Key
NM=New Mom
EM=Experienced Mom
NM: Enduring worship service with a toddler.
EM: Enduring worship service with grumpy, sullen teenagers
NM: Selecting a carseat & getting the child to stay in the carseat
EM: Teaching a 15 year old to drive
NM: Narrowing down all of the cute clothes that are available for my sweet girls
EM: Finding appropriate (i.e., non-hoochie) clothes for my sweet girls.
NM: Embarrassing my child when I had to discipline him in public
EM: Embarrassing my child by breathing
NM: Getting a family photo without a goofy face
Exhibit A
EM: Getting a family photo without a grumpy face
Exhibit B
NM: Physical exhaustion
EM: Emotional exhaustion
NM: Selecting play-dates with friends who have like-minded parents
EM: Watching as my children gravitate toward their own friends...without regard to family dynamics...and keeping my mouth shut
NM: Hoping that your older child will have a younger sibling to love and to teach the ins and outs of life in your home.
EM: Feeling the despair that comes from the fear that your children might not continue their relationship with each other, once they are grown.
NM: Wondering if you and your husband will ever be able to have a "date" again
EM: Seeing the empty nest on the horizon & feeling an ache in your heart
NM: Being so excited when your child makes his first good decision by himself
EM: Watching & waiting on his college decision and realizing that it is completely his alone
NM: Taking our children to church and to Christ
EM: Waiting on Christ to come to them and for them to respond in obedience
This list is non all-inclusive. Experienced moms, please feel free to add struggles of your own.
New moms, I really do miss that special time of life that you are currently in...when hurts were healed by a band-aid, a kiss and a popsicle. Now the hurts are bigger, but the opportunity to show Christ to my children is more expansive. He can heal those hurts that I cannot take away. And since that is what really matters...keep growing up, my children.
EM: Seeing the empty nest on the horizon & feeling an ache in your heart
NM: Being so excited when your child makes his first good decision by himself
EM: Watching & waiting on his college decision and realizing that it is completely his alone
NM: Taking our children to church and to Christ
EM: Waiting on Christ to come to them and for them to respond in obedience
This list is non all-inclusive. Experienced moms, please feel free to add struggles of your own.
New moms, I really do miss that special time of life that you are currently in...when hurts were healed by a band-aid, a kiss and a popsicle. Now the hurts are bigger, but the opportunity to show Christ to my children is more expansive. He can heal those hurts that I cannot take away. And since that is what really matters...keep growing up, my children.
