Here's Real Life...

"It happens before you know it... the handprints  get higher and higher, then suddenly - they disappear."




You conceive, you patiently wait nine months (give or take), you get up at 2am to feed and diaper change, you kiss their boo boo's, you bake cookies for their class, you give advice, you scold,  you teach, you hug, you kiss, you transport to numerous sporting events, you are there when they are let down, when their hearts get broken, when their car is broken, when they just need a shoulder to cry on, and eventually, all too soon, they are grown and gone. I dropped my oldest baby off at college on Saturday and leaving him there was the hardest thing to do.  He is 7 1/2 years older than our next one, so he has become a friend.  He was our "right hand" man. He is BUBBA to our other three, which translates to hero, friend, playmate, comforter... He is SO missed right now. But that is part of life. You have babies and before you are ready those babies grow up to be men and women and you really hope that you have taught them all they need to know. But even if you feel like you weren't finished with them, God is never finished with them and will continue to shape and grow them long after they leave your nest. We will adjust to life around here without our Bubba, and in the same way he has to get used to living without his 5 other family members, and with a roommate and 6 other suite-mates. He adjusts well to change, he always has, that, among many other things is a Gift that he has been given from his Creator. So until next time... I will be trying to cut down my crying for him to only once a day or less. I will be training my younger children to do the things that he usually did. And... I. will. survive. With God's help.