Breakfast for Three!

Our daughters Emily and Megan have moved downstairs in the in-law apartment.  They have a kitchenette and their own bathroom, front door entrance and their very own address.  They have been in the apartment now for 1 year and are loving it.  We gather for family devotions upstairs every morning at 7 a.m. and share dinners as a whole family.  Lunches are with me and the kids.  We have been preparing our dear girls for their futures.  They have been taught how to cook, clean, do laundry, yard work, along with learning how to manage a budget and a home.  Any man would be blessed to marry such fine girls because first they love their Savior, Jesus Christ, second they love His people and third they love the home.

So Thom, Eliot and I found ourselves one Saturday morning eating breakfast together.  Conversation is sure different with men around.  We talk about dragons, and baseball.  Jesus can't just be God's Son but a SUPER Hero!! with big muscles who scares all the monsters away.  There is a lot more "Mommy your beautiful's" and "I'm gonna squash that bug!" than with the girls when they were growing up.  There's more space in between comments, an easiness if you will.  I love my new season with my boys.  Can't wait for Peter's dynamic!

(Side Thought)  Emily and Megan love to share all that they think with Thom and I.  We have revelled in every detail over the years and sometimes asked them to stop!  When Eliot first came home from Guatemala, the girls were still upstairs and inevitably, the conversation would get loud and raucous and our dear Eliot would get out of control trying to be apart of the fun and forget to eat.  This still happens from time to time when we sit down for supper together and Thom and I love both scenarios. . .but we are enjoying watching our boy unfold like we have for all these years with Em and Megs.  Not better, just different and it fits the season just perfectly.

We found ourselves thinking and then sharing with each other that this is what our future is going to look like.  Thom, Eliot, Peter and myself.  How exciting.  I can't wait to see Eliot and Peter develop there own way of communicating as I have loved watching in our girls.  Anticipating the physical-ness of it all makes me smile.  (I bet all 6 of us at the dinner table will be very exciting, exuberant and boisterous.)  We wonder what kinds of field trips would these guys like to go on.  Will it be ice cream runs in pj's or a cheese pizza before bed?  How much bug repellent will we go through or sun screen for all the outdoorsy things boys love to do?  When will Jesus command their hearts and how will God use these guys for His purposes?  Don't you love to dream?

In the near future we may have many changes in our family.  Peter, with his Designed syndrome (DS), being added, Eliot starting home school, Emily turning 20 and completing her technical schooling, Megan graduating from High School and pursuing her life's desire to work with children.  Perhaps there will be offers of marriage for our girls.  Even down the line, grandchildren.  The Father is so kind to have planned our lives to be so rich.  We don't have monetary wealth or any material wealth.  We won't be known for anything spectacular like Olympic medals or PhD's or stellar accomplishments. 

No, I want to be found in the quiet morning breakfasts watching bugs, long drives to therapy sessions, late night heart to hearts, and get aways with my dearest Thommy.  The smiles, the laughter, the tears, the mess!, the joy!  Yes, I want all of that.  And even when times are hard, and people move or leave this earth, the joy of knowing that my life and the lives of my loved ones are handed to me as a gift by God will be my boast, my treasure.  And when the whole world goes mad and rents their garments at me and screams, "Why have you spent your life like that?"  "Where is your education?"  "Where are your certificates?"  "Where is the fruit of your life, the value?"  I will humbly point to my Savior, Jesus, my husband Thom, my daughters Emily and Megan, my sons Eliot and Peter and my church family and say, "These are the gifts God has given to me, my most precious possessions.  God's grace has kept me and equipped me to be the best daughter of God, wife to Thom and mother to my children.  I have lived a passionate life in the midst of our church family and by God's grace, participated fully in His body.  I throw myself on the mercy of God and His saving grace.   That's all I have!  That's all I want!"

So back to breakfast, there is so much more to adding Peter to the mix than his DS.  How will his soul and spirit capture our hearts like our other children?  And breakfast for 3 will become 4 and maybe the volume will go back up.  I will be in the middle of it with joy.  Everything from His hand is perfect.  Looking forward to God's future grace with eager anticipation.