It would be really great--and it would make this counselor heart so very happy--if we could have a universal, required-for-adulthood training on boundaries.
When HELPING becomes HINDERING
When I'm not there to protect her
We want everything good for our kids, and as a parent you discover pretty early on that you'll do almost anything to make your child laugh and to see her happy. The simplest and best way I know to do that is to lift our daughter up to the God who created her and ask Him to protect her, to guide her, to love her, and to help her love Him. Then, and only then, do we feel a little better about sending our baby beyond ourselves.
Is it worth what?
The other day I traveled through airports with my daughter, just the two of us. It was not what I'd call a fun day. She'll be 2 in July so it was a lot of this way and that, a lot of NO (from both of us, ha!), and squirrelly-ness galore. I cried a couple times. And I thought about my feelings about that phrase, 'but they're worth it'.
My Joy Compounds When I Clean My House
I like picking up the mess in my house because it reminds me of the LIFE in my house. A military house can get so quiet, we learn to appreciate the noise when they're around. There have been plenty of times when my house was lonely. Add in the fact that I almost didn't live to see this life I'm living, and the position of gratitude goes without saying. So now that I get to live my life with a spunky, sometimes-spastic toddler, a nervous-Nelly pup, and a big kid trapped inside a man's body, why would I complain? Why would I wish away this stage just to hit the next? Doesn't it all go fast enough?