow God.
“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Yes.
And don’t you love how ready that response was on her lips?
It was like she was well-accustomed to saying, “I am totally and completely God’s. He knows what is best for my life, so whatever He wants – I want. Even if that means I might face difficulty, criticism, pain, wrestle with anxiety for my child’s well-being, or even have to walk through a hard season in my marriage.”
I can imagine she repeated that phrase when the innkeeper turned her and Joseph away and they were led to a dirty stable for her to deliver Jesus.
I can imagine she repeated that phrase when people mocked her for being pregnant before being with Joseph.
I can imagine she repeated this phrase when the angry crowds beat her son, whipping Him and forcing Him to wear a crown of thorns.
I can imagine she repeated this phrase as she watched Him hang on the cross under the weight of the world’s sin.
Oh, how my daily trials seem so minuscule in comparison to Mary’s!
But nevertheless, they are trials all the same.
And I want to make the most of them.
“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
This is how I want to respond whenever the Happy Buddy’s 3-year-old-ness makes me want to run off to Target for therapy.
This is how I want to respond when the uncertainties of the Happy Baby’s health begin to weigh down my heart with fear.
This is how I want to respond when I am tempted to compare my life with another’s via the internet.
This is how I want to respond instead of picking up the phone to complain to a friend.
This is how I want to respond on the days where I would rather throw in the towel come morning when the whole parenting cycle starts all over again.
There is such sweet joy in that kind of surrender, my precious readers.
God hand picks each of us to be Mommies to our Happy Buddies. Wives to our Happy Hubbies. And Women who recognize that, as the angel said to Mary just moments before he left her, “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37).
To live this life under the umbrella of His love is to recognize that our lives belong to Him.
He can do whatever He wants with us – we are His servants.
We must lay it all down and simply rest in the fact that God is good. Whatever He does do with us, we are promised that He will be with us every step of the way.
Mary, when perfectly surrendered to the Lord, had the blessing of being Christ’s mommy. She got to nurse the King of Kings. She got to care for Him and snuggle Him and rock Him to sleep. She got to make sure the Prince of Peace had clothes that fit, food in his tummy, and a roof over His precious head. She got to hold the Messiah when He had a bad cough or runny nose. She got to watch Him grow in favor with God and man. She got to witness His ministry and miracles.
And He took care of her, didn’t He? Right up to the end when on the cross, Jesus provided for his widowed mother’s future by placing her in the hands of John.
“For the Mighty One has done great things for me…” Luke 1:49
So, friends, this Happy Home is imperfect and messy.
I struggle like everyone else to make sense of the daily ups and downs of Mommy-ing.
But what carries me from one minute to the next is not whether or not I can push forward in my own strength or by reading about someone else’s.
It’s that I hold it all before my King with open hands, declaring that I am His, and accepting what He gives in the knowledge that He knows what is best for my life.
Difficulty?
Bring it.
Trial?
Let’s do it.
This is what God is giving me right now.
And I choose to be like Mary.
“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
-Julie 🙂
Amen!!!
Wow! Thank you for being real. And showing how your faith gets you through the yucky parts. And admitting that you compare yourself to others. The funny thing is that sometimes I delete your blog from my inbox if its a craft. Because I don’t want to feel guilty for not doing crafts! Ha! But we each have our gifts and our own ways that God uses us. I first subscribed because I was so inspired by your faith in God with Happy Baby’s health. So keep it up! Keep it real! Share your faith!
So profoud and true! You have such an open, humble, beautiful servant heart. Thank you for sharing it with us and reminding us what’s true in a hectic time. So much love to you & your happy home. Praying for Happy Baby’s health.
Beautiful words, beautiful thoughts. Thank you!
Thank you Julie for your transparency! I pray for the strength to also daily say, “I am the Lords servant, may it be to me as You have said”! Love you my sweet friend!
Thank you so much for this ‘real’ post! You will never know how much your words help me get through the rough days. You are an amazing woman/mother/wife!
