My Babygirl is 11! Man, oh man where did the time go?

Well I just have to say that she was bouncing off the walls ALL DAY!  I even told her to tone down the obnoxiousness just a tad!  But in my heart I have been in a funk this week.  Understandably with all the tragic events of the last month, let alone the last few days, but for my oldest child to be turning 11 is just too much to fathom!  She will be graduating and leaving home in just 7 short years!  Oh my, gaining my composure again... I do, however, realize, especially after watching TV a little today what an absolute blessing each and every child is and that we take all of these things for granted.  Each moment we put them off to do something "more important", really, what IS more important.  I really made myself stop and think and remember what I once heard a preacher say to me on a parent seminar CD... "don't tell your kids what is most important to you, show them!"  I mean REALLY, we all KNOW that, but I have to make more of a conscious effort to show them.  I want them to see me light up when they walk in a room.  I want them to know that it makes my day to be able to drop them off at school and wish them well every morning, and greet them every afternoon as I pick them up with an outstretched hand to hold or hug and ask how their day was.  And to be the last one that sees them and hugs them as they say their prayers at night and right before they drift off to dream.  Those moments God placed in my life to bind me to my children.  Not just the moments they make us proud, and there are many of those, but also the ones where sometimes they don't.  Because those are the times we can teach them and sometimes they actually teach us!  Snuggling my babies at any age has  been the closest to whole I have ever felt.  They drive me crazy, we all know that kids know which buttons to push in us and their siblings, but I am missing something when they aren't with me.  And I begin to think, that is the kind of love  our Father has for us. And even greater!  How amazing that is!  And how we cast that relationship aside so often... Yes, my Lord is amazing and I am so grateful that not only did He give me life but He put  me on this Earth to be a mother to these two precious children, who put the light in my day.  I can't imagine having a harder, more painful, exhausting, and more fulfilling job in my entire life! 
And on this day, I pray for those who are having to live the rest of their lives without one of their children because of the tragedy in Oklahoma yesterday.  God has a plan and all will work out for His glory and honor but I am sure that breaks a heart like no one can even imagine, in fact I can't really think about it too long or I would myself crumble into a ball of tears.
So, as I write this post tonight I just want to send this out there to whomever reads it... I am SO amazed at how a little (now) 11 year old girl can have a faith that almost everyone in her life can see radiates through her and shows each day WHO she is and WHO's she is!  I am not saying she doesn't make mistakes, as her mom I can attest to many.  But she truly has a heart of gold, a soul full of compassion, and a life lived for Christ!  Wish I could look back and see my choices made by how pleased God would have been with me when I was her age.  She witnesses and convicts me often, and of that I am eternally grateful to Him!  I pray God continues to lead, guide, and reveal to her the purpose for which He put her on this Earth.  Because of one thing I am sure, it will be nothing short of amazing!
Hug all your babies tonight and thank our Lord for that opportunity He gave you to be a parent and disciple to those babies! I know I sure am!

**Thank you Roby Anz for your kind comments about my blog posts.  You inspired me, sorry it took me so long to be able to sit down and do it!

One of my favorite pictures of us - sorry terrible picture of a picture with my phone :(

May 21, 2013 - 11 years old