being mom

this is going to sound a little weird but i love being mom way more than i thought i would. i wasn't the girl that babysat all the time or even liked kids all that much. the joke for a long time was my baby sister was to blame - she is 12 years younger than i am so i had a very clear picture of what having a child was like.

part of my fear about being mom was leaving "the workforce". [some of you are thinking - you didn't have to the leave the workforce and you are correct. i actually still do a little work and hope to add in a little more at a later time but my main "job" and focus is david.] i have worked since i was 14 years old and loved every minute. i think God designed me this way but i would be amiss if i didn't thank my parents for instilling such a strong work ethic in me. so the fear was two fold - 1. i enjoyed working with my clients 2. i had no idea how to "be mom"

we have been home with david for 2 months this week and it has been incredible. i have a front row seat in teaching him and watching him learn new things, try and fail different tasks, comfort the alligator tears, and the list goes on and on. casey and i knew when we began this journey of adoption that i needed to stay home. 1. it seemed a little weird that we would raise all that money and wait two years to bring him home only to put him in a daycare 2. we kept thinking about Deuteronomy 6.4-9

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

this isn't something to take lightly. raising david to become a man of God, full of integrity and passionate about His Kindgom is huge. thankfully God is the one that stirs hearts to his but that does not take away our responsibility as followers and as david's parents to impress on him who God is and what he is about. the gift of being mom is much greater and richer than i could have imagined.

note from casey:
for those that know casey you will laugh at this statement i received just a few nights ago - "you are a better mom than i thought you would be". i laughed because it was funny to receive such a backhanded complement but more because i was thinking the same thing.