Janet Limitho
Chayah Ministry's House Mother
Uganda
We’ll
Never Be The Same
From the moment our children are placed in our arms
We’ll never be the same
In an instant our dogs become animals again
and lines in
the freshly vacuumed carpet disappear
We may long for a carefree time we once had...
but cannot take
our eyes from
our baby’s face long enough to clear time in the calendar
Blow dried hair-dos are exchanged for a quick messy bun
and
we don’t even care where the makeup bag is for months
Darling outfits with matching accessories now fill the
NURSERY and
we proudly parade our adorned babies out in the world
while wearing our sweats ... and a college t shirt, ...
which may
or may not have also been last night’s pajamas
We are exhausted like we have never known it before
And one day runs into the next and are each exactly the same
And seem like a never ending cycle…
except that
feedings and burping, diapers and crying
turn into
Play dates and park days and a hand-print-shaped... paper flower mother’s day gift
Then one day during the time it took to bring home
groceries… The ABC song became reading...
and counting turned into
adding...
and brushing teeth and bed making were suddenly
chores...
which turned into a weekly
allowance
We cheered when the training wheels came off
and then blinked back the tears
when their success took
them all the way to the end of the block
As they learned new things for themselves
we learned new
things about our own selves.
Cutting in line in front of my child will NOT go
unaddressed,
if your bathing suit is too
skimpy for his tender eyes,
I will have to
ask you to cover yourself,
If you swear within earshot of my child, I’ll suggest you refrain
which
as you can see by my mama bear posture and face,
is not even close to a
suggestion at all.
We learn that the moment they are born we will fight for
them
risking complete humiliation if necessary,
die for them if that’s what it takes
even IF it IS from lack of sleep,
we’ll go barefoot when necessary,
drive through the night if we are
needed,
get a second job, get a third job
We will cry with them,
cry for them, defend them, discipline them, educate them,
go to B A T T L E for them
and over and over again pray for them
because they have
taken over our hearts
and no matter what it takes
they will have the best we
can give them no matter the cost…
Tea parties will turn into sleepovers.
The days of eating sand turn into surf
lessons
and nobody needs to be pushed on the swing anymore.
Times tables and cursive writing, dance classes and
soccer practices,
braces and summer camp
Those last sleepy
moments of the day as we will ourselves alert
…lingering as we sit on the side
of the bed listening
just in case this is the night they want to talk
The “mean and entirely wrong” stage of social ranking
-the
in group - the out group
and driving
lessons and growing pains and
you realize that carrying them on your hip was so
much easier
than watching their heart break
And you learn that setting the world right for them is
now B E Y O N D you,
though maybe not until after you found the courage to try
one L A S T time
And though you denied its coming ………….their growing
hasn’t just been in stature
but in wisdom and strength
and
hopes and
dreams begin to take shape.
During all
of the CHEERING you’ve done and the HEARTACHE you couldn’t save them from and
the NIGHTS on your KNEES,
God has molded and prepared them for all that is
ahead
HE has taken your best efforts and FILLED in the where
you were weak,
STEPPED in where you were broken because as impossible as it
seems…..
He loves them EVEN MORE than you have
You will never stop being their mother……
but they will
outgrow childhood
and a pride & joy you never ever saw coming wells up in
you
as they take their first steps of adulthood
The difficultly of letting go is made easier because
YOU
know that
there MAY just be a moment ahead
when someone will PLACE A CHILD in THEIR ARMS
and
they too
will
never
be
the same
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"Its a powerful thing to love a child who is not your own"
jen hatmaker
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