And today the 14 year old becomes a 15 year old.  Where has the time gone?  He’s been studying for his driver’s permit.  But I can remember when….

I prayed and prayed I was having a boy.  I was afraid of dealing with girl drama.  When the ultra sound tech confirmed my wish, I cried.  I was in labor all night and didn’t know it.  Then in the morning when I started having contractions, I really did know it.  I thought to myself, how cool would it be if he was born on his Uncle Nick’s birthday!  By that evening, that thought was a reality.

Labor…is exactly what they call it for a reason.  But the first time I held him I thought to myself, wow!  I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!  I was scared to sleep the first week.  Then one night I sat straight up in bed so hard and fast that I woke up my ex husband, too.  I heard something in my sleep and didn’t know I had.  Then I heard something coming from the crib.  He had rolled onto his back and spit up and was choking quietly.  Thank you, Lord, for small miracles!

I always wanted to be there so he would know without a doubt he was loved.  But I thought my mother would freak out the day I purposefully poked him with a sewing pin to teach him a lesson about playing with her pin cushion.  I figured the best way to teach him the lesson of leaving it alone-after the 100th time of catching him sitting in a pile on needles-was to prick his hand and let him know why he shouldn’t play with them!  We never found him in needles again after that.

We have made it through being hit by a drunk driver, a divorce, the first day of school, the first day of middle school, homeschooling, the beginnings of adolescence, the first day of high school and now preparing for a driver’s permit.  My precious little boy who started out 23 inches long and 7 lbs 8.5 oz has grown into a 5′ 6″, 256 lb brick wall on the football field.  And heaven help me but he’s STILL GROWING!

He has been the best thing about my life.  And thank God I have had nothing to do with it for the most part.  I am just a guide.  I gave him to the Lord a long time ago because I know what a mess I am.  Even in parenting God can do mighty things with the most humble of materials.  I am amazed as I watch him grow into the man God is shaping him to be.

I am grateful for every moment I have been blessed with this precious gift from heaven.  Why God would entrust me with the charge and care of something so miraculous I will never understand.  But I will spend all my days trying to help him recognize the ways of God in his life.  And remember to thank God every moment for His smallest and greatest blessing…