This Chapter

When Tyler and Danielle were little, there were times when I would look at families with older children and feel sad for them. The thought of Tyler and Danielle being older, more independent, and not with me all day, every day seemed sad to me. There were moments when I desperately wanted a little peace and quiet...or an uninterrupted shower...but the thought of our lives being so different made me feel sad. Now we are at that point in our family's life, and it is much more of a joy than I expected.

There are times when I'm listening to Tyler and I just want to shake my head and laugh. He is changing so much. His conversation is changing, his outlook on life is changing, HE is changing. Our relationship is changing, too. He is a blessing to us in so many different ways. He is becoming an independent adult with his own thoughts, ideas, and interests, and he is such a neat person.

I don't feel the changes quite as much with Danielle yet, but they are there. There really is something special about having a daughter. There are times when we can share a glance across the basketball court and know what the other is thinking. There are times when I know she doesn't want to run to the store with me, but she knows I'd like the company so she goes anyway. The things we talk about over milk and cookies after school are sometimes not very childish at all anymore. She is a blessing to us, too, and her tender heart humbles me.

It is also nice to be able to run a couple errands while the kids stay home or to have dinner out with just my husband. That is actually very nice.

I do occasionally miss the days when the only schedule we had was the one I made, or when our biggest issues were naptimes and sharing toys, or when we would spend our evenings together building Duplo towers to the ceiling and knocking them over. Although those days were physically exhausting and I worried I wasn't doing "it" right, in hindsight, those days were simpler. I'm also very aware that there are less years ahead of us than behind us when it comes to having the kids under our roof. But right now, I am enjoying the blessings of this chapter.

Ron is in Germany and Russia this week. Today after school the kids and I went shopping to get goodies for their Operation Christmas Child boxes, to get Tyler dress pants and a tie for his band concert, and to get Danielle a new coat. After our shopping trip we enjoyed a very pleasant dinner together at Chipotle. It struck me later that that was the same place we ate dinner when Ron was in Russia the last time. That was eight years ago, and we were enjoying a much different chapter in our lives at the time.