Thank you so much for sharing! This was the perfect encouragement to my day after the past 48 hours of kids who won’t sleep,a toddler throwing his lunch on the floor etc.
Exactly what I needed to hear today. I
feel like the Lord had me open my email and read this at such a needed and perfect time;) so thank you for sharing this and being so real. You are a blessing to me and so many others!
Allison Denman
Amen! So true, I will try that also. It can’t hurt
Thanks for keeping it real…..
Thanks for being so real. And, if it makes you feel any better, Ed (our elf), spends days on end in the same location. I have “pinned” a million cute ideas for him on Pinterest yet he sits at the top of the Christmas tree or on the mantel or on the coffee table for multiple days. My kids leave him notes, asking him to move, and still, nothing. Give yourself permission to fall apart, gripe, cry, get irritated, etc. God knows your heart.
Merry Christmas!
So true! I pumped, too, with my first kid and a little with my second. Be encouraged…even though it feels like an eternity, it will end sooner than you think and you’ll feel incredibly lightened because of it. I remember lugging my two kids, luggage and that darn pump with me at the airport, sitting in an airport bathroom trying to keep my son from touching everything, pumping. ugh. But, I’m glad I did it. And the next time I flew? WOW. Talk about no biggie! Still with kids and luggage, but the freedom was amazing.
We ALL have moments of imperfection, and I think you allude to them well on your blog. You have a great balance. Hang in there! Toddler-hood is tough!
Since becoming a mother I have a new respect for Mary and her heart! But I’d like to point out one thing…yes she followed with obedience…but even though she was carrying our Savior, she was still human. I bet that she did have her days of frustration, embarrassment, drain, fatigue, etc etc etc…but A) she continued to put one foot in front of the other and walk in faith, I don’t believe for a second that she didn’t at one point question why she was chosen to be unwed, young, birth in a barn, etc. I bet she was overwhelmed! I mean it was HER job to raise the Son of God! B) God only wrote the things that really needed pointed out in the Word. For instance….it must not have been important to God if/when she grumbled. Just like now when you don’t feel quite on top of your game….that’s not what matters. What matters is that you are still listening to his leading, and doing your best to love on your babies/hubby. Down the line when Happy Baby is no longer needing breast milk…it won’t necessarily matter that you pumped exhaustedly or that you were overwhelmed by his situation…what WILL matter is that you were obedient to God’s call in YOUR life. Thanks for being real with your readers today! God Bless You!
Beautifully put!
Amen! Perfect! And it gives me chills because it’s an answer to what I posted in my blog today – people being real and how that is SUCH a gift. Thank you so much for this post. 🙂
With tears streaming down my cheeks, I am so so grateful for you, Julie. It’s so easy to see only how hard things are, and forget that we are given these trials to make us stronger. My kids are almost the same ages as yours, and we’ve been plagued with health troubles with both. In fact, we just returned from a doctor’s appointment where we found out our six-month-old now has two ear infections, and asthma and will be on a puffer twice daily for a long long time. I know she will be ok, and I know those are minor health issues compared to everything else we’ve dealt with so far. But it made me despair. And now, through you, Christ has called me to back up and let Him take over. Thank you for the reminder. I love love love your blog, and you. God Bless.
Julie you always inspire me and bring joy to my heart with your posts but I think this is the best one you’ve ever written! You just ministered to so many Mama hearts out there! It was like a little fairy angel just flew in and sprinkled some magic comfort dust into our hearts.
As a fellow Mama whose been there, I want to tell you that it’s okay, we all go through those trials with our little ones. Believe it or not, one day when the Happy Buddy is turning into a teenager right before your eyes your gonna think of him at this age. I promise you won’t remember all the trials, you’ll be thinking of that sweet little voice and the way he said Mama, those bouncy little curls, the eyes wide with wonder at it all. You’ll remember how sweet his little head smelled as you hugged him tight. You will not even remember the bedtime wars or the general toddler trials you’re fighting now. And ya know what, you’re gonna wish he was little just a little longer. And you don’t have another 10 years or so before you feel this way either. My kiddo is 9 and I feel it more and more each
day.
