*gulp*

Maybe it's that the troops are growing up SO fast.  So very fast.

Maybe it's that life is going at a break-neck speed.

Maybe it's that the Lord is very near when our hearts our troubled.

Maybe it's just too many episodes of Downton Abbey (Poor Edith left at the altar!).

At any rate, I seem to be overly emotional, lately.

Walking on the treadmill, the other day, I was fast-forwarding through the songs on my i-pod, which at some point, was high-jacked by my oldest son.  There's not much on there that I prefer, but then "Boys of Fall" came on and I stopped fast-forwarding and just listened.

My heart squeezed tightly and I realized that next Fall will be my biggest boy's LAST Fall on the football field.  Followed shortly by finishing his senior year of high school and . . .

You can see where I'm going with this?

It wasn't pretty.

Then Wednesday, sitting in the passport office with Son #3, waiting for the Coach to get there before 4:00 so we could file his application (both parents present, of course) - the Coach didn't make it, but my thoughts did.  Sending out our THIRD across the world the share the gospel.

On his application for the Africa trip, it asked, "Do you play any instruments?" To which he replied (he filled it out by himself, of course), "A little piano."

Now all of the troops and are teasing him, "How little IS the piano that you play?"

My pack of little boys is growing up.  Fast.

Son #3 will be in Jr. High next year.  Yikes. He still wears me out.  Every. Single. Day.  But his smile? Lights up the room.  He is loud and happy and fun.  99.9% of the time.  The rest of the time?  We try to stay out of his way.  He's almost as tall as I am, now.  He'll be 13 in April and off on his first cross-country trip with the Coach and the 6th grade class, soon after that.  (I love this picture - he's in the middle, of course - with a big BRUISE on his forehead.  That's my boy!)

Sigh.

How much have I taught them?  How prepared are they for the "real world"?  How well do they know the Lord's stead-fast love for them?  How much do they understand that I love them unconditionally?  That grades aren't the most important thing, that having money won't make you happy, and that PEOPLE matter most.

I'm not sure.

But there's still time.

A little.

In the end, they are growing up.  They will leave.  Someday the Coach and I will be alone, for the first time.  Well, there were those 11 months before Son #1 joined us.

Some days I confess that I long for those days.  A bit too much.

Other days I want to stop time RIGHT HERE.  And just enjoy this all as much as I possibly can.

Little Man just took advantage of my being distracted on the phone for a few minutes and washed and trimmed brussel sprouts, sprayed a pan and seasoned them for roasting.  He's chomping away on them, now (I helped with the oven.).

I'm in trouble.

And don't get me started on my girls. . .



A couple of good, recent, blogs on boys?  They say it much better than I do.

Anne Voskamp
Jen Hatmaker

Happy Thursday!