It’s been ten months since the baby was born, and it still blows
my mind every time I reflect on the fact that I have three children.
Three! I know to some people that doesn’t seem like much, and to others
it sounds like too many– but for me, it’s so perfect. It doesn’t seem
like too many years ago that we had one child, with no plans to have
more. Our oldest son was six years old when our second was born. While I
was still pregnant with our second, I had an undeniably strong gut
feeling that there would be a third. But by the time our second son was
two, I’d convinced myself that my “gut feeling” had just been a
pregnancy-hormone-induced hallucination… until that unmistakably
positive test on April Fool’s Day of last year.
Now the baby will be a year old before I can even blink, and the middle is nearly four, and the oldest is ten. We are speeding through time so fast, the baby walks, the preschooler makes his own bowls of cereal and tells me I’m his “hewo,” the oldest is officially a tween and is inches away from surpassing me in height.
It isn’t always easy, of course. The first weeks (months, even) of having three kids were a blur of exhausted emotions. Life had been shaken up, and we had to settle into a new normal. (With five people, that takes some time!) And all along the way, we are facing the challenges typical of each age and stage, along with other challenges that are unique to our circumstances. Some days I fail epically at being the kind of mother I strive to be: patience wears thin, unkind words spill out, and my hands come up empty even as I grasp for gentleness. Those days have been a profound reminder of the unending, unmerited forgiveness, grace, and patience God has for me.
But through it all, I look at these boys with awe– their unique strengths and personalities, each of them artful representations of their Creator. They are compassionate, generous, joyful, thoughtful, intelligent, curious, persistent. I am so blessed to have these amazing people in my life, teaching me as I teach them, stretching me in ways I never thought possible, moving me toward a deeper understanding of God’s love.
Now the baby will be a year old before I can even blink, and the middle is nearly four, and the oldest is ten. We are speeding through time so fast, the baby walks, the preschooler makes his own bowls of cereal and tells me I’m his “hewo,” the oldest is officially a tween and is inches away from surpassing me in height.
It isn’t always easy, of course. The first weeks (months, even) of having three kids were a blur of exhausted emotions. Life had been shaken up, and we had to settle into a new normal. (With five people, that takes some time!) And all along the way, we are facing the challenges typical of each age and stage, along with other challenges that are unique to our circumstances. Some days I fail epically at being the kind of mother I strive to be: patience wears thin, unkind words spill out, and my hands come up empty even as I grasp for gentleness. Those days have been a profound reminder of the unending, unmerited forgiveness, grace, and patience God has for me.
But through it all, I look at these boys with awe– their unique strengths and personalities, each of them artful representations of their Creator. They are compassionate, generous, joyful, thoughtful, intelligent, curious, persistent. I am so blessed to have these amazing people in my life, teaching me as I teach them, stretching me in ways I never thought possible, moving me toward a deeper understanding of God’s love.
