The change.

No, I'm not going through menopause...but, my child is starting school tomorrow.  How did this happen?  How can 4 1/2 years pass by so quickly?  I imagine I am not new to these feelings of seeing your little ones grow up.  I just sent Scotty and Natty off to a superbowl party while I sit at home with a sleeping baby and a nasty cold.  It feels very final.  Natty will come home from the party, go to sleep, and wake up in the morning to get ready for school.  That's it.  No more, what do you want to play this morning?  Will you come to the market with me?  Do you want to help me in the kitchen?  Now it will be, see you after school!  Be kind to the other kids.  Do you remember how to tell the teacher in Spanish if you need to go to the bathroom?  What is it that makes us not want changes, new phases?  Natty's little life has been a greater joy to us than we could have imagined and challenged me as a woman and mother and daughter of God in so many ways.  But, instead of appreciating this time, I just wonder if I played with her enough, if I really listened, if I stopped enough to show her that what she was saying was important to me.  My plea of the Lord is that I will be thankful for every moment I have and look forward to the promises that come in every new phase.  Of course it's natural to mourn that they will never be so very little and dependent on you in the same way- but there must be so much fun to come!  I think I need this little prod to remind me to take advantage of every moment with my children and not be so easily distracted by other things, because life is short.  What a gift to be responsible for steering our little ones down the right path in life.  So humbling to be on the same journey with them and to practice forgiveness as we both stumble.  I'm proud of my sweet Natalie.  She is maturing into a wonderful, creative, thoughtful, empathetic little girl and I can only thank my God that He has given me the grace and privilege of being her mother.