I guess raising kids is alot like having them in the first place. Looking back you don’t remember all the morning sickness (all day sickness), or other horrible things that became of your body and mind during pregnancy, you don’t remember the pain of childbirth or those first few weeks or months of up all night, walking dead fatigue. Nope, God instead places the memory of our sweet little ones tiny fingers wrapping around our finger. We think about their little eyes looking up at us with total trust and hold tight to the memory of how their little bodies felt so perfectly nestled in our arms.
Now, it may take longer for the trials to fade for you with the Happy Baby because you are thick in them friend, but trust me, God will make the good outweigh the bad… Just like he did for Mary.
Girl, you just made my cry. Thanks for that sweet response…
Amen! Beautiful words! I have a view of Jesus that shows a real baby, a real toddler, a real little boy. His mother needed to teach him not to touch hot pots, not to run on the stairs, not to stand near Joseph when he was hammering. He may have been incapable of sin but some lessons he needed his mother for. Mothers are needed for all of the frustrating lessons that children need to learn. Hang in there!
Thank you. This means more than you can ever know. I’ll be praying for you.
Julie, Thank you for your honesty. I have to say I have read bloggers and felt green with envy because they seem “perfect”. Then I feel guilty for coveting their blogger persona. I have to say with your I have always felt your honesty come through. I have prayed many nights thanking God for Happy Baby’s progress and more importantly thanking Him for showing me your faithfulness to His plans. I believe it was when you and your husband went out for a “come to Jesus meeting” that I said yes Happy Fairy has those questioning moments just like me. May you and Happy Hubby, Happy Buddy, and Happy Baby have a blessed Christmas. Lucy
A wise mom once told me that the days might last forever, but the years would fly by. So true. At three, I had to practically sit on my strong willed daughter to get her dressed. Now, at age twelve, she is a strong, confident, independent girl. I am so grateful for the strength that God gave her. The early years can be tough. It does get easier though. Thank you for your honest.
Thanks for this post, Julie. And I really appreciate what Leron posted above, too. Our Father knows our weaknesses — He made us with them on purpose so we would recognize our tremendous need to depend on Him…every. moment. of. every. day. Love you, my friend!
What a great piece to share this time of year. Thank you! Sometimes when I get overwhelmed by the lack of space, as an individual, I have, as my 3 (almost 4) year old and my 7 1/2 year old boys still want to sit right next to me (not a nano inch of space!)everywhere I am in the house, or better yet! on my lap. I try (oh how I try!), to think about the fact that this is not how they will always be. I teasure that they treasure me so much, that they want to be as close to me as they can. I treasure their laughs that come so easily from their belly. I treasure the absolute adoration in which they marvel at their mommy and daddy. I gracefully let tears fall during family hugs and at ridiculous times (ie – kleenex commercials, movies, etc) so they know to be real in life. I try and don’t always succeed at being tone-less and not irritated when for the 100th time I have to say privacy! from behind the bathroom door. And I know, my little boys will grow up confident in the love of their parents and that there is no greater gift than the fact that they love me so. It’s truly the best gift to be on the receiving end of a childs love. Happy holiday’s from this mama to you!
Loved today’s blog!
One of my friends shared this technique for changing attitudes – replace “I have to …” with “I get to …”
As in “I get to change diapers.” “I get to go to the meeting this afternoon” “I get to volunteer for the PTA event.”
Such a small change … but it completely flips the perception.
Yvonne, I LOVE that! Thanks!
You’re amazing!! Love this post!
I’ve told you this before…and maybe it’s because I know you (not just your blog, so I don’t feel inadequate when I read)…but I feel so empowered when I’m around you. You make me want to be a better wife and mom. It’s your gift to create a happy home and bless others!!
