Milestones

For years Husband and I have wanted to join the adult volleyball league at church.  We have a few friends who play, and it sounds like so much fun.  We've never been able to, though, because it would require us to hire sitters for an hour and a half every Saturday night.  It would have bankrupted us.  Plus, when we moved out here to the farm, the drive to get a sitter would have just been a pain.  Well, the time has come.  Our oldest is of babysitting age. 
I have never been more worried about my children as when we pulled out of the driveway, leaving the 12 year old in charge of his 5 siblings.  Granted, we had already put the two little ones down for the night.  We had made the expectations completely clear to the rest of the kids before we walked out the door.  They had all the phone numbers they could possibly need.  The doors were locked.  The dogs were on alert.  And yet, every horrible scenario went through my head in the 30 second trip down the drive.  I only let myself call home once, and when we got home, of course everything was fine.  They are good kids, and they were ready for this.  It doesn't mean I like my children growing up.

My job as a mom is to raise my children to be independent, confident, responsible, generous, and happy.  From the day the oldest was born, I have kept this in mind.  Regardless of the fact that I hate to see them grow independent of me, that is what God wants.  They are not mine to keep under my wing for their entire lives.  With each milestone, from taking first steps, heading off to school, or staying home alone, I have to encourage them and be excited with them, because they certainly are excited.  They are doing what they were born to do.  By helping them do this, so am I. 

By the way, we had a blast playing volleyball.  Their growing up does have some perks.




our six little darlings-one year ago