crazy life? yes, please!

i am almost constantly reminded how completely crazy my life is.  

nearly as often, i am reminded how crazy blessed my life is, too!

i was at therapy for one of my kids yesterday - going thru a really fun intake process - and the therapist was asking questions for a test.  "does your child routinely break house rules such as: no running in the house or jumping on the furniture?"

ok...

those aren't house rules for us. (although, i certainly can and do ask them to stop when it gets dangerous! hello?!  i am a good mom!)

actually, i can remember when they were.  but, something happened sometime over the past 6 years that made me rethink things.  rules like "don't run in the house!" lost precedence to rules like "if you feel sad and you don't know why, come ask mommy to hold you and i promise i will stop and scoop you up to snuggle."

i gotta tell ya, i generally feel pretty good about our parenting style.  not "i am SO awesome!", but more like "these kids need a style of parenting that looks different than what we did with ash and austin."  but, yesterday...  i started to doubt again.

am i giving these kids what they need?  am i giving them enough structure?  am i balancing that with enough freedom to explore and catch up developmentally?

then god - because he is so good and so faithful - reminds me...

yes, it's crazy.  but, when he knit these 6 kids together, he was creating them for this family.  a family where a game of hide and seek or volleyball with a balloon during lake iguana (i'll share that story later!) or dinner being 15 minutes late because someone needed snuggles is normal.  

thank you, jesus, for creating these kids for me.  help me learn to always seek you as i parent them, for your glory!  help me to rest in your good plan for their lives and for mine...