Also you are at a very hard phase of life!! Two little boys is very hard….that’s without the added stress of Happy Baby’s health. Kids grow up and even at 5, they’re wayyyy easier!
You’re the best!! Loved hearing your heart.
As a retired elementary teacher, wife of almost 40 years, mom of 3 wonderful sons, Grammy and daily babysitter to 3 precious granddaughters, and most importantly Christ follower, I want you to know how much I admire and respect you and your beautiful family. You are an inspiration to so many and always in our prayers. Please don’t be too hard on yourself, you are a superwoman but please take good care of yourself. Life goes by so quickly and you are blessed with your strong faith. Merry Christmas!
Truly a blessing, because it’s a daily release of self to our Savior…..even at 60 while guarding the hearts and lives of my Happy “Grands” and the family that is always dear to my heart. Love your Mary-faith!
Thank you for these words… I needed to hear them, too. God bless you, Julie, for keepin’ it REAL!
Thank you!!!
I am right there with you sister! Thanks for this reminder. It’s SO easy to allow the world to distract us from our desire to be His servant and I am thankful for your blog. Since discovering it in January I’ve been praying for your family and excited to share your nuggets of truth and genius with my family. Thanks for being real, vulnerable and willing to share both the good times and the ones that make it tough to see the good=D
Great message. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this. **hugs**
Oh Julie Julie Julie!!!! Possibly your BEST post ever!!!! (And you know how much I adore all your posts) 😉
I can’t even begin to explain how your words said EXACTLY what I needed to hear at EXACTLY this moment.
Wow!!!! What an INCREDIBLE gift of writing God has blessed you with. And truly a gift from Him that your words and trials you are going through are helping other like me!!!
Thank you for your honesty and humility. You are AMAZING!!!! I love you!!! Xoxoxo
This is without a doubt my favorite blog entry to date. I have often felt inadequate when reading your blog (and others). Some days, it’s all I can do to fed, clothe, and get everyone where they need to be. Forget trying to sprinkle pixe dust and magic into the day! With laundry and sinks overflowing, more often than not I fall into bed defeated at day’s end. I’ve apologized to Ryan that he didn’t marry a crafty woman like his Mom and sister. Thanks for being “real,” and revealing that even the HHF has days that are less than magical. Love you!
Just the right thing to read on a difficult day with my little one… thank you so much and blessings on you and your family!
Thank you!!!! Exactly what I needed today. I am going to post that scripture in my kitchen now! Thank you for all your fun, creative, happy ideas. I LOVE receiving your blog updates!!!!
Julie, please let me recommend a great book So You Want to Raise a Boy by Skousen. My mom used it and loved it and passed it down to me and I used it and loved it. Now I see they are selling a reprint on Amazon. I know you will love it. It gives such peace of mind because when your boy gets another year older every year, you will know what to expect that is common behavior for that age group and you are ready for it with Godly actions and Godly response. Skousen was a former FBI agent that had close to a dozen children of his own, many of them boys. Let me know if you get this and how much you love it.
Thank you for sharing your heart, Julie. It was such an encouragement to me in many ways. Thanks for pointing us back to Jesus. So needed.
I learned long ago, that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors, and that everyone has problems/trials! This post is beautiful (and so are you) and it brought me to tears. Thanks for sharing your testimony, speaking the truth and inspiring me:) I am so grateful for the Savior and cannot even imagine going through this life without Him.
Thank you, the words God placed on your heart to write have reached me today and caused me to think about my own life and views. Thank you
This was a seriously great blessing and was much needed!! Thank you for your honesty. I LOVE reading your blog and have often wondered how you have time to do all those crafts. 🙂 I have two boys, ages 2 1/2 and 1, and we just moved and my husband and i started new jobs. the transition has been hard. i feel the same way at night; tired from work and from trying to talk my 2 1/2 year old in to cooperating with anything!! he’s had a double ear infectino and now my husband has teh flu. it’s been TOUGH!! i fall into bed as soon as i can and the one year old wakes up at all hours and ends up sleeping with us. it’s sO encouraging to read that other people are going through the same thing. Thank you so much again for the post. We are praying for your family and I can’t wait to read your next blog post!!!
