My kids.  Oh how I treasure them...

Sometimes, I wish others could see what I see in them.  Or know what I know of them.

Like how my very quiet and shy daughter wakes up early every single day so that she can help with housework.  What she doesn't finish in the morning, she takes care of when she gets home from school.  No one knows this, because she never complains about it.  To her, it's simply a humble, loving service to her mother.

Like how my outgoing, charming son reaches for my hand every time we're walking somewhere together.  He's taken on mocking stares and has had comments thrown his way for it.  "Mama's boy" and assorted jokes about how he should "be a man".  He doesn't care.  He smiles at me, reaches out and says, "gimme that hand".  It's not that some of those comments don't sting a little...it's just that he puts me before himself.

What I see in my kids is resiliency, strength, and perseverance.

They've seen me fall.  Bad.  They've witnessed the nasty reactions to my shots.  They've watched me go through flares.  They've wondered why I was blinking repeatedly and not realized it was all because I couldn't see them very well.  They've experienced my intense struggles with knock down/drag out migraines.  They've heard me sliding myself down the stairs in the middle of the night in the attempts to drive myself to the ER.

What I know of my kids is their compassion and their strong faith in the Lord.

Because each time they've seen me fall, they've come to see if I was alright. Each time they saw me flat on my back after taking a shot, they sat with me in support.  Each time I've come down with a migraine, they've tucked me into bed.  My son even gave me his most prized, stuffed dinosaur from his days of toddlerhood during a particularly nasty migraine.  It's name is "The Headache Dinosaur" and it takes away my pain.  Why?  Because my son said it does.  That's why.  And, as he places my Headache Dinosaur next to me with each headache, he always says, "God will get you through this..."

Sometimes, others do catch a glimpse of what I see in them.  What I know of them.

Like when someone tells me about a beautiful lesson my daughter prepared for discussion during a chapel event at school.  And how she has chosen specific scriptures to share with her classmates as reminders of God's love and faithfulness.

:::I cry:::

Like when a coach tells us that our son was referred to as "everybody's favorite player" during his hockey draft.  And his skills are not at all what they're referring to.  Or how a mother of an opposing, female soccer player tells me that my son is a gentleman, because he softened his play as they both battled for the ball.

:::I cry:::

Because that.  That is the kind of man we are striving to raise.  Let's face it, the recreational soccer league is really just not that important in the grand scheme of life.  The way he conducts himself is.


Keep shining the light of Christ in all you do, kids.  Do it all to His glory.  No matter what this crazy life throws at you...at all of us in this family...at anyone who may come across this silly post..."God will get you through this".  Whatever "this" may be.

He's got it.  He never fails.  Never.