Savor the season

Our family has had several blessings lately. We welcomed three new beautiful little baby boys within just a few weeks. My sisters and their husbands entered into the wonderful world of parenting. The ups and downs, the highs and lows, the worries and the wonders. I was reflecting on this at a recent family picnic. As my sister-in-law and I were washing dishes and cleaning dirty chins after chasing down our little ones, I told her that I thought we had it easy in comparison to the newbies. She laughed and agreed. We have been there. We have suffered sleepless nights and bottles and diapers but now our lives are different and those times seem so distant.

With summer here I find myself savoring the sweetness of the season. I am loving hanging with my boys. One of my big worries is that the time will go too fast. I want to enjoy each day and very opportunity. Parker and Carter still love each other and they like us! We can have dinners without electronics, watch the Pirates, and play backyard ball. I feel like it is such a special time in our life. It's not that life is perfect, it is just that I know that seasons change and circumstances do too. I don't have to look far back in our past to see tougher times. I can well remember the sleepless nights. I know what being tired is and how to survive on coffee and goldfish. I have prayed through shots, through surgery, through school days and beyond. I can remember waiting for test results and wishing they were wrong. I have watched cartoons with no point and actually enjoyed them because no thought was required. I have snuck away to cry in the laundry room because I am sometimes alone in there and I have learned to never close the door when peeing. We have struggled through the sadness, sickness, diagnosises, and so much more and I know that there will be difficult times to come. I realize also, though, that today is good and so I am going to run with it. I am going to live up this moment. I am going to make memories, ride bikes, play ball, and savor the season that we are in.

That is really what life is about. It is about realizing that time comes and goes. We control so very little but we can control our attitudes. I don't think that we will always understand why we go through the tough times but we can know that they won't last forever. We can trust in change, sometimes good and sometimes not, but always on the horizon. We can wake up each day thankful for whatever it brings and, at times, grateful that the day before is over. I want to enjoy the sweetness when it comes so that I am ready for the struggles. I want to savor each season for whatever it brings.