Thank you for your ‘realness’ today. While I have always appreciated your positive, hopeful sharing, it is encouraging to hear about your challenges, too. I also love your use of the FP nativity to illustrate your thoughts. Ours set has been a Christmas favorite for many years. Last year my 2 and 4 y.o. granddaughters didn’t want me to pack it away, so the set has been incorporated into our play all year (visualize Jesus riding in the doll car, Mary and ‘Jofus’ in the grand 4th of July parade …). This has been a great expression of the truth that Jesus is an essential part of our daily life, not just on Sundays and at Christmas.
Thanks you so much for your honesty… That was exactly what I needed to hear today. I am going thru my own trials in life right now.. My kids and husband are healthy(praise Jesus) but my sweet dad had a stroke on Thanksgiving day and is now paralyzed. We are bringing him home to live with us on Christmas Eve. It is a blessing that we still have him but now our whole life has changed. At times I feel like I can’t keep going from the exhaustion of working, being a mother of 3, wife and driving an hour one way to see my dad each day. The only way I am doing it all is with GOD’S help. He has helped me as well as my dad thru this whole ordeal.. There are times when I feel so alone cause everyone else around me keeps on living their lives when I feel like mine has stopped. So, this morning when I read your blog it put me back into reality that everyone is going thru their own trials in life and we just have to keep on praying for GOD’S help and know he will provide what we need.. The words I live by are GOD WILL NOT PUT MORE ON ME THAN I CAN HANDLE…so with that said I thank you for honesty and I will pray for your family.. Merry Christmas
Oh thank goodness I’m not the only one who neglects their elf, lol! I love your blog and for the record I have never felt like you make everything look easy. You are one of my favorite bloggers and I feel like you are upfront when things are not perfect but you don’t dwell on it, which is nice. 🙂
As a fellow NICU mom my heart breaks for you. My now-2-yo weighs less than 20 lbs and I understand the ache you’re feeling, it’s the same one I feel when my baby loses even an ounce.
As a non-christian I find your faith very inspirational. I’ve turned away from some Christian mom bloggers because they’ve made me feel like I’m not a part of the audience they are intending to reach with they way they write about non-believers but your blog has never made me feel that way. Instead I am in awe of how well you evangelize your faith and the strength that you draw from it.
I hope your day has been bright and I look forward to reading more from you.
Thank you Julie for being real. Have a wonderful Christmas. Miss you
Julie
Well said my friend!
I guess I’m just saying what everyone else has already commented, but thank you so much for this post. Julie. Since high school, you have always seemed to me to be the most perfect person, who had life, love, career, and motherhood all figured out! (While I feel like I’m treading water in a sea of dirty diapers, laundry, and a crying 4-month-old.) You are still a pretty amazing person, even if Ned has been a little neglected lately. But this post, which was such a blessing to me, reminded me that there are some people who probably look at me the same way, and I need to be not afraid to let my guard down and be real. Thank you for being a sanctifying instrument in the Lord’s hand, my friend!
Beautifully written.
Best. Post. Ever. Keep it real. Sometimes. :). From an overwhelmed Mom of 5
I cried when I read this post! You are wonderful to do this blog! I happened upon your blog one day and I decided to follow it. I don’t think it was a coincidence! Thank you!
I LOVE your post – especially when, through my own tiredness, I thought it said you had been falling asleep with Ned! I thought Ned was the dog, then realized it was your elf and that you were just behind with his antics. Coffee just came out my nose laughing at my own mistake. Thank you for reminding us we are all human and trying to figure it out.
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This post was awesome. I want you to know that in the past, I have deleted some blogs from my “favorites” list because some of those women made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. Your blog has never made me feel that way. As a matter of fact, I am certain that God has brought you and your creative ideas into my home to make it happier! We ALL need God’s grace and thankfully His mercies ARE new every morning! We are never alone 🙂 Keep up the great work!
