Blessings

Something that I think about from time to time... And the past few days have been one of those times...

I feel we are so blessed with how things ended up with the boys!

1. I was 32 when I had Ethan, my first. If I had been much younger, his challenges would have been SOOO much harder to deal with! My wonderful Savior knew what He was doing by me not getting pregnant before that! True, we waited until we were a bit older, but it also took 27 months of trying for me to get pregnant...

2. If we had had another child before Ethan, his differences and challenges would've stood out so much more. I can't imagine what we would have thought about him...

3. If Ethan wasn't our first, the child(ren) before him would've been practically neglected :( He was so high needs from birth that he took all of our time and energy. We had nothing left.

4. We wouldn't have appreciated Gabriel's calm demeanor nearly as much without dealing with Ethan's anxiety, etc first. It's the flip side of 2.

5. If we had an easier child first, we never would have looked for alternate discipline strategies. There would've been no need. This search is what led us to grace-based discipline. And that has influenced so much in our lives...

There are days (weeks, sometimes) that Ethan really gets under my skin. They don't happen nearly as often, but they still do. This morning I had to get up early for Ethan's OT appointment. Gabriel got up when I did, but Ethan stayed asleep. Gabriel played contentedly while I got ready. It was so nice not to have to hear Ethan's whining and complaining. Not that he's like that all the time, but, well, let's just say he's not a morning person ;)

I try not to let Ethan's behavior get to me. But I'm human... And he can be really challenging... When I start getting resentful toward him, I remember that God gave me THIS child for a reason! And He will help me through the challenging times!

It's not Ethan's fault he's challenging any more than Gabriel can take credit for being fairly easy. Our job as parents is to accept them and love them. No matter what their difficulties are. We have a responsibility to disciple them - to train them in the way they should go. Lovingly. What is the importance of love? What does this look like?

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of  prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed  the poor,  and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind  and  is not jealous; love does not brag and  is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong  suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..." 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a

Thanking God tonight for my two precious little blessings...