September 9

Every time I see a mom lamenting her kids' growth and development --"oh gosh, just stop growing up already!"-- I quietly (okay, well, sometimes not-so-quietly) shake my head. It's a huge blessing to watch every second of my kids' lives because I've learned the very hard way that the old cliche is 100% truth: every single nanosecond is a gift. So today, I decided to recognize a mundane moment from this morning.

It's Isaac and his good buddy T (on the left) flanked by Brady. Now this scene is a blessing in so many ways that they're hard to count, but I'll try. It's a blessing because it's amazing to think that Isaac is already a first-grader. It's a blessing because despite my many failings as a parent, he's a sweet, kind-hearted kid who is well-liked by his peers. It's a blessing because he has a really great friend in T. And it's a blessing because the two big boys took no issue with the little boy joining in on their fun.

It can be bittersweet to see them getting bigger; it's hard, at times, to accept that they need me less and less as time passes. But it's also amazing to see them becoming the bigger people that God designed them to be.