Cheers!

This picture of Kaitlyn was taken at my in-laws' home in December. She seems so grown up in it!

It makes me think of the future, of days to come when me and my girls will sit over coffee and talk and dream and laugh. I hope and pray we are always close, my kids and I.

I know it's normal to eagerly anticipate our children growing up so they can be more independent, so we can move on in life, do our own thing again. But I wonder if in some ways, kids never stop needing their parents...they just need them in different ways. I don't change Anna's diapers anymore, for example, but I spend lots of time answering her questions and encouraging her and guiding her.

Lately I've been thinking about the teen years in a child's life, and what they might need from a mother and father. In some ways I think teenagers need their moms and dads more than ever, but yeah, in very different ways. You need to be available, but not smothering. Interested, but not annoying. And it seems like you probably need to have a thick skin, because if my teens are anything like I was, they won't always be nice to me. (Nor I to them.)

Basically I want to cherish and pour into each and every stage in my childrens' lives. I'm thinking it'll be draining and challenging, but also really amazing and fulfilling. So for now we enjoy conversation over milk in sippy cups, but also look forward to chatting over coffee and scones.

To that I say, cheers!