My Mommy Mind: 18 months

We are on the cusp of a brand new adventure - parenting an independent toddler.  Nicole is now a  year and a half old and Shawn and I continue to marvel at the rapidly changing nature of parenthood.  One of our friends wisely told us, "everything is a phase, it's all just a phase".  Each new phase happens in its own time and its own way.  

As each new skill emerges, I find myself scrambling to adjust but as soon as the dust settles, everything feels so natural that it can be hard to remember what life was like before it.   Granted, some of those necessary skills require a large amount of patience and intervention on my part, like sleeping through the night or learning how to use a spoon.  Other skills have simply been the reward of growing older.  Regardless of how the learning happens, it feels like every new skill forever changes the path before us.  Now that Nicole walks, I find myself having to work to recall the months when she didn't.  Now that she talks, it's hard to remember the baby chatter that came before it.  Each day has the potential to hold the highest of highs or the lowest of lows but through it all we are joyfully learning how to raise Nicole in a way that honors God.   Needless to say, our learning curve is steep!

To help me along in my learning journey, I frequently read books and articles on various parenting topics.  While I find much of the information I read absolutely invaluable, I have learned that there is no book or collection of books that can fully equip us to parent the child in front of us.  We believe Nicole was created by God for a unique purpose.  God has entrusted her to us and we are doing our very best to steward the responsibility well.    

In Nicole's uniqueness, she brings her own set of joys and challenges.  My heart swells with every new word I get to hear Nicole say.   My patience is exercised as I watch the careful spoonful of food she scoops up land in her lap instead of her mouth.  I am humbled by the power of my example as I hear her say the very phrases I say and I am often brought to a place of surrender as I come face to face with my own inadequacies.   In the last year and a half, God has grown my faith and my stamina.  I have tangibly learned that love is an action, not just a feeling and discipline is incredibly hard but completely necessary.

I may not be equipped for whatever tomorrow will bring but I know God's desire is to equip me to navigate what is in front of me today.  This is the ministry of motherhood.  It's being willing to learn, to nurture, to discipline and to sacrifice.  It's about setting an example and intentionally loving with a love that surpasses all understanding.  That love is far bigger than the breadth and scope of a mothers heart - it is a love that can only come from God.

Love,
Erica