Hello
I hope you do not mind me sending you an email instead of adding to the comments but I really wanted to share with you and thought this was a better way
I have followed your blog for a long time and love it. Since your Happy Baby was born I have read each word you have wrote and then most days had a good cry…as I have really been in your shoes. I know really know the aches and the pains and the amazing joys and blessings that all come at the same time and it is so hard sometimes to know which is which as they all wrapped in one little boy. My heart hurts for you and wanted you to know a bit of our story
I had a daughter a bit older then your Happy Buddy when my son was born. He was very early (26 weeks) and no one thought he would live more then a few hours. God had plans for our son and he had plans for us. Our son lived and for the next 5 months that was in the hospital with many returns in the years to come. So much of your road is so close to the road I walked that I can find myself often knowing what is going to happen next when I open your blog to read it.
I have shared all this to tell you that we have been holding your family in prayer for a long time, that with God’s grace you will find the strength to keep doing what you are doing. I know how tired you are, how hard it is to pump and some days how hard it is not to give up something…but you keep going.
Our son we found had acute reflux even after all the medications and all the tube feeding. We had a Nissen fundoplication (wrap in his tummy so nothing could come back up) done when he was 8 months old (his weight at that point was 11.4 lbs) had it redone 4 times over the next few years he also has missing parts of is IGG and IGA which only added to the colds …..anything anyone else had he got twice as hard. We prayed for leading and then did as we felt lead…even when others did not understand or thought it was wrong. We spent almost two years wondering what was wrong before we found his missing IGG sub 2, 3 and 4
I have told you all this so I could tell you that our son is about to 30!!!! Yes 30..the big 30…. It was a long road and that is a road I would walk again 100 times. God is faithful and He has great plans for you and your family. When I look back I always see Him carrying us as there is no way we could have done it on our own. So many questions were always there and so much was unknown for so very long.
My heart goes out to you when I read post like today. I wish I could sit and have a cup of coffee with you, could care for your sons while you just took a long bath or read for an hour…..so I am sending you love from one mother to another to tell you we are praying for you.
To remind you to always look up. God has given you a very special child…. not everyone is given such a gift to care for. He picked this child for you and your husband because He knew you would be faithful and you would see the gift he has given you. In the worst days and the best days you take the time to see the gift…..that is something few parents get to do. You have been so blessed from this child and he has already touched so many other lives as you share his story and your family story on your blog.
I pray someday you will look back when your son is turning 30 and you can smile saying it was a long road…..and be thankful that you never had to walk it alone. that you would do it again..that you were carried by our Lord during these days and know that you are always covered in prayers from people you will never know.
He always had a plan for us…a plan for good Jer 29:11
God’s blessing of peace and love to you and your family.
Carol
Yes it is Jan. 5th and I am just now reading this post. I sat down today to clean up my inbox of all the “junk” from the Christmas season. I always save your posts to read when I have a moment and hope of doing some cute craft with my kids. As I read and saved many of the posts thinking, “how cute, I wish I had done that for my kids!”… I felt as if I hadnt spent enough time with them or done enough things with them. Then I came across this post. I have to admit that many times I delete posts like this because I feel that I don’t want to compare myself to moms who “have it all together” with their great ideas and perfect organization. But for some reason I read the entire post and WOW! This came to me at the perfect time and made me realize that it’s not about being the perfect mom. God chose each of us to be a mom to our wonderful children for a reason just as he chose Mary. He has a plan for us all and knows what we can handle. Some days all I want to do is crawl into the closet and hide hoping that no one will find me and I can be free of my “duties” for a little while but that’s not what God intended for us. He wants us to work thru our troubles and be reminded that He is behind us, cheering us on, loving us unconditionally and knowing we will succeed if we follow Him. Thank you for reminding all of us that we were chosen as mothers for a reason! You are an inspiration to all mothers!
God bless you and your happy family!
Michelle