A blast from the past

I was looking through my archives and came upon this. I had forgotten I wrote this, that I was feeling this two years ago. Now the 5 year old is a seven year old and has many missing teeth. And she is tall. And my oldest boy is taller than me and sounds like his dad, and praise God, still gives me great hugs. And I could go on, but I won't. I just wanted to say this again, because it is still true.

My children continue to expand my heart in so many ways. I am constantly overwhelmed with the magnitude of their existence, their eternal souls, their unique individuality and the secret desires of their hearts. I feel ill-equipt to be their guide during these very important years, and yet that is my life now. I guess I can either live in fear of messing it all up, or just love them to the best of my abilities, and not be afraid to do the hard things necessary to see this through.

Yesterday my newly 6 year old daughter ran to me, squealing with delight. "Mommy! Mommy! I have a loose tooth!" As the fifth child in the family, she has seen many go before her in this rite of passage, and has looked forward to this day with great anticipation. It always seemed a long way off to me. And now here it is. My fifth child is loosing her baby teeth. Only two more children to go, and the tooth fairy retires. Again, what a paradox for me. To share the excitement of my children as they pass the milestones of growing up, growing away, and then hold the sadness quietly inside me as I loose them just a little bit more each day. *sigh* Motherhood isn't for sissies, I say. It just isn't.