Gifts from God

What a crazy wonderful summer it has been, so far! I was blessed by my parents to have a much needed break from the life of being a geographically single parent (thanks to the demands of the Army). By the end of those 2 weeks I felt truly refreshed and ready to be a full time mom again! I realize once again that God has given me such gifts in these children of mine.

Dakotah is my right hand. She is SUCH a true blessing to me and I am so lucky to have her. She rarely complains when I make unreasonable demands on her and accepts me for who I am. What a wonderful gift for a mother to have. It amazes me to watch her grow in her relationship with our Lord ~ I sometimes feel like she is so much more spiritually mature than I am. It's a joy to watch.

I just packed Dyami off to boyscout camp for the week. I can't even tell you how it feels to see this boy that I am raising grow up before my eyes. With all the stresses that he puts me through and worries that I have for him I still see glimpses of the man he is becoming and I feel so much hope for him and pride over being his mother! I know that with God's grace we will get through the troubles that teenage life offers us and we will all come out better on the other side.

Ah, Delanie! What a funny precocious thing she is. I can hardly believe that she's 10! It won't be long until I'm in the throes of hormone ridden days with her! We have decided that we're keeping her home to homeschool this fall and I'm looking forward to our one on one time together. I don't get much of that with any of them and I feel like time with them is slipping away too fast!

Dalton continues to keep me on my toes, but I am seeing longer and longer stretches of time where he is being able to control his temper and his behaivour. Praise God! He says things that make me laugh so hard sometimes. He's definately a bit of comic relief in my life. I'm sure as this blog goes along I will have quips and quotes from him to share!

I am so looking forward to watching Rob reconnect with each of them on R&R! I know he will be as amazed as I am at how much each of them have grown and matured this year! Thank You, God, for this amazing family and amazing life you have given me.