Unselfishness

Being a parent brings great responsibility. You not only have the job of taking care of yourself, but taking care of your child as well. Jeremiah is my little blessing from God, and I love being there for him every minute of every day. But sometimes, is it not natural to want some alone time? Of course it is natural. Being there to take care of another person's every want and need is absolutely exhausting. Your schedule is not so much based on what you would like to do, it is based on what your child needs to do. Okay.. they will wake up at this time, eat at this time, take a bath at this time, nap at this time, play all of the time... exec... When does the "I will wake up, I will eat, I will take a shower" come into play? It is such a daunting but joyful task of planning out every day. If I start to think ahead about all of the things I will have to do in the coming weeks or months I get so overwhelmed. So with me, its just one day at a time. Jeremiah and I stay pretty happy with this outlook on life. Tomorrow will come no matter what... so why not enjoy what today brings? We stay on a pretty regular schedule, but it is our own and it works for us. My only wish for us is that we might start getting outside and enjoying nature a little more. The beauty of nature is like a drug to me. I need it... gotta have it! I want to instill the same appreciation of God's beautiful earth into my son. Why do kids need all of the toys that there is to have now days? Does anybody remember when you would just go outside and play in the dirt or in the creek or even just climb a tree? When I was a child, I loved being outside. I did not need a cool barbie or action figure to enjoy myself. I'm not saying that I didn't play with either, because I did. It's just that I do not have very many memories of playing with toys. The memories that have stuck with me the most are the ones of me being outside. I remember my cousin, Lester, and I used to build dams in the creek with mud, grass, rocks, and sticks. We got pretty good at it. So good, in fact, that we blocked up the creek and flooded my grandpa's yard a few times. I remember climbing trees, going on hikes into the woods. I remember fishing with my family and riding bikes. We used to swim in the creek and then run real fast to try and dry ourselves off. Just the thought of my son being able to do the same things that I did, makes my heart happy. What got me thinking of all this was being out at North Bend State Park this evening. It has been so long since I could just sit outside, surrounded by nature. The trees, the grass, the pond, and the blue sky... aaahhh!! It is the most peacefull that I have felt in a while. A long while.... It felt so good to be sitting around a campfire with my family and to look down and see my son playing on a blanket in the grass. I watched him as he just took it all in. This was his first actual experience with nature. He roled around and stared at the grass and the trees and the sky. You could just tell that it made him feel good. I watched as he ran his fingers through the grass for the first time.. (and then tried to eat it of course) What a happy mama he makes me. All in all, I do enjoy having my alone time. But when it comes to making memories like the one we made today, I don't much care for alone time. I love being able to do things with Jeremiah. I do not want to miss one moment with him because before I know it he will be all grown up. I want him to enjoy life and appreciate the value of nature. I want to show him that possesions are not what's important, but the appreciation of what God has given us is important. Just make sure that you take the time out of your life to not be selfish, but to help expand the knowledge and understanding of what life is all about to your children. They want to be just like their mommy and daddy, so show them just how they should be. And remember that no child can ever be too spoiled with love.

Jeremiah loves the grass...

My beautiful neice, Natalie Violet