When my oldest daughter Bekah was 3 (she is almost 11 now), she had to have tubes put in her ears. “Oh no!” we thought. “Surgery.” For her trip to the hospital, we got her new slippers and jammies,a blanky and a stuffed animal. I made sure to bathe her the night before and do her hair etc. I am sure we bought movies, and coloring books for her at home. We even flew my mom into town to watch her baby sister during the “surgery”. Needless to say it was a big deal in our house. Well,as some of you probably know, the ear tube surgery takes about ten minutes and the kid is back up and running when you get home. we laugh at ourselves now with four children and how we obsessed in every way over our first little one.
flash forward 7 years and three more kiddos: This past week my little Dave Dave who is just 3 had to have not only tubes put in his ears but have his adenoids removed. It was kind of a big deal as he has been so sick off and on his whole 3 years. I can’t tell you how many antibiotics he has been on in his little life it is scary!! ( that is another soap box of mine for anther blog!!) Anyway, “Poor number Four” as we say in our house. David’s surgery was at 8am on Wednesday. At 7:30 ( ok 7:35) I went up and “swooped” him out of bed. He is recently potty trained and sleeps in pajama pants but no undies. I purposely waited that long because he is always very hungry when he wakes up and VERY grumpy when he is hungry( like his Daddy!) so to avoid being verbally abused by my hungry 3 yr old, I waited. Then I threw a sweatshirt and flip flops on the dirty little guy with bad breath and we were out the door. When we arrived a tad late they whisked us into the pre-op room and said. “Have him take everything off but his undies and socks!”…. Uh…hu…hu…hee…heee..dowp….”can i get one of those gowns perhaps?” As the nurse smiled (judgmentally?) she handed me a gown. I am sure there was some nurse back there somewhere judging me. I can just hear it now, “What kind of mother doesn’t put underwear on her child? Or socks when they are going to the hospital?” (Isn’t that like a commandment or something? Aren’t I supposed to make sure they HAVE underwear on in case they wind up at the hospital accidentally?) “Doesn’t she know better?”
Yes I do know better… but with poor # 4, there are just somethings that don’t really matter to me anymore.
I have heard it said, that with the first child, if the pacifier fell on the ground, you boil it. The second child, you run it under the faucet. By the third child, you look around to see who’s looking, pop in in your mouth to clean it, and back in the baby’s mouth it goes. YOU know it is true. I have learned that their clothes don’t need to always match and they don’t need to take a bath every night. I have learn that it is ok for the baby to miss a nap every now and then and what the baby sitter fed them will do just fine.
But when I find my self not caring about the things that DO matter, that is when I stop and pray. I have 2 girls, a 4 year gap, and then 2 boys. Sometimes in my selfishness, I grow weary of doing the same things over and over again. sometimes I think, “I don’t want to read to anyone anymore! I don’t want to play army men right now, because I have been playing barbies for 8 years. I am done throwing the ball, coloring, and giving horsey rides! DONE! Oh and I am changing my name to anything other than, ‘Hey Mom?”
Then I look at my little punkins with their shiny faces and I think what a blessing they are and how privileged I am to be their mother. They deserve the very best I have to give them and when I am not at my best there is a place I can go to rest, refuel, and regroup, and that is only in the presence of God where I am encouraged by His word. It is there that I am transformed into the woman and mother that I know he has called me to be.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not lose heart in going good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
Mathew 11:28 “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble of heart. and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light.
2 Thessalonians 1:11 To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power in order that the name of Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This past week my 4 year old read his first sentence. This is a huge deal to me as I am a grammar geek and creative writing enthusiast!! I spun him around around by his hands while his feet dangled in the air behind him, sheer joy on his face and laughter in the air! My 3 year old has said goodbye to diapers! I celebrated closing a chapter on 10 years of diapering children. My 8 year old was at a brownie camp out this weekend, and the house seemed so empty without her bubbly quirkiness. I look upon my 11 year old daughter and can’t believe the woman she is becoming. I am humbled that God has allowed me to be their mother. Although some things seem mundane and routine, like groundhog day over and over again. there are other things that I never tire of; the laughter of a child being one of them. I pray that God would always count me worthy of this calling, and that Jesus would be glorified.
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